INTRODUCTION

Brannigan is a company that has been operating for over 100 years. It has a Soup

Division which has experienced a decrease in its sales and a new strategy is required to

stop the declining market share due to the reason that the division is the cash cow, in

which it brings u to 40% of total sales of the company. The most profitable product

category is the Ready to Eat Soups (RTE), in which it accounts for a total of 71% of the

total revenue.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At Brannigan Foods, 40% of the firms revenue is contributed by the the soup division.

The soup industry is declining and the division shows declining profits and market share

especially among the baby boomers. Bert Clark wants to reverse this trend and asked

his 4 key managers to come up with ideas, and recommend a turnaround strategy. Each

key manager suggests a different strategy from investing in a core market segment to

acquiring a new product line and customers.

SITUATIONAL ANAYSIS

Market Summary

Bert Clark, vice-president and also the general manager of Brannigan Food Soups

Division has to decide which of the four alternative plans his team member has

proposed should be implemented in order to reverse the industrys steady decline as

well as the divisions sales, market share and profitability decrease. He has to move the

divisions growth back to a 3-4% at the end of the fiscal year.

A soup company named Anabelle was acquired to broaden the range of products

offered by introducing the Fast Meal category, and the strategy that has been followed

during the past few years has been strongly invest in Dry Soups, Healthier Soups and

the mentioned Fast Meals.

Regarding the brand awareness and value perceived by customers, Brannigan is

behind competitors in those following aspects:

1. Health tends
2. Diet claims
3. Convenience offerings
4. Flavors- especially popular regional ones
5. Seasonal products outside of cold weather

For retailers, the company doesnt seem to be innovative neither profitable

Customers

A fact to point out is that Baby Boomers were the larger and most loyal segment of the

Brannigans Soup customer. But the segmented group are getting older and their

preferences are evolving into living healthier lifestyles and consuming, in the case of the

soup division, more salubrious, low-sodium based products. As a counter part, this

added value is not perceived by younger target segments of the population, which look

out for other incentives. In general, consumers are seeking for innovations in the sector

and new flavors as well.

Competitors

New small competitors like Roarin Cajun Foods, Brothers Gourmet and Red Dragon

Foods, are entering the market with more convenient, healthier soups and new flavors,

in which are gaining popularity among customers, specially the Mexican and Asian

tastes. Besides that, other important competitor are the Private Labeled soups, which

has been increasing their sales by 5% over the past several years. The retailers are

reducing the shelf space by 3% on a yearly basis in order to provide extra space to their

own private labeled products is another drawback for Brannigans.

Collaborators

To reach the end consumers, an adequate channel is via the retailers. Retailers and

Brannigans must work together in order to increase the net profits. The disjunctive is

that the relationship is becoming eroded since Brannigan intends to have mre shelf

soace for new products. The advertising strategy has been focused mostly on pull

tactics, investing in generating brand awareness. Still, the push tactics, when it comes

to the direct relationship with retailers, are not efficient and can be a good point to

emphasize on, for future negotiations.

Rivalry among existing soup sellers

According to the case study, the rivalry in the Processed Food industry is quite high

since there are many companies competing on price, flavors, quality, taste, health

factors, innovations, and benefits of the products. The main challenge is the fact that all

the competitors provide the market with almost the same product range. Besides that,
private labels are also starting to become a threat for Brannigans since retailers are

offering cheaper brands and products. Offering higher quality products may seems to be

the only advantage of economies of scale.

Threat of new entrants

The threat are basically low. The main barriers are:

1. High levels of advertising and promotion investment

2. Difficulties in obtaining more shelf space

Threat of substitute products

The threat is high. The main barriers are:

1. Fast food restaurants

2. Other similar products.

Bargaining power of buyers

The buyers power is high as the customers are demanding for more innovative

products with new flavors besides seeking for cheaper prices, which fosters competition

among producers.

Bargaining power of suppliers

In terms of suppliers power, there might be a slight variants in raw material supply.

Another factor to take into consideration is the prices that suppliers charge.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths

Brannigan is the current market leader with a high market share.

It has hgh brand awareness and withholds very good results in the top of mind
Condensed and Ready to Eat soups are a part of the American culture and diet.

Weakness

Decrease in sales over the past three years

Poor customer targeting that changes in societys behavior and values.
All the internal teams of the company are not integrating with each other to come

up with a good strategy.

Opportunities

To innovate new products with new taste and new packaging

Generate creative solutions with retailers to create win-win situations.

Threats

Private labelled products are growing steadily with 5% per year with concurring

the shelf in retailers shop

New competition is entering the market with disruptive and incremental

innovations
A lack of coherent targeting, segmentation and positioning has created a gap

between the product offerings and what consumers really want.

Objectives

1. To safe the cash cow, identify risk and reward management policies regarding

strategic planning, decisions and new product development and acquisitions.

 2. To increase sales by 3-4% by anaylysing market, realistic costing and

implications of competing ideas.

Recommendations

Marketing mix

a) Product
The branding strategy will consists of implementing an umbrella brand of

Brannigans soup division that will give emotional values to the products

and brands targeted to the different market segments. These products will

include functional benefits that will satisfy their needs.

The RnD team have to come with new products or else the origin products

with innovations and introduced as new products.

b) Place
Invest in Information Technology in order to share information between

retailers and Brannigan on stock keeping units that will allow an

implementation of a just in time model for stock replenishment.

Invest in retailers warehouse and creates a positive with promotional POS

materials with special products stands and advertising that will drive an

increase in sales.
Create in store activities promoted by Brannigan to show the customers

new recipes and ways to use the soups they can find inside the stores.

c) Promotion
Using mass media to promote the discounts, offer and promotions as a

Pull Strategy to increase the sales.

 d) Price
To introduce Deli soups with higher price than the Ready to Eat soups.

ACTION CONTROL

A clear supervision needed in order to maintain the quality of the product even though

the price is adjusted slightly. A constant survey should be carried out, at least four times

per year to find out the new generations taste and demands.

As per in recommendations, it should at least need about 2 years to experience the

profits.