NOVA School of Business & Economics
Shaping powerful minds
MARKETING PLANNING
RAQUEL PAIXO, STUDENT NR 1529
Outline
•WHAT ARE THE BRAND ASSOCIATIONS AND MARKET STRATEGIES FOR
EACH PRODUCT.
•HOW DID EACH PRODUCT IMPLEMENT ITS STRATEGY? HOW DID THEY
GO TO MARKET?
•WHAT SHOULD SLANKET DO NOW?
WHAT ARE THE BRAND ASSOCIATIONS AND MARKET STRATEGIES FOR
EACH PRODUCT.
Slanket and Snuggie are brands of sleeved- blankets that enjoy fairly distinctive brand ‐
associations and market strategies.
Slanket was the first brand entering the market, as an innovative product developed to be a
confortable yet very practical object, making it possible for people to be warmed by a
blanket and still be able to do things easily (changing TV channels, talking on the cell
phone or texting, for instance). It was created by a family start- up with scarse funding, ‐
which meant that Gary Clegg, one of the founders, had to find creative and efficient ways
to promote the product in a low cost fashion. The strategy of Slanket was to focus on a
niche market and provide a high quality product and costumer experience. Clegg brothers
also pursued brand association with a small familiar firm, with no big desire of wealth, but
with social drivers and concerns. The initial Slanket‘s strategy was to skim the market.
Being a completely new product meant there was few direct competition and,
consequently, consumers were not very price- sensitive which made it possible for Slanket ‐
to charge a higher price while saving costs of promotion using low cost channels to reach
consumers, like online platforms. The retail price on their own website in 2008 was $38
per unit, which represented the highest gross profit channel for the company. Moreover,
the product was also sold to QVC and SkyMall at $18 and $20 per unit, respectively, and
was then promoted by these two companies. The product would cost $38 on Skymall and
$32 on QVC for the end consumer. Slanket’s focus on product quality and costumer
experience was reflected on customer’s product rating at QVC-Slanket had an average of
five stars
The brand associations for Snuggie’s sleeved blankets were quite different, as it was of a
low- end brand, with low quality and bad customer service. The product was created by an‐
already established company in the direct- response television (DRTV), the Allstar ‐
Marketing Group. Allstar had the right network and enough funds to endure heavy
advertising campaign and Snuggie’s infomercial began airing on U.S. television on
