Marketing Campaign for Wholly Nutritious (June 2022)
The Marketing Message
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Wholly Nutritious Marketing Mix
Product
The first adaptation to the product that Wholly Nutritious will make is the launch of the “Taste the Seasons” product line. This will include a range of recipe boxes in addition to the core product line which focuses on ingredients and recipes using seasonal ingredients. This line will change every three months in line with the seasons. This supports the first marketing objective, “to achieve a 50% repeat subscription rate within the next 12 months by launching seasonal product lines in addition to our core offerings”. With customers stating that seasonal dishes (78%) and new recipes (60%) would persuade them to maintain an ongoing food box subscription, this should support the achievement of this objective.
The second adaptation to the product is to introduce biodegradable packaging for food and recipe boxes. Consumers are putting pressure on food box brands to reduce their use of single-use plastics in packaging and the government is challenging food boxes businesses to consider their carbon footprint and environmental impact. Two rival brands, Gousto and Riverford, have already begun to take steps to reduce plastic in their packaging. As Wholly Nutritious aims to enhance quality over expansion, they must address this customer need. As it seems there are still only a small number of brands addressing this so far, Wholly Nutritious may still benefit from some first-mover advantages enhancing its brand reputation for quality.
Price
Wholly Nutritious will implement a dual pricing strategy that implements both cost-plus pricing and competitive pricing strategies. As costs are likely to increase from the introduction of environmentally friendly packaging and the introduction of seasonal lines, cost-plus pricing ensures that quality standards can be met while still making a profit. However, it must be recognised that this is now a highly competitive market and with 46% of customers cancelling their subscriptions for financial reasons, it is important to be responsive to competitors' prices to avoid losing price-sensitive customers to rivals.
With supermarkets now offering more budget-friendly options, it would be inadvisable for Wholly Nutritious to try and compete in the lower price bracket. To cover their costs and maintain their quality standards, they should position themselves in the mid-price range. Wholly Nutritious should price their recipe boxes at £20 - £30 depending on whether the customer is ordering from the core or “Taste the Seasons” line. 46% of survey respondents stated they would pay £16 - £25 and 33% stated they would pay £26+.
Promotion
The primary form of promotion for this campaign will be to run stalls at food festivals, food shows and farmer’s markets.
Farmer’s Markets
At the start of the campaign, in July, Wholly Nutritious will have a stall at one farmer’s market every month at different locations across the UK. With the marketing message of the campaign focusing on Wholly Nutritious working together with its consumers, this provides a valuable opportunity to gather direct feedback on the product line before it is launched. By adapting the product line in response to feedback, Wholly Nutritious can make consumers feel valued and create products that specifically meet their stated needs and wants enhancing brand loyalty. Staff at the event will be asked to post images and reels of the event to start building the social media profile. Free samples will be given to customers who; 1. follow Wholly Nutritious’ Instagram page, 2. Upload a photo of themselves with the free sample with the hashtag #cookforchange and tag @whollynutritious to the post. This supports the second marketing objective “to achieve a 5% conversion rate from targeted social media campaigns to food box subscriptions within 12 months”.
Food Festivals and BBC Good Food Show
Wholly Nutritious will have stalls at 8 food festivals over the summer, 6 during the Christmas period and a stall at the BBC Good Food Festival in November. This will allow Wholly Nutritious staff to connect with consumers and demonstrate recipes from the new “Taste the Seasons” product line. This supports the first marketing objective “to achieve a 50% repeat subscription rate within the next 12 months by launching seasonal product lines in addition to our core offerings”. Content will be created for social media by using a videographer to film these events. This would include the chef demonstrations and feedback from the attendees about both the food and opinions on the environmental impact of seasonal produce and biodegradable packaging. This strategy would enhance the sense of community being fostered through the campaign and help remove bias from the feedback on new recipes for the online audience as it is not coming directly from Wholly Nutritious.
Promotional Media Selection
Google Ads and YouTube Ads will be used throughout the year to keep generating traffic to social media pages. This will begin in August once the content recorded from the summer food festivals has been processed and supports the objective “to achieve a 5% conversion rate from targeted social media campaigns to food box subscriptions within 12 months”. Online content will be refreshed throughout the year as more is created and new seasonal menus are launched. These methods were chosen as they can be targeted at the specific target audiences but also a budget cap can be used. The other social media promotion options are pay by click which is less suitable for this campaign as expansion is not an aim of the organisation at this time. There is a limited campaign budget. Sharing content from these events supports the needs of some members of the target audience as some of the young professionals who lead busy lives and parents may struggle to attend.
Timeline of the Promotional Campaign
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers' markets | ||||||||||||
| Summer product line development | ||||||||||||
| Summer Food Festivals | ||||||||||||
| Post content from summer food festivals to social media | ||||||||||||
| Google Ads | ||||||||||||
| YouTube Ads | ||||||||||||
| Autumn product line development | ||||||||||||
| Winter Product line development | ||||||||||||
| Preparation for BBC Good Food show | ||||||||||||
| BBC Good Food Show | ||||||||||||
| Post content from BBC Good Food Show to social media | ||||||||||||
| Christmas Food Festivals | ||||||||||||
| Post content from Christmas food festivals to social media | ||||||||||||
| Spring product line development |
Place
A zero-level channel of distribution will be used. Wholly Nutritious will sell food boxes directly to consumers without an intermediary. Purchases will be made from their website and delivered to customers’ homes or workplaces. As the marketing aim is to maintain revenue without growing any further, it would not make sense to use intermediaries. The main benefit of an intermediary is a wider market reach but the reduced control and pressure to offer lower prices may force Wholly Nutritious to compromise their quality.
People
The main point of interaction between Wholly Nutritious staff and customers is at the food events. Staff at these events will include chefs for demonstrations, staff to interview customers and videographers to record content to upload to social media. Customer experiences with staff at the event is likely to have a major impact on whether they sign up or renew their subscriptions. Staff will be recruited who are knowledgeable about seasonal produce, the environmental impact of food box companies and a range of recipes to satisfy any questions or concerns consumers have. To promote a sense of community and encourage consumers to post on social media, it is also important that the staff recruited are personable.
Processes
The same processes will remain in place that Wholly Nutritious is currently using. Customers will sign up for subscriptions through the website which they will pay for using a credit card.
Physical Evidence
Food stalls need space for people to stay to eat. This is to support the campaign message of building a community giving the staff and customers time to interact. They will need tables, seats and a cover such as a gazebo in case of rain. Hay bails could be used instead of plastic chairs to create a rustic feel. This can support and promote the third marketing objective “to eliminate single-use plastics in food and recipe box packaging within 6 months”.
The Campaign Budget
| Item | Cost | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Event Fees Food Festivals (8 x summer & 6 x Christmas) BBC Good Food Show Farmers’ Markets (12 x £50) | £14,000 £5000 £600 | £19,600 |
| Event Administration Public liability insurance (£50 per event) Level 3 food hygiene certificate Stallholder insurance (included in public liability insurance package) | £1,650 £400 £0 | £2,400 |
| Other Event Costs Food (£1,500 per event x 18) Note: this will not be paid out of the campaign budget for the farmer’s markets as these are revenue-earning events. Fixtures and Fittings for the Stall | £27,000 £10,000 | £37,000 |
| Staffing costs Chef (£500 per event x 18) Note: this will not be paid out of the campaign budget for the farmer’s markets as these are revenue-earning events. 3 x front of house staff (£200 per staff per event x 18) | £9,000 £10,800 | £19,800 |
| Video Production £2,500 per event day x 18 | £45,000 | £45,000 |
| Social Media & Online Advertising Google Ads (£1,000 per month) YouTube (£30 per day x 365) | £12,000 £10,950 | £22,950 |
| Total | £146,750 | |
