Second Cup Essay Example

Second Cup Essay Example Second Cup Essay Second Cup Essay IMC Proposal: Second Cup Second cup was seen a popular coffee house for many Canadians, focusing on a comfortable and warm atmosphere for its customers to socialize with friends or catch up on some work. Known as one of the higher class coffee houses, Second Cup offers many specialty beverages and sweet treats, in addition to Wi-Fi access in all of their franchises. The purpose of selecting Second Cup for the IMC is because they have to some extent ‘dropped off the map’. This coffee house has for the most part been pushed aside, while Starbucks, Tim Horton’s and Timothy’s seem to prevail. In 2004, Second Cup created and Income fund, which was a way to generate more cash, however this put a huge hold on expanding the business in any way (Strauss, 2010). As a result of this, Second Cup has fallen behind the competitors and perhaps in some cases, been completely forgotten. By preparing an IMC for Second Cup we can focus on where they went wrong and what we can do, marketing wise, to get Second Cup back on top. The category that Second Cup falls into is the Beverage industry, which is sectioned off into the Tea and Coffee industry. Tea and coffee account for about 12% and 16% of the sales of beverages in Canada in 2008, respectively. The market for tea and coffee was approximately $1. 5 billion in 2008 (Agriculture and Agri-foods Canada, 2010). Some of the environmental influences affecting the market include waste reduction policies (paper cups) and International trade agreements when it comes to trading coffee over seas. Some of the key competitors in the Coffee and Tea industry are Starbucks, focusing on their specialty and personalized beverages, Timothy’s, who are trying to make themselves more known in the market, Tim Horton’s, which focuses on providing great coffee for Canadians, and Second Cup, which is focusing on their ‘Canadian’ specialty coffees in a comfortable environment. I think that second cup has some areas to improve on their current communication efforts. Secondly because they are fair trade, they pay more for their materials, this increases their costs which forces them to raise prices to allow for profit. Opportunities: * Second Cup can expand their products and services. * Second Cup should market their social responsibility efforts. * Brand Partnerships * Threats: * There is a decline in economic conditions. People have less disposable income to spend on themselves and their activities. The Canadian economy is recovering and therefore people are working more hours and the consumers are more cautious about how they spend the income they do have. There are a lot of competitors. The premium coffee market is constantly growing. Premium coffee is becoming very trendy and larger businesses want in on the action. McDonalds has recently got involved in the market with their McCafe which offers various types of specialty coffees and baked goods. Furthermore, Starbucks and Tim Horton’s are a significant competitor with a lot more out lets than Second Cup. Independent coffee shops are also a notable competitor as they have a portion of the market share and they have a presence in almost every town across Canada. The company is in a constant price war with their competitors over similar products. * Problem: Second Cup was one of the undisputed leaders in the specialty coffee market throughout North America; however, due the growth in chains such as Starbucks, Tim Horton’s, McDonalds, Timothy’s, and Seattle’s Best, Second Cup has lost a significant portion of their market. A new marketing strategy is needed in order to increase sales revenue and grow the market share of the company. Objectives: 1. To increase the sales revenue by 10% at $286 million. . To appeal to a younger market and to enrol more young members in the membership program. 3. Expand company presence by marketing in different high traffic areas. Alternatives: * Increase the membership cost. * Pros: * Cons: Recommendations: 1. In troduce a new ad campaign with a trendy new message to appeal to a younger target market and alter the image of MEC. By developing a campaign that conveys the AOI’s of the consumer it would reveal to the new target that the company understands them and a stronger relationship will be established. Moreover, knowing the AOI’s of a customer will allow MEC to put ads in areas where effective impressions will lead to a sale (i. e. Internet, Outdoor Marketing, and other ads). Implementation Plan: Target Market Profile: * Current Target Profile: * Aimed Target Profile:. Positioning Strategy: Mountain Equipment Co-op offers quality outdoor products with a fair price, while having the least invasive environmental impact and top notch customer service. Marketing Mix Strategies: * Product: * Price: * Distribution: Marketing Communications Mix: The following are concepts of the IMC Mix that would be effective for Second Cup: * Advertising: Direct response: * Personal selling: * Digital Communications: * Sales promotion: Budgets: The following is a table showing how the $500,000. 00 budget has been divided: Marketing| Cost| Bike Racks| $90,000| Direct Mailers| $8000| Spring Training| $7000| Google Ad Words| $36,000| Television Ad| $359,000| Timing: The following chart will show the months that each marketing strategy will be delivered: Strategy| Month| | Jan| Feb| Mar| Apr| May| June| July| Aug| Sept| Oct| Nov| Dec| Bike Racks| | | | | X| X| X| X| X| X| | | Direct Mailers| X| | | | | | | | | | | | Spring Training | | | | X| | | | | | | | | Google Ad Words| X| X| X| X| X| X| X| X| X| X| X| X| Television Ads| X| | | X| X| X| | | | | X| X| | | | | | | | | | | | | | References C Media Outdoor, (2011). Details: Bike Racks. Retrieved October 6th, 2011 from: cmediaoutdoor. com/details1. html Canada Post, (2011). Admail Campaign Plan. Retrieved October 6th, 2011 from: canadapost. ca/cpo/mc/business/productsservices/marketing/addressedadmail. jsf Direct Marketing Association, (2011). DMA Mailing List Search Tool: Adventure Atheletes. Retrieved October 17th, 2011 from: http://lists. the-dma. org/market? page=research/datacardid=117210 Mountain Equipment Co-op, (2011). About MEC. Retrieved October 1st, 2011 from mec. ca/AST/Navigation/MEC_Global/AboutMEC. jsp Mountain Equipment Co-op, (2011). Sustainability. Retrieved October 1st, 2011 from: mec. ca/AST/Navigation/MEC_Global/Sustainability. jsp TV. com, (2011). How Much Television do you watch per week? Retrieved October 17th, 2011 from: tv. com/news/how-much-television-do-you-watch-per-week-24833/