| Food & Ingredients | | | Educ. Serv. | | | Glossary | | | References | | | Images | FAQ |
|---|
| How important is marketing important in food product development? What is marketing? What is promotion? | to Top |
Marketing is an important force for new product ideas. Peter Drucker (Wacker, 1992), a futurist, has indicated that the two things that count in business are marketing and innovation. Everything else is expense. If one looks at the market place today we see we have mature brands and mature categories in a mature world as far as marketing is concerned. This means there are not new markets and catagories but rather one must increase their food volume sales through marketing and innovation, taking from another manufacturer. The development of this "taking" marketing includes a variety of different aspects. It starts with demographic and sociological trends. However, it must still be recognized that the food expenditure dollar won't change significantly. It just will change its selection. Additionally, Americans still like the same traditional foods.
Sometimes, marketing means that new product development must work around the trends. Tropicana worked hard to get consumers to think about fruit juice as something other than a breakfast beverage. Another example is turkey. The Poultry Science Association and a range of turkey organizations and companies worked hard through recipe development, advertising, promotion and product development to have the consumer to think about turkey beyond the meat served at Thanksgiving.
The key trends impact marketing. One approach to marketing that has made a difference in the past is equating value and quality. For example (Wacker, 1992) reported that Stouffer Foods captured a significant part of the frozen entree market with the Advertising campaign that said "The first frozen entree that doesn't taste like the box it came in." Wacker indicates that this was marketing mastery as it defined the "essence of the category is the number one deliverer of quality. Number two is consistency. And number three is fixing mistakes."
There is a marketing relationship to value. Taco Bell continues to sell a "value meal"; whereas Wendy goes towards big fries, drinks, salads. Each is approaching value from a different perspective.
All the above indicate ways to proceed and plan marketing; however, the most critical aspect must be mentioned. Hollingsworth (1996) indicated that the sense of the market place only happens if there is the right management system in place. A successful company must be responsiveness, have cohesion, have a speedy reaction time, and a thoroughness in working without bias.
| REFERENCES | to Top |
Brown, S.P., P.M. Homer, and J. J. Inman. 1998February. A meta-analysis of relationships between ad-evoked feelings and advertising responses. Journal of Marketing Research 35: 114-126.
Guidera, J. and S. Branch. 2000September 15. Supermarkets face scrutiny over fees. The Wall Street Journal. p. B6.
Hollingsworth, P. 1996June. Developing foods for the next millennium. Food Technology 50(6): 110.
Kim, W.C. and R. Mauborgne. 1999January-February. Creating new market space. Harvard Business Review :83.
Maruca, R.F. 1999March-April. Web site blues. Harvard Business Review :25.
Mela, C.F., K. Jedidi, and D. Bowman. 1998May. The long-term impact of promotions on consumer stockpiling behavior. Journal of Marketing Research 35: 250-262.
Morris, M.H., J. Brunyee, M. Page. 1998. Relationship marketing in practice. Myths and Realities. Industrial Marketing Management 27: 359-371.
Peppers, D., M. Rogers, and B. Dorf. 1999January-February. Is your company ready for one-to-one marketing? Harvard Business Review : 151.
Topps, D. 1999December. Boston Market debuts in freezer section, sides and all. Food Processing 60(12): 36.
Vergin, R.C. and K. Barr. 1999. building competitiveness in grocery supply through continuous replenishment planning: Insights from the field. Industrial Marketing Management 28: 145-153.
Wacker, W. 1992August. The demography of tomorrow. Retail Business Review 60(6): 12.
Zimmerman, A. 2000, November 28. Now at 7-Eleven: gas, food and christmas shopping. B1, B4.
Updated: Friday, October 10, 2008.
OSU Disclaimer.