THE UNIVERSITY OF

NORTHAMPTON
 Executive Summary
This report outlines the 3 year marketing plan 2016 2018 for Yollies, the first yogurt on a
stick brand for children marketed by Kerry Foods. The plan aims at helping Kerry Foods defend
its leadership position in the UK market as well as strengthen the customer awareness and
loyalty to the brand. In the coming time, kid snacking market is still growing in the UK and
Ireland while the number new product concepts has recently reduced, it is the right time for
Kerry Foods to launch Yollies, a refreshing yogurt concept. Not only kids but also parents and
school administrators who are mostly decision makers of kids snacks are target customers of
Yollies. While taste and fun to eat are proven to be the two most criteria for kids in selecting
snacks, healthiness and convenience are what parents concern the most. The following marketing
plan will outline marketing strategies and decisions so as to make Yollies positioned the number
one in both kids and parents minds.

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 Table of Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................1
1. Background................................................................................................................................3
2. Situation analysis.......................................................................................................................3
2.1. Macro Environment Analysis PEST model.......................................................................3
2.2. Micro environment analysis.................................................................................................5
4. Marketing Strategy....................................................................................................................8
5. SMART Objectives....................................................................................................................9
6. Market segmentation and targeting.........................................................................................9
7. Positioning Statement..............................................................................................................10
8. Marketing mix for the Company Kerry................................................................................11
9. Budgeting..................................................................................................................................13
10. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................15

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1. Background
Founded in 1972 in Ireland, Kerry Group is among UKs leading food and beverage brands in
terms of technology and market growth. For kid segment, Kerry Foods has just launched the
world firsts yoghurt in a stick, Yollies, which is a unique format of yoghurt lolly and an
addition to the Dairy product line. The Yollies offers the innovative and delighted way for kids to
enjoy healthy yoghurt which is rich in Calcium and vitamins. The launch of Yollies is Kerry
Foodss newest innovation and reaction to the dynamic UKs food industry in which market
trends and competition have been changing fast.
This marketing plan will propose marketing segmentation and targeting as well as marketing
strategy and marketing mix for Yollies based on careful analysis of marketing environment and
so that the next three year from 2016 will mark substantial increase of revenue for Kerry Goods
to at least 10 % and its market share of at least 15% of total UK food market for child at the end
of 2018.

2. Situation analysis

2.1. Macro Environment Analysis PEST model

Political factor
Moreover, as UK government offers free school meals for all infants and pupils in reception,
year 1 and year 2 in which snacks are often included in their meals as part of a lunch box,
demand for snacks will increase and school administrators will be decision makers of including
Yollies in free school meal (Mintel, 2015).
In order to reduce obesity which has been regarded as the cause of over 30,000 deaths per year in
UK (Nationalobesityforum, 2016), UK government is examining the World Health
Organizations proposal to impose tax on drinks which contain sugar. Particularly, the sugar tax
is also believed to tackle childhood obesity by encouraging food manufacturers reduce sugar
intake. Thereby, Kerry Foods should consider reducing sugar or replacing sugar in its
manufacturing ingredients.
Besides, according to Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which is the UKs independent
regulator for advertising, the rules related advertising to children are deliberately strict in order to
protect children from harmful and inappropriate messages. All ads that are deemed to be harmful
to children in terms of physical, mental and moral matters will be banned directly. Therefore,

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most advertisers make their ads socially responsible for children and check with ADA to be sure
about that. (ASA website, 2016)

Economic factor
Since 2013, the UK economy has been recovered gradually after the financial crisis for favorable
business environment. Specifically, the GDP has been grown by 2.2 in 2013 and 2.9 in 2014
(World Bank, 2015). Moreover, income per capital has been also increasing since 2013 that
means UK citizens are becoming richer. As a result, they will pay more attention on health issues
and healthy foods (BIS, 2010). The growth of economy and individual incomes are good signs
for business development and higher consumer spending for foods in general and healthy
offerings in particular like Yollies.

Social-Cultural Factor
British people love children very much and many parents let their children independent in
selecting what they want. Therefore, the actual customers of Kerry Foods may be both the
children and their parents. According to Mintel (2015), among ten parents, seven of them buy
yoghurts and half of them prefer healthier snack for their children. Besides, convenience is also
the important trend in food market. In addition, taste ranks as the most crucial criteria to children
and followed by fun to eat when they select snack for multiple usage such as for lunch, when
away from home, before or after sport, replacing breakfast and even when other friends eat
snacks. That means Yollies should be a healthy snack with less sugar and more nutrients but must
still have good taste.
In addition, according to Mintels forecast (2015), during the period of 2014 to 1029, the amount
of children aging from 10 to 14 will grow and that is the good sign for increasing demand of
snacks

Technological factor
In such a dynamic and competitive kid snack market, being unique and innovative will help
Kerry Foods defends its leading positions. Yoghurt on a stick is the new innovation in terms of
package that will attract consumers and enhance delight of children when they can enjoy yoghurt
in a fantastic way.

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According to Opcom report on children usage of media (2014), the number of children of all
ages who own or use tablet computers has been increase significantly. In 2014, the number of
children aging from 5 to 15 who are online via a tablet has doubled in comparison to that of
2013. Besides, children aged 12-15 spend more time on Internet than TV. That means Internet
should be an important marketing channel to reach children

2.2. Micro environment analysis

Company
AccordingtoKerryGroupAnnualReport2015,thegroupssalesrevenuehasreachedabout6.2
billionEurosinwhichtheannualprofithasbeenover603millionEuros.Withtheemployment
forceofmorethan24,000andover100factories,KerryGrouphasservedapproximately15,000
productsperyearto140countriesovertheworld.UniquesellingpointofKerryGroupareits
varietyandinnovationinitsfoodandbeverageofferings.ItsproductportfolioincludesDairy
andSavory;CerealandSweet;Nutrition andBeverage.KerryFoodsis adivisionofKerry
GroupandtheleaderinUKchilledfoods.ItsportfolioincludesDairyandSavory;Cerealand
Sweet; Nutrition and Beverage and Meal solutions with leading brands such as Mattessons,
LowLow Cheestrings, Richmond and Walls. The Company has implemented Kerry Global
Quality Management System( GQMS) and Kerry Foods Manufacturing Standard (KFMS) as
well as maintained all plants conformity of accredited Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)
safety standard to ensure product quality and safety. Beside, Kerrys Nutrition Centre of
Excellence and Kerry Health & Nutrition institute have been established in 2015 for new
product development
KerryFoodsisastrongbrandnameinbothUKandIrelandmarket.Withhighgrowingrevenue
andprofit,KerryFoodsalsohasstrongfinancialbackup.Afterall,wellestablishedbrandname
and generous budgeting, Kerry Foods have good condition for the success of new product
development
Competitors
Indirect competitors of Kerry Foods include food and beverage companies which offer variety of
kid snacks such as sweet snacks (i.e. chocolate, sweets, sweet biscuits, ice cream, frozen yogurt,
sweet baked goods and desserts); fruits and vegetables (i.e. fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, dried
fruits and seeds); dairy snacks (i.e. yoghurt, cheese snacks, drinking yoghurts and flavored milk);

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savory snacks (i.e. crisps, crackers, savory biscuits); and other snacks (i.e. bread, cereal, snack
bar, etc.). According to Mintel (2015), the most popular snacks that UK parents buy for their
children are sweet snacks followed by fruit or vegetable; dairy snacks and savory snacks. Yollies,
yoghurt on a stick, is a type of dairy snacks which is quite popular option among parents when
they select snacks for their children.
Direct competitors consist of food and beverage companies which offer dairy snacks in general
and yoghurts in particular such as Actimel, Disney, Frubes, Squashum, Munch Bunch, Nesquik
or Nestle Bunch, Petits, etc. Besides, about 36% of UK parents who buy snacks for their children
think that kid snacks are more suitable than adults snacks for their child that means yoghurt
brands for adults may also be competitors of Yollies. According to Keynote (2015), sales of low-
fat yoghurt, bio set yoghurts and plain or natural yoghurt have increased rapidly and accounted
for majority of total consumer expenditure on yoghurt. That means yoghurts are being healthier
and competition in this sector become more and more tense. As kids always want new and
refreshing thing and they quickly get bored, new product developments in kid snacks are heavily
concerned. According to Keynote (2015), convenience is currently a trend in food market and
many food and beverage companies have exploited this to make their products easier-access to
consumers.
Every year, food and beverage companies in kid snacking industry introduce many new product
concepts in terms of ingredients, taste and fantastic packaging with cartoon characters, for
example so as to attract both parents and their kids and increase their sales and market share.
However, according to Mintel report (2015), since 2013, the number of new kid snacking
launches has reduced significantly. Therefore, it is the right time for Kerry Foods to launch a
total new yoghurt concept, Yollies, to reach more new customers and retain its existing ones.
Customers
Yollies is actually yoghurt for kids and therefore, kids are certainly end users of Kerry Foods.
However, decision maker of purchasing Yollies may also be parents. According to Mintel (2015),
while taste and fun to eat are proven to be the two most criteria for kids in selecting snacks,
healthiness and convenience are what parents concern the most because of time pressure.
Besides, for infants and pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 who have free school meals, school
administrators will be the persons who decide what dairy snacks included in lunch packages.

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Collaborators
Kerry Foods products are made from supplied through almost major supermarket groups,
convenience stores and independent retailers across UK and Ireland including Tesco, Asda,
J.Sainsbury, Morrisons, Super Valu, Aldi, Londis, Dunnes, Rewe, Spar and Marks & Spencer,
etc. In order to react quickly and efficiently to over 30,000 orders from more than 200 business
customers each month, Kerry Foods has adopted GXS Managed Services which is an advanced
provider of B2B e-commerce solutions
All strategic and key supply partners of Kerry Foods must be members of SEDEX and sign
Supplier Code of Conduct for natural, ethical and sustainable raw material sourcing
3. SWOT Analysis of Yollies
Kerry Foods is a strong and established
brand
Innovative design the worlds first
yogurt in a stick which offer fun to eat
while fun to eat are the second
important criteria for kids in selecting
Strength
snacks (Mintel, 2015)
Similar to ice-cream in format but
healthier than ice-cream as Yollies are
rich in Calcium and vitamin D
Sweet and good taste that what children
love the most
Sweet snacks are considered as cause of
childhood obesity
Weakness
Healthy snacks are becoming saturated

Less new product concepts have been

introduced in the UK snacking market
Opportunities
since 2013
Growing market size in the UK

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 Sugar levels in snacks for children have
been concerned and to be controlled by
legal system
High competition
Threat Competitors may imitate Yollies
product concept for their new product
development quickly

4. Marketing Strategy
According to the SWOT analysis, as current kid snacking market is still growing in the UK and
Ireland while the number new product concepts has been reduced in recently, it is the right time
for Kerry Foods to launch new products in current markets. In other words, according to Ansoff
Matrix, Kerry Foods should intensively introduce Yollies, a refreshing product into kid snacking
market as well as gradually develop new variation of Yollies in terms of flavors and packaging
designs in this market

Figure 1: Ansoff Matrix for Yollies

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5. SMART Objectives
Objectives of launching Yollies into the UK and Ireland market from 2016 to 2018 are specified
as below:
Raise brand awareness of Yollies as an innovative refreshing healthy and convenient
dairy snacks among kids and parents by 80%
Increase the number of repeated customers (i.e. buy Yollies at least five times per week)
by 8% per month
Increase the number of new customers by 10% per quarter
Increase sales by at least 30% for Yollies per year
Increase market share of Yollies in UK kid yogurt to 10% at the end of 2018

6. Market segmentation and targeting

Segmentation factors Target customers

Infants and pupils in reception, year 1
and year 2 : get free school meal
Kids aged 7-15: Some may have money
Demographic variables: ages and family life
in hand, love games, tablets and
cycle
Internet even more than TV
Adults who get married and have
children aging from 22 to below 40
Kids: love fantasy and good taste
Adults: seek convenient, healthy snacks
for children
Benefits sought School administrators: seek healthy
snacks to add into lunch packages for
pulpils

7. Positioning Statement
Yollies is the world firsts yoghurt in a stick, a unique format of yoghurt lolly. Yollies will not
only offer a refreshing and convenient way for kids to enjoy yoghurt like an ice-cream but also
bring them Calcium and vitamin D.
Positioning strategy aims at create a brand image in customers minds and make the product on
top of customers choice when they are under buying process by differentiating the product over
that of competitors upon important customer buying criteria (Kotler & Amstrong, 2011)
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In this case, target customers who are kids will select yogurts upon two main criteria which are
taste and fun to eat. The following perceptual map shows positioning of Yollies over its
competitors in in kids minds:

Figure 2: Perpetual map of Yollies and other competitors in kids minds

In addition, target customers who are parents will select yogurts upon two main criteria which
are healthiness and convenience. The following perceptual map shows positioning of Yollies
over its competitors in in parents minds:

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 Figure 3: Perpetual map of Yollies and other competitors in parents minds
According these perpetual maps, Yollies will be positioned as the number one in kids minds in
terms of taste and fun as well as the best choice for parents who seek healthy dairy snacks for
their children at the most convenience

8. Marketing mix for the Company Kerry

Product
Yollies offer kids tasty Yoghurt on a stick. This is the first yogurt concept in which kids can
enjoy yoghurt as I do with ice-cream with a lot of fun. Yollies is healthy yogurt which is rich of
Vitamin D ( i.e. e mg per Yollies) and calcium (i.e. 65 mg per Yollies) (Mintel, 2015). Each
Yollies portion includes two Yollies with a funny character in different colorful formats such as a
king, pirate, swimming man, discovering man, doctor, etc. that help attract kids. Currently
Yollies has three flavors which are strawberry, apricot and raspberry. In next three years, Yollies
should introduce more flavors of nutrient fruits such as avocado, banana or orange as well as
chocolate flavor that most kids love. Besides, sugar level in kid snacks are to be controlled by
legal system and many parents concern about this as good for health is one of the most
important criteria for selecting snacks for kids. However, taste is the most important criteria for

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kids to select snacks for themselves. Therefore, Kerry Foods should replace sugar by other
healthy ingredient such as honey to make Yollies healthier or less sugar or even sugar free but the
taste remains the same or even better
Place
As convenience is a current trend in food markets, within three years from 2016 to 2018, Yollies
should widely cover the market places so that parents and kids can easily and more likely access
and buy Yollies. Distribution channels for Yollies should be:
Supermarkets, retail stores and convenience stores in the UK and Ireland: Yollies are
available not only on the shelves but also at check-out points so that consumers may buy
it while waiting for payment
Kinder gardens and schools: work with administrators to include Yollies in lunch
packages or sell Yollies in canteens
Kiosks and automatic selling machines

Price
Yollies are currently sold at 2GBP for 100mg. Instead of reducing the price, bigger size of Yollies
for still 2GBP will be applied occasionally
Promotion
TV: funny advertisements, cartoons and game shows in which Yollies characters will
appear so that parents and kids get familiar with the image of Yollies
Internet: online games and cartoon series about Yollies character traits
Sponsorship: Yollies will be the sponsors of social activities and campaigns for children
so as to build good brand image
Points of sales advertising : Billboards
Sales promotion: Free toys and trials of new Yollies flavors
Sales persons: Presentaion at kindergaderns and primary schools for school teachers and
administrators

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9. Budgeting

Definition of Year
Media type
Media 1 2 3
Sales person 15000 10000 5000
Advertisements 7000 6000 5000
TV advertising Game show 190000 180000 170000
Cartoon series 100000 100000 100000
Online game 3000 3000 3000
Online
Cartoon series on
advertising 1000 1000 1000
Youtube
Point of sales
Billboards 35000 34000 33000
advertising

Public Sponsorship for

20000 20000 20000
Relations sport events
Sales Toys 3000 2000 2000
promotion Trials 3000 2000 2000
Total spending (in GBP) 377000 358000 341000
Total sales forcast (in GBP)
12000000 20000000 30000000

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10. Conclusion
The marketing plan proposed in this report has followed a deductive approach in which all
marketing decisions are made upon fact-based research and theoretical guideline. UKs kid
snacking market is still growing in terms of sales opportunities and size while the number of new
product concepts has been reduced since 2013. Besides, Kerry Foods has already established
strong brand name in the UK and Ireland. Therefore, introduction of new Yollies, the worlds
first yogurts on the stick upon proper marketing segmentation, targeting, positioning and 4Ps mix
will surely contribute significant increase in revenue of Kerry Foods as well as strengthen its
brand image and customer loyalty.

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 References
Advertising Standard Authority (2016). Children and Advertising. [Online]. Available at
https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Hot-Topics/Children-and-
advertising.aspx#.VuKPy32LTIV
Brooksbank, R. (1991). Essential Characteristics for an Effective Marketing Plan. Marketing
Intelligence & Planning, 9(7), pp.17-20.
Keynote (2015). Milk and Dairy Products
Kotler, P. & Amstrong, G. (2011). Principles of Marketing, 14th ed. Pearson
Kerry Food website (n.d). [Online]. Available at <www.kerryfoods.com>
Kerry Group Report (2015). [Online]. Available at
<http://www.kerrygroup.com/investors/results-presentations/Interim-Management-Report-2015-
Presentation.pdf >
Jensen, D. (2013). Your Personal Marketing Plan. Science.
Mintel (2015). Kids Snacking
Mintel (2015). Ice-cream and desserts
National Obesity Forum (2016). Confronting obesity in Europe: Taking action to change the
default setting. [Online]. Available at
http://www.nationalobesityforum.org.uk/index.php/_news_.html
Opcom (2015). Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report.[Online]. Available at
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/media-use-attitudes-
14/Childrens_2014_Report.pdf
Simkin, L. (2000). Marketing is marketing maybe!. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 18(3),
pp.154-158.

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