Campaign Brief Description
Leda Fruit Filled Bars are marketed by an Australian company, Sunnybrook Health Store on the company website. The marketing piece used by Sunnybrook communicates persuasively to potential buyers and can be considered successful in realizing the marketing objective. The piece comprises a picture of the product and its conventional packaging alongside a detailed product description with the ingredients, the value proposition, and the nutritional value of the product (Sunnybrook Health Store 2020). The combination of the different elements of the marketing piece makes it not only informative but also sufficiently persuasive to would-be buyers.
Critique of the Campaign Brief
Category Positioning and ‘Involvement by Motivation’ Grid
The use of different elements as part of the marketing piece is an indication that the marketer intends to engage different categories of customers at different levels of involvement. The best approach to explaining levels of customer involvement in product marketing is to use the ‘Involvement by Motivation’ grid, also referred to as the Foote, Cone, and Belding (FCB) model. The FCB model categorizes customers into different groups, namely those who are motivated by utilitarian characteristics of a product and those who are motivated by the value expressed in a product (Claeys, Swinnen and Abeele 1995). For Leda Fruit Filled Bars, Sunnybrook has used various components of the marketing piece to effectively reach customers and sufficiently persuade them towards product purchase. Figure 1 below clearly gives an overview of the customer involvement levels based on the distinct elements of the marketing piece.
Figure 1. FCB Model for Sunnybrook’s Leda Fruit Filled Bars
| Thinking | Feeling | |
| High involvement | 1. For thinkers – the company uses informative marketing
Non-junk; high fiber content; non-GMO ingredients only; low fat, gluten, and dairy-free. |
2. Affective marketing used for feelers
The product is marketed as gluten and dairy-free with over 60% natural fruit content; it is also diabetic friendly. |
| Low involvement | 3. Habit formation (doers)
Provision of individually packed bars in packages of five bars each.
|
4. Self-satisfaction (reactor) |
Target Customers
The most obvious target market for Sunnybrook with the Leda Fruit Filled Bars comprises customers who are allergic to gluten and dairy. The emphasis on the gluten and dairy-free status of the product is aligned to the findings by Varadarajan (2010), who showed that a differentiating value proposition can be an effective way of attracting customers who desire products outside the conventional. Another target group for the product could be said to be individuals who have a specific preference for vegan products and those who like sweet yet natural foods. The marketing piece clearly provides information that is able to attract each of these customer segments.
Marketing Communications Strategy and Objectives
The company’s choice of marketing communications strategy is aligned to the objective of all forms of marketing, which is to motivate customers to purchase products. According to De Villiers, Tipgomut, and Franklin (2019), customers have different motivational factors for purchase including the product utility and the attachment associated with the project. The marketing objectives can be to inform, persuade or remind customers about the product (Cheong 2016). In this particular case, the marketing piece is most probably aimed at informing and persuading customers to purchase the fruit-filled bars. The information objective is realized using a combination of pictorial and descriptive information while the persuasion objective is realized through the inclusion of product prices and associated offers as well as a description of the benefits of the product. In the product information, individuals who may be allergic to gluten and dairy, for instance, are made aware that the product suits their needs and thus persuaded to purchase. Similarly, individuals who may want something that can be filling without necessarily adding calories, or diabetics who have food restrictions, are persuaded through the use of the price and ingredients information.
Creative Strategy and Tactics
In their marketing piece, Sunnybrook uses a combination of creative strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives of information and persuasion. In marketing, persuasion is commonly achieved through appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos. The three appeals are described as follows: Logos is the appeal to reason, pathos is an appeal to emotions and feelings, while ethos is an appeal to authority on the subject matter (Jenkin et al. 2014). According to Hill (2020), an appeal to logos relates to using information such as what Sunnybrook does in the product description, where the potential customer is led to a purchase decision through the description of the product as gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, healthy, and natural. Appeal to pathos is realized through the use of descriptive tactics and pictorial marketing, which depict the product as delicious, filling, and satisfying. The company appeals to the customers’ ethos by using strategies such as product ratings and price offers to develop trust in the product.
References List
Cheong, H J 2016. Purchase decision type influences on consumers’ reliance: Brand-related user-generated content. Ph.D. Dissertations, University of Tennessee. Available from: <https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4873&context=utk_graddiss>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].
Claeys, C, Swinnen, A and Abeele, P V 1995. Consumer’s means-end chain for “think” and “feel” products. International Journal of Research in Marketing, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 193-208. Available from: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016781169500021S>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].
De Villiers, R, Tipgomut, P and Franklin, D 2019. Promotion and marketing communications. Intech Open Books. Available from: <https://www.intechopen.com/books/promotion-and-marketing-communications/international-market-segmentation-across-consumption-and-communication-categories-identity-demograph>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].
Hill, J H O 2020. Logos, ethos, pathos, and the marketing of higher education. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 87-104. Available from: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08841241.2019.1683120?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=wmhe20>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].
Jenkin, G, Madhvani, N, Signal, L and Bowers, S 2014. A systematic review of persuasive marketing techniques to promote food to children on television. Obesity Reviews, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 281-293. Available from: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259768297_A_systematic_review_of_persuasive_marketing_techniques_to_promote_food_to_children_on_television>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].
Sunnybrook Health Stores 2020. Leda fruit-filled bars (5 pack) 190g. Available from: <https://www.sunnybrookhealthstore.com.au/leda-triple-berry-bars-pk-5.html>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].
Varadarajan, R 2010. Strategic marketing and marketing strategy: Domain, definition, fundamental issues, and foundational premises. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 119-140. Available from: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225485091_Strategic_Marketing_and_Marketing_Strategy_Domain_Definition_Fundamental_Issues_and_Foundational_Premises>. [Accessed on 31 August 2020].