United Cereal
United Cereal: Lora Brill’s Eurobrand Challenge
Introduction:
The case is focusing on European division of a giant multinational breakfast food company, which describes a launch decision for a new cereal product. United Cereal (UC) was established in 1910 by Jed Thomas. It was known in the industry, eventually diversified into snack foods, dairy products. By 2010 UC was a $9 billion business, but the breakfast cereals still accounted for one-third of its revenues. As the breakfast cereal trend soon set in. It was very necessary for the company to launch a new product. The company had strong values and policies, which it needed for its managers to follow. Breakfast cereal market was a potential market and there were several major competitors. With the growing demand of the ready to eat cereals, the company was now in a highly competitive industry. UC entered European market in 1952 by acquiring an English baked goods company, and then growing it by introducing products from the U.S. line. By 2009, Europe accounted for 20% of UC’s worldwide sales. But at the same time, European market was becoming a complex market to handle. The market varied to a great extent in each of these countries. There were a variety of breakfast traditions and national tastes that differed from each other. Distribution channels were also different for these countries. So Lora Brill pursue an idea which she referred to as the “Eurobrand” concept that could be adapted for product marketing. Crunch in other European markets with the Eurobrand approach, continuing with Germany and Benelux, as those countries are also in favor of Healthy Berry Crunch. At the same time the company would do the further research on other European countries and choose the countries that test results show well to launch the next. For the issue of too much cost and local customization causing differences in product profiles and market strategies would be solved as the consumer tastes in Europe are converging as
Introduction:
The case is focusing on European division of a giant multinational breakfast food company, which describes a launch decision for a new cereal product. United Cereal (UC) was established in 1910 by Jed Thomas. It was known in the industry, eventually diversified into snack foods, dairy products. By 2010 UC was a $9 billion business, but the breakfast cereals still accounted for one-third of its revenues. As the breakfast cereal trend soon set in. It was very necessary for the company to launch a new product. The company had strong values and policies, which it needed for its managers to follow. Breakfast cereal market was a potential market and there were several major competitors. With the growing demand of the ready to eat cereals, the company was now in a highly competitive industry. UC entered European market in 1952 by acquiring an English baked goods company, and then growing it by introducing products from the U.S. line. By 2009, Europe accounted for 20% of UC’s worldwide sales. But at the same time, European market was becoming a complex market to handle. The market varied to a great extent in each of these countries. There were a variety of breakfast traditions and national tastes that differed from each other. Distribution channels were also different for these countries. So Lora Brill pursue an idea which she referred to as the “Eurobrand” concept that could be adapted for product marketing. Crunch in other European markets with the Eurobrand approach, continuing with Germany and Benelux, as those countries are also in favor of Healthy Berry Crunch. At the same time the company would do the further research on other European countries and choose the countries that test results show well to launch the next. For the issue of too much cost and local customization causing differences in product profiles and market strategies would be solved as the consumer tastes in Europe are converging as