For the final part of the Consulting Project, you should recommend a course of action by choosing the most appropriate alter

March 18, 2018

Why is the brand behind its competitors?

PepsiCo, a leading manufacturer, and marketer of foods, convenient snacks and carbonated & non-carbonated beverages, was formed in 1965 through the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay. This company owns some of the world's most recognizable brands such as Mountain Dew, Pepsi-Cola, Lay's, Gatorade, Doritos, Diet Pepsi, Tropicana, and Quake most of which are available to consumers in more than 200 countries. In the early 1990s, PepsiCo engineered a global rebranding campaign and launched new products in a bid to reinvigorate its stagnant brand and reduce the growing market share gap between itself and its competitor, Coca-Cola. However, most of its efforts did not generate measurable sales and the expected increase in market share did not come forth (Lobel, 2016). Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Wasn’t this mentioned in your earlier project sections?

As a result, PepsiCo continued lagging behind its competitors due to financial and behavioral weaknesses. In 2004, PepsiCo was discontinued due to the controversy concerning the use a food dye, Blue 1 which had been banned in many countries. Consumers gained a negative attitude towards the color of the drink and opted for healthier alternatives. Secondly, marketing and promotion of the product was are not done in the rural areas, but it's only confined to sports channels and urban areas. PepsiCo failed to unveil the true marketing potential of involving hardcore fans and encouraging them to use word- of- mouth or social media platform to market the product like their competitors. Comment by Erin Wilkinson: What was discontinued? Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Is this past tense or present? Comment by Erin Wilkinson: What year?

Survey questionnaire to provide support for the critiques . Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Use a 2-sentence beginning to introduce the survey.

Please rate PepsiCo on the following. Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Who are the consumers answering your survey? How do you reach them? What were the results, and how will you integrate that information into your recommendations? Add some demographic questions. Let us know who your respondents are based on things like age, income, what products they drink, etc. Add number scales to your question choices.

1. PepsiCo’s Blue 1 food dye is awkward and unhealthy.

· Agree

· Strongly agree

· Neutral

· Disagree

· Strongly disagree

2. PepsiCo’s advertisement is confined mostly on sports channels and not on all television channels.

· Agree

· Strongly agree

· Neutral

· Disagree

· Strongly disagree

3. PepsiCo doesn’t involve hardcore fans in marketing its products.

· Agree

· Strongly agree

· Neutral

· Disagree

· Strongly disagree

What consumer behavior issues do you propose are influencing the brand's performance?

Marketing is an art and science that involves first learning about the consumer preferences and their behavior. To gain a competitive advantage over your competitors, a brandyou needs to gain customer loyalty which comes by fulfilling their needs in their language and price. With the advancement in technology and marketing apps, consumers have instant access to information regarding products and services hence they have become more selective, smarter, and their tastes and preferences have changed. Today, consumers have more higher buying power; prefer quality as since they have infinite choices to choose from and their focus is to fulfill their needs. To keep up with the changing customer behavior, PepsiCo should change marketing techniques and understand the factors that affect consumers' behavior preferences and their purchase decisions. to purchase. RSpecific reference groups and people of a different social class or cultures may have producta preferences other than that of the (which) brand. To meet their needs, PepsiCo’sthe marketing strategy for brand x should be focused on the needs of these potential customers (Herk, 2017). Comment by Erin Wilkinson: What does that mean? Give a frame of reference. Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Streamline this paragraph a bit. There is some repetition.

Provide examples of specific tactics used that are evidence of the flawed strategy.

PepsiCo thought that marketing through sports arenas and channels was a good marketing strategy while it only reached a small group of people. Secondly, Blue 1 food dye was intended to attract more customers and increase sales. Instead, this was a flawed marketing strategy that changed customers' attitude towards the bBrand. Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Which channels? Comment by Erin Wilkinson: Expand this paragraph and provide 3 clear and detailed examples of flawed brand strategies and the impact on the firm.

Changes/actions that would correct the shortcomings/deficiencies identified.

Pepsi should commit to a future-themed strategy to steam roll the competition with much ease and less spending. The company It should take advantage of various media outlets such as CNN, National Geographic, USA Today, New York Times (to do what?) and not sports channels only. Lastly, it should take advantage of hardcore fans by enticing them with gifts and encouraging them to share the product (which product) through social media and word of mouth (Bentley, 2008). Comment by Erin Wilkinson: What does this mean? This is unclear. Steam roll the competition about what and how? Comment by Erin Wilkinson: This is hard to follow. Please streamline content and really thing about what you want to say and provide clear definitions, examples and results.

References Comment by Erin Wilkinson: How do the sources provide critique support> What information are you using?

Bentley, C. A. E. (2008). Beat the recession: Proven marketing tactics, 139 proven sales letter writing, direct marketing & business development tactics make short work of recession fears. Dorset, England: Sarceaux Publications

Herk, H. ., & Torelli, C. J. (2017). Cross cultural issues in consumer science and consumer psychology: Current perspectives and future directions. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Lobel, S. (2016). Failing my way to success: Life lessons of an entrepreneur. Place of publication not identified: Bookbaby.

Hi Kayla,

This is a really interesting topic. This is a good start and you provide some basic competitive information and strategy ideas, but the critique is disjointed in places and it’s hard to follow. You have such great ideas, so think about what you want to say, complete the survey and add the results, streamline and edit the existing content, and expand with specific detail for the final report.

Dr. Erin

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