ReachingthePEAKofYourPerformance

Reaching of the YourPerformance

PEAK

AreviewoftheproductPEAK Submittedby:

Vallente, Krister H.

ReachingthePEAKofYourPerformance

I. Peak
SydenhamLaboratoriesInc.(SLI),manufacturerofPeak theproductImreviewing,envisionsitselftobeaninternationally recognized and preferred pharmaceutical toll manufacturer that meetsworldstandardsandproducesqualityproductsforNational and Multinational companies. Since its establishment in the year 1971, SLI has been producing medicines such as antibiotics, metforminfordiabetes,metoprololforcardiovasculardiseases,as wellasvitaminsandhealthsupplements. In 2004 SLI also ventured into the cleaning chemical business as SLIKChem, a manufacturer of Commercial, Industrial and Home Cleaning Chemicals, used in Laundry, Kitchen, HousekeepingandIndustrialCleaningOperations. They then further expanded their business in beverages launching in 2005 the Juslicious brand. Successfully mixing multivitamins in a juice drink without interfering with the taste, SLIlaunched,ayearafter,ahealthdrinkforkidscalledJus4Kids. Following thesuccessof thesekiddiedrinks,theycontinuedtheir scientific combinations and came up with Peak, a health juice for adults.Beingacompanythatspecializedintheproductionofvitaminsandmedicines,SLIbelieves thattheyaresufficientlyequippedtomanufactureadrinkwithhealthbenefits. SowhatisPeakanyway?Peakisathreeinonehealthdrinkformulatedtogivebusyandmobile professionals, as well as individuals with stressful lifestyles, three major benefitsreduced stress levels, more energy and enhanced memory. It has recently entered the beverage industry with its launchinglastMay22atAmezcuaWellnessCentreinWhitePlainsQuezonCity.Giventhebenefits, Peak is a healthy alternative to carbonated drinks, caffeinated beverages and sugarladen fruit juices.Theintroduction ofPeakas anantistressdrinkisverysignificant especiallyduringthese timeswhenstressisexperiencedbyeveryone. WhatarethesecretsbehindPeakshealthbenefits?ThekeynutrientsinPeakareLcarnitineand taurine.Lcarnitineisanaminoacidusedbythehumanbodytoturnexcessfatintoenergy.Italso helps relieve physical and mental fatigue, strenghtens immune cells, and sharpens cognitive abilities. Taurine, on the other hand, is like a memory cell that helps support mental and visual development. Peak also contains vitamins A, C and E, and zinc which strengthen the immune system while the iodine content stimulates mental function and physical development. I have to say,giventhesesetofnutritivecontentsplusitsrefreshingtaste,Peakhasaverygreatpotentialas a juice drink. Oh, by the way, Peak comes in two flavorsDalandan and Mango. And honestly speaking,Ithinktheytastebetterthanthosewithotherbrandswithsimilarflavor.

ReachingthePEAKofYourPerformance
II. Theproblemsitfaces Although the beverage industry is already very crowded, but given the great and unique benefits thatPeakhastooffer,IwasveryoptimisticthatPeakwouldoccupyacertainshareintheindustry itsin.Butwhyisitthatafteracoupleofmonthssinceitslaunching,Peakhasntmadeitswayto itstargetmarkets? Itisafactthatitisvery difficulttopenetratethebeverageindustry,inparticular,thejuicedrink industry.WithC2astheleader,FitnRightdominatingthefitnesscenteredpeople,Fabtryingto breakinthehealthconsciousones,Oneandotherjuicedrinks tryingtograbitsownmarket,itis verydifficulttotrytoestablishanewbrand.Butthereisawayandthatistofindasegmentof themarketwhichhasntbeenpenetratedbyyourcompetitorsandcapitalizeonthatopportunity. And that is what SLI is trying to do now. They are trying to answer the needs of highly stressed people,theunpenetratedmarket,byprovidingadrinkthatnotonlyprovidesrefreshmentbutalso improves your performancePeak. But still, given the new market, Peak hasnt seized its own shareofthemarket.AndherearesomeofthereasonsthatIbelieveiscausingPeaksslowgrowth. First on the line is its PRICE. The 350ml. Peak Dalandan and Mango sells for P17.50 and P18.00 respectively while C2, the leader in the industry only costs P14.50; quite a large difference for a brandwhichisstillinitsintroductoryphase.Nowadays,priceisagreataspectbeingconsideredby thebuyersofproductsandunlessSLIwillfindasolutiontothisproblem,Peakwillfinditdifficult toenterthemarket. ThesecondcauseofPeaksslowgrowthisthecompanyspoorcommunication/promotionofthe productsvalueandthepoordistributionoftheproduct.Admittedly,Peakoffersgreatbenefits, andthusprovidesagreatvaluetoitstargetmarket.Buttheproblemistheproductisnotreaching theearsofitstargetmarket.Ibelievethataproductsvalueisonlyasgoodasitsdistribution.And giventhedistributionstrategyofSLI,Peakspotentialwillonlygotowaste.Imean,itreallyisvery poorlydistributed.Thisproductislikenonexistenttomostpeople.Asofnow,Ionlyknowoftwo stores,fromthemanystoresIvisited,thatsellsPeak.AndifIdidntdigmywayinsidethestores refrigerator,Iwillneverbeabletofindit. Anotherproblem(wellitactuallyisnotaproblemjustanaspectthatneedsfurtherconsideration)is its target market. I believe that SLIs targets in launching Peak are the individuals subject to tremendous amount of stress, the working professionals in particular, offering the antistress benefits asthemajor factorto attractthem. But IbelievethatPeakcanpositionitselfinawider marketthanthis. The last problem concerns the nature of the product. Since Peak is just relatively new in the market and since its an alternative to traditionally established products such as coffee, it will be verydifficultforitstargetcustomerstoswitchproducts.Thisisamajorproblemofthecompany since this is one aspect where they have no direct control of; they cant simply dictate what the

ReachingthePEAKofYourPerformance
customers should prefer. Whats worse is that, they are going against tradition and not just a simpletrendwhichwillchangeinthenearfuture.

III. Recommendations
Regarding the PRICE issue, Peak should not compete with other juice drinks in price. One of the reasons why it competed in another segment is so that it can compete with the leading brands indirectly.PeakispromotingadifferentvaluethanthoseofC2andotherjuicedrinkssoSLIshould focusonattractingthemarketbypromotingandcommunicatingthatvaluetotheirtargetmarket. Although,thecompanycouldlowerthepricetemporarilyaspartoftheirpromotion(promotional pricing)butoverall,priceshouldnotbetouched.PricewarisanareawherePeakwillmostlikely lose since their production cost is obviously higher than the others as evidence by the many nutritiveingredientspresentinitcomparedtoothercompetingproducts.Besides,ahigherprice communicates to the consumers that Peak offers more value and is of better quality than other drinksandthusthepricepremium. PoorCommunicationandDistribution.Theproductpromotesaveryuniquevaluetothecustomers. Unfortunatelythisisnotcommunicatedeffectivelytothetargetmarket.Thetargetmarketseems notawareoftheexistenceoftheproduct. A. CommunicatingtheProduct One of the best ways to communicate the product to the public is through mass media advertisingradio, TV and newspaper. But the company, in one of its CEOs speeches, expresseditslackoffinancialcapacitytodosuchanexpensivemeansofadvertisingandis justrelyingonthepublictonoticeitsgreatpotential. Ifnotthroughmassmediaadvertising,therearealotofothermeanswhichareaseffective asmassmediaadvertisingincommunicatingyourproducttoyourtargetmarket.Oneway of doing it is through posters. This would be more effective if you partner it with a good distributionsystem.Distributeposterstothedifferentretailersofyourproduct. RationaleAsperexperience,atfirstglanceonecannevernoticetheproductand more importantly the three benefits it offers. Given the nature of the beverage/juice drinkindustry,peoplealreadyhaveplannedwhatdrinkstobuyandthusrarelypause totakealookatwhatotherdrinkshavetooffer.Byplacinglargeposters,especiallyat the side of the fridge or anywhere visible, people will get to notice that big sign emphasizingthethreebenefits.Theywillthentrytoexaminetheproduct,eitherinthe mindorphysicallydoingit,andtrytocompareitwithhis/herusualjuicedrink. Another means of communicating the product and the value that it promotes is through differentpromotionalactivities.Giventheworkingprofessionalsasitstargetmarket,they could act as sponsors at some events, say job fairs, and offer their product for free to

ReachingthePEAKofYourPerformance
aspiring professionals. If its too expensive, free tastes will do. ^_^. Or they could do the sameonthedifferentactivitiesofsomewellknowncompanies. Ofcoursetheseactivities will incur great costs but its a necessary cost especially for a product still under its introductoryphase. B. DistributionoftheProduct Communicatingtheproductwouldbeuselesswithoutagooddistributionsystem/strategy. Bycommunicatingtheproduct,thecompanyisincurringcosts.Buttheycanmakeupforit andeventuallyearnprofitbysellingtheproductorbydistributingittodifferentretailers. Sincetheproductisjustinitsintroductoryphaseandsinceitsinaverycrowdedindustry, store owners and other retailers might be hesitant to include their product in their list of inventory. Given this, one good way of ensuring the retailers of no losses is through consignment. But of course, implementing consignment of the product to randomly selectedretailersisabignonoforthecompany.Distributingtheproductonconsignment should be carefully studied. It will only be done on retail stores which are strategically located and those whos location and connection could promote the product to its target marketeffectively. Consignmentisagoodwayofeffectivedistribution.Butiftheretailstoreowneriswilling to sell the product not on consignment, then the better it is for the company. Although advantageous to the company, profit is not the main concern of the company on the introductoryphase.Itsmakingsurethattheproductisavailabletothetargetcustomers. Thus,thecompanyshouldmakesurethatthetargetcustomersareawareoftheproducts existence through the means of communicating the product as mentioned above, and by makingsurethattheproductisvisibleintheeyesofthecustomers. Rationale: People usually dont exert extra effort to find a product which is still unknown to him/her. Even though you placed posters near the cooler/fridge or advertisedyourproductsonradios/magazines,ifcustomerscantfindtheproduct,they usually buy their original product without exerting effort of finding the new product. Thus, its the companys responsibility to make sure that the product is visible to the customers.Asofnow,theyrenotdoingagoodjobatthisaspectsinceinmyexperience IhavetopersonallydigmywaythroughthefridgejusttofindPeak. Too narrow target market. On his speech on Peaks launching last May 22, 2008, Jacob Pea, SLI chiefexecutiveofficer,saidPeakisathreeinonehealthdrinkformulatedtogivebusyandmobile professionals, as well as individuals with stressful lifestyles, three major benefitsreduced stress levels,moreenergyandenhancedmemory. The way I understand it, they are aiming to market Peak to people with stressful lives with the professionalsastheirmaintarget.ButgiventhepotentialofPeak,theycouldreachouttoanother

ReachingthePEAKofYourPerformance
marketwhichhasntbeenthoroughlypenetratedbyothercompetitorsinthejuicedrinkindustry. Giventheirthreebenefits,especiallythethirdoneenhancedmemorytheycouldreachoutthe students, the college students in particular. College students have a lot of breaks in between classes.Giventhepressuretheyrealwaysin,andgiventhebrainusagethattheyrealwayssubject at, Peak is a perfect product for them. It not only provides them with refreshment but it would improvetheirperformanceinclass.Givenachoicebetweenadeliciousdrinkandadeliciousdrink which boosts brain performance, I believe students would opt to choose the latter one even if theres a slight premium on price. Unfortunately, this is one area which the company hasnt put much attention to as evidence by the absence of Peak on the displays of different stores near universities. Asstatedearlier,competingagainstanindirectalternative,especiallyawellestablishedonesuchas coffee, poses a major problem since this is an aspect of the market where the company has no controlof.Iguessthemosteffectivewaytoconquerthisis topromote,advertise,anddistribute properly.Therecommendationabove,whereyoupromoteyourproductbygivingitasfreebiesto certain events or offering free tastes to certain events and places, is a very good means of overcomingthisproblem.Giventhequalityoftheproduct,thetargetmarketonlyneedstotestthe productjustoncetoprovewhichofthealternativesisbetterandmoreeffective.Thisplusproper advertisinganddistributionwillguaranteethecompanyanincreaseinsalesandmarketshare.I believethisisoneofthestrategiesadoptedbyClear,anantidandruffshampoo,especiallytheone for men. Clear gave away a lot of free sachets for them to let the public just test their product. Coupledbythepresenceofmajorpersonalitiesinitsadsanditsavailabilityinstoreseverywhere, Clearclimbtheirwaytosuccess. Toconclude,Peakisanewproductwithdefinitelyhighpotentials.Afterhavingtasteditandtested its effects (enhancement of performance through the three benefits), I personally attest to its greatnessitabsolutelywillmakeyourreachthePEAKofyourperformance^_^.Now,everytime a friend of mine buys a juice drink, without any hesitation, I really really recommend Peak to him/her.Unfortunately,forsomereasons,Peakhasntutilizeditsmaximumpotential.Butwitha properstrategybearinginmindthethingsIwroteaboveandsomeaspectsnotwritten,withouta doubt,Peakwillseizeagreatportionofthemarket.