This case study analysis examines the rise and fall of Snapple. Inasmuch as most soft-drink brands gained success in the '80s, only Snapple hit it better. It became a national success and was looking into invading the international market at the time Quaker acquired the company. However, Quaker did not foresee that it might be harder for them to manage, hence, it was subsequently sold. This case study analysis also deals with the factors influencing the growth and decline of Snapple and seeks to answer the question of what action the new proprietors should undertake to ensure its success.
John Deighton
Harvard Business Review (599126-PDF-ENG)
June 04, 1999
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Snapple Case Answers
Context
It is 2017, and Triarc Beverages just acquired Snapple from Quaker for the revalued amount of $300 million dollars (value more than 5 times smaller than the amount Quaker acquired Snapple for 3 years ago). To fight the devaluation of the brand, which was mainly caused by Quaker’s efforts to promote synergy between Snapple and Gatorade, Triarc will take measures to restitute Snapple’s presence in cold channels, and recreate the brand’s value.
The Number 1 P: People1
Before developing the analysis of the 4 marketing Ps2, it is interesting to use technological tools to better understand the audience we will be reaching out to.
Using Facebook’s Audience Insights tool3, one can get a quick understanding of the segment of people that engage with Snapple on social media. Setting the interest search to the keyword ‘Snapple’ (Figure 1), one can see that, for example, approximately 70% of Snapple’s audience are women, and around 80% are within the 18-34 age range.
Figure 1. Facebook’s Audience Insights. Analysis of the audience for the keyword ‘Snapple.’
Comparing Snapple’s audience (1.5m-2m monthly active users) to the soft drinks industry’s (20m – 25m monthly active users), one may find similarities (e.g., approximately 70% of users matched are medium or high online purchasers (Figure 2), the biggest purchasing category after Food and Drink is Subscription services (Figure 3), and most users matched lead lifestyles identified with keywords like, ‘Firmly Established,’ ‘Work and Play,’ and ‘Active Lifestyles’) and differences (e.g., while the industry’s audience uses credit cards (Figure 4) the most as a payment method, indicating larger spendings, Snapple’s group spends more in cash, indicating the preference for buying the product in…
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