Marketing Case Homework Promotions Such The 100 Days Summer Appeal Directly These Interests Incorporating Snapchat

PART V

CASE SOLUTIONS

CASE 5-1: CUTIES: HOW COMMODITY FRUITS BECAME A BRANDED

SENSATION

1) Chapter 19 describes various purchase situations.

a) When McDonald’s originally made the agreement with Sun Pacific to incorporate

Cuties in Happy Meals in 2014, what type of purchase situation was that?

Explain.

b) In 2016, when McDonald’s reincorporated Cuties into Happy Meals, what type of

purchase situation was that? Explain.

2) Chapter 19 discusses the organizational decision process. Consider the various stages of

the decision-making process that may have taken place within McDonald’s to arrive at

the choice to incorporate Cuties into the Happy Meals and the a la carte menu. While it is

impossible to know the proprietary information on exactly how this decision was made,

you could speculate as to some aspects of how it may have taken place.

a) What factors likely may have led to the problem recognition?

b) What other alternatives might McDonald’s have considered in the alternative

evaluation?

c) Why do you think Cuties were eventually selected as the purchase decision?

a) Answers will vary. However, one good option is that McDonald’s needed to find

3) Chapter 19 discusses the differences between transactional exchanges versus relational

exchanges and various factors that influence whether business relationships would be

more likely to be one or the other (industry structure, decision-making culture, decision-

making structure, risk tolerance, and nature of purchase).

a) Do you think grocery retailers are engaged in transactional or relational

exchanges with Sun Pacific? Explain your reasoning relative to the factors listed

in the text and case.

b) Do you think McDonald’s is engaged in transactional or relational exchanges with

Sun Pacific? Explain your reasoning relative to the factors listed in the text and

case.

4) Are buyers of Cuties just “paying more for the name” or is it due to the economic

benefits associated with the name? What, if any, economic benefits accrue to buyers of

Cuties?

While Cuties themselves are mandarins and clementines that are physically highly similar

5) The case distinguishes push and pull strategies. The case mentions that Sun Pacific

heavily uses a pull strategy because the promotions targeted the end consumers of the

supply chain. However, they would also have to promote to the retailers (B2B) customers

as well to ensure they stock the product on their stores and outlets. Design promotional

materials, including key selling points that Sun Pacific could use to “sell” their product

successfully to their B2B customers.

6) Executives of Sun Pacific explicitly state that advertising and promotions are targeting

Millennials as part of the pull strategy. In what ways do the promotions for Cuties, as

well as the product itself, appeal to this generation?

Many Millennial (and Generation X) consumers are parents of young children and are

CASE 5-2 FARMERS’ BRAND LOYALTY FOR HEAVY FARM

EQUIPMENT MACHINERY

1) Define brand loyalty as you understand it from the text. How does John Deere (or any of the

other three major brands) create loyalty? Explain.

From the text:

free concerning service encounters with [a specific] provider.” Service employees

2) Chapter 19 describes various purchase situations (straight rebuy, modified rebuy, and new

task).

a) What type of purchase situation did the Farrell brothers engage in when they bought their

New Holland tractor? Explain.

b) What type of purchase situation did the Farrell brothers and their preceding two

generations of farmers engage in when they bought their John Deer tractor? Explain.

c) What type of purchase situation would someone who just purchased a farming operation

as a new venture and has had no prior farming experience engage in when that person

seeks to purchase a tractor? Explain.

a) The Farrell brothers engaged in a modified rebuy when they deviated from their normal

3) Using all possible sources of information including the case, the internet, and direct contact

with heavy farm equipment machinery dealers, develop what you think the decision-making

unit looks like for a heavy farm equipment machinery purchase, such as a tractor. Does its

size depend on the size of the company or other factors? Explain.

one or two individuals who would make the decisions.

4) Explain the role of reference groups for heavy farm equipment machinery brands, such as

John Deere.

Reference groups play a huge role in this context. Farming operation owners, like the Farrell

5) Chapter 19 discusses the difference in transactional exchanges and relational exchanges.

Which of these types do you think is most common in the heavy farm equipment machinery

industry and why?

It is most likely that the majority of the exchanges are relational because farmers often make

6) Chapter 15 discusses marketing strategies based on information search patterns and makes

recommendations of preferable strategies based on decision-making pattern and the position

of a brand (whether it is in the evoked set).

a) Which strategy should one of the top four brands listed in the Farm Equipment survey

use when attempting to gain new customers from their competitors?

b) Which strategy should one of the top four brands listed in the Farm Equipment survey

use when attempting to retain their existing brand loyal customers?

c) Which strategy should a brand that is NOT listed in the Farm Equipment survey use

when attempting to gain new customers?