DM

Disruptive Marketing Plan 1

Disruptive Marketing Plan 9

BUSI 745

Introduction

Brand marketing promotes products and services by highlighting the brand as a whole. Brand marketing aims to develop a connection between an organization’s identity, beliefs, and personality and its target audience through targeted, successful brand communication. A brand is an intermediary between an organization’s product and target market.

Additionally, different companies have employed different marketing strategies for a long time. Therefore, the marketing plan used by one company will not be the same as the company’s competitors. This is usually a tough decision because the strategy one uses is what determines the perception by the consumers and whether it will fall or not. Therefore, this paper will focus on a failing consumer product and marketing strategies that can be employed to pull it back up. The product to be discussed is Pepsi.

Disruptive Brand Plan

A disruptive marketing strategy aims to ensure that the company's main stakeholders receive market-based value creation by possessing valuable marketing initiatives that thrive in applications within one division or organizational analysis, then spread relentlessly to all other internal departments or functions, and finally link with external companies. (Hult & Ketchen, 2017). PepsiCo's brand marketing failures led to its decline over the years. They had significant potential to go big in 2015; however, they did not push themselves enough to take the opportunity. As a result, they did not realize their marketing potential. Pepsi made a mistake by neglecting to declare 2015 the Year of Pepsi and failing to recognize the full marketing potential for the fictitious product. The Back to the Future Trilogy, which brought in close to $1.3 billion from ticket sales worldwide, is by no means a cult classic, and the soft drink industry could have quickly benefited from the popularity of the series.

The public's awareness of the Pepsi Perfect product is so low that it barely registers on the radar, which contrasts sharply with the popularity of the Back to the Future movies.

If the company had realized this potential and taken advantage to promote it, such as harnessing cutting new edge technology, the soft drink would have surpassed Coca-Cola sales. Every credible media outlet, including major players CNN, ABC, The Telegraph, National Geographic, BBC, USA Today, and The New York Times, published articles contrasting the future depicted in Back to the Future II with the present. Each of these mentions provided an opportunity for Pepsi Perfect to receive a free advertisement (Cummings, 2015). They should have taken advantage of this as a disruptive brand plan to promote themselves and thus grow in sales and stature. Harnessing cutting-edge technology would have been very efficient as a disruptive branding plan. A corporation has a chance to establish itself as an industry-leading brand when it utilizes advanced technology before its rivals. This would also have pushed them a big step up the soft drink ladder (Bingham, 2022).

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a company's set of activities or approaches used to sell its brand or product. The four Ps compose a standard marketing mix: pricing, product, promotion, and location. Each element of the marketing mix influences the others. They design the business plan for a firm and, if implemented well, can result in significant success. However, if mishandled, it might take years for the company to recover. The marketing mix involves a substantial amount of comprehension, market research, and collaboration with numerous parties, including users, traders, and producers (Young, 2017).

Product

This P relates to the advertised product. The company's outputs that are made available to the public are identified in this marketing mix component. The Pepsi-Cola Company created all the early goods that PepsiCo sold under the Pepsi brand. While PepsiCo sells various products, such as bottled water and snacks, its soft drinks are the most well-known. The primary flavor and distinctive selling proposition of Pepsi Strong are "Strong Impact" refreshments through strong carbonation and strong caffeine.

Additionally, Pepsi tastes fantastic and strikes a wonderful balance between sweetness and drinkability. Changes could be made to enhance this product by making the product as unique as possible. Considering that the soft drink is usually associated with cola, many people will tend to go for the Coca-Cola brand because it is more renowned.

Price

Prices at PepsiCo vary widely because the corporation offers a diverse range of products. This indicates that it has many brand names and product lines. This component of the marketing mix evaluates pricing strategies. Focusing on the soft drink sector, the prices are getting higher daily. In Denmark, a Pepsi can go for 3.17 dollars. In Switzerland, it goes for 4.21 dollars; in Norway, it goes for 3 dollars. PepsiCo has acknowledged that it might opt to raise its pricing even more in the upcoming months. Due to the global factors driving up prices everywhere, the beverage industry giant is facing increased ingredient and transportation costs and may be forced to pass these costs to the consumer (Rafael, 2022). To increase the company's sales, it would be advisable to lower the prices of the item. This would make people opt to buy it over Coca-Cola due to the price. With time, Pepsi will get more consumers not only because of the low price but also because of the taste and feeling it offers.

Place/Distribution

Most PepsiCo products are sold in grocery stores, convenience stores, and supermarkets. T-shirts and tumblers with the PepsiCo logo are still available to customers in stores and online. This part of the marketing mix states that the bulk of PepsiCo's product distribution channels is non-online retailers. If the business made some adjustments, it could earn significantly more money and function better than it does now. To determine if its sales would grow, the corporation could invest more in bringing its products into the online market.

Promotion/ Communication

Given the rise of social and mobile, even the most established companies are being forced to revise their marketing plans. Pepsi has embraced technology and developed a viable goal strategy to connect with the millennials, who will soon become the greatest consumer group in the history of the United States. As a result, Pepsi has embraced social media for business, while many other companies are still hesitant.

Even though the company has heavily invested in online campaigns for its products, it has failed miserably. For example, in 2017, the company used Kendall Jenner to do a commercial for them and was later pulled off less than 24 hours after it got on the internet affecting the company’s sales. If changes were to be made to make it a success, the same strategy could have been used to market the brands. It only needed a different online commercial that would use a celebrity who does not have damaging controversies, such as Kendall. The company could also host shows and events featuring various celebrities and even pay them to do videos while they show off and use Pepsi products.

Target Market

PepsiCo is recognized for segmenting its market depending on age, with those between the ages of 15 and 45 being most of the market (Rafael, 2022). This is because they are still in good health, don't mind drinking fizzy beverages, and only choose to buy PepsiCo's original products. The future target market will still focus on individuals aged 15 and 45 because they can handle carbonated drinks. To promote the growth of PepsiCo, the company should also try and reach people past the said age bracket. They can increase sales by venturing into other sectors such as sports kits, light shoes, and sandals that the aged can comfortably wear. Comment by Janis McFaul: 1263-words

References Bingham, J. (2022). Three disruptive marketing examples and why they work. BKA Content. https://www.bkacontent.com/3-disruptive-marketing-examples-and-why-they-work/ Cummings M. (2015). Pepsi imperfect - A marketing failure 25 years in the making | Bridge. https://www.thebridgecorp.com/pepsi-imperfect/ Hult, G. T. M., & Ketchen, D. J. (2017). Disruptive marketing strategy - AMS review. SpringerLink. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13162-017-0097-4 Rafael, G. (2022). Pepsi warns that prices may continue to rise. Diario AS. https://en.as.com/latest_news/pepsi-warns-that-prices-may-continue-to-rise-n/ Young, J. (2017). PepsiCo’s marketing mix (4Ps) analysis. Panmore Institute. https://panmore.com/pepsico-marketing-mix-4ps-analysis