Analysis of a Marketing News Story

Generally marketing is defined by ‘Marketing is a business term referring to the promotion of products, advertising, pricing, distribution channels, and branding. The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to sell goods or services.’ This is a definition everyone can easily found on Wikipedia, but is it sufficient?

According to Kotler ‘Marketing is more than any other business function, deals with customers. Creating customer value and satisfaction are at the very heart of modern marketing thinking and practice.’

This essay will provide an analysis of the marketing news story which appeared in 2008, about Cheestrings, a Kerry Foods’ cheese snack for children which has a revamped look appropriately designed for target market. What is this marketing news story about? What are the company’s marketing strategies? What is their positioning and wider implication in the market? And what relation can we make with Kotler’s edition?

Because they always want the best for their children, ‘Cheestrings aims at parents.’

And nowadays, every child in this consumption society wants his daily snack, but, it has to be not too strong taste (if it is a cheese), not too acid or sweet yoghurt …

So, it is hard to make children consumers of milk. However dairy products are essentials for a good natural growth. Therefore parents are looking for some nutritional food which is healthy for them. This is an opportunity for Kerry Foods business. The solution: combine nutrition and imagination.

This is the reason why, by renewing the packaging of his product, ‘Kerry Foods attempts to make the product seem less artificial’ with a ‘softer purple logo’ and a ‘different character illustration’ on each individual wrapper, creating the idea as ‘each Cheestring containing a glass of milk.’

Moreover, Cheestrings has a various range of tastes: ‘Original Cheddar, Twister, White Cheddar and Light variants.’

‘Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale – ‘telling and selling’ – but in the new sense of satisfying customers’ needs.’ (Kotler)

‘A marketing strategy should be centred on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal.’(Wikipedia definition)

A new packaging design is a good marketing strategy: ‘fun facts’ draw children attention while non artificial but healthy looking catch parents favors. It is not only a barrier protection which keeps the content clean, fresh and safe for the shelf life of perishable items; although ‘permeation is a critical factor in design.