I.

Executive Summary

Business-Loards Ice-Cream Shop: Loards is a widely renowned, vintage, delightful ice-cream
shop that offers succulent frozen treats, catering, and customized orders. It is run as a sole
proprietorship, which includes eight employees and is located at 2200 Wayne Avenue in the
John Muir neighborhood in San Leandro, California. Loards was the first vintage ice-cream
shop in the San Francisco Bay Area and captured the attention of families, teens, and business
professionals relentlessly for years. Nonetheless, a new ice-cream shop that uses online
promotional strategies and offers special discounts has taken more than forty percent of Loards
consumer base. Realizing this situation, Brian Tam the owner, has provided our team with a
mission ; to find effective and efficient marketing strategies to increase sales and its target
markets.





Our Strategy: Our steps to analyzing, researching and reaching a verdict was based upon the
customers perception of the current brand image of Loads synthesized with the economics of the
John Muir neighborhood in San Leandro. Achieving the reasons why Loards target market made
certain decision s on purchasing products, spending their income on desired treats, what was in
high demand for different target markets, and what their perception of Loards brand was the
foundation of our research.

Research Methods: In the beginning of the project our team began evaluating the current
promotional activities, and service at Loards which involved using two primary resources;
interviewing the employees, and manager, and observing the shop and interactions between
customer and employee. We also used secondary research sources like research databases to
analyze the review left by current customers, developed a survey to determine how Loards
brand was perceived and what were its strengths and weaknesses according to the
customers/consumers and online review sites along with media sites to see customers/consumers
reaction to service, and the number of their clientele using the internet.

Findings and Conclusions:
1. No marketing efforts are being made, there is no growth in the consumer base nor in sales
2. Currently three main target markets; young techs, professional, and family group
3. Community involvement will help increase consumer base as well as modernized decor
5. Prices must satisfy both bargain hunters
Our Propositions:
Objectives
Activities
Mission Operation


Budget
increase sales
-create just prices
-increase customers


-Community events/charities
-Promote brand
-Technology to
I-internet
C-community
E-Endorsements
A-Apps





II. Introduction
A. Description of business or organization

Loards Ice-Cream is a vintage ice-cream shop located on 2200 Wayne avenue in the John Muir
neighborhood in San Leandro, California. Loards was established as a sole proprietorship by
Russ Salyards in 1950 where he opened his first ice-cream shop at 2825 MacArthur Blvd. in
Oakland California. After WWII, during the Golden Age of America, Russ decided to leave
his teaching job at UC Berkeley to work at his dream. His dream was to make and serve the best
homemade ice-cream all around the San Francisco Bay Area. His charisma, compared with his
unsurpassable recipes brought him humongous success. Two years later, Loards won gold at the
California State Fairs Ice-Cream and Dairy Products category. Since then, Loards Ice-Cream
has permeated throughout various parts in the San Francisco Bay Area and on to Livermore,
Castro Valley, Alameda, Orinda, and right here in San Leandro, serving up a taste of vintage,
succulent creamy confection.

Loards stays active in the John Muir neighborhood frequently. To demonstrate their support of
the community, Loards donates money and ice-cream to local fundraisers and charities. In this
past year theyve donated over three thousand dollars to five organization s one of them being
Relay for Life, an organization for cancer, neighborhood safety programs, school athletic
programs and general school funds they donate money to also.

Loards Ice-Cream hand makes their ice-cream from 7am to 4pm which can be seen in or outside
of the shops windows, behind the pristine marble counter. The shop features pale blue walls, a
white marble floor, blue pastel-colored chairs matching plastic, white circular tables, a flat screen
television right above a see through storage unit for the ice-cream they sell in pints, and a few
vintage arcade games from the late 90s. Loards stays open from 12pm to 8pm Monday through
Thursday, and Friday through Sunday they are open from 12pm to 9:30pm. Altogether there are
sixteen employees working at Loards, eight of them work part-time and the remaining eight
work full-time for eighteen hours a day.

Besides their succulent ice-cream that has over 38 flavors, Loards also sells shakes and ice-
cream cakes, sundaes, candy and for mans best friend delightful doggy treats all between the
price range of $1.50 for a scoop of ice-cream, and $3.00 to$10.00 for the other amazing treats
they sell, affordable for all. There are an infinite number of positive attributes the Loards
possesses like being one of the few vintage ice-cream shops still standing, maintaining great
relationships wit their current customers, and creating high quality ice-cream. They also do not
cheapen their ingredients to save money for their customers are worth much more to them.

Although they have not been professionally rated, they have received a 4 star rating on user
based websites consisting of over 100 reviews. They do not have a specific target market, as
Brian Tam the current owner stated, Everyone loves ice-cream so we try to target everyone.
Notwithstanding that Loards tries to target everyone, an overwhelming majority of their
consumer base contains business professionals of the ages 30 and up according to Brian Tam.
He believes although the shop is profitable due to lack of marketing strategies, and absence of an
online presence its consumer base has greatly decreased. The mission our team has come up with
is to create an effective and efficient marketing plan that helps to increase Loards consumer
base, and sales.
B. Description of the community (economic, geographic, demographic, socioeconomic factors)
Economics: San Leandro city became promptly renowned during the late 1800s and early
1900s for its enticing cherries. In 1909, to celebrate the bountiful cherry harvest, San Leandro
held its first Cherry Festival which became an annual celebration and symbol for the city. The
San Leandro population as of 2014 is 89,960 females dominating the majority of the population
by 52.0%, and males at 41.0%. The median household average is $60, 703, and seeing as the
state of Californias median household average is $57, 287 San Leandro is progressing and has
average incomes. There are three middle schools, and 7 elementary schools, and 1 high school.
The wealth of San Leandro is mainly in the various small businesses that dominate the city.
These businesses participate in community events and often donate to schools, and other
programs within the city to stay relevant and show their support of the city and its citizens.
Demographics: The percentages of different races in San Leandro are as follows:
African Americans-14.0%
Caucasian-23.3%
Asian-26.3%
Hispanic-31.6%
Other (native American, pacific islander)-4.8%
The majority of the population (about 54%) have a degree higher than a bachelors degree, and
the remaining percentage have a minimum of some community college education to an
Associates degree. 31.3%of the population were never married, 50.2% are married, and 11.1%
are divorced.
Geographics: San Leandros climate is very sunny and radiant with a bit of rain occasionally. In
the John Muir neighborhood there is a car dealer ship a few blocks down, and many Spanish
designed houses circling John Muir Middle School. John Muir is a family neighborhood with
decent houses with approximately five hundred kids living with their parents in the area, which
makes them another potential clientele base for Loards.
Socioeconomic: There a three primary target markets located in the John Muir neighborhood
area. They are the following:
Young techs: These are teens and young adults who fall in the age range of 15-27. They make
approximately around $50,000 annually or living at home and are the modernized group. They
have no problems and few bills to pay if any since they have no kids. After bills they tend to
spend the rest of their money on treat and other things they desire. If a place looks good to them
and their friends have mentioned it to them as a great place then theyll try and see what all the
talk is about.
Family Group: These are parents that fall in the age range of 30 to 40s. They usually tend to
have one to two kids and the majority of those kids go to John Muir because of how close it is to
their home. The parent annual income is approximately $76, 000 and that is when there are two
parents if there is a single parent then the annual income is around $50,000. These families are
always on budget, and looking for healthy options for their kids with an occasional treat every
now and then. They tend to listen to their kids wants and try to compromise with them on their
wants, which produces a nice leverage for Loards since it is a few blocks down the street from
John Muir.
Business Professionals: These are people who work in corporations or local businesses and fall
in the age range of 30 to57 and have no children. Their annual income is approximately $80,00
to $82,000 and after bills they go and buy what suits them. They are patrons of San Leandros
fine arts and local businesses, one of them happening to be Loards Ice-Cream and frequently
participate in community events.
C. Description of the business or organizations mission, target market and existing branding
efforts
Loards mission statement goes as follows: Our mission is to serve, and create succulent,
homemade ice cram all while staying loyal to our dedicated, awesome customers. Although
their mission is to serve people that is currently all they do in terms of customer service. Many
customers have complained that Loards is great however; the attitude and friendliness of its
employees are not there. It feels as if they are just robots and would not like to interact with
anyone., claims monicarevera@yahoo, on Yelp.com. Nonetheless many of their current
customers appreciate the homemade frozen ice-cream and say, Its how grandma wouldve
made it.
In a recent interview with Brian Tam, current owner of Loards, he stated that he has tried
to target to people of all ages, young and old because everyone loves ice-cream, yet he believes
that his consumer base right now only consists of adults in the age range of 390 to 60 years old.
In a recent survey our team conducted, we found that the actual percentage of who comes into
the shop goes as follows: Teens of the age 12-18: 14%, adults with one or two kids: 37%,
business professionals 30-48: 45%, and elders around the age of 50+: 4%. Brian Tam has often
had plans of setting out flyers and spreading the word about Loards and their special flavors and
discounts yet, he has not had the time to do it and eventually forgets.
In April of 2013 Loards remodeled its look. Brian Tam claimed that the business was
remodeled to get away from the corporate look; the way it looked was too plain. He wanted it to
be remodeled to give that down to earth feeling, a comfortable pace to eat ice-cream and chat to
your friends. When customers were asked if they liked the new look of Loads an overwhelming
50 out 63 people answered yes. Loards wants to have a comfortable feeling shop and wants to
be portrayed as that, and their slogan, Ice Cream from the good old days only solidifies that
theme they are going for.
III. Research Methods Used in the Study
A. Description and rationale of research methodologies selected to conduct the research study
The objective of our research was to analyze current marketing strategies used by Loards
Ice-Cream and to understand the current and potential customers/consumers perceptions of their
existing brand. The purpose of doing our research was to propose a functional and efficient
marketing plan that would improve sales and increase Loards consumer base. Both primary and
secondary research methods were used and the outcome was examined in order to create an
adequate, cost-effective, unique marketing plan.
Primary Research
Method
Rationale
Interview with current owner, Brian Tam
To understand attempts of marketing and gain knowledge of how shop is run and the
background of shop history as well as financial history.

Interview with Nubi
To acquire information on how similar businesses in the same industry to create/have success wit
their marketing strategies
To understand what their flaw is and how to portray it in an efficient marketing plan.

63+ Customer Survey
To learn what the target market desires, and their perception of the existing brand
To see what marketing strategies customers respond to

Secondary Research
Method
Rationale
Research Databases
www.city-data.com
www.loards.com
www.zipskinny.com
www.sanleandro.org

To understand and access information about the city, town and business our project is focused on
To find specific information about the target markets and what actions lead them to spend their
income

Online Review Sites
Yelp.com

To evaluate our consumers perception of the existing brand
To take into consideration comments to incorporate into our marketing plan

Business Textbook
Marketing Essentials

To understand the rebranding and economic concepts that are needed to piece the marketing plan
together

Online Rebranding Articles
www.brandingstretgyinsider.com/rebranding
www.entrepreneur.com/article/159470


To determine how to rebrand the business for our project and develop our marketing plan around
those concepts

B. Process used to conduct the selected research methods
Owner Interview: To gain a sufficient amount of knowledge about Loards Ice-Cream and its
current marketing and promotional strategies, conducting a personal interview in the shop on
November 18, 2013 with the current owner Brian Tam. In the interview we acquired information
about the shops background, and what its role was within the blossoming economy of the John
Muir neighborhood and community. Moreover we also received information about their current
marketing strategies, their assumed target market, promotional activities, and the financial
situation. We were also able to know about the products that sold the most, regular customers,
and different attributes of the shop.
Interview with Nubi (competing ice-cream): To gain information about the competition and how
they operated their business differently and came up with more success than Loards Ice-Cream a
personal interview was also conducted on November 20, 2013 in the shop. There we interviewed
the manager of Nubis, Tim Lan, about what brought hi m all his success financially, and with
his ever-growing consume base. Furthermore, we learned their different marketing strategies and
promotional activities and how much Loards could expand its consumer base and increase its
sales with a strong community, and online presence.
Customer Surveys: In addition to the personal interview we conducted with Nubis manager, our
team also distributed a short survey to 63 people for customers and potential customer s to fill
out to understand their perception of the existing brand. We also learned what the customers
preferred to see the shop do as far as promotional activities, and having an online presence was
the most voted for at 67% out of 100 for the people who took the survey. All survey results were
examined and refined on December 1, 2013.
IV. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY
A. Findings of the research study
Through our research we were able to determine the erroneous tactics used by Loards Ice-
Cream attract and expand its consumer base, and improve its sales. We have found three main,
valuable findings through the research that was conducted through our primary and secondary
methods.
Prime Target Market: Through our customer surveys we were able to reveal Loards main two
target markets which are the young techs, and the family group combined with a few elders in
the area. The majority of these two target market use the internet and technology a lot and are
often out and about on the weekends. However, Brian Tam was correct in his assumption that the
majority of his consumer base fall between the age ranges of 30 to 60 years old. Loards real
target markets wants to be able to hang out at the shop for awhile and are very selective over the
flavors and types of ice-cream they like. Yet, we also learned that Loards potential customers
which are teens in high school, and business professionals didnt know much about Loards and
41% didnt even realize they had an ice-cream shop so close by them for theyd never heard of
Loards before. When asked if there couldve been a greater chance they knew about Loards if
they had their own website, instagram page 100% of them replied yes.
Marketing Strategies: By conducting the personal interview with Brian Tam and a few days later
Tim Lan we were able to compare the strategies they use to attract customers and combine a new
marketing strategy for Loards. So far, Loards has barely began to market to potential
customers, instead they have done direct selling. This is done by taking the customers order and
also offering other sorts of deals and special discounts they have going on at that particular
season or time. Other than an occasional chalkboard with special flavors of the season there are
no other marketing efforts.
Promotional Activities: Through our personal interview with Brian Ta, we were able to learn
what different types of promotional activities Loards conducted to keep their name out in the
community. The only major promotional activity Loards has done is donate to various charities
and neighborhood safety programs, and schools in San Leandro but no one in the community
knows that they have donated to those organizations. We were shocked to find that no efforts had
been done to spread their brand about the community, and so formulated an action plan to get the
community and the John Muir neighborhood to know and love Loards as we do.
B. Conclusions based on the findings
From the different types of research we conducted we concluded that Loards needed to
focus on an online presence to be easier to find by their current and potential consumer base. We
also concluded that they needed to be involved more within the community and market more too
potential customers with visible signs and discounts. The community needs to be aware of
Loards presence and know what they do to support the community; otherwise it seems as if they
are just another local business.
From our survey we were able to conclude that there were 3different target markets surrounding
the John Muir neighborhood area. We also learned that these target markets were choosing
Loards competition like Nubi because word of mouth spread more about Nubi than it did about
Loards. Also, Loards was considered to be a very small business compared to huge corporate
businesses like Baskin Robins many people hadnt even heard about them. From these results we
also decided Loards needed something to differentiate themselves apart from the competition.
From our personal interviews we were able to learn what things did and did not work for
the shop. In this case because of the small effort Loards has made to market to different target
markets and create different promotional activities they have become completely invisible to
Wayne Ave and surrounding neighborhoods besides the John Muir neighborhood . In order to
make them visible they need to develop an online presence, create a status within the
community, and market better so that their brand will be recognized.
V. PROPOSED REBRANDING PLAN
A. Objectives and rationale of the proposed rebranding strategies
Objective #1: Develop a Promotional Plan
Rationale: Due to the lack of promotional activities Loards has become almost invisible to all of
San Leandro except to the John Muir neighborhood. We decided that Loards would need
coupons, after a customer has purchased their fifth ice-cream treat the next treat is half off or
free. They could have a buy one get one free day too as they are raising money for one of the
organizations they always donate too. A few internal displays in the shops windows could help
catch a passerbys attention and cause them to step into the shop and take a look inside. Giving
customers a small pocket-sized menu to take home would also help into spreading their different
products around which would be like directly communicating with the customers.
Objective #2: Develop a Social Media Presence
Rationale: Although Loards current consumers are great and continue to visit, the current owner
of Loards would like to have a younger and more modernized market in the shop other than the
adults and elders. To be able to include the teens and tech generation into Loards target market,
they have to be able to meet the potential consumer base halfway meaning they must develop an
online presence. The social media site that the majority of teens and young adults are on is called
instagram. Loards will have to create and maintain a instagram, which would be the managers
job and update it with special discounts, seasonal flavors and different community events they
might be involved in. Patrons of the city would like this because it shows that Loards supports
the San Leandro community also, and teens and young adults would be interested because of the
appetizing pictures the manager would post.
B. Proposed activities and timelines
1 Year
1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter
Objective #1
Social Media
Making an Instagram
Continue to monitor and update page
Continue to monitor and update page
Continue to monitor and update page
Objective #2
Promotional Activities
Create community event for an organization regularly donate to
Attend community event
Create pocket-sized menus







VI. PROPOSED BUDGET
A. Costs associated with proposed rebranding strategies