Lavesh Mirpuri Marketing Strategy MKTG 435 04/17/2014 Saxonville Sausage Company Company Background Saxonville Sausage is a private

e family owned company in Saxonville, Ohio, with 2005 revenues of approximately $1.5 billion. Their main focus is on pork sausage products that are always fresh. Saxonvilles main product is their bratwurst line, which makes up seventy percent of their revenues, breakfast sausage that consists of twenty percent of their revenues and their small Italian sausage line, named Vivio that only makes up five percent. Unfortunately for Saxonville, their sales in bratwursts have been flat and their breakfast sausage line has been steadily underperforming in the market resulting in a double-digit decline in revenue. However, the Italian sausage was the one category showing growth across producers in the retail sausage market The Italian Opportunity The central issue facing Saxonville Sausage is the successful launch of a national Italian sausage brand. Saxonville Sausage needed a well thought-out positioning marketing plan to move their Italian sausage brand to national category leader and match up core values in the hearts and minds, of consumers with the attributes of a product portfolio to meet their specific needs. The development of a new brand name and positioning strategy would be key to reaching the target market. The resolution of this issue would provide the most benefit to Saxonville by increasing profits of the Italian sausage brand. Alternatives When analyzing the marketing approach there are different choices that could be made that Saxonville Sausage and Ann Banks, the new marketing director, could take to

Lavesh Mirpuri Marketing Strategy MKTG 435 04/17/2014 achieve profit objectives. The first strategy that could be adopted would be to keep the Vivio name and employ a family connection strategy. Another alternative the company could take would be change the brand name to Primo and employ a clever cooking strategy. Third, the company could also change to Primo Italian Sausage from Saxonville and keep Vivio name in existing market while taking the family connection strategy. Finally, the last strategy involves starting the expansion of the entire company west to the Mississippi River, keep the name Vivio to make it more recognizable that it is Italian Sausage and to offer bulk incentives to dealers and retailers Recommendation I believe that Saxonville Sausages best alternative would be to start the expansion of the entire company west to the Mississippi River, keep the name Vivio to make it more recognizable that it is Italian Sausage and to offer bulk incentives to dealers and retailers. The advantages this option is their expansion of all lines of productivity, which means that they can cover more volume and generate more profit. Product expansion would make the marginal value of the product decrease, allowing the company to obtain more profits from bratwurst and breakfast patty sausage sales or lower prices. Moreover, keeping the brand name insures the loyalty of their current customers while attempting to attract new customers. Finally, by offering bulk incentives to dealers and retailers, Saxonville is insuring that their products will reach the shelves of local stores for their customers to enjoy. Also by offering bulk incentives, Saxonville could offer lower prices to their retailers. In my opinion, these strategies would allow the company to reach their goal successfully.