STP Of Cadbury

The STP strategy:

In Indian markets, Cadbury India has managed its markets very well and is constantly improvising on the product offerings to different market segments.

First step in the STP strategy would be to see how product is perceived in the markets.

Have a look at the website pages of Cadbury India http://www.cadburyindia.com/heritage/chocology.asp -

it clearly shows how Cadbury is successfully eliminating the doubts and myths of eating chocolates. A history about chocolates and related information about the product is also presented in the website.

Next step will be segmenting the markets based on the gender, income, zones or areas, consumer attitude and buying process and any other basis that is feasible in the chocolate market. After the segments are recognized, provide such product offerings to these markets that benefit the consumer groups as well as helps to frame and design the marketing strategies.

Cadbury‟s product offerings are mostly based on the production capacity, pricing of the various packs, packaging designs, storage facilities at the outlets, occasional and situational demands, celebrity endorsements and many other factors.

Targeting the market segments, will be considered as the next important step. Unless markets are targeted with the product offerings, very few will buy the product. Therefore, Cadbury India has distinguished its product offerings to specific class of consumer groups. For example, Cadbury Temptations and Bourneville are meant for higher end consumer groups who are willing to pay more for the dark chocolates. More recently, Cadbury has introduced SILK as a product offering and targets anyone who can‟t resist chocolate. Cadbury SILK is only another product item in the CDM product line.The immediate step that would follow Targeting is Positioning the product offerings in the minds of

consumers. After the Worm Controversy in October 2003, Cadbury faced lot of consumer grievances, enquiries, questions were raised on production quality, packaging, storage and even resulted into low sales with a halt in the production.

However, Cadbury slowly emerged victorious and overcame the Worm issue by proving to be more committed towards consumers. The Management invested time, energy and money into packaging process, technology and even distribution. The company website even displays a false rumour alert to notify people about any wrongly given publicity or unreliable news. Consumer Service cell is also in place for consumer to address their queries, experiences and doubts over the products. Several ad campaigns were lined up consisting of many wonderful themes and taglines. Amitabh Bachchan undoubtedly raised the consumer's confidence and their chocolate eating habits. Some of the successful promotional methods are as below:

• Sponsoring the Quiz contests such as Bournvita Quiz contests hosted by Derek O‟Brien and Bournvita Confidence Academy shows.
• Advertising with themes such as “Kuchh Khaas Hai,” “Pappu Pass Ho Gaya,” “Meetha Hai Khana, Aaj Pehli tarik hai,” “ARREY” ad for Five Star Crunchy, “Pet Puja” ad for Perk, and Boonville's classic ad, Colourful Pandas for Gems ads and many others on the list.
• Offering several variants in the existing product lines such as Silk, Fruit & Nuts in Dairy Milk and Five Star, Fruity Gems in Gems, Glucose energy Perk; Bournvita little champs for children and such other versions in the products
• Launching new product ranges such as Bubbaloo bubble gum.
• Offering festival packs for Diwali, Raksha Bandhan and other special occasions;
• Offering different packs at different prices for different purchase situations and distributing them evenly.
• Constantly assuring consumers about the quality aspects in the products and anything associated with it.

Cadbury Company with its effective marketing and an accurate STP strategy has ruled over consumer's taste buds and as for the company, it was always A Sweet Success Story that continues.