Posted: May 28th, 2015

Food company marketing: the costs of putting an advertisement in commercials, magazines, newspapers, social media “boosted posts” (Facebook).

Food company marketing: the costs of putting an advertisement in commercials, magazines, newspapers, social media “boosted posts” (Facebook).

Positioning and objectives:
AGENCY NAME: Impressions Branding Agency
AGENCY LOGO: Done, see Canva website (will attach later)
POSITIONING STATEMENT: To urban-dwelling, health-conscious consumers who desire a unique and organic food shopping experience, Whole Foods Market is the high-quality, natural supermarket that these individuals prefer because the company promotes healthy eating through food free of pesticides, preservatives, cruelty and sweeteners. Whole Foods Market believes in Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet: Providing the highest quality products to its customers, creating a work friendly environment with passionate employees, and supporting healthy and organic farming practices.
Rationale: Information about the company taken from their website in the About Us section.
MARKETING OBJECTIVES (concrete, measurable goals relative to the 4 P’s, including sales and market share goals)
Product:
Price:
Place:
Promotion:
IMC OBJECTIVES (concrete, measurable goals for your IMC plan).  Examples include awareness, trial purchase.

CAMPAIGN BUDGET $ 15 MILLION
1.     EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A half page synopsis of your campaign (e.g., problem definition, campaign- strategy, objectives, tactics & measuring effectiveness (4)  (Max 350 word count, half a page).
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
2.0    INTRODUCTION
Whole Foods Market is trademarked as America’s Healthiest Grocery Store. They seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture.

The Company was founded in Austin, Texas in 1980.  Four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format. The founders were John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was a success right away. During that time, there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States, and Whole Foods Market provided a welcome innovation.

While the company was building stores from the ground up, they also continued to grow rapidly through acquisitions. In the 1990’s, these included Wellspring Grocery of North Carolina, Bread & Circus of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets of Los Angeles, Bread of Life of Northern California, Fresh Fields Markets on the East Coast and in the Midwest, Florida Bread of Life stores, Detroit area Merchant of Vino stores, and Nature’s Heartland of Boston. Additionally, Whole Foods Market entered their third decade with additional acquisitions of Food for Thought in Northern California and Harry’s Farmers Market stores in Atlanta. In 2001, Whole Foods opened in Manhattan, generating interest from the media and financial industries. In 2002, the company expanded into Canada and in 2004, Whole Foods Market entered the United Kingdom with the acquisition of seven Fresh & Wild stores.

Whole Foods Market stock has been deteriorating for the last few years, and competition in a market that was previously wide open is now saturating and heating up. WFM stock was the worst performer in the S&P 500 in 2014. WalMart’s partnership with Wild Oats was a jab at Whole Foods in that it was an overt effort to lower organic food prices.

The Whole Foods Market NAICS code is 445110; the industry is Grocery Stores and the sector is Retail Trade. The supermarket and grocery store industry accounts for $548billion dollars of yearly revenue in the US. Annual growth is 1.3%. The industry has grown over the last five years due to a strengthened economy. Consumers are willing to spend more as per capita disposable income increases. The industry is projected to grow over the next five years.

2.4    SWOT ANALYSIS -SWOT analysis of the brand- Internal factor – strengths & weaknesses; External factor – opportunities & threats. You are required to provide detailed description of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats facing your brand – Include SWOT matrix in appendix section. You must provide a synopsis of how you intend to address the weaknesses and threats revealed in your SWOT by exploring ways to convert threats into opportunities, weaknesses into strengths, matching to see if the strengths align with the opportunities, etc. (Max 750 word count, or one and half).
2.5    STUDY 1 – QUALITATIVE RESEARCH – Conduct focus group and interview sessions with respondents in the age group of 18 to 30. The objective of the focus group is to understand consumer perception and opinions of the brand and to generate questions to include in the survey or quantitative study. Student groups must develop a standardized focus group and interview guide. The interview guide should contain an introductory paragraph that explains the objective of the study and open ended psychographic questions such as what is your perception and attitude towards brand XXX? How would you describe the lifestyle of consumers who are attracted to brand XXX?  Include demographic questions such as age, ethnicity etc. Each group member should interview at least 2 respondents.  Report the qualitative research using the following subheadings: research procedure, results, conclusion (Max 500 word count, or one page).
2.7    CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS – The goal in this section is to use the knowledge from the secondary and primary data research to conceptualize unique characteristics about potential consumer segments to target in the age group of 18-30. Use the empathy map to brainstorm and ideate about your target market. Discuss and evaluate profiles of two to three potential customer segments. From your analysis identify your primary and secondary target market. The target market profile must be driven by research data and creative intuition. The profile of the target customer must include powerful psychographic characteristics.
Next, estimate the target market size using U.S. census bureau data. (15) (Max 1000 word count, or two pages).
2.8    SUMMARY OF KEY CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES FACING THE BRAND – Drawing knowledge from the situational analysis, provide a synopsis of five important challenges and opportunities facing the brand (Max 350 word count, or half a page).

2.9    POSITIONING STRATEGY AND STATEMENT -. Construct positioning statement- For [target segment], the [offering] is [positioning claim] because [single most important support]. Explain why you think your positioning strategy will be effective –In this section you should brainstorm the slogan of your campaign and integrate the slogan into the positioning strategy.  (Max 350 word count, or half a page).
2.10    MARKETING AND IMC OBJECTIVES – What are the key marketing objectives? Concrete, measurable goals, increase sales or usage etc.  What are the key objectives that you want to accomplish with the IMC campaign- communication objective (e.g., increase brand awareness by 20% amongst the target market, increase trail purchase or usage (Max 350 word count, or half a page).

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info/investor-relations/annual-reports

(_ABDULLAH_________________________________________________________________
COMPETITOR / CLIENT CURRENT ADVERTISING ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
BRAND/PRODUCT

Intended Target(s) (demographics and psychographics)
Specifically, the company targets health-conscious individuals living in urban areas. In addition, it targets individuals between 19 and 39 years old who desire to have unique organic food shopping experience. The company also targets wholefood markets as well as supermarkets that specialize in selling natural foods that these individuals prefer.
Promise/Claim(s) (explicit and/or implicit)
Ideally, the company claims that it is able to provide high-quality natural products that are free of preservatives, pesticides, sweeteners, and cruelty.
SupportThe company supports its claims by indicating that it provides an enabling environment that supports healthy organic farming practices. In addition, the company suggests that it believes in Whole Foods, Whole People, and a Whole Planet.
Execution Approach (testimonial, slice-of-life, endorsement, etc.)
The execution approach used is slice-of-life.
Tone & Manner (humor, satire, fear, macho, etc.)
The tone and manner use is the macho technique. (WHY? We should explain this)
Other Distinctive Characteristics
Some of the other distinctive characteristics of the advert include the use of rhetorical appeals such as ethos and pathos. Particularly, the company employs the use of ethos by indicating that it is a brand renowned for the provision of health natural products. It further reiterates that its products are healthy, natural, and of high quality by ensuring that its sells products that are free of preservatives, pesticides, and sweeteners. In addition, the company employs the use of logos by indicating that due to the fact that its products are free of preservatives and pesticide, then, they are of a higher quality. (Kotler & Armstrong 34).
Assessment (strong, weak, why?)
The overall brand advertising is strong because it outlines some of the most important features of the brand as well as its products. The company can make the advert stronger and effective by outlining some of the benefits of their products (Palmer 13).
Works Cited
Kotler, Philip & Armstrong, Gary (2010). Principles of Marketing. Harlow: Pearson Press.
Palmer, Adrian. (2012). Introduction to Marketing: Theory and Practice. Lavis: Oxford       University Press.
_______________________________________
Alzobaur
COMPETITOR / CLIENT CURRENT ADVERTISING ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
BRAND/PRODUCT

Wholefoods Markets
1. Intended Target(s) (demographics and psychographics)
The intended target group of our research will be individuals aged 18-40 years. It is made up a bigger percentage of the population. They are the major consumers of food products from the whole food market.  Customers will be diverse among different geographical areas. The vendors will supply the foods to key individuals. The selected target group of our experimental research can enjoy the following characteristics of the foods; healthy foods, good recipes, and healthy eating habits. It advises on what to cook, what to eat, when to eat especial diets depending on the needs and finally customers’ satisfaction is the main aim.
2. Promise/Claim(s) (explicit and/or implicit)
As far as promises are concerned, the products will meet the required standards. Research on the products to use will be carried first before they are used so that the customers should have peace of mind. Food safety will be paramount, and cases of food poisoning are promised not to be there. (“Top 10 Retail Innovators”) Food handling will be proper. Customers are also promised the right to know what they consume.
3. Sources
Taking into account the sources, the company will be using fresh products from the farm. There will be the use of organic products and ingredients high quality and standards. No flavoring of food and use of sweeteners, hydrogenated fats and preservatives.
4. Execution Approach (testimonial, slice-of-life, endorsement, etc.)
Execution approach considers the following factors. First of all, use of organic food should be implemented, as well as  high standards of hygiene and high-quality foods. Good customer service and the right of the customers to know what they consume are some of the reasons customers should believe in the whole food market. Customers’ health care, the right of consuming what they deserve and at affordable prices are the major goals the food industry aims to achieve.
Works Cited
The Economist,. ‘Victim Of Success’. N.p., 2014. Web. 23 May 2015.
“Top 10 Retail Innovators.” Chain Store Age 83.4 (2007): 18. Vocational and Career Collection. Web. 23 May 2015.
______________________________________________________________________