Saxonville Sausage

Company
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL | BRIEFCASES
Saxonville’s
Background
70 year old privately held family
business
HQ in Saxonville,Ohio
2005 revenues approximately $1.5
Billion
 Bratwurst
70%

Products Breakfast Sausage

20%

Italian Sausage
Vivio
5%

Store brand products

5%
Sausage’s Market Situation :

• Both bratwurst and breakfast

categories had been flat
nationwide since 2004.
• Saxonville’s breakfast sausage had
underperformed the market
Sausage’s Market Situation :

• Italian sausage showing growth

across producers in retail
market.9% growth in 2004 and
15% growth in 2005.
• Vivio had matched level of
growth. However, Vivio was available
in just 16% of Nation’s Large
supermarkets.
Objective
of the
case
 Well-thought-out Brand
positioning plan to move
Saxonville’s Italian Sausage
to National Category leader
and make it the one that
every grocery account in the
U.S will want to carry.
Who are
the
Players?
Ann Banks New Product Marketing Director at
Saxonville Sausage Company

Steve Sears Vice President of Marketing,

Saxonville Sausage Company

Laura Director of Market Research

Bishop
Liz Keller Top brand consultant and a professional
from a market research company
 Initial
product
research
• Entered the market in 2002 in the Northeast
• Worried that people wouldn’t buy an Italian
Product from a ‘German Heritage Company’
• Price comparable to other regional Italian
Sausages
• For 1st Six Months went on Deal every other
Month + In store sampling

Brand Familiarity

Saxonville
 Current
Market
Positioning
 Regional
Competitive
Brands

Authentic Italian name

Freshly and
Italian with locally
locally made
heritage grown angle
Supported brand with
base trade spending

Major supermarkets
request Vivio to stay
competitive

Vivio growing along with

Italian sausage category

Brand has faced multiple

facings
 Pre Market
Research

10 Years of market research results

Annual business plans

Year-end reports

Project Score
 Pre Market Exhibit
Research 1
Target Customers: Female Head of
Household

Competitive Analysis: No national players,29

local/regional brands

Purchase trends: Dinner time eating

occasion, peak
volume Oct to Feb
 Challenges
and
opportunities
in developing
a National
Italian
Sausage
Brand
 Challenges

Local Brands playing their ‘Home Grown’

heritage

Distributing outside the Core geography

 Opportunities

Competitors are frozen producers, not fresh

 Market
Research
Methodolog
y
 Monadic
Developing
testing
into actual
Building concepts
on and
Understanding Learning customer
behaviors from the prioritization
and needs of focus
target groups
customers Quantitative

Qualitative
 Attitude
and Usage
Female heads-of-heads are target
customers

Heavy users used Italian sausage three +

times a month

Mean Italian sausage usage two times

every six weeks

Heaviest usage among consumers aged

20-50 years

Evidence: Exhibit
3
Respondents

103 Female Heads of

household screened based
on demographic, behavior
and geographic
considerations
Understanding
Outcome behaviors
and needs
Perceptual Maps of target
customers
Evidence: Exhibit
5
Evidence: Exhibit
5
Mea
l
Solutio
Respondents

103 Female Heads of

household screened based
on demographic, behavior
and geographic
considerations
Building on
Outcome Learning
from the
Potential territories for focus
positioning the brand groups
 Evidence: Exhibit
Family Connection 6

Good food, sharing and

enjoying themselves

Magnet that pulls everyone

in
 Evidence: Exhibit
Clever Cooking 6

Making a recipe her own

way

Adds a little zest to the

dishes
 Evidence: Exhibit
Confidence 6

Whatever she makes will

taste good

Sure-fire thing that enables

her to “pull it off”
 Evidence: Exhibit
Appreciation 6

“What’s for dinner ?

 Evidence: Exhibit
Quick and Easy 6

Delicious and wholesome

meal in less than 30
minutes

Quick homemade meal

 Evidence: Exhibit
Tradition 6

To bring back those old

good memories
Main ingredient in a
number of her mother’s
recipes
Identifying
the “Brand
ladder “
 VALUE
Job well done

EMOTIONAL
BENIFIT
Varying with theme

FUNCTIONAL
BENEFIT
Quick and Easy
Great Taste

ATTRIBUTES
Above average of
solids to fats
Good color and
Respondents
Consumers were exposed
to four mock concepts and
asked to selectively
prioritize their three
favorites

Outcome
“Clever cooking” received Customer
highest total votes, with prioritizatio
“Family connection” n
receiving the most first-
place votes
Evidence: Exhibit
8
Evidence: Exhibit
9
Tactic should be realizable
by the slated date for the
Brand’s early launch

Management isn’t willing Present

to discount the product’s
price Constraints
Respondents
Tested the “Family
Connection” concept with
250 target customers and
“Clever Cooking” with 256
target customers
answered a series of
questions about the
concepts, including their
likelihood to purchase.
Quantitative
Outcome testing –
Monadic
Both concepts were viable testing
!
Evidence: Exhibit
11
 Let’s
Analyze !
 Family Connection
Advantage
s
• Closest to target customer’s core values
• Goes with the brand “Italian” implies “family”
• Received the most first place votes
• Saxonville perceived as a family brand

Disadvantages

• Fear of Cannibalization of other brands

• More common and less durable
 Clever Cooking
Advantage
s
• Distinctive and Durable
• Easier to provide tactical support
• No fear of cannibalization of other brands
• 1st place in purchase intention

Disadvantages

• Distracts away from the main target market

• Puts the company’s name on leverage
 Evidence: Exhibit
11

57.
105
5
 Clever Cooking
Evidence: Exhibit 11
Inferences &8

• Even though Definitely/Probably would buy % is

more for “Family connection”, Definitely would buy
% is more for “Clever cooking”

• Since providing tactical support is easier for

“Clever Cooking” the constraint of realization of
tactics before the slated date can be avoided.

• To satisfy the Probably buy segment, Family

approves recipes can be included in the package
 Name: Vivio Italian Sausage
Evidence: Exhibit
Inferences 4

Even though “Saxonville Italian Sausage” did

receive a lot of votes, the company can go with the
same name as Vivio
• Was on deal every month during it’s sales
• Consumers already recognize Saxonville by its
moniker
• The sales in demographic where Saxoville
Bratwurst was distributed won’t be affected
 Introducin
g

VIVIO
Simply Add your own personal
touch to create meals that make
any day a little special

Each variety of Vivio comes with

“Family approved” one dish recipes
for a wholesome real meal in
minutes!!
 VIVIO
Product
• Flavors – Sweet “Oriental” style, Evidence:
gourmet cheese and smoked Exhibit 2
flavors,macorni & cheese falvor
• Different forms: Uncooked pre-
sliced “disks”,mini-patties,mini-
Increases
links, and precooked
Creativity Value
“meatballs”,”salami” slices and
“disks”

In-case
• Maximize the product visibility
window differentiatio
n
 VIVIO
Sales and Promotion
Existing
• Price comparable with other product
Italian Sausage brands positioning

• In-store sampling Increases %

of
Probably/Mig
ht buy it
segment
• Running more frequent BOGO’s respondents
Slides Created
by
Rahul Nk
3rd Yr MME
NIT Trichy

As a part of Internship done under the guidance of

Prof.Sammer Mathur
(www.iiminternship.com
)
(www.Buddingmarkets.co
m)