Marketing Strategies
Cadbury Beverages Case Study
Cadbury Beverages is the beverage division of Cadbury Schweppes, a major soft drink and confectionary marketer. In 1989 they had worldwide sales of $4.6 billion. Schweppes was the worlds first soft drink maker and the 3rd largest soft drink marketer. In 1969 Schweppes merged with Cadbury in the year 1989 and Cadbury Schweppes was on of the world’s largest multinational firms and was ranked 457th in the business week’s global 1,000. Beverages accounted for 60% of the company worldwide sales and confectionery for 40%. Cadbury Beverages is the 4th largest soft drink marketer in the U.S., with a market share of 3.4%
In January 1990 the marketing executives at Cadbury Beverages began the task of re-launching the Crush brand, which was purchased from Procter and Gamble in October 1989. In re-launching the brand they had three issues that had to be addressed if they wanted to make this a success. They were to develop a base positioning, to build a cooperative relationship with bottlers and to budget the advertising and promotion program.
The major competitors for the soft drink industry are Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper/7up. Revenues are extremely concentrated in this industry, with Coke and Pepsi tighter with their associated bottlers. Market trends for the soft drink industry can be summarized by six fundamental themes. Changing consumer beverage preferences, featuring a shift toward heath-oriented wellness drinks. The growing friction that is going on with the between bottlers and manufactures in the distribution system. Continually increasing retailer strength, fierce competition, complex distribution system composed of multiple sales channels, beverage safety concerns and more-stringent regulations.
Three main actors participate in manufacturing and distributing of carbonated soft drinks in the U.S. They are concentrate producers, bottlers, and retailers. The concentrate