Crescent Pure Case Solution

2. Market and Strategic Overview

The US non-alcoholic beverage industry shows great potential for growth, as it is projected to grow to $164 billion by 2018. Crescent pure is a product that includes ingredients that can help position the product both as an energy and a sports’ drink. The market dynamics of both the segments differ to a great extent. It would be important to develop a suitable product positioning strategy, considering the customer demographics, perceptions, habits, and landscape. Considering the segment of sports drink, it has a wider target base, and it comes in variety of sizes to meet the different quantity requirements of various customer segments. However, there are two main layers that dominate this particular segment, namely, Gleam and Drip. As far as the energy drinks’ segment is concerned, the average market price is higher than the price of Crescent. Apart from this, this segment targets the most enthusiastic customers in the market whose ages range is between 18 and 24. The organization has to ensure that it positions the new product in a manner that it is able to not only generate optimal revenue for it, but also ensures that the company can sustain the financial performance of the product can be sustained in the longer run. However, it would be important to evaluate the objectives of the market research conducted by the company. 

3. Background and the Role of Research

In today’s competitive environment, it is important to ensure that the right product marketing approach is used, so as to make sure that sufficient returns on investment can derived from the introduction of the product. Acquisition of Crescent was a suitable decision, keeping in view the increasing awareness of organic food and beverage. The drink also generated positive word of mouth among its customers. However, inappropriate positioning of the product in the market can prove highly loss-bearing for the company. Therefore, a suitable research framework needs to be prepared, so as to ascertain whether the drink is to be positioned as the one belonging to the energy drink segment, or to the sports drink segment. At the same time, it would also be important to make sure that a focused approach is used towards developing product marketing strategy, as this enables a company to make investment in product development in a manner that is consistent with the broader and more progressive financial targets of the organization.

4. Analyzing the Objectives of Research

Developing suitable objectives for a market research is very important aspect. This gives direction to different efforts made to conduct various research-related activities. The director of Portland Drake Beverages (PDB) assigned the research tasks to third party sources. A major limitation was the lack of time available for the marketing team. The scope of the project can be broken down into different objectives. As part of the market research, it was important to ascertain the overall market profile and data regarding the threats and opportunities affiliated with the segment of energy drinks. The second important aspect was to consider the same market dynamics for the sports drink segment. Finally, it was also deemed appropriate to consider the consumer studies pertaining to both the segments discussed in the case.

It was important to give this research an exploratory aspect, so as to ensure that deeper insights can be gathered about possibly critical aspects of the market. The current research is not done in an organized manner, and this is visible keeping in view the lack of structure in the findings presented. A more appropriate addition to the objectives of the research could be ascertaining insights that have not been emphasized at an earlier stage. For instance, ascertaining unique things about the product, or making sure that whether the current consumers would have chosen the product in the presence of other competitors. The overall scope of the project was limited, and this restricted the level of innovation in the research findings. Furthermore, it would be more appropriate to unravel more customer perceptions about the research. The following objectives would be appropriate for the purpose of conducting a productive research:

1. Determine possibilities that can deliver desired financial goals that the organization expects from the marketing of Crescent.

2. Ascertain the market potential of the energy drink segment, keeping in view the diverse aspects of consumer perception, retailer perception, and segment growth prospects.

3. Ascertain the market potential of the energy drink segment, keeping in view the diverse aspects of consumer perception, retailer perception, and segment growth prospects.

4. Determine appropriate marketing and advertising channels that can be used to promote the product in a sustainable manner.

5. Exploring deep insights about the consumer perception regarding the product.

5. Suggested Approach and Research Targets

In the context of the case, it can be seen that there are both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the case that may prove beneficial in arriving at an appropriate research output. Considering the context of the research objectives, it can be ascertained that both quantitative and qualitative insights are important to arrive at important insights in view of the scope of the research (Moorman & Deshpande, 1993). It would be a critical decision to arrive at the positioning of the product, in line with the broad attributes that are to be offered by the product. As discussed in the case, Crescent has a favorable liking in the minds of the consumers.