Saxonville Sausage Company

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES

Saxonville’sBackground

70 year old privately held family business

HQ in Saxonville,Ohio2005 revenues approximately $1.5 Billion

Pro

du

cts

Bratwurst 70%

Breakfast Sausage20%

Italian Sausage Vivio

5%

Store brand products 5%

Sausage’s Market Situation :

• Both bratwurst and breakfast categories had been flat nationwide since 2004.•Saxonville’s breakfast sausage had underperformed the market

Sausage’s Market Situation :

• Italian sausage showing growth across producers in retail market.9% growth in 2004 and 15% growth in 2005.

• Vivio had matched level of growth. However, Vivio was available in just 16% of Nation’s Large supermarkets.

Objective of the case

Well-thought-out Brand positioning plan to move

Saxonville’s Italian Sausage to National Category leader

and make it the one that every grocery account in the

U.S will want to carry.

Who are the Players?

Ann Banks New Product Marketing Director at Saxonville Sausage Company

Steve Sears Vice President of Marketing, Saxonville Sausage Company

Laura Bishop Director of Market Research

Liz Keller Top brand consultant and a professional from a market research company

Initial product research

• Entered the market in 2002 in the Northeast• Worried that people wouldn’t buy an Italian

Product from a ‘German Heritage Company’• Price comparable to other regional Italian

Sausages• For 1st Six Months went on Deal every other

Month + In store sampling

Brand Familiarity

Saxonville

Current Market

Positioning

Regional Competitive

Brands

Authentic Italian

heritage

Freshly and locally made

Italian name with locally grown angle

Supported brand with base trade spending

Major supermarkets request Vivio to stay competitive

Vivio growing along with Italian sausage category

Brand has faced multiple facings

10 Years of market research results

Annual business plans

Year-end reports

Project Score

Pre Market Research

Target Customers: Female Head of Household

Exhibit 1Pre Market Research

Competitive Analysis: No national players,29 local/regional brands

Purchase trends: Dinner time eating occasion, peak

volume Oct to Feb

Challenges and

opportunities in developing

a National Italian

Sausage Brand

Local Brands playing their ‘Home Grown’ heritage

Challenges

Distributing outside the Core geography

Competitors are frozen producers, not fresh

Opportunities

Market Research

Methodology

Understanding behaviors and needs of target customers

Building on Learning from the focus groups

Developing into actual concepts and customer prioritization

Monadic testing

Qualitative

Quantitative

Attitude and Usage

Female heads-of-heads are target customers

Heavy users used Italian sausage three + times a month

Mean Italian sausage usage two times every six weeks

Heaviest usage among consumers aged 20-50 years

Evidence: Exhibit 3

Understanding behaviors and needs of target

customers

Respondents

103 Female Heads of household screened based on demographic, behavior

and geographic considerations

Outcome

Perceptual Maps

Evidence: Exhibit 5

Evidence: Exhibit 5

Meal

Solution

Building on Learning from the

focus groups

Respondents

103 Female Heads of household screened based on demographic, behavior

and geographic considerations

Outcome

Potential territories for positioning the brand

Family Connection

Good food, sharing and enjoying themselves

Magnet that pulls everyone in

Evidence: Exhibit 6

Clever Cooking

Making a recipe her own way

Adds a little zest to the dishes

Evidence: Exhibit 6

Confidence

Whatever she makes will taste good

Sure-fire thing that enables her to “pull it off”

Evidence: Exhibit 6

Appreciation

“What’s for dinner ?

Evidence: Exhibit 6

Quick and Easy

Delicious and wholesome meal in less than 30 minutes

Quick homemade meal

Evidence: Exhibit 6

Tradition

To bring back those old good memories

Main ingredient in a number of her mother’s recipes

Evidence: Exhibit 6

Identifying the “Brand

ladder “

VALUE

EMOTIONAL BENIFIT

FUNCTIONAL BENEFIT

ATTRIBUTES

Job well done

Varying with theme

Quick and Easy

Above average of solids to fats

Great Taste

Good color and Texture

Customer prioritizatio

n

Respondents

Consumers were exposed to four mock concepts and

asked to selectively prioritize their three

favorites

Outcome

“Clever cooking” received highest total votes, with “Family

connection” receiving the most first-place votes

Evidence: Exhibit 8

Evidence: Exhibit 9

Present Constraints

Tactic should be realizable by the slated date for the

Brand’s early launch

Management isn’t willing to discount the product’s

price

Quantitative testing –Monadic testing

RespondentsTested the “Family

Connection” concept with 250 target customers and “Clever Cooking” with 256

target customers answered a series of questions about the

concepts, including their likelihood to purchase.

Outcome

Both concepts were viable !

Evidence: Exhibit 11

Let’s Analyze !

Family Connection

Advantages

• Closest to target customer’s core values• Goes with the brand “Italian” implies “family”• Received the most first place votes• Saxonville perceived as a family brand

Disadvantages

• Fear of Cannibalization of other brands• More common and less durable

Clever Cooking

Advantages

• Distinctive and Durable• Easier to provide tactical support• No fear of cannibalization of other brands• 1st place in purchase intention

Disadvantages

• Distracts away from the main target market• Puts the company’s name on leverage

57.5 105

Evidence: Exhibit 11

Clever Cooking

Inferences

• Even though Definitely/Probably would buy % is more for “Family connection”, Definitely would buy % is more for “Clever cooking”

• Since providing tactical support is easier for “Clever Cooking” the constraint of realization of tactics before the slated date can be avoided.

• To satisfy the Probably buy segment, Family approves recipes can be included in the package

Evidence: Exhibit 11 & 8

Name: Vivio Italian Sausage

Inferences

Even though “Saxonville Italian Sausage” did receive a lot of votes, the company can go with the same name as Vivio • Was on deal every month during it’s sales• Consumers already recognize Saxonville by its

moniker• The sales in demographic where Saxoville

Bratwurst was distributed won’t be affected

Evidence: Exhibit 4

Introducing

VIVIOSimply Add your own personal

touch to create meals that make any day a little special

Each variety of Vivio comes with “Family approved” one dish recipes for

a wholesome real meal in minutes!!

VIVIO

Product• Flavors – Sweet “Oriental” style,

gourmet cheese and smoked flavors,macorni & cheese falvor

• Different forms: Uncooked pre-sliced “disks”,mini-patties,mini-links, and precooked “meatballs”,”salami” slices and “disks”

• Maximize the product visibility window

Evidence: Exhibit 2

Increases Creativity Value

In-case differentiatio

n

VIVIO

Sales and Promotion

• Price comparable with other Italian Sausage brands

• In-store sampling

• Running more frequent BOGO’s

Existing product

positioning

Increases % of

Probably/Might buy it

segment respondents

Slides Created by

Rahul Nk3rd Yr MMENIT Trichy

As a part of Internship done under the guidance of

Prof.Sammer Mathur(www.iiminternship.com)(www.Buddingmarkets.com)