Lecture Logic: The CW3 Brief

By Erica Wenham, Monday 18 March 2013.

Managing The Commercial Communications Process (Week 24)

“The Coursework 003 Brief for Managing the Commercial Communications Process students is to create a campaign plan and layout for cider brand, Kopparberg on behalf of their marketing/advertising agency; Arena Media UK.”

Key Timings: June – September 2013

Budget: £2.5m

Brief Background:

The cider market (and in particular fruit cider) is becoming ever more competitive and after 4 years of double digit growth Kopparberg will be facing their most competitive year as the large brewery owned brands launch new varieties of fruit cider to offset the decline of apple cider.  In addition we are seeing new cider launches from beer brands. The qualitative research Kopparberg run every year showed that in 2012 the proportion of new adopters to adorers had increased. This is no surprise for a brand which is still in growth – however it became apparent that those who were new to drinking Kopparberg were less likely to be loyal and more likely to switch between brands than the original adopters of the brand. Kopparberg has moved into the early majority now but our original strategy was still focused on the “adorers” but further brand growth would only come from increasing penetration within the early majority, our new “adopters” and this is where the real competitive threat would be present. 

Target Audience:

• 2013 Session Drinkers – (new ‘adopters’ target market)
• This group are more male with an average age of 33, although we will focus on targeting the 23-34 year olds.
• They are more likely to be single than in a relationship. They are in the midst of a blossoming career and are ambitious. They enjoy going out and probably rarely spend an evening in. They enjoy good food but when it comes to shopping for themselves they aren’t particularly bothered – tending to go for own brand products with fair trade or organic produce not coming onto their radar. They think it is important to look attractive to the opposite sex but again don’t splash out on expensive clothing or worry too much about what they wear. They are fickle when it comes to brands and are more influenced by price than a brand’s proposition.

Kopparberg’s Core Positioning and Personality:

• Leader in the Fruit Cider market, Kopparberg has real product quality and integrity….with a superior and distinctive taste versus other long alcoholic drinks. (LADs).
• Communicates a cool brand image but in an unforced, effortless manner.
• Remains accessible for our Session drinkers
• Cool, different, leading, creative, inspiring, forward thinking, Swedish, fruit refreshment and accessible 

Business Objective:

• 10% growth in 2013
• Be unmissable for fickle "Session Drinkers"

Overall Media Challenges:

• As we have growth targets and as the brand is evolving into a more mainstream brand, media in 2013 will focus on growing penetration of Session Drinkers.
• The second challenge is to deliver standout across summer months in a highly competitive and cluttered market on a limited budget.
• To influence the behaviour of our Session Drinkers we need to be front of mind, talking to them frequently and in the right environments, close to time/point of purchase within the available budget.

Black Sheep Marketing & The Kopparberg / Arena Media UK Brief

Black Sheep Marketing believe creativity is the most important commodity of the 21st century. We believe creativity can transform an organisation and stand out from its competitors. We believe companies who do this are more successful than those who don't. We help our clients plan, design and create their vision. We believe to think outside the box. We conduct and determine our clients' priorities, identify the target market(s), propose a strategy, and develop comprehensive campaign recommendations including proposed, rough creative executions.

Black Sheep have been instructed by Arena Media, to create and propose a summer campaign to attract current and potential target audiences to their clients bran, cider giant Kopparberg.

Over the recent years, the cider market is becoming ever more competitive and after 4 years of double digit growth Kopparberg will be facing their most competitive year as the large brewery owned brands launch new varieties of fruit cider to offset the decline of apple cider. An efficient and effective summer campaign is key to the brand and agencies success in this peak time to target their audiences.

It is a key importance to know and understand who your customers are when identifying the target market of a new business or concept. Black Sheep Marketing have identified that Kopparbergs key target audience should be focused on Single Males between the ages of 23 to 34, who are outgoing and ambitious and are likely to care about their appearance. They do not care about brands, however due to be at the crucial ages where responsibilities are nearing on setting into place (buying first home), price is a key factor in their decision making process.

As Kopparberg are primarily a brand known for doing things differently (as found out via secondary research), Black Sheep Marketing wanted to expand further on this idea and create a Summer campaign for 2013 that was new, innovative, different, unique and stands it from the competition. From looking at both primary and secondary research conducted, it has been greatly noticed that the majority of audiences and cider campaigns itself, relate extensively to music and the festival industry. For example, Kopparberg formed partnership with online music player Spotify for a series of festival events for their 2012 Summer campaign. Unfortunately, the million-pound Spotify deal did not receive the successful results which the brand and agency had originally hoped for. As a result, Black Sheep have decided to steer away from the stereotypical musical “motif” that most cider brands (including Kopparberg) relate their campaigns to and instead focus on a different focal point; comedy.

Please keep a look out on this blog over the next couple of weeks to read about how Black Sheep Marketing have conducted both primary and secondary research to create our final Summer campaign, ready to present to Arena Media for popular cider brand; Kopparberg.