Executive summary
The report hopes to recognize the multifaceted usage of the marketing tactics norms and systems conveyed by the brands named Ben and Jerry and Haagen-Dazs. It has been settled that both the brands have an indisputable course of action of crucial drives of exhibiting which reflects in their marketing endeavor the systems for the investigation were helper as the data has been accumulated from trusted educational, non-academic sources. STP assessment and more all-around investigation of the promoting mix have been instigated to increment huge data about the detachment of displaying methods of both the brands.
Introduction
Brands grapple with versatile market scenarios and strive to maintain an edge over the same through various marketing initiatives and combinations of tactics. The study intends to illuminate how brands construct various marketing tactics through STP and marketing mix. A constructive comparison will be undertaken in regards to the STP and marketing mix of two distinct USA-based ice cream manufacturing brands named Ben and Jerry & Haagen-Dazs. Ben and Jerry have 8.7 % and approximately 8.4% of market share captured by Haagen-Dazs in the year 2017. In a combined way, they have a 42% market share globally. Another facade of the study will delineate a meaningful recommendation on how both the brands can optimize sets of marketing tactics to consolidate their brand position in the market.
Findings and analysis
STP analysis
Segmentation of market: Ben and Jerry have a widened market dividend in two major continents Asia and Europe. Since ice cream if the brand is highly lucrative mostly adolescents segment are targeted. It has been identified that nearly 68% of the market is contributed by adolescents and youth aged between 18-25 followed by 20% aged between 26-40, 8% and 4% by the age of above 40% and less than 18 respectively. However, male seem to have superior contribution over females. As per geographical segmentation over 60% of Caucasians followed by Asian, European and American complement to its market segmentation (benjerry.com, 2020). Haagen-Dazs strives to segment its market having the enthusiasm of experiencing high-quality dessert and ice creams. They also aimed to cater to the palate of adults rather than children. They do not tend to segregate flavor by gender however they prefer segmenting its product market for the people who prefer romanticizing using ice creams. They also segment the market based on income and cater to the middle and up market segment having considerable income to invest in fancy food items like cream and desserts.
Figure 1: Market share of ice-cream industry in USA 2017
(Source: statista.com, 2017)
Target marketing: Ben and Jerry’s target market to the people aged between 5 – 35. Target is also based on the groups which are fun-seeking and pleasure-loving. People like to have different flavors, tastes, brand consciousness and can spontaneously pay high prices to nurture the same are mostly targeted. Haagen-Dazs targets its market considering the ethnicity, cultural alignment of people of different nations. The brand divided the target consumers into several groups based on lifestyle and target people nurtures lavishness and has ample income and indulgence into lavish consumption (Newlands and Hota, 2017). The brand has further narrowed down the target market; the first one is the affluence group, which seeks fun and pleasure and is highly brand conscious. The second one is the health-conscious adults who prefer ice cream however task consideration of the facts likes sugar and gluten content, natural ingredients, etc. The niche strategy of marketing helps them come up with niche-related products to care for even the smallest segment of the market (Akbar et al. 2017).
Market positioning: The main USP of Ben and Jerry is its socially and environmentally conscious approach. As stated by Key and Czaplewski, (2017), the introduction of premium quality ice cream helped the brand consolidate its market positioning. Considerably diversified numbers of flavors of ice creams coming with different textures, size and colors reflect its uniqueness in the market. The slogan of the brand is Chunkiest, funkiest ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet (benjerry.com, 2020). The slogan intrigues any consumers consolidating its position in the ice cream and dessert market. Haagen-Dazs positions its market based on product as well as service differentiation. They strive to position in the market flaunting their luxurious and high-quality ice creams. They showcase their genuinity through the value they are providing through the product as they use fresh cream to enhance the rich creamy texture, flavor and minimize the air inside it (Haagen dazs.us, 2020). They showcase their quality to be taking place in each stage of production and thus how they produce remarkably tasty, enchanting, luscious, and intriguing ice creams.
4ps of marketing
Product: In accordance with the Levitt model the ice creams of Ben and Jerry are majorly from the super-premium ice cream range. The company maintains the commitment it made to the desserts and ice cream enthusiast by imparting its products that consists of all high quality natural ingredients and there is no usage of artificial fragrance and ingredients used in the same. The packaging of the products has been made environmentally sustainable and easily biodegradable (Babayev, 2018). The shape of the ice cream can be within cups and containers. Products have different textures and flavors like chocolate, vanilla peanut, walnut, and strawberry. All the ice creams come with different portion sizes and ingredients inscribed within them.
Products of Haagen-Dazs have been made with the cream crafted especially keeping the desire of their palates of consumers. The blend of the creams is underpinned by finest ingredients and the quality of the ice creams is highly emphasized (Palka and Newerli-Guz, 2018). They strive to avoid using such ingredients which can trigger allergic effects in individuals. The entire product types of the brand are classified into various sub-product lines. The main tactic is to sell frozen desserts which are typically considered as ice creams. The brand has nearly 50+ in cream flavors out of which the most popular ice creams are vanilla, chocolate. Cookie chips and buttered pecan.
Price: Ben and Jerry follow premium pricing technique and interestingly the pricing however varies from location to where the ice creams are purchased. The pint price of Ben and Jerry ranges between $3 to $6.79 USD (benjerry.com, 2020). However, the brand efficiently kept its price ranges as per the exoticness of the flavor and the texture tastes of the blend. Haagen-Dazs’s products are heavily priced. However global pricing is almost similar. Their most expensive line of products is upholder as super premium pricing.
| Companies | Ben and Jerry (main ) | Dreyer’s Grand (Competitors) |
| Ice creams | USD$ 6. 79 (benjerry.com, 2020) | USD$ 4.69 (dreyers.com, 2020) |
| Companies | Haagen-Dazs (main) | Walls (Competitors) |
| Ice creams | $6.99 USD (Haagen dazs.us, 2020) | USD$ 3.77 (wallsicecream.com, 2020) |
Table 1: Price comparison of the ice cream Ben and Jerry & Haagen-Dazs with other competitor brands
(Source: Created by author)
They have deliberately kept the price of its products 20%-40% higher than its competitors such as Buskin robins, walls, and magnums. Most of the product lines of the brand are being sold inside the USA and range about $6.99 USD (Haagen dazs.us, 2020). The very high cost of the products justified the high price which complemented its supremacy over others and market positioning.
Place: Ben and Jerry’s products are from the luxury segment introduced to a wider geographical segment. Most of the premium category hotels and restaurants from all across the world purchase its products. However the products are also available in many hypermarkets and supermarkets.
Figure 2: In store display of Ben and Jerry ice cream
(Source: walmart.ca, 2020)
Milk comes from localized farmers close to its production line to maintain its freshness. Products are sold through retailers like Wal-Mart, Tesco and they also privately owned shops, ice creams parlors, and franchisees. In case of indirect channels of distribution of Haagen-Dazs is the prime reason for the competitive edge of the brand. It also built physical channels of distribution that circumscribes retailers, wholesalers and producers.
Figure 3: In-store display of Haagen-Dazs ice cream
(Source: world.openfoodfacts.org, 2020)
The characteristics of ice cream entail it’s wholesalers and retailers to possess a supreme refrigeration process to keep it intact. The brand also has a wide market share and has a remarkable presence in many developed and developing countries. Both of the brands cater to the elicit class segment however they don’t deliberately restrict the availability of the same. The value of Ben and Jerry implicates their steep commitment to suitable and continuous innovation to make the world a better place to live. Similarly, the value of Haagen-Dazs imparts quality underpinning lavishness that complements the status of buyers.
Promotion: The promotional mix of Ben and Jerry is highly versatile. Initially, they used to obtain conventional promotional mix to advertise their product and family brand visibility. It has been observed that in the year of 1980’s the brand used to promote its product through driven a complimented van that complemented the brand very well.
Figure 4: Conventional advertising of Ben and Jerry
(Source: brandba.se, 2016)
As the time passes by they started taking help of digital marketing and social media sites such as facebook, YouTube Instagram along with traditional marketing to amplify its promotional endeavor. Above mentioned image of the cemetery depicts they used to write a small poem in Halloween and handed a tag in memory with people (brandbase, 2016). On the other hand Haagen-Dazs also used to conduct conventional promotional practices through television and newspaper advertisement however they use digital media to persuade people.
Figure 5: Celebrity endorsement of the products of Haagen-Dazs
(Source: haagen-dazs.ca, 2019)
They also take help of television; predict media, direct mailing, posters, and banners to promote their products. They also conduct various campaign and celebrity endorsements to promote their products. Usage of high graphics and high definition images in the context of advertisements intrigue and stimulate viewer’s curiosity and desire about the products.
Conclusion along with a recommendation
Each of the brands applied a marketing mix in accordance with the purpose, the process of fulfillment, mission, and vision of the same. They have applied 4ps as thus what have complemented the mission and expectation. However influence of external environments such as purchase ability, drivers of consumer behavior, and brand alignment have been taken into consideration while precisely devising the marketing mix stated above. Though each brand has a very structured approach in the usage of 4P, Ben and Jerry have a slight edge over Haagen-Dazs. The former brand can amplify its product portfolio and can increase visibility through rigorous usage of digital marketing. New flavors can be introduced to intrigue customers. Similarly, Haagen-Dazs also needs to extend a range of products that must be affordable for any middle-income people. Impartation of discounts and special offers in events like Christmas and Halloween should be imparted to achieve even greater sales in the context.
References
Journals
Babayev, N., 2018. Ben & Jerry’s integration strategy for the Vietnamese ice cream market. Молодий вчений, (8 (2)), pp.360-366.
Key, T.M. and Czaplewski, A.J., 2017. Upstream social marketing strategy: An integrated marketing communications approach. Business Horizons, 60(3), pp.325-333.
Palka, A. and Newerli-Guz, J., 2018. Ice cream as innovative luxury products. Handel Wewnętrzny, (2 (373)), pp.331-342.
Website
Benjerry.com, 2020, How do you like your euphoria?, Available at: Available at: https://www.benjerry.com,[Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Brandba.se, 2016, BEN & JERRY’S – HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY BUILD A STRONG ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITY, Available athttp://www.brandba.se/blog/2016/9/6/ben-Jerrys-how-to-successfully-build-a-strong-online-brand-community,[Accessed on: 5th November 2020]
Dreyer’s.com, 2020, STOCK YOUR FREEZER. INSPIRATION IS HERE, Available at: https://www.dreyer’s.com,. [Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Haagen-dazs.ca, 2019, Coffee ice cream, Available at: https://www.haagen-dazs.ca/hd-en/coffee-ice-cream,[Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Haagendazs.us, New soft dipped ice cream bars, Available at: https://www.haagendazs.us,[Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Statista.com, 2020, Market share of the leading ice cream brands in the United States in 2017, based on sales, Available athttps://www.statista.com/statistics/255060/market-share-of-the-leading-ice-cream-brands-in-the-united-states/, 2020,[Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Wallsicecream.com, 2020, We deal in Deliciousness, Available at: https://www.wallsicecream.com/uk/our-brands.html,[Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Walmart.ca, 2020, Ben and Jerry’s ice creams, Available athttps://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/ben-jerrys-the-tonight-dough-ice-cream/6000195981093, [Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
World.openfoodfacts.org, 2020, Ice cream – Haagen Dazs, Available athttps://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/3415581114928/salted-caramel-ice-cream-haagen-dazs, [Accessed on: 5nd November 2020]
Appendices
Appendix1: Social & Environmental Assessment Report
(Source: https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/sear-reports/2017-sear-rep)
Appendix2: Sales volume of ice cream manufactured in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2009 to 2019(in thousand liters)
(Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/481207/ice-cream-volume-sales-in-the-united-kingdom-uk)
