Little Veggie Shop| Pret A Manger

This innovative Pret campaign that launched in April 2016 is notable not only for its originality, but for its refreshingly creative and low-budget approach to marketing.

Using the power of consumer insights to fuel their thinking, the inventive in-house creative team conducted research that revealed a shift in consumer attitudes towards healthier foods, having seen a double digit sales increase for healthy vegetarian options in 2015.

Basing its marketing around this insight, the team launched its first standalone vegetarian pop-up shop to give their clientele exactly what they were looking for.

Relying almost exclusively on in-store advertising and social media to expand their reach, the campaign proved the power that lies in listening and responding to your audience.

Pret’s sales of vegetarian food achieved a 13.9 per cent increase in sales to reach £676.2m last year, with the campaign leading to the rollout of more permanent sites. Group Marketing Director, Mark Palmer says:.

“If customers are good enough to give you their time, you need to listen.”

“Marketers find it hard to listen, they usually have their minds already made up. That is a mistake because if customers want to be part of your brand, you need to take them seriously.”

Pret A Manger's vegetarian products boost sales

• 19 April 2016

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Coffee and food chain Pret A Manger says demand for its vegetarian products helped to lift sales last year.

Total group sales rose 13.9% to £676m in 2015, with like-for-like sales - which strip out the impact of new stores - up 7.5%.

Underlying earnings at the chain rose 14.4% to £84.2m.

Pret said it was continuing to adapt its menu to meet the demand for healthy options and it is planning to open a vegetarian "pop up" shop this summer.

In the UK, sales of vegetarian products showed double digit growth last year. Avocado was the ingredient that saw the biggest rise in demand.

Clive Schlee, chief executive of Pret A Manger, told the BBC: "Demand for vegetarian foods is growing faster than for meat, but meat remains an important part of the diet.

"We are encouraging vegetarianism because we want to give meat eaters more options. I think vegetarian foods could look better and be better."

Image captionPret's customers ate five million avocados in 2015

The chain said coffee remained an important area of growth, with customers buying 1.5 million cups a week from its global network of shops.

It said it had seen an increase in demand for breakfast-on-the-go, with 58% of sales occurring outside lunchtime.

International appeal

The US was Pret's fastest growing market last year, achieving a 13.8% increase in like-for-like sales.

Pret opened 36 new shops last year - 23 were in the UK, six in the US, four in France and three in Hong Kong.

These included locations at major transport hubs such as Penn Station in New York, Nice Airport and Gare de Lyon station in Paris.

The company said it created 763 jobs worldwide, with 500 of them in the UK.

Clive Schlee said the chancellor's National Living Wage had meant a 5% increase in the company's wage bill, but he said they were committed to paying above their competitor's rates to keep their staff fully engaged in the business.

Johnnie Walker Red Label & Cola Special Editon

New work from Barker Gray:

"Johnnie Walker is the major sponsor for cricket in Australia. The Ashes tournament between England and Australia played every two years is the prize contest for either side to win. The Ashes is played over 5 tests and this year the teams are level as they go into the deciding test match, about to commence this coming Friday. Both nations will be on the edge of their seats.

Diageo briefed us to design a special edition can of JW Red label & cola for sale during the two months of the contests duration, which is taking place in England this year. The brief was to retain the inherent premium ness that the Johnnie Walker brand exudes, but in such a way that the design immediately connects to the idea of cricket.

The solution reinterpreted the can as the iconic cricket ball itself, which itself is red. The cricket ball idea ties in with the visual assets of Red Label Whisky by matching the appropriate brand colour-way and replacing the slanted label architecture with the recognisable seam of the cricket ball at a corresponding angle to the slanted label.

For lovers of cricket this idea is immediate and connects them to their favourite sport, as every time they hold the can they experience the thrill of the game in their very hand."

Hot on the heels of BK Flame fragrance there's Cheetos Lip Balm.

Since the Burger King "Flame" fragrance went so well (it sold out faster than you can say "no pickles"), other junk food producers want in on the game. Now there's Cheetos Lip Balm. It does exactly what you'd think, leaves an orange fatty residue and smells like cheetos.

Personally I'd rather get that look by burying my face in a bag of cheetos. In fact I'm wearing it right now, I look hot. *chomp chomp crunch*

Perhaps it's simply Chester being more mischievous than ever, fooling us all into looking like fools."Felicia... Yes..... wear the Cheetos Chapstick. Go on. Mmmmmm." You have to obey Chester.

3 interesting brand extensions from America

1. Burger King Potato Chips


2. National Geographic owning the Grand Canyon Visitor Centre and IMAX theatre in the Grand Canyon


3. Southeby's getting into real estate

McDonald's / McCafe :::Café culture underneath the arches…

...the Golden Arches that is. McDonald's has spent $100m on pushing McCafe in the US, its biggest launch since the 1970s and a direct assault on Starbucks and other coffee chains 
McDonald's has launched McCafé, a new product platform on which it is spending $100 million across TV, print, radio, outdoor, internet, events, PR and sampling.

Intended to add $1 billion to McDonald's bottom line in the US, McCafe has already started its aggressive push with coupon booklets inserted into newspapers as part of a huge drive in traditional media through DDB Chicago.

TV work incorporates the acute accent mark from McCafé into everyday items, so when you 'McCafé your day,' a commute becomes a commuté, while a cubicle is a cubiclé. Radio invites consumers to ‘speak McCafé', while 18-34 year olds are being targeted online via Tribal DDB with actors from Chicago's Second City comedy theatre. A McCafeYourDay Twitter feed is also being positioned as tool to converse with customers about the new platform.

http://www2.mcdonalds.com/mccafe/

The marketing blitz takes on established coffee chains such as Starbucks: the renewed emphasis on café culture is McDonald’s biggest product launch since breakfast in the 1970s

Vertical vs. Horizontal growth

Horizontal growth
Horizontal growth is, in effect, buying companies or vendors in your specific market. Company A competes with Company B and in an effort to expand their business, Company A acquires Company B.
Now looking at this purely on the level of buying competitors, you could say that buying your competitor out can be perceived as being scared of competition, not being a good enough company to just drive your competition out of business, so on and so forth.
However, horizontal expansion via mergers and acquisitions have a much deeper root than simply being all about acquiring customers or customer bases.
What happens with well thought out mergers and/or acquisitions is a reduce in average cost. If two companies supply the same or similar products, have the same target audience, the same distribution channels and similar approaches to business, then he average costs of doing business reduces. As the assets are merged, and the companies become one you see a very obvious decrease in advertising costs, also. It can make sense to purchase a competing company, but only if it is well thought out and not just about bragging rights and customer numbers.
Another example of horizontal expansion for a company would be buying one of your suppliers or service providers. Let’s take an advertising agency as a short and sweet example:
If Company A uses Agency B for advertising materials and product development, then Company A can drastically reduce, in the long term, their costs of doing business by purchasing the advertising company. This model is often seen in the corporate world. Instead of paying inflated fees and being tied to contracts, you can now own the very agency that you used to hire. An advantage of this would be if the company is in stealth ownership (opens up a whole new line of possibilities). Perception is only one part of the selling game, granted, but it is a vital part. Maybe Company A didn’t want to reduce their costs - maybe they wanted to keep their costs at the same level but increase their exposure. More bang for the buck, so to speak.
There are many examples of horizontal expansion and it depends on your line of business for determining how horizontal expansion could work for you. The fact is though that buying a competing company does not always have to be about proving who the big dog in the yard is. It can be about smart business models and thinking on your feet.

Vertical growth
Contrary to the concept of horizontal growth, vertical growth is achieved without acquisitions or mergers.
This concept is one that many say will benefit your company the most, as opposed to growth through mergers.
A company that starts from scratch and slowly but surely builds upward by maintaining their market and. or client base would be a prime example of vertical growth. The downside of vertical growth is that it inevitably takes much longer to grow to a medium/large size than, let’s say, a company that has achieved horizontal growth.
A major benefit, though, of vertical growth is the steadiness of your brand. Mergers can lead to dilution of a brand but with vertical growth your brand depends solely on one company. A rise or fall in sales and/or brand awareness is easier to track; it can nly have come from one place and can only be solved by one company.
In the end it is up to the company management as to whether they want to grow horizontally or vertically. Both have their advantages and their pitfalls.
At the end of the day, growth is growth. If your company is growing then you are successful in at least one of the two concepts outlined in this two part post.

Starbucks :::Super-Premium Ice Cream Line

Starbucks Coffee Company and Unilever unveiled a new super-premium ice cream line inspired by some of consumers’ favorite Starbucks® beverages. Created by culinary experts and food developers from both companies, Starbucks® ice cream is made with high-quality, all-natural ingredients, including milk and cream supplied by farmers who pledge not to treat their cows with rBGH.*

The line is now rolling into grocers across the U.S., and will be widely available by early spring. Imaginative ingredient combinations are sure to satisfy every palate.
“Our new ice cream line is an artful adaptation of some of our most popular hand-crafted beverages,” said Mary Theisen, director, business development, Starbucks Global Consumer Products. “We’re pleased to offer consumers a delicious and indulgent ice cream experience that is unmistakably Starbucks.”

Consumers can easily recognize Starbucks® ice cream in the freezer aisle, thanks to a clean packaging design that mirrors the iconic white Starbucks® cup.

“Starbucks complex coffeehouse flavors are the perfect complement to the rich, high-quality ingredients we use in our super-premium ice cream,” said Andy Sztehlo, research & development director, Unilever Ice Cream North America. “We’re thrilled to introduce a fresh interpretation of a classic product.”