SAXONVILLE SAUSAGE

COMPANY
By Mausumi Mohanta
SAXONVILLE’S BACKGROUND

 A 70-year-old Company,

 Family business Headquartered in Saxonville, Ohio.

 In 2005, the revenue approximately $ 1.5 billion.

 Produced a variety of pork sausage products: fresh

sausage as opposed to smoked or semi-dried
COMPANY PRODUCT
 The business consisted of branded products:
Product Market Revenues
Bratwurst Flat – No Growth 70%
Breakfast Sausage Decline revenues 20%
Italian Sausage Growth 5%
“Vivio”
Store brand products - 5%

Revenue Percentage Contribution

5% 5% Bratwurst

20% Breakfast sausage

70%
Italian sausage
"Vivio"
BACKGROUND OF SAXONVILLE’S ITALIAN
SAUSAGE BUSINESS
 Vivio entered the Italian sausage market in 2002.
 “Italian” name to cover up the ‘German heritage’.

 Vivio was priced comparably to other regional

Italian sausages.
 Current positioning of Vivio is “Vivio fresh
Italian sausage” and has an Italian flag in one
corner.
CURRENT SITUATION OF
SAXONVILLE SAUSAGE
 One of their product (Bratwurst) sales decreased
and Vivio’s sales were rising.
 Improved marketing research program to
minimize risk for sales program during launching
of products.
 Repositioning Italian Sausage product or launch
with new brand.
VIVIO : CURRENT MARKETING
SITUATION
• Undifferentiated product
• No clear positioning
PRODUCT • Italian name to create consistency

• In line with competition

• Inconsistent with Saxonville pricing strategy (15 %
PRICE premium)

• 16% of national supermarkets

• Mainly Eastern part of US
PLACE

• Discounted price during the launching period

PROMOTIO • No communication
N
ISSUES !!
ISSUES
 Determine Brand Name
 Vivio or
 New Name

 Determine Brand Positioning

 Family Connection
 Clever Cooking

 Determine Tactic For Promotion

Research
the Italian Opportunity
 The Key Players:
 Ann Banks – Marketing Director at Saxonville
Sausage Company
 Laura Bishop – The Director Of Market
Research
 Liz Keller – Top Brand Consultant
PROJECT SCORE
 Ann Banks formed a multifunctional task force,
“Project Score”, included 10 collegues from the
R&D, packaging and graphics, marketing, and
sales departments.
 To Find the ideal name for Saxonville’s line of
Italian sausage.
 Four Steps to do POSITIONING work.
POSITIONING

 Qualitative Research

 Sequential round of Customer Session

 Refining the new learning

 Monadic testing
Research to determine
the Product name and
Brand Positioning
STEP ONE : PLANNING NEW RESEARCH
ON THE TARGET CUSTOMER

 PhaseI : To confirm some of the basic

information presented in the Attitude and
Usage data.
STEP ONE : PLANNING NEW RESEARCH
ON THE TARGET CUSTOMER

 Phase II :
 To understand current behaviors
 Triggers to purchase, and unmet needs
 To get a clear understanding of product
benefit
 Attributes and ideals
 To develope a solid feel for core value and
role
STEP TWO : BUILDING ON LEARNING
FROM THE FOCUS GROUPS

 Ann and Bishop studied consumers behaviors

from the focus group, developed a synopsis of the
learning and sent it to Project Score.

 6 potential bases for positioning :

 Family Connection
 Clever Cooking
 Confidence
 Appreciation
 Quick and Easy
 Tradition
STEP THREE : BUILDING POSITIONING
CONCEPTS
 “Family Connection” and “Clever Cooking”
received the highest total votes.
 81% of respondents - “Family Connection”.

 72% of respondents - “Clever Cooking”.

 The group embed their ideas to a manageable list

of R&D, graphics and sales tactics.
STEP FOUR : ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
DELIVERS A VERDICT – OR TWO
 “Family Connection” - scored better , receiving
the most first-place votes.
 Discuss how advertising look and feel, packaging,
product attribute, name, considering sub-
branding.
 Picking the winner from the two final concepts.
Determine
Brand Name
PRODUCT
Brand name – Vivio by Saxonville
WHY VIVIO ? WHY BY SAXONVILLE?
 Well established in Atlantic  Nationwide recognition and
areas popularity
 Cost of reintroduction of new
brand?
 Necessity?
 Signifies quality/credibility
for an unknown brand
 Italian Name
 Placed 7th out of 20 choices of  Preferable placement with
Brand Names retailers
 How much value does moving
from 7th to 1st add?
 Italian family message is still
conveyed
RECOMMENDED BRAND NAME :

VIVIO
WHY ??
 Vivio brand awarness

 Put Company’s Brand (Saxonville)

to leverage the product’s brand
 To retain customer loyalty

 Attract new customer

Determine
Brand Positioning
PRODUCT BENEFITS

EMOTIONAL
BENEFITS
Family
happiness

FUNCTIONAL
BENEFITS
Creativity, ease
of use, quickness

CONSUMER PRODUCT
BENEFIT ATTRIBUTES
More time for Nutritious, short
the mother, cooking time,
make meal that ingredient for
everybody loves other meals
FAMILY CONNECTION
POSITIONING ALTERNATIVES

PROs: PROs:
- Recalled by the Italian brand: - Add more value to the general

CLEVER COOKING
opportunity to make it stronger family concept
- Emotional bound not yet - Easier tactical application
exploited - 1° choice in “buying intent” test
- Consistent with Saxonville
moniker: “The Family Company
- Aspirational value
1° concept choice CONs:
- Loss of focus on the original
CONs: target
- Already implied - Every sausage is “easy and
copiable fast”
- Unrealistic idea - Less aspirational
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
RECOMMENDED BRAND POSITIONING :

CLEVER COOKING
WHY ??
 Create difference among competitors

 Create new brand experience

 Tendency to buy is higher than another

positioning (exhibit 11)
 Match to market segment (exhibit 5)

 Fulfill all elements of brand laddering (exhibit 7)

Determine
Tactic For Promotion
CURRENT MARKET CONSIDERATIONS
Behavior Considerations
 Vivio loyalist

 Competitive brand

 Degree of price sensitivity

 Frequency of every day dinner preparation

 Use of other product within company

CURRENT MARKET CONSIDERATIONS
Geographic Considerations
 Currently in strong Italian sausage markets
 Strong Bratwurst markets where Saxonville well
developed
 Strong Saxonville markets where Italian sausage
is distributed
 Strong Saxonville markets where Vivio is
distributed
Customer Analysis
TARGET MARKET
 Working out of the home and working at home
 Head of household: female and male

 Age: 20-50

 Household income level: middle and high

 Consumer group: heavy, medium, and light users

 Loyalist and competitive users

POSSIBLE SEGMENTING DIMENSION
Customer Attributes :
 Working out of the home, part or full time vs
working at home as a homemaker
 Head of household: female vs male

 Age: <10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, >50

 Household income level: low, middle, or high

 Consumer group: heavy, medium, or light users

 Loyalist vs competitive users

POSITIONING
 Wholesome meals with fresh ingredients
 Desire to please entire family with single dish

 Quick meal preparation without sacrificing

nutritional quality
 Family dinner facilitating feelings of
togetherness
REVENUE CALCULATION
Vivio was only available in just 16% of supermarkets,
our target is to reach 100% supermarkets
FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS

Base Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Sweet Sausage $3,714,499.00 $9,576,442.73 $10,725,615.86 $12,012,689.77

Hot Sausage $18,858,587.00 $48,619,794.61 $54,454,169.96 $60,988,670.36

Mild Sausage $42,414,884.00 $109,350,872.81 $122,472,977.55 $137,169,734.86

Mild Sausage
$2,829,047.00 $7,293,636.80 $8,168,873.21 $9,149,138.00
(55oz)
Totals $67,817,017.00 $174,840,746.95 $195,821,636.59 $219,320,232.98

% of Revenue 5% 10% 12% 13%

 CONCLUSION

Clever Cooking
 Simply add your own personal touch to
create meals that make any day a little
special
Vivio – Creative meals in minutes!
 Comes with recipes everyone is sure to
love, unleash you creativity to create a
wholesome real meal in minutes
These Slides were prepared
By
Mausumi Mohanta
As a part of an internship
done under the guidance of
Prof. Sameer Mathur