Subject: Marketing Management

Aoife Ward

Sarah O’Loughlin

Subject: Marketing Management

Lecturer: Deirdre Fleming

Submission Date: 16/03/2016

Brand Audit Assignment

Brand Twix

Contents

1. Executive summary 3

1.1 Brief description of brand 3

1.1.1 Define target market 3

1.1.2 Competitive advantage your brands enjoys in the marketplace 3

1.1.3Positioning statement 4

1.1.4 Key recommendations: 4

2. Introduction 5

2.1 Industry 5

2.2 Issues affecting demand 5

2.3 Twix 6

2.4 Pricing 7

2.5 Distribution 7

2.1 Market situation and analysis of the brand 8

2.1.1 Economic 8

2.1.2 Social 10

2.1.3 Technology 11

2.3 Industry environment 11

2.3.1 New Entrants 12

2.3.2 Substitutes 12

2.3.3 Competitive environment 13

3. Market segmentation and customer analysis 16

3.1 Market segmentation 16

3.2 Target market/segmentation characteristics 17

3.3 Market research findings 18

3.3.1 Personas 18

4. Brand vision 19

5. Brand equity application 21

6. Brand positioning 22

7. Brand identity 24

7.1 Old 24

7.2 New 25

8. Strategic brand management tool choice of your own 27

9. Brand objectives and goals. 28

9.1 Mission statement 28

9.2 Objectives for volumes, sales, market shares, gross margins, net profit, ROI 28

9.3 Convert objectives to goals by assigning magnitudes and dates 29

10. Key Findings 31

11. Recommendations 31

11.1 Promotional strategy 31

11.1.1 Sales Promotion 31

11.1.2 Social 33

11.2 Product/packaging/design/labelling/service strategy 35

11.3 Place and distribution strategy 35

11.4 People strategy 35

11.5 Pricing 36

Appendix 37

Focus Group 37

1. Executive summary

1.1 Brief description of brand

The Twix bar is a finger shaped bar made with crunchy biscuit topped with a thick layer of chewy caramel covered in creamy dairy milk chocolate. This 3 layer combination of chocolate, caramel and biscuit provides a unique and very specific type of chocolate bar. Twix fingers are notoriously packaged in pairs which has somewhat defined their character over the years. Twix is packaged within a distinctive wrapping using bold gold’s, reds and black which encompass the identity of the brand. A notable feature on the wrapping is the use of a pause symbol instead of a regular dot on the 'I' in Twix. This feature was rolled out on Twix packaging in 2011 with the intention to emphasis the idea of 'pausing' and 'taking a moment for oneself' while enjoying a Twix. This push was a response to their competitor Nestlé Kit-Kat’s take a break slogan.

Their style of advertising more than often comprised of one of the two bars snapped in half to show the soft caramel against the biscuit base. The first ever US communication strategy for the bar adopted the slogan “Chocolate, Caramel and a Surprising Cookie Crunch!”

Throughout the 1990s Mars ventured into a period of extensive experimentation with the Twix bar. A wide range of new flavours were made available for instance; fudge, dark chocolate, white chocolate, mint, coffee, orange, triple chocolate, and most recently Twix Java and Twix Cappuccino. Additionally Twix ventured into the ice-cream world in the early 1990s. This seen Twix’s sales boost rapidly outside of their traditional markets.

1.1.1 Define target market

Currently the target market for Twix is predominantly males between the ages of 25 to 45.

1.1.2 Competitive advantage your brands enjoys in the marketplace

This 3 layer combination of chocolate, caramel and biscuit provides a unique and very specific type of chocolate bar. No other branded two fingered biscuit bar currently exists on the market.

1.1.3Positioning statement

Twix wants to offer more than just a product but an experience too. Twix wants to give back to their customers and inspire then to reconnect and gather together with those who matter to them.

1.1.4 Key recommendations:

It is evident the Twix has a great taste and is loved by many, however this is not reflected in sales figures. The ultimate goal for Twix is to become a salient brand. To do this the recommendations below should be followed, further discussion of implementation can be found in section

1. 
   The initial objective of this research is to increase brand associations and create a defined brand personality.
   
2. 
   Build a well-rounded, and identifiable brand personality by developing positive cognitive connections with “togetherness” and “socialising”.
   
3. 
   Actively managing a balance between the gender fluidity of Twix’s target market with tactical promotions and product additions.
   
4. 
   Drive customer engagement and consumer generated content in an effort to create long lasting relationships
   
5. 
   Drive sales incrementally from a combination of the above objectives and ultimately increase market share.
   

2. Introduction

2.1 Industry

The European confectionery market seen a growth of 3% in 2014 reaching over €70594 million. This figure is forecasted to grow by a further 15% in 2019, meaning that the market would be worth nearly €82 million. Chocolate dominates the market as the segment accounts for nearly 60% of the confectionary markets total value. Mondelez International Inc. leads the European confectionery market, holding 16% share of the confectionary markets value. Rivalry is high in this industry. Despite competitor’s diversity, they remain to depend heavily on the food and beverage markets in general and so, combined with low consumer switching costs drives up rivalry (MarketLine, 2015).

In addition to this, emerging markets are also a force to be reckoned with! For instance, Nigeria has seen a 286% rise in growth of their chocolate industry between 2007-2012 (KPMG, 2014).

In more recent figures, it is expected that Saudi Arabia chocolate revenues will grow by 43.5%. In 2013 Mars, who currently have 45% of the market, recognised the country's potential and opened their first production facility there (KPMG, 2014).

Here we can see that the external environment is prospering, paving out huge potential for those in the industry to step up and reap the rewards, however Twix currently do not seem to be adequately prepared for this. The lack of brand identity and strength will cause big issues long term in such a competitive environment.

2.2 Issues affecting demand

In terms of poorer consumers, chocolate has a greater income elasticity. Income elasticity of chocolate strongly correlates with income per capita. Value-led growth strategies have led the way as a result in emerging markets (e.g. Bolivia). Income shocks in countries have a much bigger impact on chocolate consumption than in richer countries (e.g. Denmark).

Premiumising chocolate provides an opportunity for survival when faced with rising input costs and decreases in market volume demands. Premiumisation could possibly absorb some of the shock and help protect margins. Demand drivers moving forward vary substantially from country to country and so one size does not fit all in terms of strategy. In terms of price, analysis reveals that premium brands outperformed in the US and UK markets. In the confectionary market, success is heavily reliant on the strength of the marketing mix. It is all about having a global brand when it comes to “soft demand drivers”. Soft demand drivers, for instance marketing, innovation and changing tastes are dominant features found in developed markets. US, Japan and the UK fit this accordingly. The creation of brand loyalty is key here as they are markets that react positively to marketing efforts (Euromonitor International , 2015)

2.3 Twix

Twix as a chocolate bar needs to remind consumers of its existence because as we know in the competitive world of chocolate, sales are most definitely reliant on being salient or at the top of the consumers mind. Studies carried out on stores stock keeping units have shown that Twix has seen a 9.5% fall in unit sales in 2012 from the previous year. Twix's positioning has been inconsistent over the years. Every 3-5 years they launched an entirely new campaign with the excessive use of 15 different end lines in 20 of them. Twix realised this lack of transparency and clear image and took inspiration from Snickers. They saw the opportunity to develop a personality along with a compelling brand proposition. Their big idea was a campaign that emphasised the two-bar format of the Twix bar, creating a fictitious rivalry between each side/bar. The campaign could have been hailed as a success at the time as it got consumers to engage with the brand digitally. It also generated a ROMI of 3.35 in the first 12 months in the USA (WARC, 2014).

Despite its success initially, there has been a severe failure in the upkeep of branding, positioning and advertising.

People like the taste of Twix yet sales do not communicate this, why? When asked whether or not they were familiar with Twix’s current marketing efforts; the left/right campaign, 65% of consumers said they were either unfamiliar or confused by it. Clearly Twix has lost sight of future marketing plans it has become what Miles and Snow (1992) would call a reactor in the industry. Rather than being innovative they seem to have lost sight of the brands future. Visible and up-to-date advertising of the brand seems to be scarce if not non-existent.

It does not matter whether your chocolate bar is tasty or not, if it’s not on the top of the consumers mind at point of sale it simply won’t be chosen. Unfortunately Twix is seen to be a non-key player within the Mars portfolio, a small brand with 2.5 times less the sales than its competitors Snickers and its direct competitor kit-Kat by Nestle according to Warc. However this can be adequately addressed with fresh, innovative and tactical marketing efforts in order to revive Twix’s sales.

2.4 Pricing

Pricing in the confectionary market is quite stable. Brands tend to sit within the €1 - €2 price range, particularly those in direct competition with Twix. It is generally not very common to differentiate based solely on price in this particular industry.

2.5 Distribution

Twix is available in convenience stores, supermarkets, and most public places with vending machines. The Twix bar itself has had many versions and limited editions in the past in an attempt to boost sales for the brand. The following is a list of the previous and some current brand extensions and their corresponding geographical locations.

Ireland/Uk	Europe	US	Australia	Asia
Triple Chocolate  Chocolate Ice Cream Twix (Bars)  Twix Tea Breaks  Twix Top  Ice Cream Twix (Bars)  Bisc& Twix  Twix Xtra  Choc 'N' Orange Twix White Chocolate Twix  Twix Super Thick Shake  Cookies-n-Creme Twix  Chocolate Fudge Twix	Gingerbread Twix  Twix Miniatures  New Twix  Ice Cream Twix (Pot)  White Chocolate Twix  Twix Topix  Twix Cappuccino  Twix Fino  Dark Chocolate Twix  bisc & Twix Top Choco	Peanut Butter Twix  Twix PB  Twix 100 Calorie Bars  Dark Chocolate Twix  White Chocolate Twix  Twix Coconut  Twix Java	Twix Pods  Mint Slice billu	Coffee Twix