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Saxonville Sausage Case Analysis

Client’s Objective

      The objective of Saxonville Sausage Company is to achieve its profit objectives for the next fiscal year. To meet this objective, they plan to launch its regional Italian sausage brand nationally.   This strategy will allow Saxonville to increase market share in the only segment that has experienced growth in recent fiscal years.

      In sales of sausage types produced and distributed by Saxonville nationally, bratwurst has remained flat and breakfast sausage has experienced a continual decline in market share. Nationwide these categories have remained flat across all sausage producers with little or no short-term growth expected.   In contrast, the Italian sausage category showed growth nationwide.   Saxonville's brand matched that performance.   With distribution currently limited to only 16% of national supermarkets, future growth in this category is a viable expectation.

Critical Issues

      Brand Identity & Positioning - Bluntly, the brand was developed and launched with little if any marketing support or strategy.   In order to quickly achieve and sustain market saturation to support next fiscal year’s objectives, this deficit needs to be addressed by establishing a brand identity and effective product positioning.

      In developing the branding strategy, the goals are to develop a brand name and establish a link between the brand and customer’s core values (Moore, 2007, p. 4).   In market research for Saxonville’s brand label, respondents ranked the Vivio name seventh with several other names receiving a more favorable response.   In markets where Saxonville Bratwursts are distributed, respondents viewed the name Saxonville as “German-seeming.”   On a positive note, Saxonville has... Problem Statement

The Saxonville Sausage Company must reposition its Italian sausage products to take advantage of the rapid growth in this product category.

Situation Analysis

Company

  * Fresh sausage...