SAXONVILLE SAUSAGE COMPANY

Saxonville, a 70-year-old company, which is in business since the past 70 years is

headquartered in Saxonville, Ohio. It primarily produces pork sausage products which are
fresh as opposed to semi-dried or smoked. The main products of the company include
Bratwurst, which accounts for 70% of the revenue, breakfast sausage, which brings in 20% of
revenues, Italian sausage Vivio, which accounts for 5% of revenue and the remining 5%
revenue comes from store-brand products. At this moment, the company wants to make their
Italian hotdog a popular success in the country in the following year. For this purpose, a team
was build which was named Project Score, which comprised of personnel from various
departments. Though they wanted the Brand name Vivio to go ahead but at the same time
they were careful that it doesnt cannibalise its other products. There were certain
competitors as Billy Bob and Country Home but they produced the frozen products and their
transportation includes freezers. This means even though Saxonville company has some
overlaps with products of its competitors but the competitors have to change the whole
distribution network which gives way to the idea of Saxonville increasing its market in the
fresh product category. The positioning strategy was decided to be a four-step process which
includes qualitative research to gauge the behaviours and need of its target consumers. It is
followed by consumer sessions; the third round is to refine according to the priorities of the
consumers. The fourth step is to put the concepts to monadic testing. Further the following
four steps were to be followed:

Planning new Research on the Target Customer: Initially, four focus groups were run on a
pilot testing basis. The next phase was conducted to understand the current practices and
what triggers the consumers to make the decision to buy the product and neglected needs.
To understand the attributes and standards of the customer needs.

Building on Learning from the Focus Groups: Understanding of the purchasing behaviour and
summarise the learnings and distribute it to each member of Project Score. Focus on: Family
Connection-Clever Cooking-Confidence-Appreciation-Quick and Easy-Tradition.

Building Positioning Concepts: Brand laddering technique was followed to understand the
importance of each activities and their priorities and importance.
Additional Research delivers A Verdict or Two: Family positioning and clever cooking were
preferred the most which led to an internal debate. Family positioning scored better when
put through certain tests as Italian preferred more family gatherings and community eating
practices which focussed more on the term family.