MKT 2010 Module 7 Final Marketing Plan Example

Marketing Plan: Pine Barrens Crunch Freeze-Dried Cranberries, Bog Iron Farms, First Year

Student Name

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University

MKT-2010: Introduction to Marketing

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

Marketing Plan: Pine Barrens Crunch Freeze-Dried Cranberries, Bog Iron Farms, First Year

Executive Summary

Bog Iron Farms, a composite fourth-generation cranberry grower in Burlington County, New Jersey, will launch Pine Barrens Crunch, whole cranberries freeze-dried with nothing added, as its first consumer product. The plan aims at grade-school families in the farm's home region who care about what goes into snacks, reaching them through independent grocers, a school food service distributor and the farm's own website. First-year objectives are 90,000 pouches sold, placement in 40 stores and 8 school districts, and a positive contribution margin by the fourth quarter. The plan requires a $38,000 promotion budget and is built from the six steps completed earlier in the course.

Situation Analysis

Low prices for bulk berries sold through a growers' cooperative have pushed the farm to add a branded product that captures more of the value of its crop. The broad dried-fruit category is mature and dominated by sweetened national brands; unsweetened freeze-dried fruit is a smaller, growing segment. The farm's strengths are its own berries, a genuine origin story and a product with one ingredient; its weaknesses are no consumer brand, no sales staff and dependence on a contract processor. Opportunities include shoppers reading ingredient lists and school wellness buyers seeking fruit snacks; threats include large competitors, slotting fees and crop and packaging costs (Kurtz & Boone, 2022).

Objectives, Target Market and Positioning

Objectives for the first twelve months: sell 90,000 pouches; secure shelf space in 40 independent and specialty stores and orders from 8 school districts; reach 600 active online subscribers; and achieve a positive contribution margin in the fourth quarter. The plan aims first at households with children in elementary school whose parents check ingredient panels, and second at hikers and travelers who want a light, shelf-stable snack. Positioning: Pine Barrens Crunch is the snack label-conscious parents can trust at a glance, because the only thing in the pouch is cranberries from the family's own bogs.

Product, Place and Promotion

Product: a 1.2-ounce resealable pouch of unsweetened freeze-dried cranberries, with a lightly sweetened version using apple juice concentrate for younger children, and a cranberry-blueberry mix to follow after concept testing. The brand pairs the Pine Barrens Crunch name with the Bog Iron Farms family endorsement and builds three associations: one ingredient, New Jersey bogs and kid-approved tartness.

Place: three channels. Direct delivery to independent grocers within 60 miles and a specialty food distributor beyond; a regional food service distributor approved by school districts; and the farm's website and two farmers' markets. Slotting fees are declined in favor of trial placements supported by tastings. Production is scheduled monthly from frozen harvest stock, with about six weeks of finished pouches in a rented warehouse.

Promotion: an integrated plan around the positioning message, concentrated in the back-to-school and harvest windows, with about 150 in-store tastings and coupons, harvest videos promoted to parents in the target counties, consultative sales calls to 25 school districts, trade show attendance and a harvest open day for press and customers.

Price

Pricing completes the plan. The farm's cost to produce and pack a pouch is about $1.35, including berries at internal transfer value, freeze-drying, packaging and labor. Competing freeze-dried fruit pouches of similar size sell for $3.49 to $4.99, and sweetened dried cranberries sell for much less per ounce. A cost-plus price would undersell the product's premium positioning, and a price at the top of the range would limit trial among families. The farm will use value-based pricing within the competitive range.

The suggested retail price will be $3.99. Research supports that choice in two ways. Rao and Monroe (1989) reviewed experimental studies and found a positive and significant relationship between price and buyers' perceptions of quality for consumer products, so a price well below competitors could undercut the premium image. Anderson and Simester (2003) ran field experiments in which prices ending in 9 increased demand compared with nearby prices, which suggests $3.99 will sell better than $4.00 at almost no cost to margin.

Prices differ by channel because each channel performs different functions, but the farm will keep its own website price at the suggested retail price so it does not undercut its retailers. The school price is lowest because orders are large, the product introduces children and their families to the brand, and districts work within strict per-serving budgets. Introductory coupons and subscription discounts are the only planned price promotions; frequent discounts would teach shoppers to wait for deals and erode the premium position.

Budget, Schedule and Controls

Promotion spending totals $38,000, with the largest share, about a third, going to in-store tastings and free samples, roughly a quarter to video content and targeted social ads, and the remainder divided among school sales materials, two trade shows and the harvest open day with its press outreach. The launch schedule places grocer recruitment from June to August, school sales calls in spring and late summer to match purchasing cycles, back-to-school promotion in August and harvest promotion in October.

Controls compare results with objectives monthly: pouches sold by channel, number of active store accounts and their weekly sales rate, school orders, online subscribers and churn, and contribution margin by channel. If a store sells fewer than six pouches a week after three months, the farm will add tastings or replace the store. If the school channel's contribution remains below $0.40 per pouch, the farm will raise the case price or narrow the program to districts within delivery range. A full review at twelve months will decide whether to expand to the regional supermarket chain.

Conclusion

Pine Barrens Crunch gives Bog Iron Farms a way to earn more from its berries by selling a story and a simple product to customers who value both. The plan holds together because each decision follows from the same target and positioning: a one-ingredient product, channels where the farm story matters, promotion that relies on trial and shared content, and a price that signals quality without blocking trial. Monthly controls will show early whether the plan is working and where to adjust.

References

Anderson, E. T., & Simester, D. I. (2003). Effects of $9 price endings on retail sales: Evidence from field experiments. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 1(1), 93-110. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023581927405

Kurtz, D. L., & Boone, L. E. (2022). Contemporary marketing (19th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Rao, A. R., & Monroe, K. B. (1989). The effect of price, brand name, and store name on buyers' perceptions of product quality: An integrative review. Journal of Marketing Research, 26(3), 351-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378902600309