Author: EcD
BUS 620: Managerial Marketing
Dr. Jan T.
March 17, 2013
Introduction This paper presents a marketing plan for Kickstart, a new product launched February 25, 2013 from Mountain Dew and PepsiCo in the United States. PepsiCo is a beverage and snack company worldwide and Mountain Dew’s Kickstart is launching out “’a new way to do mornings’ with Kickstart, a fruit-flavored caffeinated Mountain Dew beverage” (www.kickstart.com). Kickstart is advertised to present an “alternative to traditional morning beverages – one that tastes great, includes real fruit juice and has just the right amount of kick to help them start their days" (www.kickstart.com). This plan analyzes Kickstart’s 4Ps (Finch, 2013) which are important to understand when analyzing this product and provides recommendations for improvement.
General business situation
Organizational strengths and weaknesses PepsiCo has world renown brand name, a reputation for solid brands and a deep and wide product line in the international and domestic markets. (Simon & Sullivan, 1993). With revenue of more than $66.5 billion, PepsiCo is a world-wide leader in the beverage industry (Bryson York, 2012; Watling, 1992). According to its annual report, the international brand, innovative capabilities, and strong distribution network define PepsiCo as a market leader and are its strengths (www.pepsico.com; Valentin, 2001). One of the strength identified for PepsiCo is its franchise system (www.pepsico.com). A consistent brand and advertising campaign coupled with a consistent marketing strategy for promoting its brands is also a strength. PepsiCo further has a strong global presence as it sponsors major sporting events (www.pepsico.com). It also has a focus on one of the most important customer trends, i.e., customer satisfaction (Finch, 2012; Valentin, 2001). PepsiCo is ahead of some of its main competitors, for instance Coca-Cola, on both the
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