plan book lipton sparkling green tea

Plan Book

Pierre M. UribeMKTG 140 W01

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership development of an advertising and

promotion plan has as its primary objective to introduce its first-ever Lipton

Sparkling Green Tea in United Dairy Farmers stores of central Ohio. The

Partnership is a joint venture between Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages

and Unilever. Venture created to expand significantly the

marketing and distribution in selected markets of Unilever's

range of Lipton ready-to-drink (RTD) teas.

The Launch Agency has developed a comprehensive advertising and

promotion plan to position the first-ever Lipton Sparkling Green Tea, a new

ready-to-drink blend of green tea, in the United Dairy Farmers stores of

central Ohio.

“Lipton Sparkling Green Tea brings together the great taste and the goodness of tea that are trademarks of Lipton Ice Tea, with the fun and sparkle of a

soda.”Mary Barnard, VP/GM, Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership


1. SITUATION ANALYSIS

RTD Tea Industry

Green tea is a segment of the RTD tea industry. Reported sales of RTD teas

last year were $ 1,042.4 millions of dollars, having green tea as the most

popular beverage with the heights numbers of new products. The average

families consumption of RTD tea beverage is 3.2 times per week, number that

has been reduced as a result of the deteriorated economy that forces families

to brew tea at home. In 2006, the industry showed the heights growth

percentage, 26.2%, since 2003. However, the industry has experienced a

drastic change in 2008 with a decline growth of -1.8%. For Lipton, this

experience in the industry has not been different. Lipton reported sales of $

236.3 million dollars in 2008 with a decline growth of -3.4% from 2007.

Conversely, according to Lipton, green tea has been the fastest segment of

the RTD tea category, with an average annual growth rate of 16.5% with

Lipton tea as the major driver of this growth and accounts for 42% of category

sales.


Company & Brand

PepsiCo and Lipton Iced Tea combined to created Pepsi-Lipton International

as a joint venture. This partnership was designed specifically for the North

American market 10 years ago and to be established as the leading RTD tea

provider in America and Canada. The joint venture designates each of their

strengths to develop a major product. Pepsi-Lipton International will sell RTD

tea to franchise bottlers, therefore increasing Pepsi's portfolio of healthy

refreshment beverages.

Lipton is one of Unilever's largest beverage brands with sales that exceed 2.8

billion of Euros and is the world's third largest beverage brand. Patrick

Cescau, director of Unilever Foods Division, said: "We have a strong

presence in the developing and emerging markets yet there is plenty of "white

space" to move into. These markets are the next in our planned rollout and

we see Pepsi as the best partner to help us achieve this."

On the other hand, PepsiCo is one the world's largest food and beverage

companies, with annual revenues of $27 billion dollars. Its principle

businesses include Frito-Lay snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports

drinks, Tropicana juices and Quaker foods. PepsiCo's portfolio includes

fifteen brands and each generates $1 billion dollars in annual sales.

Economic

With a downturn in the current American economy and high unemployment

rates, consumers may be more inclined to spend less than previous years.


Perhaps, consumers may be forced to brew tea at home instead of buying

RTD tea at the local stores. However, Lipton Sparkling Green Tea feeds an

emotional and health need and its consumers are health conscious young

professionals that will buy the product before switching to a lower quality RTD

tea brand.

2. MARKETING ANALYSIS

Target Market

The launch agency has researched and selected one primary market to be

the focus of the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea advertising campaign. The

primary target market is “All health conscious young adult professionals

between the ages of 21 to 32 living in central Ohio” with an estimated

population of 47,800 people. This target is tightly defined and analyzed by

four general targeting characteristics:

Demographics. – The target audiences’ demographics are:

Young adults part of the generation X and Y

Family and single households

White, Hispanic, Asians, and Black

Between the age of 21 and 32

Middle Class male and females with incomes above 45,000.00

Psychographics. – The psychographic study realized for this campaign

indicates similarities in the consumers’ activities, interest, and values. These

are the following:


Activity: Workout, Social Events

Interest: Health, Profession

Values: Personal Image, Health

Geographics. – The camping focuses on the Central Ohio-Columbus-Franklin

County.

Behaviographic. – The target audience for this campaign is most likely to

spend a couple dollar more on a product that will help them maintain a good

health and image.

Product

Lipton Sparkling Green Tea, a new Ready-To-Drink blend of green tea, with

sparkling water and fruit flavors, is a refreshing complement to a healthy

lifestyle. Lipton Sparkling Green Tea is made of the finest tealeaves sourced

from all over the world, which provide naturally protective flavonoid

antioxidants. An added benefit to Lipton Sparkling Green tea is the

antioxidants that can help the body to protect itself against free radicals,

molecules that can damage cells. Mary Barnad, VP/GM, Pepsi-Lipton Tea

Partnership stated, “Lipton Sparkling Green Tea brings together the great

taste and the goodness of tea that are trademarks of Lipton Iced Tea,

with the fun and sparkle of a soda. Now consumers really can have it all”. The

drink will be available in regular (green tea), berry, strawberry kiwi, and diet

strawberry kiwi flavors. Packaged in 20-ounce, 1.5 liter, and 16.9 oz-twelve

packs.


Price

Lipton tea is the worlds leading tea brand and their products are available in

over 150 countries around the world. Consumers tend to prefer Lipton tea

products over other brands because they believe the brand has the ability and

willingness to deliver on its brand promises, which is “experience the

unexpected”. The product ranges in price from $ 1.19 to $ 5.92 as follows:

20oz : $ 1.19

1.5 liters : $ 2.98

16.9oz – twelve packs : $ 5.92

Place

Through the joint venture agreement, PepsiCo would distribute Lipton tea

products, specifically Lipton Ice Tea in more than 60 countries where PepsiCo

has already established its corporate presence. The partnership has two main

goals: to move Lipton Ice tea brand into new distribution channels and

markets. PepsiCo will implement the placing of the product by using their

current logistic tools in central Ohio. The distribution links the product to the

primary market and focus of the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea advertising

campaign. The Lipton Sparkling Green Tea will be placed in United Dairy

Farmers stores located in mid-to upper-class neighborhood of Central Ohio-

Columbus-Franklin County.


Promotion

Lipton Tea has an extended list of advertising promotion that started back on

January 9th of 1953, where Robert B. Smallwood, former president of

Thomas J Lipton Inc., and Samuel Winokur, president of the Tea

Association of the United States, conducted the first tea promotion campaign

in different markets around the United States. During the beginning of the

year of 2006 Lipton Tea and BikeTown were making it possible for thousands

of Americans to live active lives by giving away bikes. The campaign was

brought to life through an integrated program including a national on-pack

promotion and online sweepstakes to win bikes, biking gear and a 10-market

national tour with team Lipton and BikeTown USA through

Baltimore/Washington, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Los

Angeles, Miami, New York and Philadelphia. Team Lipton and BikeTown will

give away one bike a day and a healthy supply of Lipton Tea for 150 days. In

October of 2009, Lipton Iced Tea created an advertising promotion called

“Win a smart car promotion” where consumers could enter it by simply

purchasing any two Lipton Iced Tea participating products from participating

stores and follow the prompts to enter, the last 4 digits from each two

participating product barcodes as well as the receipt number, by internet or

mail. Lipton Tea recognizes partnerships and online promotion campaigns as

a good communication tools and they are the most common form of

promotion done by the brand throughout the years.


Social Trends

The Lipton Sparkling Green Tea has been formulated for consumption of both

female and male with some degree of health awareness. Over the past

several years, there have been more educational campaigns about health

and nutrition making the American population more alert when purchasing the

day-to-day beverages and food. For the last decade, the health benefits of tea

have gained wide coverage in the media. Studies continue to show the

beneficial properties of teas, with health benefits ranging from lower

cholesterol levels to improve arterial health and decreasing chance of cancer.

This positive press has definitely increased the demand for tea. Both the need

for convenience and positive press on tea, have created an increase in sales

of tea products, specifically ready-to-drink (RTD) teas sold in single-serve

containers.

Competitive Analysis

There are many RTD tea products on the market, but Lipton tea’s most

recognizable competitors are Arizona, Snapple, and Nestea. However,

Arizona and Snapple are marketed to a different consumer segment therefore

they are not going to be included on the competitive evaluation. Lipton tea’s

major competitor is Nestle with its Nestea Ice Tea line of products. Like

Pepsi-Lipton, Nestle Refreshment Company has copied an agreement with

another soda manufacturer, Coca Cola (Pepsi’s biggest competitor), to form

the Coca Cola-Nestle Refreshment Company. Nestle’s alliance with Coca


Cola has the same purpose as the Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership, which is

global distribution. The existence of Coca Cola-Nestle partnership in the

United States and some other countries remains a threat to the goals of

Pepsi-Lipton. Coca Cola-Nestle has two major products: Nestea sweetened

with natural lemon flavor and diet Nestea with natural lemon flavor. Both are

available in 12oz cans and in 16oz wide mouth glass bottles. In addition to the

cans and bottles, Nestea is available in refrigerated cartons. The tea is

preservative free and made from a brewed product taken back down to a tea

powder. While Coca Cola- Nestle continues to develop the packaging and

marketing strategies for Nestea Iced Tea, there are no recent announcements

of impending new products or new flavors of iced tea to be developed soon.

There is a limited flavor of Nestea Iced Tea, which is basically the original

iced tea flavor. The company has not shown interest to capture the emerging

demand for healthy RTD iced tea products. This can be a good opportunity

for Pepsi-Lipton to exploit. Lipton Tea can continue to expand its market

position by capturing the growing market for healthy RTD iced tea.

SWOT Analysis

Opportunities

On-the-go consumers prefer RTD products as their daily beverage.

Capture Pepsi already extended market with the partnership.

The new demand of tea as a result of health awareness.

Strengths

Uniliver is a multinational company and well recognized in the industry.

Strong brand Image and brand awareness.

PepsiCo is a major distributor in the United Stated and Canada.


4. CONSUMER RESEARCH

Secondary Research

A recent study conducted on 2007 by Essential Insight on Consumer Markets

showed Tea as one of the most underdeveloped beverages in the United

States. Tea barely compares in market size to beverage categories such as

carbonated soft drinks, coffee and water. Currently, the market is worth

around $1.63 billion and it will enjoy double-digit growth over the next five

years according to most projections. With advertising expenditures in excess

of $100 million, it is clear that RTD tea marketers are supporting the category

and driving this projected increase. “Tea fits into the well-established

movement among aging baby boomers to seek out foods and beverages that

promise wellness and anti-aging effects. These aging boomers are not the

major market for RTD iced tea beverages like Snapple, which targets college

students and recent grads, nor are they the prime buyers of established tea

bag and instant tea brands such as Lipton, which skew toward seniors.

Boomers are the drivers of specialty teas, in every way, shape and form.”

Threats

The downturn economy Coca cola-Nestle partnership The preference of natural juices

over green tea for health conscious consumer

Weaknesses

Consider new product. The industry becoming competitive

by the increasing demand of tea products.

Many brands are launching new RTD tea products.


(Essential Insight on Consumer Markets. 2007). What makes tea, a nutritional

powerhouse, exclusively situated in the beverage category is that tea is

naturally healthful.

Packaged Fact’s new report, “Tea and Ready-to-Drink Tea in the U.S.”, 3rd

Edition, studied tea’s new importance and the impact on the market and the

consumer’s mind. This report examines the U.S. tea market—retail and food

service. Retail sales come from numerous channels such as supermarkets,

drug stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, convenience stores, dollar

stores, and health-natural foods stores. Demand for convenience will continue

to drive the market for RTD tea. The American lifestyle has changed.

Traditions are changing and gone are the days when tea was a delicate and

rigorously prepared beverage. The inception of RTD tea has even led to the

consumption of tea as a casual beverage, just like soft drinks.

Primary Research

The Launch Agency primary research was conducted using a questionnaire

with 10 consumers that purchased RTD green tea beverage from the United

Dairy Farmers, located on Short North-Columbus 43215. Primary research

revealed a better and more thorough understanding of RTD green tea

beverage consumers and their personal experience, associations, and

perception of the brand and the product. According to survey results, Lipton

Sparkling Green Tea has standard consumer satisfaction. Consumers enjoy

the product because of its refreshing and unexpected flavor. Typically a


consumers introduce Lipton Sparkling Green Tea to him or herself as a result

of a desire and search for an on-the-go low calorie beverage. Consumers find

Lipton Sparkling Green Tea to be refreshing, with a very good flavor, and a

very light and fruity taste. Also, consumers would highly recommend Lipton

Sparkling Green Tea to people who want to try something new, who enjoy

Lipton iced teas already, and anyone who wants a zero-calorie alternative to

soda but still want a delicious taste!

4. ADVERTISING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Marketing Objective

The Launch Agency’s campaign goal is to introduce Lipton Sparkling Green

Tea, a new Ready-To-Drink blend of green tea, in United Dairy Farmers

(UDF) stores in central Ohio-Columbus-Franklin County. United Dairy

Farmers stores are the perfect vehicle for the introduction of Lipton Sparkling

Green Tea because their commitment to quality products, fast-friendly

service, and clean bright stores; with nearly 28 stores throughout Columbus

Ohio. Columbus has an estimated population of 47,800 people that are health

conscious, young adults, professionals between the ages of 21 to 32, which is

the main target market for this advertising and promotion plan.

Lipton Sparkling Green Tea should successfully cover the increasing demand

for RTD healthy beverages and new social trends, trends that are making the

American population more alert when purchasing the day-to-day beverages


and food. UDF stores will satisfy the consumers need for RTD healthy

beverages and add to the overall reputation of Lipton Iced tea.

The launch agency will increase the brand awareness among the 47,800

people, subject of this campaign, within the 2010 fiscal year.

Communications Objectives

With in one year, this campaign has the following communication objectives:

To inform about the introduction of Lipton Sparkling Green Tea in

United Dairy Farmers central Ohio stores-Columbus part of our test

market area.

To create a 95 percent recall awareness of the Lipton Sparkling Green

Tea among consumers part of our test market area.

To create purchase intention for the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea

among consumers part of our test market area.

To create familiarity with the benefit of consuming Lipton Sparkling

Green Tea among consumers part of our test market area.

5. MEDIA

Media Options and Mix Selection

The Launch Agency suggest the use of the following traditional advertising

medias:


Outdoor advertising (billboards and mobile advertising)

Local magazines (Columbus Alive and C-bus magazine)

Local Radio (97.1 sport radio and 97.9 WNCI)

Continuity

The Agency recommends capitalizing on their advertising during the

periods that best meet the product sales, spring, summer, and fall, which

will also act as a budget check function between advertising efforts to

save money.

Reach

The Launch agency suggest advertising for the Lipton Sparkling Green

Tea will obtain an average of 90 percent of its Central Ohio-Columbus test

market in the first two month. When the desired reach is met, Lipton

Sparkling Green Tea will sustain optimum brand awareness.

Frequency

An average frequency of 5 will maximize the efforts of the advertisers and

meet the numbers necessary to create a state of action on the consumer’s

part of our test market area.

Media Strategy

The scope for the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea is narrowly defined in terms of

“Demo/Geographics”: health conscious young adults professionals between

the ages of 21 to 32 leaving in central Ohio-Columbus. In theory, the target

market consists of approximately 47,800 people who have been pre-selected


by the Launch Agency. For a successful campaign, Lipton Sparkling Green

Tea’s goal is to implement the following:

Place Billboards around Central Ohio-Columbus

Design a mobile advertising tool with the product’s logo or brand

Place print advertising on Columbus Alive and C-Bus magazine

Place radio advertising on Sport radio and WNCI

This traditional advertising media have been selected as the best possible

choice to reach the selected target audience. Outdoor, magazine, and radio

advertisements were selected because size of the test market as well as the

cost of exposure. The agency’s decision to omitted the Internet is because

the Psychographic of the target audience.

6. CREATIVE BRIEF

What is the opportunity and/or problem the advertising must address?

What do we want to do as a result of the adverting?

Who are we talking about?

How do target market members think and feel about our product now?

The opportunity in need to be addressed is the health benefits of drinking Lipton Sparkling Green Tea.

Create desire to purchase Lipton Sparkling Green Tea.

To all health conscious young adults professionals between the ages of 21 to 32 leaving in central Ohio-Columbus that purchase on to go RTD green tea product in the UDF stores.

Target members feel good about the product and would highly recommend it to people who want to try something new, and enjoy Lipton iced teas already, and anyone who wants a zero-calorie alternative to soda but still want a delicious taste.


What is the key response we want?

What information/attributes might help produce this response?

What aspect of brand personality should advertising express?

Are there media or budget considerations?

What other information might affect the creative direction?

7. PROMOTION PLAN

Sales Promotion

In order to introduce the first-ever Lipton Sparkling Green Tea in United Dairy

Farmers stores in central Ohio-Columbus, particularly to the 27,800 people

part of the target market, a sales promotion has been created by the Launch

Agency to attract and influence consumers when buying RTD green tea

products. With this in mind, the agency has set objectives to effectively

introduce the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea in United Dairy Farmers stores in

Brand Loyalty.

Brand Fulfillment: Quality, Liability, and Consistency.

Quality.

No media or budget consideration.

The economy.


central Ohio-Columbus and increase product distribution. The sales

promotional plan will include the following items:

Product Demonstration

This will include an appearance from Lipton Sparkling Green Tea educator

who will be place into each United Dairy Farms stores to demonstrate the

new product features and benefits to the potential consumers.

Sweepstakes

A sweepstakes entry form is provided on flyers and brochures to be handed

out by the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea Mobile; winners will be announced on

the radio and magazines.

Mobile Advertising

The Lipton Sparkling Green Tea Mobiles, SUVs with a giant version of the

product on the roof, will be around Central Ohio-Columbus providing free

samples, flyers, and brochures.

8. CAMPAIGN EVALUATION

Within the first year of the positioning of the product, the Launch Agency will

measure the success of the campaign by assessing the “buy-in” of the

number the Lipton Sparkling Green Tea sold in the United Dairy Farmers

stores. Other measures include:

Promotional responses and mobile advertising accomplishment.


Pre and post tests levels of awareness, attitude and purchase intention

objectives, which will be monitored on a monthly basis.

Scanner data for product sales.

CREATIVE DISCRIPTION


References

Wikipedia. 2009. “Lipton.” Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wki/Lipton

Institutional. 2007. “A Marketing Plan for Lipton Ice Tea Institutional Affiliation Date.” Available at

http://www.advanceessays.com/samples/Marketing_Plan.pdf

Ideal Media. 2009. “State of Industry ’09.” Available athttp://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/idealmedia/bw0409/index.php?startid=S1#/42

FoodBizDaily. 2009. “New product: Lipton Sparkling Green Tea from Pepsi-Lipton tea partnership.” Available at

http://foodbizdaily.com/articles/28876-product-lipton-sparkling-green-tea-by-pepsi-lipton-tea-partnership.aspx

Media Post. 2009. “Lipton Intros Sparkling Green Tea.” Available athttp://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=104662

Find Articles. 2003. “Unilever and PepsiCo Create 'Pepsi Lipton International' RtD Tea Joint Venture in Selected International Markets.” Available at

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_Oct_14/ai_108827922/

Goggle. 2009. “Lipton tea promotion history.” Available athttp://www.google.com/search?q=lipton+tea+promotion+history&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en

http://www.google.com/search?q=lipton+tea+promotion+history&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en

http://www.google.com/search?q=lipton+tea+promotion+history&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en



http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=104662

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=104662

http://en.wikipedia.org/wki/Lipton


Uniliver. 2009. “Win a smart car promotion” Available athttp://www.unilever.com.au/brands/Promotions/Lipton-Ice-Tea-WinaSmartCarPromotion.aspx

Essential Insight on Consumer Markets. 2007. “Tea and ready-to-drink tea in the U.S.” Available at

http://www.packagedfacts.com/Tea-RTD-1282368/

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