THE SCIENCE OF

MARKETING

FROZEN MEAT
Making It Priority

Prepared By:

THE SCIENCE OF
MARKETING
 THE SCIENCE OF
MARKETING

February 15, 2007

Identifying Growth Prospects
Sunbulah & Frozen Meat

This shares an overall Action Plan coming out of the findings from the consumer & trade researches conducted
on the Frozen Foods categories during December, 2006. A total of 1111 contacts were made across 8 cities in
KSA amongst a representative sample of Saudi & Expatriate Arab housewives.

BACKGROUND: Sunbulah is now a “Brand”; it has taken a leadership role in the Frozen Foods industry. Ever
since 2003, behind aggressive advertising, it has managed to become the second most prominent name in the
Freezer. Amongst multiple brands and categories it operates in, it now needs to list down its priorities. What
investment would have the highest payback and How?

Findings were immense and possible next steps in the dozens and thus it was decided that single documents be
issued every 10 days analyzing a category at a time. The first is to be on Frozen Meats. This is shared below.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS:

60
General Am e ric a na
50 TOM Frozen Food (%)
 Of all the frozen food sections, Meats takes the largest share 50

in terms of Volume, Value and physical Presence (Visibility) 40 S unbulla

33

in the Freezers. With sales of around SR 1.3 Billion (all 30

frozen meats), any prominent player in this segment is sure 20

to get recognized as a Frozen Foods product. 10

S a dia
6

N ugge ts , 51
0
B urge rs , 57

P a ra tha , 64
 Sunbulah competes in the Processed Meat
F ille d S pring R o lls , 66
category (SR345 Million). With its distinct and
F re nc h F rie s , 70

P izza , 72 strong branding, it has managed to get a #2

position in the Frozen Foods products (Top of
S we e t C o rn, 77
F illo / B a qla wa
Le a ve s , 79
P uff P a s trie s , 79 Mind with universal Awareness), however, this
S pring R o ll Le a ve s , 83

M ix Ve ge ta ble , 86
awareness is associated much more to the
P e a s , 87
Frozen Vegetables & Pastries.
45 55 65 75 85 95
10 0
93 Nuggets

 Sunbulah is a brand people are proud of. 90 87

Awareness of Brands in the Burgers
Frozen Meat Category
Not termed as being expensive at all, it is 80

seen as being very local (Saudi brand). It 70

64
61

does have an issue of not being easily 60 57

51

available and not offering practical sizing. 50

40 37

 Notably, its main competitors are 29

30

Americana & Sadia – both predominantly 20

9 10
10
3 4 4 4
2 2 2 2
0 1 1 1
0
Sunb ulla Mo nt ana Americana W alima Al Kab eer Plyms Al Karama Other But ler Sad ia Lamb wes t o n
 THE SCIENCE OF
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strong players in the Frozen Meat sectors. Thus, 'head on' activity in Meats would also lead to higher
share of mind in the overall Frozen Foods sector for Sunbulah.

Frozen Meat
 Penetration of Fr. Meats is universal with almost 94% of the population buying one form or another.
 With each additional share worth almost SR3.5 million, investing in Frozen Meats is relatively healthy.
The question that arises is: which of the 6 sub-categories should FFP focus its sales & marketing efforts?
100
 Trial, differs by sub-category drastically and 88
90
77
although building market share in Burgers 80
65
70
seems logical at face-value, however, each 60

category should be studied and ranked by 50 41

40
studying all variables holistically (i.e. 30
28
21

competitive environment, loyalty, etc.) 20

10
 Category ranking was done on the following: 0
Meat Burger Chicken Burger Chicken Nuggets Chicken Fillet Kebab Chicken Popcorns

Meat Burger Ch.Burger Ch.Nuggets Ch.Fillet Kebab Ch.Popcorn

Size (Million SR) 40 57 35 14 11 12
# of Major Players 2 3 4 NA 1 NA
Advertising Spend NA NA NA NA NA NA
Trial Level (%) 88 77 65 41 28 21
Pur. Freq (/year) 19.8 19.9 19.0 18.0 13.3 15.7
Vol/Purchase (gm) 760 750 575 720 780 NA
Brand Loyalty 27% 30% 30% 30% 22% 23%

Profitability NA NA NA NA NA NA

  Meat Burger
Indexed & Weighted

Ch.Burger
↓
Ch.Nuggets Ch.Fillet Kebab Ch.Popcorn Weight
Size (Index) 364 518 318 127 100 109 100%
Competitiveness Index 50 33 25 100 100 100 80%
Advertising Index * 60 50 75 100 100 100 75%
Trial Index 419 367 310 195 133 100 75%
Pur. Freq (/year) 149 150 143 135 100 118 50%
Vol/Purchase (gm) 132 130 100 125 136 100 60%
Brand Loyalty 104 100 100 100 111 110 90%
Profitability * 100 80 125 100 125 175 110%
Weighted Total 1120 1188 986 772 724 750
*These are assumptions made internally and can be corrected upon receiving accurate feedback

Net, although investing in Burgers still seems to be the right direction priority wise, other smaller categories
are not that far off owing to the less competitive environment and higher product profitability. These should
be considered in the coming years.

BURGERS: MARKET TACTICS AND STRATEGIES

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Retail Audit 2006 Ch P o p

Ke b a b
Ko f ta C o rn M e a t B a ll
6%
7% 2%
C h F ille t 8 %
3%
C h B u rg e rs Chicken & Meat Burgers combined make up 54% of the
32%

processed meat industry of concern to Sunbulah. Combined,

C h N u g g e ts
20%
the value market size is SR100 Million. Sunbulah's
performance has been much better in Red vs. White meat
La m b / M u t to n
B u rg e rs
3%
B e e f B u rg e rs burgers but has not achieved leadership in any market yet.
19 %

Affinity to Category vs. Brands: Burger buyers, compared to all Retail Chicken Beef Lamb
Share 6% 11% 17%
other frozen foods had the highest level of "regular consumers" showing M. Size SR 57 SR 34 SR 5
a healthy customer base. Moreover, people did not consider purchasing Net Sunbulah Share: 8%

the Fresh alternative, indicating probably that there

  Burgers
aren't much negative feelings on burgers. Regular-ness
BASE: 1111
was its highest in Dammam (88%) and lowest in Taif I Buy This Regularly Through The Year 71
(50%). Many people in Taif bought this only when on I Buy This Occasionally Once In A While 11
I Buy This Mainly When It Is On Promotion 8
Promo.
I Never Buy This Because I Use Fresh 4
I Never Buy This Because I Never Use It At All 5
A burger user has average loyalty to the brand that
I Don't Buy This Because I Am Not Aware Of It 0
he/she buys. The good news is that consumers do not
look for 'better/healthier/tastier' alternatives by buying fresh instead (like Kebabs). However, burger users on
average are much less loyal to the Variant they're buying (i.e. not important if it's Lamb).

If Brand Not Found: Chick B Beef B Lamb B Ch Nug Ch Pop Ch Fillet Kebab MeatBall
Change Store 30% 28% 26% 30% 23% 30% 22% 23%
Change Type (get Chicken instead) 25% 24% 30% 14% 19% 9% 12% 9%
Change Category 17% 19% 17% 16% 16% 11% 13% 17%
Change Brand But Not Category 23% 20% 22% 34% 27% 35% 27% 30%
Not Buy At All 2% 7% 4% 5% 12% 4% 6% 10%
Buy Fresh Instead 3% 2% 1% 1% 3% 11% 21% 11%

Profile wise, you'll find Burger users to be average consumers with no special demographics split. The lamb
burger buyer, however, had a much higher skew towards Qassim, and Chicken burger had a much higher
preference in Taif.
Retention Lamb/Mutton Chicken Beef Chicken Chicken Meat
Retention: This points (Current/Trial) Burger Burger Burger Nuggets Popcorns
Kebab
Balls
towards the quality of the 726 849 450 718 235 305 209
BASE:
product (i.e. what % of Americana 92% 86% 90% 82% 100% 96% 82%
Sadia   54% 53% 67% 61%   89%
those tried continued
Sunbulah 49% 51% 56% 51% 45% 58% 63%
using the brand). 18%   43% 40%     66%
Al Kabeer
Americana has surely won
the taste buds at a very high level in the Meat segment (average retention of 90%!) Sunbulah's retention was
right after Sadia's, with almost 1 out 2 people converting (e.g. success rate of a sampling activity).
Quick Recap: Before proceeding to the action steps, from the above analysis we can judge:
 THE SCIENCE OF
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 Presence in the Frozen Meats segment is essential. Besides being the largest Frozen category (value
wise), it allows brands to be better noticed in the Frozen Foods market
 Out of the 6 Meat categories of interest, Burgers (both Red & White) should be the highest priority:
o High trial level of the category by the general public
o High # of regular users to the category
o Healthy level of purchasing frequency and amount/purchase
o Two to three main competitors only

 Within the Burgers market:

o No distinct profile of users of Burgers vs. national population averages
o No alternative to Burgers are used (e.g. Fresh burgers)
o Dammam was the most developed/mature
o Taif was the least; but consumer's highly dependent on Promotions to purchase
o Lamb burgers had local taste preferences particularly in Qassim
o Retention of Americana is highest showing highly satisfied consumers (i.e. product strength)
o Sunbulah had moderate Retention (50%) indicating the product needs to be worked upon
and/or new Trial activities needs to take place

As a marketing rule, growth in any segment can come only from 3 facets:

o Increase in purchase frequency by user

o Increase in number of users
o Increase in volume per purchase by user

Just to further simply it, FFP can either attempt to increase the size of the pie (i.e. grow the market) and/or take
share from existing players. In terms of priorities, we would suggest:

 Gain share: FFP first makes efforts to establish its name and loyalty in this segment prior to adopting
any conversion / upgrading initiatives. The action plan to do so is discussed in the following pages.
 Increase the size of the Market : Once a major player, any activities to change consumer habits would
result in a proportional benefit to your market share.
 Maintain your current users: These will be your loyalists and eventually pay the bills. Do not lose them.

The following pages outline what we judge should be the ACTION PLAN for FFP (in order priority). A volume
forecast is done, where possible, with assumptions on increase in brand fundamentals like Purchase Intent, Top
of Mind, etc.
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PRIORITY #1: GAIN SHARE

INCREASING # OF USERS: Given penetration of Burgers is very high (88%), growth will not come from
conversion of non-users of the category, but rather gaining share from non-users of the brand.

1. Americana: The biggest player by far and the one with the deepest pockets. Any head-on activity
against them (e.g. Pricing, major public sampling, etc.) would result in an open war with no one but the
consumers benefiting. Tactically:

2. Sadia: An imported brand that people believe is local (excellent positioning behind the name). Its
business relies on the whole chicken (mainly) with many customers in the Trade (restaurants, etc.)

3. Others: Small players will always come and go and steal share occasionally. The only way to ensure the
impact is minimal is by ensuring the mother brand owns a strong Equity thus Loyalty

Equity: Although an image battery for Burgers was not covered, the findings indicate that Sunbulah has
not managed to 'stand for something unique'. This needs to be tackled by finding a strong and relevant USP
(unique selling proposition) for it. Examples are:
 THE TOTAL FOOD SOLUTION: Meats, Vegetables, Pastries, etc. We have it all.
 SHORT-CUTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE: East to cook tasty meals with an on-pack killer recipe
 HEALTHY BECAUSE WE'RE LOCAL: Our meats are local and not from across the globe
 RED MEAT OR WHITE: The colors say it all.

Tactical:
 Lamb Burgers: Americana owns 50% of the market, Sunbulah 17% & Shahia 10% (retail
share). Within the main cities, its strengths lie in Dammam (40% of its users) and Qassim in
the provincials (42%). Where Sunbulah's users are much more from the middle class,
Americana is more polarized towards the higher and lower classes.
 Beef Burgers: Americana has 53% share, Halwani 15% and Sunbulah 11%. Here, Sunbulah
has the majority of its business from Jeddah, Sadia Riyadh and again Americana Dammam. In
provincial towns Abha & Tabuk are where Sadia's users live, Sunbulah Hofuf and Americana
Taif. Sunbulah is preferred by the lower class and Sadia has a strong skew towards upper class.
 Chicken Burgers: Americana has 46% share, Radwa has 11%, Watania 9% and Sunbulah 6%.
Sadia is very weak in Jeddah but stronger in other Metro cities; Americana and Sunbulah have
equal number of own users across the Metros. In provincial towns, like the other products Sadia
is strong in Tabuk and Abha, and Sunbulah Hofuf.
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ACTION PLAN APPLICABILITY

INITIATIVE
1 Develop a strong Equity & USP on Burgers
Business Impact:
Result: 1 – Convert competitive users by
 Increase brand trial by creating a strong PULL (don't telling them what they want to hear
recommend a generic FFP ad … to fight Americana. Burgers 2- Stand for something different,
would need special attention as they have a regular dedicated raising category standards & thus
customer base) user expectations (small brands have
 The product is good, but was silent for many years. a harder time fighting on promos)
Showing its presence will be further endorse its leadership in 3- Create a PULL at homes, ensuring
the eyes of the public; owners will be at peace that they the family demands the Right Choice
“made the right choice” 4- More Traders stock it & are easily
 With consumers verbally asking for Sunbulah more, the convinced to keep more in stock
Trade will be forced to stack & push the mattress of Choice
2 Plan Tactical campaigns to address outages:
Where & Who:
 Lamb: Business Impact:
 Americana: Qassim & Dammam 1 – Improve Market Share silently
 Beef: without doing national campaigns
 Americana: Taif & Dammam 2- Weaken strong-holds of
 Sadia: Riyadh, Abha & Tabuk competition where they feed off of
 Chicken:
 Sadia: Tabuk & Abha
3 Regular advertising Business Impact:
1 – Convert competitive users by
telling them what they want to hear
Result: 2- Ensure higher SOV leads to
 The Brand that shouts the loudest gets the most higher TOM
attention 3- A drop at a time will surely build
the equity you want – eventually
4 Freezer Talkers Business Impact:
1 – Better Visibility and thus TOM
Result: 2- Higher pick-up rate
 Stand out in the freezer – no more flat, horizontal 3- Better consumer communication
visibility but rather eye-catching FLAGS possibilities
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PRIORITY #2: UPSIZE / CROSS SELL THE MARKET

INCREASING VOLUME PER PURCHASE: Can there be a reason to buy more per purchase occasion?

Given FFP is heading towards providing total Frozen Foods solution, the challenge is, “can we make the same
customer walk away with more”:

 Healthy Meals: What % of Burger users use Sunbulah Vegetables / Pastries /

Convenience products?
o E.g. A small portion of Peas and a mini-Pizza comes with the Nuggets to make it a
"healthy" meal
 Sampling: What % of Sunbulah Beef Burger users have tried the Chicken & Lamb
burgers?
o Can Sunbulah sample its own users without any spill over costs (e.g. Beef Burger
pack comes with a free Chicken burger for the children to enjoy or Nuggets comes with small portion of
Fries)
 Baby Needs (60%+ homes have babies)
o If FFP can cater to 15% of homes with babies behind sales of SR50/annum only,
this results in an incremental business of SR18 Million.
 Pregnancy Solutions (17% of our country’s housewives are pregnant in a given year)
o 700,000 homes have a pregnant lady; can FFP sell 20% of them a SR100 product/year
(SR14 Million)?

ACTION PLAN APPLICABILITY

INITIATIVE
1 Set up R&D Lab to address various consumer needs
Business Impact:
1 – Meet more consumer needs, thus
Result: incremental users/eating occasions
 New products addressing all lifestyle eating needs 2- Better Quality leading to more
 Better assortment customer satisfaction/loyalty

2 Search for International Producers and get Agency Rights

Business Impact:
Result: 1 –Entry into new markets and thus
 Always have new ways of satisfying your customers gaining new customers
 Be known as the Innovator 2- Enhanced Brand Equity

3 Redesign freezer "shelving" that cater to the Total Foods Needs

Result:
 Students meals Business Impact:
 Diet meals 1 – Brand Equity of being Modern
 Baby nutrition meals 2- Be ready for franchising
 Bone building / Diabetes friendly
 Pregnant ladies
 Etc.
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PRIORITY #3: MAINTAIN YOUR CUSTOMERS & GROW THE MARKET

INCREASING PURCHASE FREQUENCY

Customers switch. Rarely do you find someone that buys one brand and won't consider alternatives. Utopian
loyalty might not be reached, but manufactures with established businesses should strive to support loyalty
schemes to better understand consumer behavior and moreover be able to talk to the required individuals.

Consumer databases exist at various levels:

 Primary: Identity (by address) large vs. small families, Saudis vs. Yemeni's, etc.
 Psycho: Identify homes by habits (morning shopper, calorie conscious, etc.)
 Brando: Know yours and competitive users by name

ACTION PLAN APPLICABILITY

INITIATIVE
1 Consider working with Retailers to support loyalty schemes

Result: Business Impact:

 Maintain current customers 1 – Maintain current users
 Attract competitive customers to FFP 2- Medium term convert competitor
 Talk to people with the message they need to hear 3- Increase Market Size
2 Design BTL (Ad+POS) & PR Campaign on Habits changing
(similar to change your toothbrush scheme)
Result:
 Educate consumers on need to improve lifestyle with Business Impact:
better health & thus better mood 1 –Grow the market

NOMAN LAKHANI
Associate DNA Strategist
Cell: +966(0)55 1892085
noman.lakhani@dnagroup.biz
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Appendix

Q5b - Categories Used in P1M [Frozen Meat]

Lamb/Mutton Chicken Beef Chicken Chicken Chicken Meat

Kebab
Burger Burger Burger Nugget Popcorn Fillet Balls

BASE: 555 595 281 436 92 297 158 85

Jeddah 19 23 30 27 48 30 24 40
Riyadh 18 19 17 15 13 11 10 6
Dammam 21 21 17 17 3 22 16 9
Tabuk 10 4 5 7 13 7 1 0
Abha 8 11 2 9 7 6 29 16
Qassim 10 5 3 6 3 7 8 5
Hufof 8 9 6 8 0 4 4 5
Taif 6 9 19 11 13 12 8 19

Uni Degree 54 57 60 62 67 64 56 53

5 - Social Class
AB 21 22 20 22 20 25 23 25
C1 37 37 42 41 45 38 35 36
C2 30 32 29 28 29 30 34 28
DE 11 9 9 9 7 7 8 11

D5 - Durables in Res home

Microwave 71 75 74 75 80 79 83 75
Deep dryer 28 32 36 34 43 31 37 45
Steamer 27 28 28 27 39 33 22 39
Electric grill 50 49 46 53 55 49 49 51
Sandwich grill 54 53 60 62 70 54 49 58