Chapter 18 - Sales Promotion & Personal Selling

As you've read in several of the previous blogs I've posted you've come to know that Kraft is very successful when it comes down to advertising and getting the word around about their product. They know how to catch a consumers eye and their on target when it comes down to sales and promoting. One promotion they had was the Polar Express free movie ticket. PGS corporate came up with a marketing plan that sponsored the Polar Express movie. This was supposed to help enforce the companies relationship with A&P retailers while also increasing in sales to consumers. They've also had their online coupons that consumers can easily click and print out straight from their homes. Kraft's sales are so successful that they don't need to promote personal selling. It's being promoted on it's own through commercials, magazine ad's, A&P stores, etc.

The Internation Business Awards nominated Kraft as the best sales organization. As they said on their website:

"Kraft developed annual plans that tied directly to shopper and customer insights
and allowed retailers the option of customizing programs in order to differentiate
from competition.  A great example occurred during the 2002 Fall Football
Tailgating Season.  Retailers across the country activated promotions that tied in
with local High School, College and NFL football teams.  Consumers participated
in promotions via sweepstakes, tailgate recipe books, food solutions on line, in-
store tailgate destination sites, and through athlete/player appearances.  Over a
six-week period, these promotions contributed to growth of 4.6% across
participating Brands.  Additionally, in-store merchandising increased 20.3% as
customers promoted the recipe ideas and meal solutions that addressed
consumer needs."

Kraft not only promotes by giving free offers but it also sends out coupons. You can find coupons anywhere nowadays like online, newspapers, store ads, or you can even have coupons sent straight to your home! Promoting has never been easier for this successful company. Everyday they're finding newer ways to promote their products and force purchasing. Consumers grab any chance or opportunity they receive to save on a product of their choice. Especially when they favor a certain product, they'd be even more willing to buy it seeing a coupon or a sales promotion for it. Everyday is a new way to promote sales at Kraft.

Chapter 17 - Advertising & Public Relations

Kraft Food's has a wide variety of products. As delicious as their products are, they're also healthy. Since 2006, Kraft has been a supporter of CBBB (Council of Better Business Bureaus). They made a promise to support CBBB' Children's Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative by promoting healthy dietary choices and healthy lifestyles among children today. By doing this, Kraft has shown an effort to assist parents in their efforts. Also, they've advertised themselves around the world. In a previous post I've mentioned their "Delicious Difference Week", in which they go around the world to different countries helping in any way they can to better communities.

As a company, they've advertised in many different ways. They've been apart of campaigns around the world, even  nonprofit organizations. Kraft shows us vision of providing and how far they would go to help their environment. Putting an effort out there and being seen for that effort alone is a major contribution they advertise. They've got tons of commercials and new products coming out everyday and this helps their consumer popularity to grow. Parents around the world see how Kraft promotes it's food products with its nutrient criteria and daypart schedule. It targets children during certain times of the day when children will definitely be watching TV. They've even made a Facebook to keep track of them and their new contributions everyday.

Chapter 15 - Retailing

Kraft Food's Inc. isn't like a franchise or independent business. It's involved more with scrambled merchandising. And it's a company who sells it's product to different stores throughout the world. In this blog, I'm going to talk about the supermarket I work in. It's called Pathmark. And it's a supermarket that has a ton of Kraft products throughout the entire store.Not only does Kraft distribute it's products in this store but also in stores like Target, Walmart, and other wide range department stores.

As a company, Kraft needs to find new ways to retail it's merchandise. And they do this in many different ways. For example, in Pathmark, they hold weekly sales that include Kraft products. Chips Ahoy! cookies and Oreo's go from $4.29-$1.99 for the week. And They have cheese sales also that are buy 1 get 1 free. They put these sales in bright colors such as pink, blue, or green in their weekly circulars and it helps to catch a consumers eye. This is all apart of their Retail Marketing Strategy.

Pathmark promotes it's products in other ways. Nonstore retailing is one of these ways. This supermarket has a website you can go on to and it has the entire weeks circular on it. It even has several pages of printable coupons and Zaver coupons, which are coupons you can add onto your savings club card to use when buying your groceries. Pathmark offers you big deals and once a month they mail out coupons for every club member they have.

As you can see, stores such as Pathmark do a lot when it comes down to retailing the products they sell. They have many ways of promoting their products. And those were just some of the ways. Kraft, as a company, plays a big role when it comes to the marketing mix. Their products are so popular. When a consumer sees a sale on an item of theirs, they'll definitely be buying it at Pathmark. Or when consumers come across a valuable coupon for a Kraft product, you'll find that consumer in line with that product and coupon. These strategies is what helps to keep Kraft Food's Inc. in the marketing mix.

Chapter 6 - Consumer Decision Making

When companies put out new products, they want it to satisfy the consumers eye. They put out products in certain ways that will attract the customers wants and needs. It's always important to know what attracts the consumers eye. And the process that a consumer goes through before finally deciding that they will buy this product. For consumers, this is a daily process that occurs on a daily basis. This is called the consumer decision making process.

The first step in this process is called the need recognition stage. This stage is controlled by your internal and external stimulus. Consumers can want or draw attention to a product based on their hunger alone. They can see a product, such as, Chips Ahoy! cookies and want it due to the fact that it looks tasty. They can also go buy recommendations, personal experiences, or commercials. Kraft Foods Inc. is a popular company. They have tons of commercials with all their tasty products. A consumer can have Kraft cheese and see that their Chips Ahoy! cookies are delicious and might want to switch over to their Oreo cookies the next time they come shopping. Also, a family member or friend can always come and tell you about a certain product they've had from this company that they thought was really good. Hearing others talk about a product that is good gives you the urge to want to try it.

The second step in this process is the information searching stage. After picking up a certain item of interest, you might want to find out more about it before actually purchasing it. And there are many different ways of looking into a product. For example, some people are extremely healthy when it comes their eating habits. Consumers might want to search for a product in this brand that will satisfy their taste buds while being healthy at the same time and keeps their diet on point. Others might pick up products of interest without ever trying it or hearing about it. It may be just a new product that just came out recently and you want to try it. People use the internet daily for looking up products. Consumers might want to look up this product and hear reviews or others opinions on the product to see whether it's something you'd want to choose. Also, just knowing that you've had another product in a past experience from this specific company can be a good enough reason to pick up another product from this same brand.

The next stage in the consumer decision making process is evaluating alternatives. Kraft puts out so many ads and commercials for new products everyday that it is easy to attract consumers. After gathering all information for wanting a certain product, your next decision is whether or not your going to buy the product. You can look at a certain product and think back to watching a commercial about this very same product. This alone can persuade you to buy the product. Or you can think back to a time when you tried this product at a family member/friend's home and you liked it. If you have some kind of past experience with knowing this product, you'll most likely decide to buy it. Sometimes you walk into a store with no intention of buying a product, but your eye catches it and you end up getting it.

After need recognition, gathering information, and evaluation alternatives, you can finally purchase the product. For Kraft Foods Inc. it's not so hard for consumers to decide. They know that Kraft offers great deals on their products. Certain supermarkets sell you their items at a reasonable sale price so you might go there to pick up your product. And they also offer their products in different quantities. Basically satisfying your needs to your extent. Recently, they've come out with the Chips Ahoy! cookies in different flavors. And they've even made family size boxes which are for larger families at decent prices.

And lastly, you want to make sure this product satisfies your needs as well as your families. This is called post-purchase behavior. A mom might walk into a grocery store and buy her children a pack of cookies. She might not be sure if her children will like it. But she'll buy it anyways because she's heard from others it tastes good, it's healthy, and the other kids love it. Watching to see how her children react to eating this new cookie will let her know if she can continue to buy it for them or if she should switch over to a different product.