Marketing Plan

Vita-Go’s primary internal strengths are its experienced, innovated and flexible management staff, and its distinctive, natural and affordable product. Vita-Go is already proven in five states within the United States. Positive external factors include the wide spread move to health initiative, the affordability to consumers, and the well-known Pepsi name. The tie to Pepsi will make it easier for Vita-Go to mass produce to meet market demand.

Considering internal factors, the main weakness of Vita-Go is the possibility of a weak supply chain in this newer all natural liquid vitamin market, and its lack of presence in the global market. Considering external factors, threats include competitors that may introduce their version of all natural liquid vitamin water to the market, and the possibility of tariffs, quotas and other potential legal and regulatory issues when expanding to the global market, as well as consumer acceptance of liquid vitamins.

Industry Analysis

According to the Annual Review of Food and Science Technology, the global market for nutraceuticals, a food product that provides health and medical benefits, is increasing as consumers become more aware of the ability of these foods to improve health and prevent disease (Augustin & Sanguansri, 2015). The primary source driving this market are the baby boomers who are aging, want to live longer, and have a significant amount of disposable income. “The global functional food market is expected to exceed $230 billion in 2015 with a growth rate of 15%. The global nutraceuticals ingredient market is expected to grow from $23.8 billion in 2013 to $33.6 billion in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.2%” (Augustin & Sanguansri, 2015). The greatest market is in the United States where sales of $8.62 billion are expected by 2015, with 21% growth (Augustin & Sanguansri, 2015). The main products driving this growth are energy drinks.

Health improving drinks are marketed to different demographic groups: infants, children, teens, adults, and the elderly. Energy drinks that target general well-being excel in performance. However, the greatest sales are seen in energy-boosting foods and drinks.

Delivery methods affect the quality of the ingredients. It is important to encapsulate the nutraceutical ingredients prior to incorporating the ingredients into the food. This is necessary to protect the appearance, taste, and freshness due to storage (Augustin & Sanguansri, 2015).

Key Competitor Analysis: The Liquid Vitamin Market

There are about twenty different ready to drink liquid vitamin drinks on the market currently. Supporters of liquid nutritional supplements believe the body uses nearly all of the vitamin and mineral content in liquid vitamin drinks. According to a Gallup poll (2013), half of American adults take vitamins. This increases to two-thirds with older Americans (Gallup, 2013). There are two options available to consumers, liquid or solid (pill or powder) forms. The liquid vitamin market is growing due to the belief that the nutrients are better absorbed in liquid form, as well as the reduction of side effects. The primary determinants for consumers are quality and price. The liquid vitamin market is currently focused on direct selling, health food stores, or websites for distribution. The competitors in this industry sell their product for a cost ranging between $1.03 - $4.44, per daily serving (Williams, 2015). The strengths of the competitors are the testimonies of the product users involved with direct sales, as well as the quality of the liquid vitamins. However, direct sales limit the products distribution to a smaller portion of consumers. Health food stores generally do not have the marketing capacity to reach a large portion of the public. Consequently, many of the current vitamin consumers are using solid options with the accompanying side effects without the awareness or convenience of quality liquid vitamins distributed mainstream through grocery and convenience stores.

Through PepsiCo, this product can be made more readily available by marketing in vending machines, convenience stores, and grocery stores. This would give a competitive edge to PepsiCo in the liquid vitamin market. The marketing plan would also successfully provide a liquid vitamin to the public easily, efficiently, and safely. Distributing a liquid vitamin in this manner would break into a new untapped segment of the market.

Company Analysis

Vita-Go will provide customers with vitamins that are quick and efficient. The employees of Vita-Go are very knowledgeable in healthy choices. However, Vita-Go also has multiple physicians and scientists that will continually assist in creating more delicious flavors and choices involving multi-vitamins, as well as, additional supplements that customers may desire, along with special choices for kids. Vita-Go has also teamed with professional business consultants that have explicit understanding about new-product development, along with pricing methods.

The main objective is to position Vita-Go, Inc. as the leading source for consumers to achieve healthier lives by allowing consumers to enjoy their vitamin in-take. The marketing strategy will pursue to initially create customer awareness regarding their services offered, develop that customer base, and work toward building customer loyalty and referrals.

The message Vita-Go, Inc. will seek to communicate is that Vita-Go is the only all-natural vitamin supplement with a self-contained design allowing for the highest quality vitamins on the market. This message will be communicated through a variety of methods.  The first method will be advertisements.  The bulk of the advertisements will be social media, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, which produce remarkable numbers for the desired target population. As a partner of PepsiCo building on their loyalty base will support the overall growth of Vita-Go, Inc. Establishing aan equally valuable affiliation will allow both organizations to develop visibility for each other.

Customer Analysis

Customer Characteristics:

Vita-Go’s consumers are predominantly those who are healthy-minded and are focused on exercise and active lifestyles. The households that purchase Vita-Go products range considerably from 1 to 4 people. Vita-Go’s products are on-the-go vitamins. The vitamins appeal across the generations, including consumers who are single with busy lives,, parents who buy products for themselves and their children, the largest segment of purchasers, the baby boomer generation.

The incomes of consumers that purchase Vita-Go products approximately begin at $40,000. Nevertheless, Vita-Go does seek to cater to all households and incomes by offering lower-priced options as well.

Health and Nutrition Concerns:

People across the world are better informed in regards to their overall health. Each day brings about new challenges and contributing factors to the unhealthy lives many people live. While staying informed about the need for healthier living in conjunction with incorporating daily exercise people will continue to live longer lives as a result of continual better choices for themselves when it comes to their overall health. A recent Gallop poll indicates that 46% of men and 54% of women take daily multivitamins of some kind. The concern for those not taking multivitamins on a daily basis come from the lack of evidence that vitamins, “don’t help extend life or ward off heart disease and memory loss.” Multivitamins should be taken to increase the overall health and wellness and to fill in nutrient gaps. Additionally, scientific research supports that multivitamins work for those purposes. Finally, while multivitamins are not a cure for all specific aliments or disease, multivitamins are proven to help reduce the risk of cancer and cataracts in addition to providing a bridge to the nutrition gap and overall health and wellness.

Vita-Go in dedicated to providing a liquid vitamin that is easy to digest and made from only natural ingredients. Offered in a variety of flavors and conveniently available to people while keeping in mind the affordability to ensure Vita-Go reaches across all levels of income. Vita-Go is encapsulated to retain the freshness of the ingredients and further ensures the overall quality of the vitamins. (or whatever you plan to name it):

References

Augustin, M.A., & Sanguansri, L. (2015). Challenges and solutions to incorporations of nutraceuticals in foods. Annual review of food science and technology. Vol.6. Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-food-022814-015507

Cohen, J. (2015). Are liquid vitamins better than tablets? Retrieved from http://vitamins.lovetoknow.com/Are_Liquid_Vitamins_Better_than_Tablets

Gallup. (2013). Half of Americans takes vitamins regularly. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/166541/half-americans-vitamins-regularly.aspx

Kerin, R., Hartley, S., & Rudelius, W. (2013). Marketing the core (5th ed., p. 61). United States; McGraw-Hill Education.

PepsiCo. (2015). Who are we. Retrieved from http://www.pepsico.com.

Williams, T. (2015). Liquid multivitamin ranks. Retrieved from http://www.businessforhome.org/mlm-500-companies-revenue/doctors-in-vitamins/liquid-multi-vitamins-ranks/

Goodman, B. (2013, December 16). WebMD . Retrieved from Webmd.com: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/news/20131216/experts-dont-waste-your-money-on-multivitamins

Swift, A. (2013, December 19). Gallup . Retrieved from Gallup.com: http://www.gallup.com/poll/166541/half-americans-vitamins-regularly.aspx

(n.d.). Goodman, B. (2013, December 16). WebMD . Retrieved from Webmd.com: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/news/20131216/experts-dont-waste-your-money-on-multivitamins Swift, A. (2013, December 19). Ga llup . Retrieved from Gallup.com: http://www.gallup.com/poll/166541/half-americans-vitamins-regularly.aspx