Harvard Business Case
Harvard Business Case:
Pillsbury Cookie Challenge
1. What are the challenges that Ivan Guillen faces in his role as the marketing manager of the RBG business? What is the team currently doing to support the RBG cookies segment? Who is the team currently targeting?
Mr. Guillen is facing the problem regarding the growth of volume in the segment of the Refrigerated Baked Goods (RBG). His main concern was that as the refrigerated cookie sector is the most profitable and in contrast to market volume of USA it was not in line. The Canadian Pillsbury ready baked goods cookie line is not doing that well and the marketing manager is under pressure to make decisions that will help turn around the segment. The marketing manager needs the help of the consumer insight team to conduct market research studies that will shed light on consumers and their attitudes, behaviors and preferences towards the product. As the Refrigerated Baked Goods is the fourth one in the category so the refrigerated-cookie product line representing 62 % of unit sales and is responsible for 75% of the profit.
Guillen had to develop a strategy that would lead his team to improve the business performance. Since RBG was the fourth largest category and the performance was low he wanted to understand what he could do to increase the profitability.
The target market they wanted to reach were mother in their mid-30’s to 40’s that are busy with an active life style.
2. Given the key learnings from the usage and attitude study on pp. 6-7 of the case, what are the corresponding implications for what actions the team should take?
The key learning from the usage and attitude study was that the scratch backing is the dominant method of baking cookies in Canada. The top purchasing drives were the same and cookie dough purchases were impulsive. The team must conduct a better research to get a better understanding of consumer perceptions towards RBG cookies.
3. By leveraging the results of the consumer
Pillsbury Cookie Challenge
1. What are the challenges that Ivan Guillen faces in his role as the marketing manager of the RBG business? What is the team currently doing to support the RBG cookies segment? Who is the team currently targeting?
Mr. Guillen is facing the problem regarding the growth of volume in the segment of the Refrigerated Baked Goods (RBG). His main concern was that as the refrigerated cookie sector is the most profitable and in contrast to market volume of USA it was not in line. The Canadian Pillsbury ready baked goods cookie line is not doing that well and the marketing manager is under pressure to make decisions that will help turn around the segment. The marketing manager needs the help of the consumer insight team to conduct market research studies that will shed light on consumers and their attitudes, behaviors and preferences towards the product. As the Refrigerated Baked Goods is the fourth one in the category so the refrigerated-cookie product line representing 62 % of unit sales and is responsible for 75% of the profit.
Guillen had to develop a strategy that would lead his team to improve the business performance. Since RBG was the fourth largest category and the performance was low he wanted to understand what he could do to increase the profitability.
The target market they wanted to reach were mother in their mid-30’s to 40’s that are busy with an active life style.
2. Given the key learnings from the usage and attitude study on pp. 6-7 of the case, what are the corresponding implications for what actions the team should take?
The key learning from the usage and attitude study was that the scratch backing is the dominant method of baking cookies in Canada. The top purchasing drives were the same and cookie dough purchases were impulsive. The team must conduct a better research to get a better understanding of consumer perceptions towards RBG cookies.
3. By leveraging the results of the consumer