Crescent
Pure
A Harvard Business
School Case Study
-Nidhi Ahuja
The companies
Manufacturer of organic juices and sparkling waters
Values: health & affordability
PDB Non alcoholic functional beverage company
Crescent Pure
Overview
PDB (Portland Drake
Beverages)
Crescent Pure
The acquisition requires a new
market positioning of Crescent so it aligns with PDB’s brand
values
What’s the big plan?
• Large competitors were planning to launch all natural versions of their beverages
Fast launch:
• Due to production capacity restraints
• To test the positioning before nationalizing
Soft launch:
situation at hand
The CEO of PDB has asked Sarah Ryan, the vice president of marketing to form a suitable market positioning strategy for Crescent within days
What are the
positioning
options?
Or as simply an healthy organic drink?
Energy drink
Soft drink
Approach
• Benefits and
• Drawbacks of positioning choices
State
• Positioning
• Price
Finalize • if the profits
met or exceeded the goal
Expand
Crescent- About the drink To come to a conclusion about the drink’s positioning, it needs to be known what it is about
• All natural beverage lightly infused with organic
juices, herbal stimulants and enhanced mental
focus
• Same energy effect as a cup of coffee
• 70% less sugar content than leading energy &
sports drinks
Factors that affect the decision
1. Alignment of Crescent with
the PDB’s brand image
2. Consumer choices/survey
results
3. Price that can be offered
4. Market size
5. Differentiators of the different
offerings
6. Competition
Alignment of Crescent with PDB’s brand image:
As energy drink: combat fatigue, promote mental focus
As sports drink:
Hydrating, mental focus and energy boost
1
Consumer choices & survey results:
As energy drink:
Most descriptive character of Crescent as per consumers is ‘energetic’
As sports drink:
-There’s a growing demand for diet and low sugar sports drink in the market
-They can seek health conscious consumers
2
One word description for the two types of
drinks: consumer survey
• According to the
data, positioning
Crescent as a sports
drink is suitable
because many of its
characteristics align
with it
Pricing that can be done
As energy drink:
Average price is $2.95 for 8 oz. They can offer a lower price of $2.75
As sports drink:
Average price is $1 to $2 for 12 oz and 24 oz. The positioning will have to push the case
3
4. Market size:
• $8.5 billion sales till 2013
• Forecast prediction: $13.5 billion sales till 2018
As energy drink
• Only 4% rise from 2007 to 2012
• $6.3 billion sales till 2012
• Prediction: $9.58 billion till 2017 As sports drink
5. Points of difference
As energy drink:
Due to Crescent’s organic certification and minimal
caffeine content; they have a competitive advantage here
As sports drink:
42% consumers consider sports drink as ‘anytime beverage’
And so, health conscious consumers could be targeted
Competition
As energy drink:
85% of the total category revenue goes to Together, Fright, Razor, Torque, Steller
As sports drink:
Major competitors are Gleam and Drip
6
Competition analysis Consumers’ perception of the various drinks is as shown
• Crescent could be positioned as a sports drink because consumers think of Crescent as highly hydrating and energetic (as in the previous slides)
• And hence, they can position themselves in high-hydration & high-energy region and face just one competition
Some conclusive thoughts • Crescent pure, on positioning as
a energy drink can turn out to produce a whooping success as:
– Consumer perception about Crescent aligns well with an alternate choice of a energy
drink
– There are lesser leading competitors with similar drink
characteristics
– They have strong points of difference as a energy drink due
to their organic certification
– They can position it at $2.75 which is lower in comparison to
the average price of energy drinks
DISCLAIMER As a part of internship under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIML
by Nidhi Ahuja
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