Fit Juice: Enhancing Physical and Mental Fitness
Fit Juice is produced based on the concept of enhancing physical and mental fitness with neither alcohol nor sugar contents. Therefore, since the drink is non-alcoholic without sugar additives it will be suitable for all people from school going children from the age of 10 to adults of all ages. To the school going children, the drink will be beneficial in boosting their cognitive abilities that is essential for learning as well as make them fit physically. Adults will also benefit from the mental boosting capability of the drink and more importantly help in physical strengths for both gym-goers and those who rarely practice. In the first 6 months, the company’s geographical target market will be a 25-mile radius from Austin city and its surrounding areas that covers places such as Bluff Springs, Hornsby Bend, Crestview and Cedar Valley. This area has a population estimate of about 800,000 (“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Austin city, Texas”, 2018).
The Demographic Characteristics of the Target Consumers
The demographic characteristics of the target consumers include people aged above 10 years of all genders, races, and ethnic groups. Target consumers are from households with an annual income of above $10,000, comprising of the middle class, students, working class, upper class, and the elite class. The target lifestyles of these customers include modern, sports, and healthy living. These are the suitable lifestyles for health-conscious people who are sensitive to health effects of foods and drinks. The majority of such people have a minimum of high school level of education. The poverty level in Texas is about 16% meaning that about remaining 84% of the whole population can afford the product (“Austin, Texas Population 2018”, 2018). About 88% of the population in Texas have at least a high school level of education, implying that they are capable of acknowledging the benefits of consuming Fit Juice.
Company Distribution Channels
The company will set up 50 stores in Texas to operate on both wholesale and retail terms to cater for direct and indirect distribution channels respectively. These stores will be located at intervals of 5 miles from one another. Grocery stores, mobile food vendors, and chain stores will be the indirect distributors of the drinks. According to the 2012 population statistics, there are about 20,000 businesses within this target market operating as retailers in foods and drinks (“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Austin city, Texas”, 2018). The company stores will be the distribution centers to supply these businesses with the drinks and at the same time selling directly to consumers. The 50 stores will be located within short intervals to increase the storage capacity of the company, maintain a close contact with retailing businesses, and to reduce transportation expenses.
Market Competition
The soft drink industry is very competitive with strong and well-established brands such as Coke and Pepsi. However, these brands do not have dominant products in the energy drink product line. Therefore, although there are numerous energy drinks available in the market, the existing brands are not too dominant to make it hard for new entrants. The existing brands concentrate very much on physical energy benefit that consumers get from their products. Most of these brands depend a lot on sugar as a key ingredient. Therefore, Fit Juice will differ from the existing products with the additional ingredients that boost consumers’ mental fitness besides the physical one. Furthermore, the fact that Fit Juice doesn’t use sugar, the target is to attract consumers with healthy living lifestyles. The aspects of not using sugars and the mental fitness benefit will be the key selling features of Fit Juice to compete favorably with market leaders such as Lucozade and Red Bull.
Unique Selling Points of Fit Juice
Non-alcoholic energy drinks are many in the market but most of them not very much differentiated. Because of the rising healthy sensitivity among consumers on food related issues such as obesity, consumers are increasing turning away from sugary foods. Many consumers prefer foods and drinks made from natural ingredients rather than artificial additives which have been observed to cause health issues such as cancer. A drink that is made with an idea of having higher nutritional benefits with minimal side effects tend to capture many consumers who want to lead healthy lifestyles. A mental fitness benefit is a rare feature in the majority of energy drinks, thus creating the uniqueness of Fit Juice in the market. Because of the mental fitness benefit, Fit Juice targets consumers as young as 10 years old unlike the existing drinks which have alcohol content and therefore not fit for young consumers. The company will therefore have a wide target market as a percentage of the total population.
Company Message
The company focus is to easily avail consumers a healthy drink that energizes the body and keeps the mind active at a low price. This focus will be implemented with suitable strategies of promotion, distribution, and pricing of the drink. A market follow-through will be incorporated in the marketing activities to collect reliable and relevant feedback from the market to help improve marketing strategies as well as the product itself. Meaningful feedback will be essential for a successful strategy to take root and ensure that all stakeholders are taken into consideration. Robust and flexible strategies will be needed to accommodate the dynamic business environment (Rudman & Rudman, 2012). Such strategies give room for quick responses with minimal changes to the original strategic plans. Lastly, an element of fun must be catered in the strategy formulation process to avoid dull and boring strategy sessions that may result in generic, standard, and uninspiring strategies. Fun and exciting strategies inspire people to get involved and increase productivity and enhance value-addition.
Marketing Tactics
The Fit Juice brand will be built through social media, event sponsorships, exhibitions in trade shows, and sampling. Building a social media following is the cheapest way of creating brand awareness. Considering the networking influence of social media, this tactic can reach a large population in a progressive time. This strategy only requires creating social media accounts on leading platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and employing the personnel to manage them. Building a social media following can be boosted with event sponsorships in places like learning institutions and social sporting events where large crowds are found. The two tactics help create brand awareness among consumers within a short time and cheaply as compared to other promotional strategies like advertising. Almost all soft drink companies use these tactics. Exhibitions in trade shows would create brand awareness among businesses such as retailers (Kowalski, 2017). Red Bull used this tactic in the introductory stage of the product. Free samples in groceries give consumers the chance to confirm the taste of the drink to ascertain the drinks key features. Free samples also create positive public relations between the company and other businesses.
References
Austin, Texas Population 2018. (2018). Retrieved from http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/austin-population/
Kowalski, J. (2017). Brand Strategies in the Energy Drinks Market. Marketing I Zarządzanie, 48, 357-371. doi: 10.18276/miz.2017.48-33
Rudman, E., & Rudman, E. (2012). The Five Fs of Strategy. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/advice/business-leadership/strategy/the-five-fs-of-strategy/
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Austin city, Texas; UNITED STATES. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/dashboard/austincitytexas,US/POP060210
