Market Analysis: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

Atlantic Region

Canadians are known for favoring food that is produced domestically rather than purchasing product from foreign MNE’s. PC is primarily a domestically focused brand that captures the trust of domestic residents. PC’s claim is that it wants to deliver healthy and high quality food to Canada’s population. Canadians have a sense of trust a favoritism toward PC brand foods versus international brands.

Loblaw is the number one grocery store in Canada and PC Macaroni and Cheese is the only brand of Macaroni and Cheese that it carries. PC’s Macaroni and Cheese’s unique value proposition is its nutritional qualities as well as its international recipe options.
President's Choice. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2016, from
http://www.presidentschoice.ca/en_CA.html
Tencer, D. (2015, June 23). Canadian Consumers' Most Trusted Brands .. Are Canadian.

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Pierre Lacroix, J. (2013). The biggest brand story of the year and what’s ahead for 2014.

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e. Website Analysis

President's Choice can be located online at their website: www.presidentschoice.ca. Here, PC advertises their brands, their products, recipes using their products, and further information about themselves. On their website, they also communicate how they are ‘making a difference’ by being involved in two charities; Children’s Charity and Oceans For Tomorrow. They do a very good job of advertising a brand, rather than just their products. With their website, they create a feeling that they care, and that they want what is best for their customers. The site allows customers to view each of their products, where they provide pictures, descriptions and even customer reviews. Learning and education is at an all time high on this website because of how much accessible information President’s Choice provides. Since President’s Choice is our number one competitor, we must make sure that we also have this information available for customers as well. This is because more and more people are wanting to gain a better understanding of the food they are eating, and if PC provides them with this information and we do not, then we will be losing customers. Although the PC website does provide a lot of information on their products and the value behind it, it does not allow customers to purchase the product online right on their website. It does show where the products are sold, but this opens up a possible door for Kraft. Ordering online is a growing form of purchase, and if we make it possible for customers to purchase online than it could put us one step ahead of PC. Macaroni and Cheese is a product that does not need much maintenance, making it the ideal product to order online which is one major change that we would make to PC’s website.

In 2014, Loblaw implemented a campaign to focus President’s Choice, (PC) a brand of Loblaw, more on foodie culture that was called, “Crave More” (Nguyen, 2014). They wanted PC to shift their focus “from strictly food brands to a lifestyle brand” (Nguyen, 2014). This included “30-second TV spots, in-store marketing, an overhaul of their website, as well as an amplified social media presence” (Nguyen, 2014). The reason Loblaw is doing this sort of “rebranding” is because they wanted to “strengthen the company’s reputation for food innovation and encourage customers to expect more ethically sourced foods” (Nguyen, 2014).

Content marketing is one of their main forms of marketing (Krashinsky, 2014). They wanted to “focus more on storytelling through articles and videos, than on advertising” (Krashinsky, 2014). They want to engage more with their customers because they believe this is the new key to marketing, not introducing a new product and trying to get people to try it (Krashinsky, 2014). “PC partnered with Google Canada to derive analytics, insight, and trends into what food conversations Canadians are having across the country, and then use that information to fuel the site’s direction” (Nguyen, 2014). “These google trends will influence not just marketing, but also product development” (Krashinsky, 2014).

When you search “President’s Choice” into Google, you find their website to be ranked fourth on the Google Search Page. Above it is various “President’s Choice Financial” links to their online banking as well as their MasterCard. After President’s Choice’s website, you can find their Facebook link as well as their Instagram link. Scrolling down more on the first Google Search Page you find their YouTube channel as well as their Twitter. I find this strategy to fit well with their marketing strategy because they wanted to “amplify their social media presence” and having those links on the first page of their Google Search will provide them with more traffic on these social media sites that many people may not have looked into before the “rebranding” had occurred (Nguyen, 2014).

President’s Choice is a company that is rooted deep within the culture of Canadian grocery shoppers. Backed with the finances of the largest grocery store in Canada, trusted as the eighth most dependable brand in Canada, operating in multiple different industries, and leveraging new forms of media marketing, President's Choice has become the strongest competitor in Canada that Kraft has to deal with.  Canadian shoppers are becoming more and more influenced by the healthy food movement which plays right in PC’s hands as it owns multiple different side brands that each have their own nutritional value. President’s Choice is a holistically competent brand and it will be difficult for Kraft to win consumer dollars away from it.

Kempczinski, C. (n.d.). CPG, Food: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese SVP Chris Kempczinski.

Retrieved February 28, 2016, from http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/cpg-

food-kraft-macaroni- cheese-svp-chris-kempczinski-136005

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from http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120721/ISSUE01/307219978/kraft-dishes-

up-kid- food-for-grown-ups
Elliott, S. (2010). Kraft Hopes to Encourage Adults to Revert to a Childhood Favorite. Retrieved

February 28, 2016, from

February 28, 2016, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-working-moms-still-

earning-less-doing-more-than-dads-1.1184685
Harrington, M. A. (1999, May 12). FAMILY LEISURE: SOME COMPARISONS BETWEEN

CANADIAN AND AUSTRALIAN FAMILIES. Retrieved February 28, 2016, from

2016, from http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Moms-Canada-Rely-on-Digital-

Downsizing and Employment Policy Changes 2001-2004. Retrieved February 28, 2016, from

February 28, 2016, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/472525/canada-mothers-media-

Iran, the United States, and Canada—with students in the Republic of China (Taiwan).

province and sex. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-

We found that both students and working mother do not have much time for cooking. And the working mother also needs to figure out the other household duties for family. In addition, the working mother has the higher income to purchase the products. Most students do not have high cooking skills, so it is convenient for students to cook the pasta with cheese. Even though people have increased their healthy awareness, they still need the convenient food to save the time. Over the spreadsheet, we can found that the working mother segment is the more important clients.

Retrieved February 28, 2016, from http://canadianfoodinsights.com/2014/12/17/2015-trends-

Social media is a huge factor that needs to be utilized. As of recent, more and more food accounts have been added to all the different social media outlets. Facebook lately has been flooded with “how to” videos on quick, easy meals for families. This is something that Kraft may want to take a look into. They can make an account to show all the different types of quick meals that can be made with their products. This will not only be attractive to working mothers but also college students. It is an effort that will work towards both of the target markets. Working mothers are always looking for new recipes that do not take hours and hours to make but the same with college students. College students get used to eating the same ole dining hall food and want to be able to make some food that is quick and relatively low cost.

In order to be successful, the firm will want to focus on the things that make Canadian mother’s tick. Kraft will want to go into the market being seen as the “family-friendly” brand which is something they have been able to do. One big community effort made by Kraft and the NHL is the “Kraft Hockey-ville” which is a competition between communities to show how much they love the game and why they deserve to win the title as well as hold a game in their town. With hockey being one of the most popular sports in Canada, this is a way for Kraft to be involved in the communities and be seen as a family-friendly brand thus leading to higher sales. Mothers also love sales so having an occasional sale even on these lower-priced products will push mothers to choose this brand over others.

With a limited income, Kraft must position themselves as a desirable brand for college students to purchase. The brand itself holds it’s own and has an influence on purchases but college students also want something that tastes good. The ready-meals will be a huge factor and most likely be the most purchased Kraft product by this target market which means it is important for these products to attract to the college student. Convenience, price, and taste are most important to college students which means that Kraft will want to make it known that they are the best, easy-to-make food available to these college students. Making their products available in campus stores and grocery stores located near college campuses will be an important factor in getting these students to purchase their products.

References
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