CLOROX and the Anderson Marketing Association Interviewing Workshop

presents

The Case Interviewing Companion

A guide to case interviewing

TODAYS AGENDA

1. Why Case Questions?

2. General Tips

3. What Types of Case Questions Will I Encounter?

New Product Launch

Declining Sales

Pricing

Defending Against a New Competitor

Private Label Competition

Evaluating Advertising

Creativity/Marketing Knowledge

4. Practice

WHY CASE QUESTIONS?

Case questions provide companies an opportunity to evaluate your

strategic thinking/analytical skills

general understanding of marketing concepts

communication skills

ability to think on your feet

GENERAL TIPS There is no right answer

Ask questions/state assumptions

Follow the 3 Cs

Clear

Concise

Complete

Go beyond the text book answers

Think before you speak

NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH Always start with the consumer. Do consumers want/need this product?

Assess the opportunity:

- Size of the market

- Competition

- Estimate of your market share

- Cost/Ease of entry (capital investment, branding, distribution, company skills, etc.)

Choose your consumer target

Determine your positioning. Choose one singular benefit that you intend to deliver to your target consumers. Positioning should be differentiating vs. competition

Determine marketing strategy for new product:

- Price Set to reflect positioning (premium, popular, or value) and drive profit

- Product Which attributes to offer (flavor, size, etc.)? Offer what consumers want?

- Promotion How will you create awareness and trial for product? Advertising, coupons,

sampling, product demos, etc.

- Placement - Where will consumer buy it? Grocery, Mass Merchandisers, Club Stores,

Convenience Stores, the Internet

DECLINING SALES Is the decline driven by a general category decline or a share decline on my brand? These drivers lead to very different strategies.

Why is share or category declining? Different reasons lead to different strategies to reverse decline.

- Substitutes (ex Bleach usage declined when Tide with Bleach launched)

- Change in consumer habits (ex consumption of high fat foods might decline as consumers become

more health conscious)

If category is declining, determine strategy to increase category usage. Encourage consumers to use your product more frequently or use more per usage occasion.

- Clorox Bleach For whiter whites, use a full cup, Alternate uses (cleaning trash can,

pouring down the drain, etc.)

- Hidden Valley Ranch Recipe dissemination, Hidden Valley Singles launch

If share is declining, determine why (explore 4Ps):

- Price Has my price changed relative to competition?

- Product Has the quality of my product changed? Any competitive product upgrades/new products?

- Promotion Have my promotions/advertising changed or decreased? Any new

competitive promotions/advertising?

- Placement - Have I lost any distribution? Have competitors gained distribution?

Determine strategy to reverse share decline:

- Price change

- Product upgrade/new product launch

- New advertising/increased promotions spending

- Distribution drive

PRICING

Positioning: Always choose a price that reflects your brands positioning. If a premium-quality positioning is sought, a premium price is likely to enhance the positioning. Conversely, if your brand is a value brand (Joy, Luvs, Budget Gourmet Frozen dinners), your price must reflect this positioning.

Elasticity: Elasticity tells you how responsive your brands sales are to changes in price. Use elasticity to analyze how pricing changes will impact your brands volume and profit.

Cost Structure: Always consider costs when analyzing pricing. Clearly, a brand must ensure revenues exceed costs and the brand is profitable (an obvious point, but often forgotten).

DEFENDING AGAINST A NEW COMPETITOR Assess the threat to determine whether or not you need to defend.

- Does the new product meet a consumer need?

- How strong is the competitor? Will they spend to support the launch? Are they smart

marketers?

- Where will they take volume from? Are they targeting you or your competitor?

Should you decide it is necessary to defend, here are some strategies to consider:

- Reinforce equity with advertising. Remind consumers why your product is better than

new competitor dont give them a reason to try.

Product upgrade to provide new benefit never give consumers a product based reason

to switch (example Downy recently launched Premium Care which reduces wrinkles,

Snuggles has added wrinkle reduction claim to packaging).

- Load consumers. Provide price incentives so consumers will be stocked up with your

product when competitor launches.

Track new competitors performance after launch.

PRIVATE LABEL COMPETITION Build your equity: Use advertising to communicate quality/image of branded products to consumers. Establish a point of difference vs. private label.

Example - Clorox Bleach Wannabes campaign

Manage the price gap: Determine how much of a premium you can afford to charge before your brand starts losing volume to private label (in essence, what is the value of your brand to consumers).

Introduce a value brand: Larger companies that have more than one brand competing in a given category could position one brand as a value brand to compete against private label. This offers consumers a branded option at a lower price.

Example A few years ago, P&G repositioned Joy as a value brand.

EVALUATING ADVERTISING Does the ad breakthrough the clutter? Have stopping power?

What is your net takeaway from the ad (what does it tell you)?

Is the advertising message single-minded, easily understood, and credible?

Is this message relevant/compelling to the brands target? Is this message ownable by the brand or could any brand deliver this message?

Will consumers recall the brand that was advertised?

CREATIVITY/MARKETING KNOWLEDGE

Key success factors are quick thinking, creativity, and good marketing intuition.

Best ways to prepare:

- Read industry magazines (Ad Age, Brand Week) & books (Aakers Building

Strong Brands)

- Store visits

- Pay attention to advertising

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

New Product Launch:

If you were to launch a new product, what are the most critical issues to ensure its success?

You are charged with marketing in the U.S. a candy bar that has been very successful in England. What things should you consider in bringing the product to the U.S. market?

You are the Brand Manager of Kingsford Charcoal and you are launching a new type of charcoal. Should you use the Kingsford brand name? What issues would you consider in making this decision?

You are a Brand Manager at Nabisco and your boss stops by your office to tell you his kids were going crazy at a weekend picnic over beets. He wants to know if Nabisco should enter the beet market. How would you approach this question?

Give me an example of a recent new product launch that you think was done well.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (cont.)Declining Sales:

You have just been named Brand Manager of Pine Sol. Your sales are declining considerably. What questions should you ask to understand what is going on?

What would you do to reverse the above decline?

What would you do to reverse the above decline if you could not increase your promotional budget?

You are the Brand Manager on a product whose sales have been flat for the last five years. However, the brands market share has been growing at about 3% a year. What is going on with the brand and what should you do about it?

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (cont.)Pricing:

You are launching a new product and you have to determine its pricing strategy. How will you do this?

You are Brand Manager of Formula 409. Your boss tells you to evaluate a price increase as she wants to increase the profitability of your business. Should you do it?

You are the Brand Manager of Tide. Your boss asks you to evaluate a price decrease as he wants you to increase volume. Should you do it?

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (cont.)Defending against a new competitor:

You are the Brand Manager of Fresh Step Cat Litter. You learn that 2 new competitors are entering your category: Arm & Hammer Cat Litter and EverFresh Activated Charcoal cat litter. What should you do?

You are the Brand Manager of Kingsford Charcoal. Gas grill usage is substantially increasing which is causing charcoal usage to decline. What should you do?

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (cont.)Advertising questions:

Please give me an example of effective advertising?

Please give me an example of ineffective advertising?

Here is a print ad. Please evaluate it for me?

SAMPLE QUESTIONS (cont.)Creativity questions:

Name the 3 most unique brands you can think of and tell me why you think they are unique.

Choose any of ______s brands and tell me how you would change the way it is marketed.

When you walk down the supermarket aisle, what product jumps out and says buy me and why?

If you were going to design your own website, what would it look like?

What would the title of your autobiography be?

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