Q1. What is the current situation the company is facing?

 The company is facing issues with 2 of its 3 segments (i.e. bratwurst & breakfast) in terms of
sales growth. There has been a 0% volume increase in Saxonville’s bratwurst sausage segment
which is in line with the industry and double digit decline in their breakfast sausages which has
underperformed compared to the industry. The Bratwurst division fired their ad agency mid-
year and had to continue without any new ads as it was too late to get a new campaign
developed and fielded.
 Realising the shift in consumer trends, the company decided to focus on the Italian Sausage
segment. This segment was growing and the company wanted to evaluate their position to
ensure their product was in-line with the consumer needs. For this they planned to assess the
Italian sausage opportunity and develop a national product; either by reposition their existing
brand or as a new brand. The current Saxonville Vivio sausage was available only in 16% of the
nation’s large supermarkets and was concentrated to Boston, New Jersey, New York, Maryland
and South Carolina. Based on the market research conducted, the new product marketing
director, Ann Banks identified the following constraints and issues
o The new positioning had to be ready for the brand’s national launch in early 2007
o The new/repositioned product had to be priced at parity with the top competitors, as
the management wasn’t willing to discount the product price (which was earlier done
for Vivio)
o There was a risk that the future positioning of Vivio might cannibalize the brats and
breakfast segment
o The “Clever Cooking” positioning would be easier to provide tactical support for but the
“Family Connection” was closer to the customer’s core values
o “Family Connection” scored better than “Clever Cooking” for the Italian sausage
positioning. But Banks was unsure if this was due to the customers’ familiarity with
existing brands and Italian stereotyping or was it a high involvement, conscious decision
made by the customer.
o Banks wondered whether the Italian and family aspect was too generic and if “Clever
Cooking” could be a durable differentiator for their brand.
o The brand name and packaging had to be aligned with the positioning selected