Introduction
- One of the oldest breakfast cereal providers
- Now a $9 billion business
- They sell other snack and drink products, but their breakfast cereal is their main seller
- They are established in the USA, but want to improve their profits in Europe
Product Launch Approaches
- Launch Healthy Berry Crunch in France
- Withhold the launch of Healthy Berry Crunch
Product Approach Analysis
- Expand the Role of the 3 Vice Presidents
- Create Euroteams
- Create a European product structure with a clear leader
- The country managers have not reacted positively to changes in their role in prior events
- They must change in order for United Cereal to get making to profit and some sort of stanardization in Europe
- Teams will allow for more innovation, less confusion of marketing strategy across Europe
- This can lead to future success
- France is a country that is responsive to healthy food marketing and products
- Starting up the product might cost over $20 million
- After testing, there was a 64% “would buy again” rate
- There is potential for profit in France and growth that will help the future of a “EuroBrand”
Key Issues
SWOT Analysis
- Competitors such as Kellogs have already touched on this market
- Is Healthy Berry Crunch the right brand to launch as a Eurobrand and is France the right place?
- High cost to launch a new product
- Country Managers want to maintain their decision making power
Weaknesses
- Communication between country managers and upper management is weak
- Attempts to create the EuroTeam idea & change the role of the country managers could create tension
- Marketing plans for Healthy Berry Crunch could cost upward of $20 Million
- United Cereal has customized their products in Europe until now
- The consumers might desire for them to continue this customization and not be responsive to a brand sold the same everywhere
SWOT Analysis
- Opportunities
- Market competition is not that muddled and therefore United Cereal has a chance to take a large portion of the market
- With 20% of their total sales coming from Europe, if they can make profit, it will help the company significantly
- Cut costs with spending less on customization and innovate more with EuroTeams
- If the product is successful in France, this EuroBrand could be successful all throughout Europe in the future
SWOT Analysis
- Threats
- The market is unstable
- If they invest over $20 million in a new marketing plan and product, they could find themselves worse off as before
- Time of getting the product started and having growth
- The healthy hype seems to be the big thing at the moment. If United Cereal does not work fast, they could miss the window of opportunity to succeed
- Other competitors who see the idea is working and they might also attempt to join the market
What Should Brill & United Cereal Do?
- United Cereal should create the EuroTeams that Brill mentions
- This will cut costs, allow for more innovation and clearer communication, and a more standardized product
- This model would be the martix model of business where there are multiple bosses to report information to
- In order to keep the Country Managers happy, they have to be clear that their opinions will still be highly considered in decision making
What Should Brill & United Cereal Do? (Cont.)
- Brill should go ahead and launch in France
- The demand for a healthy breakfast snack has been proven through testing
INTENSIVE INTENSITY