CASE 2: PILLSBURY

COOKIE CHALLENGE

Created By: Group 5

Sagar Vaid
Himanshu Shekher
Ishita Dwivedi
Jayram Palnitkar
Laxman SahooMayank Rajput
Vishnu Chawla

15P004
15P023
15P024
15P025
15P029
15P031
15P058

Introduction

General Mills
6th largest food product manufacturer
Brands: Betty Crocker, Progresso, Pillsbury, Green Giant

and Cheerios
Operating segments: U.S Retail (69%), International (16%)
& Food Service

General Mills Canada Corporation

Established in the 1954; second largest division of General

Mills
Market leader in the Canadian Market with annual sales of
US$ 566 Mn
Split into 4 units: breakfast, baked goods, meals and
snacks and further sub divided into 12 other categories
Had autonomy in its operations
Often leveraged new products and advertising from the

The Refrigerated Baked Goods

Category

Chilled dough-based products; can go straight

from the fridge to the oven

Included cookies, breads and sweet goods

Packaging: pressurized cans, chubs or sealed trays

Convenient as they were pre-mixed and required

minimal preparation

Category was dominated by Pillsbury with an 85%

market share

Issues & Challenges

Issues:
Performance of RBG in Canada branch were

not satisfactory over the past two years

Volume growth between 2004 and 2006 had
remained nearly flat at 1%
Household penetration had fallen to 24% from
previous years
Challenge
To increase the volume growth
To grow the household penetration

Marketing Mix
Product

Available in multiple flavours

Available in 2 formats: chub and ready to bake
Seasonal cookie products were also offered

Price

Varied as per the cookie format, type of retailer and region

Seasonal cookies were sold for premium

Place

Groceries stores and food services

Promotion

The advertising was important in branding and messaging

Launched the kisses commercial
Targeted household mother aged 30s-40s with busy lifestyle
who wanted a simple product

Consumer Insights
QUANTITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE

Conce
pt
Test
Evaluat
ors
Creati
ve
Testin
g

More
More in-depth
in-depth understanding
understanding of
of
behavior
behavior
Conducted
Conducted with
with aa smaller
smaller sample
sample
size
size
Eg:
Eg: Focus
Focus groups
groups and
and Ethnographies
Ethnographies
Group of people engage in a round table discussion on a particular topic of interest
and give opinions
Focus groups help with a wide range of business decisions, such as new product
development, brand messaging and promotional campaigns

Based
Based on
on measurements
measurements and
and
analysis
analysis of
of the
the relationships
relationships of
of
the
the variables
variables
Eg:
Eg: Questionnaires
Questionnaires and
and Surveys
Surveys
Focus
Group
s

QUALITATIVE
QUALITATIVE

This concept includes an image of the product, along with pricing information,
preparation instructions and a summary of key benefits
Presented to consumers in verbal or visual form, and then quantitatively evaluated by
consumers by indicating their degree of purchase intent. Range from $2,000 to
$4,000
Participants are sent actual samples of the product and are asked a series of
questions based on specific pricing, promotion and consumer spending parameters
Evaluators are the best predictors of product performance with a whopping cost of
$100,000
Multiple versions of an ad will be developed and tested to see which one resonates
most with consumers
Ads are tested based on their purchase intent, relevance and brand linkage scores.
The goal of this test is to optimize advertising and packaging so that more consumers

Usage and Attitude

Study

Usage and attitude studies are consumer surveys that

focus on the frequency of product purchase and use,
desirable attributes in products and product strengths and
weaknesses.
MarketTools did the attitude study for RBG team at Pillsbury
The aim was to know the difference between US and
Canada markets
The Duration was 4 Weeks and included screeners
Profile of Respondents
Users: purchased in past 12
months
Lapsed users: purchased over
12 months ago
Non Users: never purchased
(scratch, mix or ready to eat
users)

Results of Usage and

Attitude Study
Scratch baking is the dominant method of baking cookies in Canada
Both users and lapsed users perceive refrigerated cookie dough as convenient
Top 4 purchase drivers are
same

The key differences

Quick
to
make

Negatives:
7% less like the brand
9% less like the flavors offered
12% less perceive as high quality

Easier
than
baking
from
scratch

Good
taste
Can make
them at
the spur
of the
moment

Taste & Convenience are the key

factors

Positives:
10% more kids like to eat them
13% more fun thing to bake
12% more kids like to make them
8% more my children request
them
13% more fun activity with kids

Qualitative Research through

Ethonography study

In Home
Immersio
ns

Conducted in-home
The goal was to observe in order to develop an
intimate understanding of personal motivations
and actions
4 two hour visits(two lapsed users and two
brand champions)
Aim was to develop real life dynamic view on
consumer brand relationship

Discovery
Workshop
s

Community based
Approx 18-27 participants were brought
together to share their experiences and
thoughts
Aim was to explore issues and new avenues of
opportunity
Techniques like customer mapping and role
palying were used to examine behavior towards
Pillsbury brand

Perceptual Map

Results of the research

Moms

practical ingenuity really shone through in

the kitchen
The baking experience fed the senses and
fuelled memories of happy moments
Cookies were particularly special because they
were made for sharing and giving
Brand Champions and lapsed users were similar
but not in all ways
There were no concerns with the nutritional
value of Pillsbury cookies
Pillsbury had an integral sense of magic and was
considered to be a shared secret.

Alternatives

To continue leveraging the US market initiatives

Cost effective but not in synch with the Canadian

consumers. Target market is different. Consumers

preference is to bake from the scratch

To create Canadian specific marketing message

Utilize specific purchase drivers

Modify product to appeal to Canadian

consumers
Create products & messages that appeal to the

Canadian consumers

Recommendation
The consumers in Canada like to do their
baking from scratch and hence it makes the
target market a bit different to that of the
United states
Canadian target market should be as follows : Mothers who are working - it helps save a lot
of time and also personalize the cookies t0 a
point
The kids, they play a major role in purchase
decision in Canada; hence they should be
one of our main targets

Communication
One

way is to change the packaging and make it more

appealing to the kids with maybe including cartoons or
colorful pictures on the box
Give a free doughboy toy inside
A message could be included in the cookie box much
like the fortune-cookie concept
Provide a way in which the mothers could personalize
that could give it an emotional touch
Add a recipe to the product to personalize the product
for non-bakers
Have an ad campaign showing the mothers how easy it
was to bake and less time consuming with the message
of spreading love and the promise of special family time

THANK YOU