Pilsbury Cookie Challenge

1. What are the challenges that Ivan Guillen faces in his role as marketing manager of the RBG business?

Refrigerated Baked Goods (RBGs) was a very big component of General Mills Canada (GMCC) (4th largest category), and performance of this vertical has not been promising over the past two years. With a 1% volume growth during this period and falling household penetration (to 24%), improving the business performance of this category was the biggest challenge that confronts Ivan. The major project fund allocation driver for RBG Canada until now has been price optimization (referencing page 1 of the case). Therefore the marketing team had simply adopted advertising campaigns for cookies from the parent US Company. Ivan’s major challenge in implementing the business performance strategy stems from the fact that he would now be gaining insight into the socio-cultural aspects of the Canadian consumer ecosphere retroactively i.e. after the brand has penetrated into the market and has been well-positioned as a market leader in Canada. Therefore, any marketing strategies that Ivan would now apply to influence consumer behavior in this market will be exponentially harder than what it would have been while the product was introduced. These marketing strategies may be in the form of product differentiation, communication or pricing. Additionally, Ivan’s strategy will have to contend with internal forces in the market environment stemming from the consumers’ switching costs and the availability of existing substitutes.

2. Given the key learnings from the usage and attitude study, what are the corresponding implications for the actions the team should take

The key takeaway for Ivan’s team from the usage and attitude study was the difference in the Canadian consumer psychology and cultural preferences vis-à-vis the US consumer, which was ultimately impacting purchase decisions. The study showed the preference of local consumers that scratch baking was the dominant method of...