Marketing Communications Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Communications Plan - Essay Example Within a period of four years, Innocent became a food and drink company with fastest growth in the U.K resulting in growth in turnover from ?0 to ?10.6 million over the same period (Trott, 2008). In 2003 it obtained a market share of 30% in U.K and an intense distribution with 4,500 outlets across the U.K (DATAMONITOR, 2004). In 2004, its turnover stood at ? 15 million with an investment of just ?280,000 (DATAMONITOR, 2004). The company has introduced several new flavors of smoothies and drinks since its inception which is one of its critical success factors (DATAMONITOR, 2004) . The report shall now delve into developing an Integrated Marketing Communications Campaign for Innocent Drinks in an attempt to sustain its competitive edge and make it stand out from its rivals. The SOSTAC framework shall be used along with a feasibility analysis and shall conclude with recommendations of existing and new products. Context Analysis The SWOT and PEST model for Innocent Drinks is as follows: SWOT Analysis Strengths: Innocent Drinks has become one of the top smoothie brands in U.K in a period of just four years from its inception. Its turnover has increased from ?0 to ?10.6 million over the same period (Trott, 2008). The company has emerged as a market leader in U.K smoothies market by managing to capture a tremendous 30% share (Jones, 2008). The company has managed to obtain 50% brand awareness and press coverage significantly higher than that of its major rival, PJ (Appendix 1) ((DATAMONITOR, 2004). It enjoys excellent relationship with its distributors, the retailers, including U.K’s leading stores such as Sainsbury’s and Boots (Lincoln & Thomassen, 2007). It launched a first of its kind birthday party in 2003 which was attended by all its major retailers (Thomas, 2009). Weaknesses: The company suffered a temporary decline in its sales in 2008 due to recession. Its sales fell by 29% in the period 2007-2009 (MarketWatch:Drinks, 2008). However, the fact th at its major rivals racked up profits worth 25%-30% in the same period was a cause of concern (MarketWatch:Drinks, 2008). The recession revealed several flaws in the company’s strategies which include targeting the wrong customers (young professionals), faulty international strategy, no differentiating factor, no benefits-based ad campaign, targeting a niche product to the mass market, no innovation in packaging and failure to introduce new products in recent years (Mellentin, 2010). Another area of concern is the fact that while its rivals have managed to obtain a 60% mark-up on every bottle, Innocent manages to make only 3p-4p worth of profit on each bottle (Mellentin, 2010). Opportunities: The market for smoothies has been growing unlike the market for juices which has occasionally seen a downward trend. There is enormous potential in the ?70 million British smoothie market which has seen double-digit growth over the years (Mellentin, 2010). The rate of annual growth is es timated at 30% (Mellentin, 2010). The company has enormous potential ever since Coca Cola’s purchase of stake in the company (Mellentin, 2010). Furthermore, 75% of the European market still remains untapped by Innocent Drinks (Mellentin, 2010

Alternatives of interest and usury Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Alternatives of interest and usury - Essay Example Sweden has given a thought to implement a variant of an interest free system. As mentioned in Islam (2008), 35000 members of JAK Bank have saved 97 million Euros, of which 86 million were given as loans. JAK does not charge or pay interest on its loans. Administrative and developmental costs are paid by membership and loan fees. JAK has a variety of banking products all of which come into action by balancing the individual's saving point system. Carrie (2004) researched the work of JAK and concludes that the bank provides affordable and responsible finance and enables its members to have a say in where and how their money is invested. This shows that the outcome of interest free banking does not always relates to a dominantly Muslim country and can exist viably in a western capitalist state. Interest is generally thought as an extra amount charged over and above the principal amount which is accepted as unethical or unfair in Muslim world. A borrower is a person who is needy and a le nder exploits them by charging them with interest so a simple question of justifying the ethical basis of interest arises? This question may be answered by another question, is it alright that an already needy person is being oppressed? Our banking systems ultimately covert into an ugly vicious cycle consisting of a borrower and lender thus there exists a genuine need to find alternatives where interest speculation and gambling can be avoided with debt-like financing, futures and option like contracts and insurance/assurance-like products. Now coming over to debt financing, it is a kind of transaction that is solely dependent on interest! for example a person A needs to raise working capital for their company so they only way they have is to issue notes or bonds of, say $1000 to everyone now that investor will receive an interest of 10% of 10000 after four months. In simpler terms you can say that debt is borrowing money from an outside source with the promise to return the principa l, in addition to a agreed upon level of interest. Debt financing is one of the most used methods of financing. The reason why debt financing is so commonly used is that it helps maintain ownership because when you borrow from banks then you have to return the agreed amount on time however here you can choose the time of repayment for yourself without anybody else's interference. Moreover the most attractive factor is that you can decide the amount of interest rate yourself, it is an open option for you according to your budget, but we do need to find ways of excluding interest on it. Here the question is that is this possible? The best alternative is interest free equity financing. Equity financing is an act of raising money for company activities by selling common or preferred stock to individual or institutional investors. In return for the money paid, shareholders receive ownership rights in the corporation. In most cases equity financing is preferred over debt financing especia lly where the company wants to move on an interest free basis. Here there is no interest cost, the company does not has to pay any interest to the amount provided by the owners ( the stockholders) in fact the cost of production remains low as there is no burden of interes