Marketing Strategy and SWOT Analysis of Oreo
Which flavor of Oreo is your favorite choice? Heads or Tails Double Stuff, Cinnamon Bun, Golden double, Peanut Butter, or another one? Oreo suggests 25 delicious and unique kinds of sweet cookie biscuits. The Company is owned by Mondelez International, which has an annual turnover of about 3 billion US Dollars. Being a well-distributed product in more than 100 countries globally, the Oreo brand has occupied the top position of the world’s most selling cookies. Let us find out the key to Oreo’s achievement in the global market in aid of exploring the Marketing Strategy, value proposition and the SWOT Analysis of Oreo.
Mission Statement of Oreo
The mission of Cadbury’s Oreo is the following: “Every day, we are inspired to go the extra mile to lead the future of snacking around the world. We do this by offering the right snack, for the right moment, made the right way.” The Company proves the trustworthiness of its mission statement in its marketing strategy.
Positioning Strategy of Oreo
For understanding, I suggest to look at their followers’ responses on one of the most widespread social platforms, Instagram.
As there are a great score of posts on Oreo’s official account on Instagram with typical comments, it leads us to think that people enjoy the cookies with full enthusiasm and satisfaction. They eagerly wait for the company to introduce a newness in terms of delighting taste, as they also have their favorite choice of biscuits. They seek for fun, gratification, refreshment, newness, challenges, etc.
What does it tell us about the company’s Brand Archetype?
Can we come up with the idea that Oreo Company belongs to the Jester Archetype? What do we know about Jester Archetype? Let’s discuss several key characteristics of this.
Desire: to live and feel every moment with full enjoyment and curiosity
Goal: to have a memorable time and lighten up the world
Strategy: play, deal with works of your excitement fields, make jokes, and stay positive
The messaging levels of the Jester Archetype are the followings:
Level 1: the feeling of boredom, fatigue, and apathy
Level 2: treating life as a game or fun
Level 3: making sensible decisions, get out of hardships and exploring new ways to avoid issues going deeper
Level 4: Life experienced at the moment, one day at a time
The Jester is a pledging archetype to provide identity for brands if
- It promotes the sense of belongingness among people
- Its functions give people a chance to enjoy a good time
- The price is average or below the average
- It is produced by a company that prioritizes the fun-loving, freewheeling organizational environment
- It is supposed to be differentiated from a self-important, overconfident, established brand
Brand Archetypes. Why we need them in practice?
Our communication strategy may have multiple messaging approaches. But there is some logic that unifies all these and it is called communication based on the archetypal branding. A company may have many messages, but they do not have something in common. For example “Do everything easily”, “Go ahead and be powerful” or Dig deeper and be experienced”.
These 3 quotes have different goals and bring different subconscious effects. One is about Being a Hero, another is about gaining more experience. These are 2 different directions of messaging and the logics of Brand archetypes bring more uniqueness and clearness here.
Just read the book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” and you will have more experience in communication based on archetypes.
Brand Archetypes. Why we need them in practice?
Our communication strategy may have multiple messaging approaches. But there is some logic that unifies all these and it is called communication based on the archetypal branding. A company may have many messages, but they do not have something in common. For example “Do everything easily”, “Go ahead and be powerful” or Dig deeper and be experienced” .
These 3 quotes have different goals and bring different subconscious effects. One is about Being a Hero, another is about gaining more experience.
These are 2 different directions of messaging and the logics of Brand archetypes bring more uniqueness and clearness here. Just read the book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” and you will have more experience in communication based on archetypes.
Now, the time is up to switch to SWOT Analysis of the Oreo.
Strengths
Oreo owns a variety of types of packaging, size, flavor, color, etc. They are about to meet customers’ greatly varying preferences.
It is the number one brand in the cookie market in the world. According to Statista.com, Oreo has the biggest turnover in the cookies industry (of 3.28 billion US dollars) because it is the best-selling one. More than 40 billion cookies are produced per year. It is assumed to be sold approximately 450 billion cookies since 1912.
It has a balance in low cost and quality. The average retail price is $2.12 for a one-pound bag (Greer, 1986). The sales, average price, revenue streams show the balanced ratio between quality and price of the goods.
Authority of Oreo in social media. The company has an enormous audience. On Facebook, they have developed customer relationships stream up to 38 million followers.
The Company applies widespread distribution means. One can find Oreo products in more than 100 countries. The biggest market suppliers are the United States, China, The United Kingdom, Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, India, and Germany.
Weaknesses
Not all the product types are accessible enough and affordable. For example, “Uh-Oh Oreos,” “Oreo cakesters,” and others had the lowest amount of sales, which induced discontinuing their production (Gardener).
There are variations of Oreo goods that are seasonal. Sometimes it makes consumers disappointed because they need to wait for a while to be able to purchase their favorite one again. For example, “Cool Mint Crème Oreos,” Birthday Cake Flavor Crème Oreos,” Watermelon Flavor Crème Oreos.”
Oreo cookies are not the healthiest option. A serving of Oreo offers two pieces of biscuits that are 140 Calories. This sounds good; however, the cookies are addictive, and one cannot end up with just several slices. In turn, it causes to exceed the daily amount of optimal sugar and fat, thus, gain weight in a short period (Middleton)
Opportunities
Launching new variety of flavors. It not only will grow the percentage of sales, as people will at least like to try the new product but also will have a positive effect on the popularity of the brand.
New commercials. The Company can advertise mothers who take care of their children by treating them Oreo snacks. Making new commercials that will include cautious mothers towards their children will undoubtedly raise the awareness of parents.
Attracting the attention of children. Children are the main purchase guiders over parents; thus, there is still a chance to evoke attraction among kids. Tricky promotions or commercials designed for kids are once again a practical tool to be exerted.
Tying up with other popular brands. Cooperation with competitive products is a fragile marketing step, which will have a positive effect on brand popularity, sales growth, revenue streams, and the Company’s overall progress.
Threats
Unhealthy ingredients. Oreo cookies include much sugar, fructose, fats, corn syrup, and other hazardous ingredients for people with diabetes. It limits or eliminates potential consumers’ purchasing opportunities.
Strong Competitors: Oreo has powerful competitors like Mars, Nestle, Lays, Britannia & Sunfeast, Bingo, etc. They are considered to be a part of the cookies industry and are purchased as snacks. They are real competitors for Oreo, which proves their annual sales, lower price, huge turnovers, and prominence from the world scale.
Lack of recognition in certain locations: There are still many countries and a big score of cities and towns that lack the recognition of the Oreo brand and its offered products. Although the number of Facebook followers, annual outcomes, the number of products sold, etc. it is crucial to provide other countries with the goods, thus, organize higher distribution facilities.
Now it is time to discuss the segmentation strategy of Oreo.
To do so let’s watch the commercial in the video starting in 3:00 minute.
There are young people who seek for fun and enjoyment everywhere and try to obtain the absolute advantages of life excitements with their friends. They opt for Oreo products because it makes them happier, gives an ultimate opportunity for diversion and amusement, and definitely enhances the sense of cheerfulness. Here the company chose Hedonists as their target audience.
Who are Hedonists?
Lifestyle and Values
From their very point of view, they live ones and need to have fun and enjoy every moment of a day as much as it is possible. They never think twice before completing risky “tasks.”
For example, they can jump on the concert floor during a singer’s performance and do something in front of everyone. They are not afraid of anything as it will bring them good emotions and be saved as one of the numerous funny moments in their memory.
They like frequent team-ups with their friends, going out for shopping or without reason. Banding together often lasts over beer, chips, and football games. However, they tend to have short-lasting and unfaithful relationships with their friends and partners because they are change and challenge seekers.
Furthermore, they like meeting new people and get acquainted with them. Following the latest trends is their passion as being differentiated from others is a fundamental aspect for them where they always give proper attention.
Shopping Preferences
Values and beliefs, lifestyles, and typical characteristics of Hedonists have influenced their shopping preferences. As discussed above, standing out of the crowd is an essential point for them they give worth.
They tend to buy items with authentic names, more specifically ones that have prominence. They do believe that brand labels improve the image of a person. They always buy as many of these kinds of goods as possible under their preference of quantity above quality.
Hedonists do not organize shopping days. They like purchasing from small stores and go around to search for the best feasible options to buy. Such people are in favor of globally popular brands; however, they will also buy goods domestically produced that are also fashionable.
Here are some curious facts about Hedonists you will probably be interested in
- Their usage of Media is quite low as they do not like watching TV, listening to Radio for gathering media. However, they sometimes read media articles just for fun or entertainment.
- They like to visit exhibitions and ceremonials that are of their interest fields. For instance, cars and motors show programs, competitions, etc.
- Family is not a priority for such people, but they are used to take part in family meetings or have a Sunday lunch together. Nevertheless, friend team-ups are a better choice for them in all cases. They like to squander their relaxing time in bars, cafes, dance floors, pubs, cinemas, etc. with a lot of people.
- They like to accept challenges in terms of competitions, where they will be able to seek for the strongest or the luckiest one.
16 Personalities (why do you need them in your business?)
Hedonists are just 1 of 16 Personalities that you should recognize by heart. These are the types of customers who may happen in the process of promoting or selling products. From those 16 different characters (16 Personalities), you have to choose the only one, your ideal customer, to whom you have to direct the whole promotional arsenal.
All these types of clients are included in the book named “16 Personalities”. With this book, you will discover the secrets of 16 brand personalities, and how to gain your clients’ attention. You will easily find a target customer that matches your brand perfectly.
A primary strategic tool for Oreo.
One primary strategic tool worth to mention is Oreo’s aim in maintaining global dominance by adjusting to different cultures’ varying needs and demands.
The Chinese and Indian examples are noteworthy ones at this stage. At the time of entering the Chinese market, Cadbury’s Oreo met marketing obstacles that caused a low amount of sales and turnouts.
After a profound analysis, the Company came out with a conclusion of Chinese consumers’ different taste preference compared to US customers. Chinese customer segment considered the offered product of Oreo too sweet.
The market research also revealed that they would like to purchase smaller pieces’ of cookies at a more affordable price. Adapting to the local consumers’ needs and preferences, modifying the recipes and costs of the cookies prompted a considerable amount of purchase in China.
However, this was not the only challenge that the Company experienced in the Chinese market. They were frequently asked why Oreo is round-shaped and black and white only. Thus, Cadbury’s Oreo came up with the solution of varying shapes of the appearance of the original product.
They introduced the new version of the good with four tiers of crispy wafers that were consisted of chocolate-coated chocolate and vanilla cream. There was also a newness like double-fruit Oreo for Chinese consumers.
As the relevance of the product to the local customers is the most crucial factor, Oreo used its gained strategies while entering a new market. The Indian market challenged three main aspects of the product: distribution, volume, and price. In order to enhance the awareness of Indian people, the Company launched product tours in dozens of cities and small towns.
They also added the label “Made in India,” which resembled people about the lower price of the product. Furthermore, the products were made sweeter, especially for Indians, to suit their preferences. The business growth of Oreo depends on the applied marketing strategy that included market research, localization, and adoption tools.
These were marketing strategy forms that Cadbury’s Oreo has used for the business growth that proved its success utilized in different areas, cultures, and populations. I hope this post gave you answers to some questions you were initially curious about. For more similar posts, you can check out the main page of our website.
