WHATS UP WITH PASTA?
...l. Spaniards Chefs have tried to add local flavors and products but they have been unsuccessful The Spain GNI reveals that the capacity of acquisition of Spaniards is so that, changing the image of the Pasta as a sophisticated and nutritional meal, they could get more interest in its consumption. The production process for the pasta preparation is sufficient and appropriate for a higher demand. Indeed, it is totally automated. 3.-ALTERNATIVES So, as is set and perceived in the exhibit 2, there is lack of information if we want to set a real target campaign that wants to achieve a consistent growth in pasta consumption. The information missing is a mix of primary and secondary data, as well as qualitative and quantitative, set in a exploratory objective. We can do a general campaign targeting the whole population or we could go for a more focus one, either to conquer new costumers or to increase consumption of the actual consumers. But in either case, which will be our message? What are going to be the variables that will be push out in the campaign? So there are two possible alternatives, and the recommended one, that incur in different time and cost resources allocation, and pros and cons, which could help us on answering these questions. Option 1 Work with information available, fine tuned by more primary quantitative data, obtained through surveys with closed-ended responses. It is just to get more quantitative dimensions on the broad market. We could use surveys by phone, mail and adding surveys inside the pasta packages, giving reward for the returned ones (win pasta recipes book). PROS CONS Not very costly and time consuming, due to closed ended nature of the survey; Reaches a wide range of persons- depending on the response rate could be or not representative; Easy and fast answers from the respondents; Information obtained is easy decoded and translated. The response rate could be low; The answers and data obtained could be not relevant if there is not enough response; Does not give any human qualitative inputs- behaviours, attitudes and characteristics; Just test what is asked and for the answers proposed- no interaction with respondents. Estimated Costs: Production costs and phone call act: 1.000.000 surveys* 0,03 + 10.000 calls*2,5 (emails are free) 55.000 Information Retrieve and Decode: R. Rate 5%* (1.010.000)* 0,50 25.250 Total: 80.250 Option 2 Perform an internal analysis of the companies belonging to AEFPA, with the help of consulting firm. The objective is finding if the problem of pasta demand is not due just to the market and there are aspects pasta manufacturers can work on to improve the situation. PROS CONS A bit costly but not time consuming, Reaches almost all the companies of the pasta sector; Information obtained can be determinant to decide the strategy The response rate could be low, as companies could be interested on hiding information; Collaboration is needed from the companies. Retrieving some information could be difficult; The data obtained needs to be interpreted and analyzed Estimated Costs: Consultancy fee 55.000 Total: 55.000 4.- RECOMMENDATION Set a full descriptive package of marketing research that would help for the full length of the Marketing Plan, helping in the definition of all the Ps and the target groups, contextualized by the segmentation and positioning to be defined in the marketing process. This would be an exploratory market research, looking for qualitative data, set in 2 steps: The first, based in an extensive survey using general qualitative/quantitative questions about, for example, age, gender, income and education level, that will help us in narrowing the pasta market consumers (by phone, mail and adding surveys inside the pasta packages). Afterwards, we could go for focus groups (some with pasta consumers and some with non pasta consumers), in which, with the questions as ones described in exhibit 2, we could obtain the fine tuning of the characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of the pasta consumers. We believe that time and money are not major constrains for this pasta industry move (there is no time to market urgency), moreover, this study can constitute the sound base for a broaden plan of the Industry, not just for one campaign. PROS CONS In ...