Saxonville sausage company case study

1. SAXONVILLE SAUSAGE
COMPANY
By Mausumi Mohanta

2. SAXONVILLE’S BACKGROUND
 A 70-year-old Company,
 Family business Headquartered in Saxonville, Ohio.
 In 2005, the revenue approximately $ 1.5 billion.
 Produced a variety of pork sausage products: fresh
sausage as opposed to smoked or semi-dried

3. COMPANY PRODUCT
 The business consisted of branded products:
Product Market Revenues
Bratwurst Flat – No Growth 70%
Breakfast Sausage Decline revenues 20%
Italian Sausage
“Vivio”
Growth 5%
Store brand products - 5%
70%
20%
5% 5%
Revenue Percentage Contribution
Bratwurst
Breakfast sausage
Italian sausage
"Vivio"

4. BACKGROUND OF SAXONVILLE’S ITALIAN
SAUSAGE BUSINESS
 Vivio entered the Italian sausage market in 2002.
 “Italian” name to cover up the ‘German heritage’.
 Vivio was priced comparably to other regional
Italian sausages.
 Current positioning of Vivio is “Vivio fresh
Italian sausage” and has an Italian flag in one
corner.

5. CURRENT SITUATION OF
SAXONVILLE SAUSAGE
 One of their product (Bratwurst) sales decreased
and Vivio’s sales were rising.
 Improved marketing research program to
minimize risk for sales program during launching
of products.
 Repositioning Italian Sausage product or launch
with new brand.

6. PRODUCT
• Undifferentiated product
• No clear positioning
• Italian name to create consistency
PRICE
• In line with competition
• Inconsistent with Saxonville pricing strategy (15 %
premium)
PLACE
• 16% of national supermarkets
• Mainly Eastern part of US
PROMOTIO
N
• Discounted price during the launching period
• No communication
VIVIO : CURRENT MARKETING
SITUATION

7. ISSUES !!

8. ISSUES
 Determine Brand Name
 Vivio or
 New Name
 Determine Brand Positioning
 Family Connection
 Clever Cooking
 Determine Tactic For Promotion

9. Research
the Italian Opportunity

10. The Key Players:
 Ann Banks – Marketing Director at Saxonville
Sausage Company
 Laura Bishop – The Director Of Market
Research
 Liz Keller – Top Brand Consultant

11. PROJECT SCORE
 Ann Banks formed a multifunctional task force,
“Project Score”, included 10 collegues from the
R&D, packaging and graphics, marketing, and
sales departments.
 To Find the ideal name for Saxonville’s line of
Italian sausage.
 Four Steps to do POSITIONING work.

12. POSITIONING
 Qualitative Research
 Sequential round of Customer Session
 Refining the new learning
 Monadic testing

13. Research to determine
the Product name and
Brand Positioning

14. STEP ONE : PLANNING NEW RESEARCH
ON THE TARGET CUSTOMER
 Phase I : To confirm some of the basic
information presented in the Attitude and
Usage data.

15. STEP ONE : PLANNING NEW RESEARCH
ON THE TARGET CUSTOMER
 Phase II :
 To understand current behaviors
 Triggers to purchase, and unmet needs
 To get a clear understanding of product
benefit
 Attributes and ideals
 To develope a solid feel for core value and
role

16. STEP TWO : BUILDING ON LEARNING
FROM THE FOCUS GROUPS
 Ann and Bishop studied consumers behaviors
from the focus group, developed a synopsis of the
learning and sent it to Project Score.
 6 potential bases for positioning :
 Family Connection
 Clever Cooking
 Confidence
 Appreciation
 Quick and Easy
 Tradition

19. STEP THREE : BUILDING POSITIONING
CONCEPTS
 “Family Connection” and “Clever Cooking”
received the highest total votes.
 81% of respondents - “Family Connection”.
 72% of respondents - “Clever Cooking”.
 The group embed their ideas to a manageable list
of R&D, graphics and sales tactics.

20. STEP FOUR : ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
DELIVERS A VERDICT – OR TWO
 “Family Connection” - scored better , receiving
the most first-place votes.
 Discuss how advertising look and feel, packaging,
product attribute, name, considering sub-
branding.
 Picking the winner from the two final concepts.

21. Determine
Brand Name

22. WHY BY SAXONVILLE?WHY VIVIO ?
 Well established in Atlantic
areas
 Cost of reintroduction of new
brand?
 Necessity?
 Italian Name
 Placed 7th out of 20 choices of
Brand Names
 How much value does moving
from 7th to 1st add?
 Italian family message is still
conveyed
 Nationwide recognition and
popularity
 Signifies quality/credibility
for an unknown brand
 Preferable placement with
retailers
Brand name – Vivio by Saxonville
PRODUCT

23. RECOMMENDED BRAND NAME :
VIVIO
WHY ??
 Vivio brand awarness
 Put Company’s Brand (Saxonville)
to leverage the product’s brand
 To retain customer loyalty
 Attract new customer

24. Determine
Brand Positioning

25. EMOTIONAL
BENEFITS
Family
happiness
CONSUMER
BENEFIT
More time for
the mother,
make meal that
everybody loves
FUNCTIONAL
BENEFITS
Creativity, ease
of use, quickness
PRODUCT
ATTRIBUTES
Nutritious, short
cooking time,
ingredient for
other meals
PRODUCT BENEFITS

26. FAMILYCONNECTION
PROs:
- Recalled by the Italian brand:
opportunity to make it stronger
- Emotional bound not yet
exploited
- Consistent with Saxonville
moniker: “The Family Company
- Aspirational value
1° concept choice
CONs:
- Already implied
copiable
- Unrealistic idea
CLEVERCOOKING
PROs:
- Add more value to the general
family concept
- Easier tactical application
- 1° choice in “buying intent” test
CONs:
- Loss of focus on the original
target
- Every sausage is “easy and
fast”
- Less aspirational
POSITIONING ALTERNATIVES

27. PEOPLE’S CHOICE

28. RECOMMENDED BRAND POSITIONING :
CLEVER COOKING
 Create difference among competitors
 Create new brand experience
 Tendency to buy is higher than another
positioning (exhibit 11)
 Match to market segment (exhibit 5)
 Fulfill all elements of brand laddering (exhibit 7)
WHY ??

29. Determine
Tactic For Promotion

30. CURRENT MARKET CONSIDERATIONS
Behavior Considerations
 Vivio loyalist
 Competitive brand
 Degree of price sensitivity
 Frequency of every day dinner preparation
 Use of other product within company

31. CURRENT MARKET CONSIDERATIONS
Geographic Considerations
 Currently in strong Italian sausage markets
 Strong Bratwurst markets where Saxonville well
developed
 Strong Saxonville markets where Italian sausage
is distributed
 Strong Saxonville markets where Vivio is
distributed

32. Customer Analysis

33. TARGET MARKET
 Working out of the home and working at home
 Head of household: female and male
 Age: 20-50
 Household income level: middle and high
 Consumer group: heavy, medium, and light users
 Loyalist and competitive users

34. POSSIBLE SEGMENTING DIMENSION
Customer Attributes :
 Working out of the home, part or full time vs
working at home as a homemaker
 Head of household: female vs male
 Age: <10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, >50
 Household income level: low, middle, or high
 Consumer group: heavy, medium, or light users
 Loyalist vs competitive users

35. POSITIONING
 Wholesome meals with fresh ingredients
 Desire to please entire family with single dish
 Quick meal preparation without sacrificing
nutritional quality
 Family dinner facilitating feelings of
togetherness

36. REVENUE CALCULATION
Vivio was only available in just 16% of supermarkets,
our target is to reach 100% supermarkets

38. FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS
Base Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Sweet Sausage $3,714,499.00 $9,576,442.73 $10,725,615.86 $12,012,689.77
Hot Sausage $18,858,587.00 $48,619,794.61 $54,454,169.96 $60,988,670.36
Mild Sausage $42,414,884.00 $109,350,872.81 $122,472,977.55 $137,169,734.86
Mild Sausage
(55oz)
$2,829,047.00 $7,293,636.80 $8,168,873.21 $9,149,138.00
Totals $67,817,017.00 $174,840,746.95 $195,821,636.59 $219,320,232.98
% of Revenue 5% 10% 12% 13%

39. Clever Cooking
 Simply add your own personal touch to
create meals that make any day a little
special
Vivio – Creative meals in minutes!
 Comes with recipes everyone is sure to
love, unleash you creativity to create a
wholesome real meal in minutes
CONCLUSION

40. These Slides were prepared
By
Mausumi Mohanta
As a part of an internship
done under the guidance of
Prof. Sameer Mathur