A case study of Saxonville Sausage Company.

1. Saxonville Sausage Company
Harvard Business School Case

2. • A 70-year old, privately held family business
• Produces pork sausage products,
predominantly fresh sausage
• Generated $1.5 billion revenue in 2005
What is Saxonville Sausage Company?

3. • The new product marketing director at
Saxonville Sausage Company
Who is Ann Banks?

4. • Plan and launch a new Italian sausage
brand in order to meet the profit objectives
of Saxonville
What is her job?

5. • Steve Sears- manager of Saxonville
• Laura Bishop- director of market research at
Saxonville
• Team ‘Project Score’ comprising of colleagues
from R&D, sales and marketing, and graphic
and design departments
Who will be helping her?

6. • Saxonville produces 3 branded products:
1. Bratwurst
2. Breakfast sausage
3. Italian sausage Vivio
The Current Situation

7. • Revenue Generation:
The Current Situation
Bratwurst
Breakfast sausage
Vivio
Store-brand

8. • Distribution is regional
• Bratwurst and breakfast sausage had very
little distribution in stores in the
Northeastern markets
The Current Situation

9. • Growth situation:
The Current Situation
BRATWURST
• Flat sales
• 0% volume
increase
BREAKFAST
SAUSAGE
• Underperformi
ng
• Double-digit
revenue
decline
VIVIO
• Matched level of
nationwide
category growth
• 9% annually in
2004, 15% in
2005

10. BUT….
Vivio was available in just 16% of
the nation’s large supermarkets
The Current Situation

11. The
Italian Opportunity

12. An Italian sausage product could be introduced
by Saxonville to fire up its sales and reach the
profit objectives

13. How Vivio made its mark?
In 2002, in the Northeast, brats wasn’t very famous. An Italian
product, thus, could have fit in.
Vivio was then introduced . An Italian name was given to indulge
the customers as Saxonville was German-seeming.
Price was kept comparable to regional Italian sausages and
required trade support was given.

14. 1. By indicating ‘authentic Italian heritage’ (the
case of Vivio)
2. By emphasizing ‘freshly and locally made’
products
How was a brand positioned?

15. • How to position the new brand?
• Extend Saxonville’s line or introduce a new
brand?
• What core values do the customers seek?
• Which potential territory to target?
• What should be the product attributes?
The Questions!

16. To understand a rising product opportunity and
introduce a new brand to generate profits
• Market research conducted via focus groups
• Study focus groups
• Understand the illustration of research design
variables
Why study this case?

17. Apply the concepts of brand positioning
• How should a new brand be positioned
• How to decide on brand extension
• How to ensure that other product lines under
the existing brand are not cannibalized
Why study this case?

18. Demonstrating how the attributes of a new
product should be decided
• Core values that the customers seek
• Graphics and design of the product
• Sales and marketing
Why study this case?

19. • Vivio was supported only through base trade
spending
• It was making distribution gains, but there was
a need to stay competitive
• Management was just skeptical of positioning
The need for market research

20. Research
&
Evaluation

21. A brief idea:
Company’s sausage business

22. Vivio’s
Sales performance

24. • Because of the ‘home-grown heritage’
• To ensure fresh products, as national brands
principally sold frozen products
Why not a national Italian sausage brand?

25. The four-step
Positioning process

26. Step I
Planning new research on the target
customer
(Qualitative)

27. Initiation:
• 4 highly interactive “mini” pilot groups out of
a Pennsylvania research facility were formed
with 4-6 users per group-men and women
aged 25-50
• It was to get an idea of what values do
customers expect from an Italian sausage to
deliver
Step I

28. Forming of the focus groups:
• Liz Keller, a top brand consultant, and a
marketing research professional were
introduced.
• Participants of focus groups were recruited
based on A&U data
• Groups had to be manageable economically
feasible
Step I

29. Objectives:
• To understand current customer behaviors
and unmet needs
• To get a clear idea of product benefits and
attributes
• To know the core values and role of the
product
Step I

30. Finally, 103 women were selected out of 437
cold-called female heads-of-household, as
females were the best source of insights
• Focus group sessions were conducted
with all these women
Step I

31. Step II
Building on learning from the
focus groups
(Qualitative)

32. Consumers’ behaviors revealed:
• Three consumer groups existed:
1. Heavy users- purchased at least once a
week during fall and winter.
2. Medium users
3. Light users- purchased at least once
every six weeks
Step II

33. • Italian sausage was considered a great ‘meal-
maker’
• It was a meal everyone enjoyed
• The Vivio brand was seen to be of
exceptionally high quality by all the users alike
Step II

34. On the brand name issue:
• Respondents preferred an Italian name. Vivio
ranked 7th out of 20 names.
Step II

35. • ‘Saxonville Italian Sausage’ received a lot of
votes irrespective of other product usage
Step II

36. • In bratwurst-dominant areas, however, its
‘German-seeming’ heritage ranked it poor
Step II

37. Perceptual maps constructed:
Step II

38. Another one:
Step II

39. Clearly…
Italian sausage was the perfect ‘meal-solution’
for its trade off time and skills required to
prepare a meal.
Step II

40. 6 distinct potential territories revealed from
the focus groups to position the brand:
1. Family connection
2. Clever cooking
3. Confidence
4. Appreciation
5. Quick and easy
6. Tradition
Step II

41. Conclusions:
• ‘Dinner dilemmas’ were figured out
• The most important need had to be
finalized
• Accordingly, products’ core values were to be
decided
Step II

42. Step III
Building positioning concepts
(Qualitative)

43. A ‘brand ladder’ diagram was listed and
which value is at the top was to be decided
• All ideas related to a woman doing a job as a
great mother and homemaker
Step III

44. Four mock concepts were introduced:
1. Family connection
2. Love
3. Balanced
4. Creative cooking
Respondents had to prioritize their 3 favorites
Step III

45. This is how they voted
Step III

46. • Family connection and clever cooking were
the two most viable concepts to brainstorm
upon
Step III

47. The constraints they were facing:
• Brand’s national launch was scheduled for
early 2007
• No discounting on the product’s set price
Step III

48. Manageable list of ideas analyzed in:
Step III

49. Step III

50. Step III

51. Step IV
Additional research
(Quantitative)

52. Purchase intent scores were calculated as:
Step IV

53. Clearly..
Family connection scored better
Step IV

54. Possible reasons considered by Banks:
• Existing brands’ ‘authentic Italian heritage’
• Family connection’s inherently motivating
nature
Step IV

55. Which Concept wins?
Family connection or clever cooking?
The Big Question?

56. From the purchase intent scores,
% that would definitely buy the product:
Family connection Clever cooking
23 41
The Analysis

57. Mindset dealt with while making the purchase:
Family Connection Clever Cooking
Bringing all the family The female is seen
members together while to be indulged in
having the meal cooking good for the
family
The Analysis

58. As the female herself is the main figure who’s
to make the purchase,
Giving her cooking an appreciating touch is
more likely to prevail- a great homemaker
The Analysis

59. What do perceptual maps suggest:
Clever cooking, with little skills required, scores
high on ‘family-pleasing’ axis as well
It is both easy to do and connecting the family
The Analysis

60. Concluding…
Clever Cooking is the territory to go for!
The Analysis

61. The Next Question

62. How to position the brand?

63. • Saxonville enjoys a great brand reputation
• Vivio was ranked 7th among Italian names
Saxonville was ‘the family company’- it
reflected great value
The Analysis

64. • “Saxonville Italian Usage” received a lot
of votes irrespective of its other product usage
• Anything from Saxonville was assumed to
offer great quality
The Analysis

65. • The bratwurst-distributed areas might not
accept it, BUT…
With proper advertising and creation of
core values, it could be used to strengthen
the brand even more
The Analysis

66. • The focus groups suggested that the product
lines were not going to interfere and they had
nothing to do with each other
This feared away CANNIBALIZATION
The Analysis

67. Concluding…

68. It was expected to offer product of great quality

69. “Saxonville Italian Sausage” enjoyed more
brand reputation than Vivio, or a new brand

70. With clever cooking concept being sold, it gave
a ‘family product’ feeling too, to the customers

71. “Saxonville Italian Sausage”
The Winner

72. Supporting tactics offered

73. • Different forms may be produced to fulfill
various needs
• Fresh herbs can be inserted in the sausage to
give it a ‘fresh’ feel without impacting the
taste
• Different flavor to keep it exciting
R&D

74. • Use of background pictures, fresh ingredients
depiction, the Italian flag
Graphics

75. • Temporary Merchandising Display units that
carry recipe cards, great cooking-with-sausage
graphics
• Refrigerated display units placed in the
produce and dry grocery sections
• Celebrity recipes- women might love that
Sales

76. Ann Banks and her team did a great job.
She is surely up to impress the managing team
of Saxonville..
Isn’t she?
Take Aways from the case

77. Credits
Slides created by: Kumar Ankur, as part of an
internship done under the guidance of
Prof. Sameer Mathur
(www.IIMInternship.com)