Inbound or Outbound Marketing for Enerzen Energy?

By

Enerzen Knights

Group members:

Kyle Butler

Brandon Chestnut

Brooke Maher

Caroline Skahn

Garrett Spinneweber

Due Date: April 21, 2016

This project report has been submitted as a part of the course requirements for completing MAR 3613: Marketing Analysis and Research, taught by Professor Desiraju during Semester

Spring 2016Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………….2a.Brief Background……………………………………………………………………………..2

2. The Problem………………………………………………………………………………….....2 (a) The firm is contemplating the following (potential) marketing

actions…………………...2(b) The decision maker is not sure of the best action because of these “demand‐related” reasons………………………………………………………………………………………….3(c) The marketing research problem……………………………………………………….....3

3. Exploratory Research………………………………………………………………………..…3(a) Brief description of all the exploratory research activities that were

conducted………...4(b) A summary of the main insights from the above

activities………………………………..44. Implications………………………………………………………………………………….…..4

(a) Limitations…………………………………………………………………………………...4(b) Recommendations to the decision maker…………………………………………....……

45. Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………….…...5-96. Appendix B……………………………………………………………………………….……107. Appendix C…………………………………………………………………………….…..11-148. Appendix D…………………………………………………………………………….…..15-279. Appendix E……………………………………………………………………………….……2810. Appendix F……………………………………...…………………………………..…….…...29

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Executive Summary

Brief Background: Enerzen Energy is a sports energy beverage dedicated to sustaining a balanced lifestyle to attain a better overall health. This product allows for continuous attention and hydration. The founder, Franz Valencia, created the idea while in his personal combat experience in Iraq. The military has three main problems that often occur dehydration, fatigue, and stress/anxiety. This product solves all three issues. The military has been known for needing extra energy in a timely manner. This product allows men and women in the military to get the extra energy they need to defend our country in a more efficient and healthy way. Enerzen focuses on providing three main things: hydration, energy, and tranquility. This drink is loaded with electrolytes and other high quality ingredients such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, maca extract (peruvian ginseng), kava kava, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and taurine.

All of the current successful energy beverages had only a few positive aspects, however Franz decided to combine them to make Enerzen Energy. It’s a split energy drink and sports drink, so it's competitors are companies like Redbull, Gatorade, and Powerade. The solution to the issues that occur so much in daily life, especially in the military, by focusing on the three problems discussed earlier: hydration, energy, and an overall well-being. In order to have twice the hydration, this new beverage would be packed with double the electrolyte content compared to the leading sports drinks to make sure hydration was never an issue. There would be no crash like the other drinks due to the tranquility factor, and it would provide sustained energy throughout the day. Having this no-crash, clean, sustainable energy is possible due to the maca and B vitamins. Enerzen allows for a better overall well being with kava resin allowing for tranquility stimulation. All senses will be heightened with Enerzen Energy fighting anxiety and stress. We decided to help Enerzen Energy decide if they should use in-bound or outbound marketing when trying to enter the Orlando market for energy drinks.

The Problem:(a) The firm is contemplating the following (potential) marketing actions:

Marketing action #1: Using social media to engage with potential customers. (Inbound marketing)Marketing action #2: Put up advertisements and flyers so that everyone around the University of Central Florida becomes aware of the product. (Outbound marketing)

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(b) The decision maker is not sure of the best action because of these “demand‐related” reasons: Enerzen Energy isn’t sure if they should use inbound or outbound marketing. The perks of using inbound marketing is it gets customers to actually love your product, and not just get it because it’s displayed everywhere. Inbound marketing requires you to be interactive with potential customers and actually earn their trust, so they usually become brand loyal to your product. A big part of inbound marketing is the use of social media. Pretty much everyone uses some sort of social media, so it’s easy to become engaged with customers.

The problem with inbound marketing is it’s difficult to earn the trust of customers. It’s hard to catch someone’s attention and get them to believe in your product. Most people don’t bother to read an ad on social media, or interact with with someone. Another problem is the amount of time it takes for inbound marketing to work. It at least takes a few months to gain the trust of customers and get them to fall in love with your product.

The benefit of using outbound marketing is how easy is it is to go your products name out there. You just put promotions of your products everywhere, so everyone sees it. It’s almost impossible for people to not see your product during everyday life activities. People also are inclined to get a product that they’ve seen before, instead of trying out something that they don’t recognize.

A weakness of outbound marketing has to be that the product is forced upon people. Communication with customers is one way, so they have very little interaction with the product. It’s also a marketing technique that is going out of style. Most companies are using inbound marketing, because the success rate is so much higher.

(c) The marketing research problem: Which marketing campaign will have the most relative effectiveness, inbound or outbound marketing when trying to enter the Orlando market for energy drinks?

Exploratory Research:

(a) Brief description of all the exploratory research activities that were conducted: Most of the exploratory research that we conducted was through talking to the owner of Enerzen Energy and the focus groups. The owner Fran, was extremely helpful and gave us all of the information

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that we needed. He also helped direct us to a few website online that gave us a better understanding about the company and how they’ve been marketing. The focus groups gave us a good point of view about what potential customers thought about the company and their marketing strategy.

(b) A summary of the main insights from the above activities: After conducting two interviews with fellow students and examining multiple articles and websites for further research, much was found that related to energy drinks. We found that the major players in the energy drink industry dominate the market, making it difficult for new brands to have any reasonable market share. These major companies have ownership with larger companies which is also a difficulty for startups and small businesses such as Enerzen Energy. The industry in itself is rapidly growing as many people are using them as an alternative to soda and other carbonated beverages. To determine energy drink consumption in students, we examined a study done at the Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey. This study revealed reasons why people drink energy drinks, why they began to try one in the first place, and what the common effects are after drinking an energy beverage. New specific ingredients and health enhancements such as no-calorie, no-sugar, and no-carbonation beverages are also entering this industry very fast. In order for companies to be successful, each person involved with the business must stay updated on what current trends and improvements are being made.

Implications:(a) Limitations: We found it was hard to find information on Enerzen Energy, since it is still a start up company. There’s very little information about the company on the internet, so most of our research had to be done by directly talking to the owner of Enerzen Energy. During Caroline and Brandon’s interview none of the participants drank energy drinks. So most of them didn’t know much about the differences in all of the types of energy drinks.

(b) Recommendations to the decision maker: We recommend that Enerzen Energy as a company should use social media rather than using paid advertisements on things such as the radio and billboards. After finding out that social media platforms are much more effective than paid advertisements, we have found that this is the best choice.

Appendix:

Appendix A:

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In addition to interviewing, we used several research methods to learn more about the beverage industry and how to market our product. One research technique we used was to discover the market share of competing brands and current trends happening within the energy and sports drink industry. As Amy Fontinelle claims in her article on Investopedia.com, people are buying less soda and more energy drinks. People are using energy drinks as an alternative to all carbonated beverages for many reasons relating back to health.

Due to this, energy drink sales have been rapidly growing. According to the Global Energy Drinks Market: Insights, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends Analysis and Forecast to 2021, the global energy drinks market was worth USD $39760.8 million in 2013 and it is expected to reach USD 61707.5 million by 2021. Global energy drink sales increased 5% over 2013, reaching around $49.9 billion, according to Beverage Daily.com. The top companies that are dominating the market are Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar. It is difficult for new companies to enter the energy drink market due to their strong lead. Even though if a company differentiates itself the way that Enerzen Energy does, it will allow for some room for advancement.

As you can see from http://www.caffeineinformer.com/the-15-top-energy-drink-brands, the top brands dominate the market. Their sales are vastly larger than their competitors as well in the energy drink industry.

Worldwide Top 15 Energy Drinks

Worldwide Top 15 Energy Drinks

Based on worldwide sales figures here’s how the energy drink brands stack up worldwide.

Rank 2015 2015 sales($millions)1 Red Bull 12,463

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2 Monster 4,7733 Rockstar 1,0854 Lucozade 7095 NOS 5426 Burn 4727 M-150 3258 Sting 2619 Cobra 26010 Hi-Tiger 22411 Eastroc Super Drink 21312 Adrenaline Rush 17712 Dekavita C 17413 Power Horse 17314 Relentless 15915 Amp 155

Also as a disadvantage for those trying to enter this industry, many of these successful companies are owned by even larger companies. Energy drink popularity is huge in the sponsorship efforts so that these large brands can get effective brand placement for large sums of money in return.

There are major partnerships within the industry as well that may explain how some of these companies have such a strong advantage when it comes to market share. Coca Cola owns Nos, Burn, and Relentless but has given Monster Energy the necessary rights to these brands. Pepsi Co. owns Amp, Starbucks bottled drinks, Mountain Dew Kickstart but also sold No Fear. Monster owns Worx Energy Shot. Coca-Cola recently bought a seventeen percent stake in the Monster Beverage Company. Monster will take over Coke’s Energy Drink Brands and Coke takes over Monster’s Hanson brand. Rockstar is distributed by Pepsi, but ultimately is own it’s own.

In the study done that we examined to determine energy drink consumption status in students at the Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey and the factors affecting this, “53.5 % (n = 1070) of students had never tried energy drinks, 22.5 % (n = 450) had tried them once only, 1.5 % (n = 30) had used them for a time and then gave up, 21.1 % (n = 422) consumed occasionally and 1.4 % (n = 29) regularly.” This proves also that students represent a large market for energy and sports drinks.

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Also found within our research was why these students were drinking the energy drinks, why they started drinking the beverage in the first place, and the most commonly encountered effects after drinking the energy drink.

Why students were drinking the energy drinks:

What made the students start to drink the energy beverage in the first place:

Most common effects from drinking the energy beverage

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Throughout this article, the factors affecting energy drink consumption were having classes at night you had to attend, being a male, having friends who regularly consume energy drinks, alcohol consumption, and also participating in regular physical activity.

If Franz Valencia wants to be successful and raise his market share, he can focus on using an effective marketing strategy, such as inbound marketing. He could reach his customers through a social media platform and let customers and potential customers of his product, possibly even having a specific flavor for a limited time etc. If he explains what makes his product unique, there will be a chance that he can differentiate Enerzen. Especially if he continues using healthy vitamins and ingredients in his product then he should see an increase in market share as there is a rapid shift to challenge health difficulties by eating the right way and staying in shape.

An additional trend is energy drinks with additional ingredients that are supposed to enhance athletic performance and recovery. According to BeverageDaily, most of these drinks contain branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), protein, n-acetyl-l-tyrosine, beetroot extract ,and creatine. Other new choices from existing drink companies have new positives such as no sugar, no carbs, no calories, and, counter-intuitively, no caffeine. New flavors and ideas are happening very often in this industry, so it is important for Enerzen Energy to up-to-date with the current trends.

Citation: The Energy Drinks Industry | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022315/energy-drinks-industry.asp#ixzz46Pwo9pvg

BULUT, B; et al. Energy Drink Use in University Students and Associated Factors. Journal of Community Health. , <Blank>, 39, 5, 1004-1011 8p, Oct. 2014. ISSN: 0094-5145.

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Global Energy Drinks Market 2015-2021: Insights, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends Analysis and Forecasts. M2 Communications. 2015.

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Appendix B:

The first interview was conducted on Monday, April eleventh, 2016 from 6:09 p.m. to 8:12 p.m, concluding after one hundred and twenty three minutes. It was held in Ashington, a neighborhood where Brandon Chestnut lives. They used Brandon’s Canon 5D MKIII to film the interview. As a backup in case Brandon’s camera didn’t work, they had Caroline’s Nikon D5000. There were six students as interviewees including one male and five females. Everyone lived near the University of Central Florida area. We incentivised them to come and participate in our study with food.

The second interview was conducted on campus in BA 2 room 221 on Friday, April 15th, 2016 lasting fifty six minutes from 2:11 p.m. until 3:06 p.m. We used the Professional Selling Program’s camera equipment that was built into the room, which we lucky had access to due the fact that one of our team members is a member of the program. There was a different ratio in this interview, totaling with one female and five males. The interview was held at the University of Central Florida because the participants lived close to the UCF area. The incentive we gave for participation was helping the other groups with their project, chipotle, and also pizza.

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Appendix C: GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. Have any of you heard of Enerzen before? 2. What is the first energy drink that comes to your mind?3. What is the first sports drink that comes to your mind?4. Do you have a preference on what type of energy drink you consume?5. Do you have a preference on what type of sports drink you consume?6. Do you drink energy drinks or sports drinks more often? 7. How do you feel about caffeine within your energy drink?8. What are your thoughts on a drink to improve your sports performance? 9. How do you prefer to stay hydrated? 10. When you were first introduced were you given a taste test of this drink?11. Do you drink energy drinks for the taste or for the energy factor?12. Were you introduced to energy drinks or sports drinks in your family or friend circles?13. How influenced by your friends are you when it comes to drinks?14. What makes you come to actually purchasing an energy drink after wanting one for a

while? 15. How many energy drinks do you usually consume in a given day?

MARKETING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. How did you first hear about gatorade or powerade?2. Redbull? 3. Rockstar? 4. 5 hour Energy? 5. Do you follow any energy/sports drink companies on social media platforms? If so which

drinks and which platforms?6. Why do you follow these accounts?7. What is your most favorite and least favorite part about these accounts? 8. Do you follow other food or beverage accounts on social media in general? If so which,

and why?9. Have you ever seen a billboard for a beverage company?10. Did the billboard result in you researching that beverage, and or buying that beverage?11. Have you bought an energy drink due to an advertisement?

INBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS1. How engaged are you on social media with Energy drink brands?2. Enerzen is on the forefront of non-caffeine energy drinks within this industry, do

you prefer to follow a brand that is traditional or more progressive in their recipe? 3. Do you like to read blogs pertain to sports/ and energy drinks and does that make you

more inclined to try Enerzen?

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4. If Enerzen would host a sports event highlighting their product, would you attempt to learn more?

5. Do facebook ads annoy you or do you like how facebook knows what you’ve been looking at online?

6. Do you click on sponsored facebook ads usually on your timeline?7. Are you influenced by what your friends are drinking8. What do most of your friends drink? What do you drink? In regards to energy drinks..

OUTBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS1. How likely are you to buy an energy drink if you see it on a billboard?2. How often do you purchase a new drink based on a commercial you've seen?3. Have you ever heard of a drink being promoted on a radio station?4. If you are at an event, how often do you check out the sponsorship tables? What guides

your decision-making?5. Do you even notice who sponsors certain events?6. Would you say free-samples are something that you are interested in?7. Do these free samples usually cause you to buy more of that product?

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GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. Have any of you heard of Enerzen before? 2. How do you prefer to stay hydrated?3. What are your thoughts on a drink to improve your sports performance?4. What is the first energy drink that comes to your mind?5. How many energy drinks do you usually consume in a given day?6. What makes you come to actually purchasing an energy drink?7. What is the first sports drink that comes to your mind?8. Do you have a preference on what type of energy drink you consume?9. Do you have a preference on what type of sports drink you consume?10. How do you feel about caffeine in your energy drink?11. Do you drink energy drinks for the taste or for the energy factor?12. Were you introduced to energy drinks or sports drinks in your family or friend circles?13. How influenced by your friends are you when it comes to drinks?14. What makes you come to actually purchasing an energy drink after wanting one for a

while?

MARKETING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. How did you first hear about Gatorade?2. What about Red bull?3. What about 5 hour Energy? 4. Do you follow any energy/sports drink companies on social media platforms? If so, which

drinks and which platforms?5. Why do you follow these accounts?6. What is your most favorite part about these accounts?7. What is your least favorite part about these accounts?8. Do you follow other food or beverage accounts on social media in general? If so which,

and why?9. Have you ever seen a billboard for a beverage company?10. Did the billboard result in you researching that beverage?11. Did the billboard result in you purchasing that beverage?12. Have you ever bought an energy drink due to an advertisement?

INBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS1. How engaged are you on social media with Energy drink brands?2. Enerzen is on the forefront of non-caffeine energy drinks within this industry, do

you prefer to follow a brand that is traditional or more progressive in their recipe? 3. Do you like to read blogs pertain to sports/ and energy drinks and does that make you

more inclined to try Enerzen?

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4. If Enerzen were to sponsor an event, would you take the time to research them?5. Do facebook ads annoy you or do you like how facebook knows what you’ve been

looking at online?6. Do you click on sponsored facebook ads usually on your timeline?7. Are you influenced by what your friends are drinking8. What kind of energy drinks do most of your friends drink?9. What kind of energy drinks do you drink?

OUTBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS1. How likely are you to buy an energy drink if you see it on a billboard?2. How often do you purchase a new drink based on a commercial you've seen?3. Have you ever heard of a drink being promoted on a radio station?4. If you are at an event, how often do you check out the sponsorship tables? 5. What attracts you to those sponsor tables?6. Do you ever notice who sponsors certain events?7. Would you say free-samples are something that you are interested in?8. Do these free samples usually cause you to buy more of that product?

PRICING AND DISCOUNT QUESTIONS1. How much does price affect your decision to buy energy drinks?2. If Enerzen was on sale, and was priced lower than all competitors, how likely would you

be to try it?3. What is an average price you are willing to pay for an energy drink?4. What is the most you would be willing to pay for Enerzen?5. Would you take the time to do a mail-in rebate for enerzen if it were free?6. What do you spend the most money on when it comes to beverages? Coffee, Soda,

Sports drinks, or water.

HEALTH1. Do you look at calories before you buy drinks?2. How much does health guide your purchasing decisions for energy drinks?3. What do you know about energy drinks and health side effects in general?4. What do you think is the healthiest sports drink?5. What do you think is the healthiest energy drink?6. Do you think enerzen looks healthy?

Appendix D:

Focus Group 1 Notes:GENERAL QUESTIONS

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1. Have any of you heard of Enerzen before? -All 6 people collectively agreed that they have never heard of this product before attending the focus group. They also were unaware of the product was a startup company that was founded by a university of Central Florida Alumnus. 2. What is the first energy drink that comes to your mind? -Majority of the group discussed how when they thought of energy drinks, that Red Bull was the primary the main producer they thought of followed by Monster energy drinks. 3. What is the first sports drink that comes to your mind? -Most of the participants discussed how Gatorade came to their mind first followed by Powerade. 4. Do you have a preference on what type of energy drink you consume?-All participants were very health conscious and primary drank water over energy drinks, although one of the female participants did mention that she enjoyed mixing Red Bull with alcohol. 5. Do you have a preference on what type of sports drink you consume? -Most members of the focus group were more inclined to drink Gatorade due to the stronger brand-awareness 6. Do you drink energy drinks or sports drinks more often? -Five out of the six members mainly drank water for health reason over either, then one member said that she prefers not to drink water and mainly drank juice. Although when it came to participating in sports, most members said they liked to drink sports drinks to rehydrate them as well as to replenish their electrolytes. 7. How do you feel about caffeine within your energy drink? -Most of them did not mind the caffeine, the main issue was primary whether the drink was carbonated or not. 8. What are your thoughts on a drink to improve your sports performance? -Since almost everyone who partake in this focus group lead a pretty healthy lifestyle, they were open to the ideal of a drink that may give them the leading edge over others. 9. How do you prefer to stay hydrated? -Almost everyone said they liked to drink water for the most part, then one female said that she only drank juice. 10. When you were first introduced were you given a taste test of this drink?

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-We proceeded to give out samples of Enerzen followed by samples of Red Bull and all participants genuinely enjoyed Enerzen and reactions seemed quite surprised. 11. Do you drink energy drinks for the taste or for the energy factor? -Since most of them preferred water, they only drank them when they absolutely needed the energy. Although, they discussed how majority of their friends were loyal to the brands that has a better taste.

12. Were you introduced to energy drinks or sports drinks in your family or friend circles? -No one seemed to be influenced by their family, but their friends played a huge role in what they chose to drink. 13. How influenced by your friends are you when it comes to drinks? -It seemed like the age group of 18-23 were greatly swayed by the opinions of their trusted friends. 14. What makes you come to actually purchasing an energy drink after wanting one for a while? -The primary reason of purchase was out of pure need compared to wants. It seemed like these products were only a go to when they needed a quick pick up of energy. 15. How many energy drinks do you usually consume in a given day? -Most of the participants rarely drink them outside of special occasions.

MARKETING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS 1. How did you first hear about gatorade or powerade? -Most participants know of these products from their large base of loyal customers. Since both products have been around for so long they have a very strong word of mouth style of advertising, where they are already thought of at a high regard compared to other sports drinks. 2. Redbull? -Everyone had a very extensive knowledge of Red Bull due to it is the largest provider of physical energy drinks as well as their advertising presence is very strong with customers compared to competitors. 3. Rockstar? -Almost everyone in the group agreed that Rockstar did not have the greatest reputation due to the fact it was seen at a sub-par level to Red Bull and Monster. 4. 5 hour Energy?

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-No one seemed to have much input on this product since they felt it was a very niche market, since it really is not either a sports drink or an energy drink. It was viewed as the product, that you see next to the cash register yet you never buy it. 5. Do you follow any energy/sports drink companies on social media platforms? -If so which drinks and which platforms? Out of all of the various brands, Red Bull had the largest following since their social media has the most engaging content. 6. Why do you follow these accounts? -Most of the participants followed accounts such as Red Bull since they post very engaging photos that peak their interest through sports and other extreme mediums. They felt like their style of their brands makes you want to try their product just through the visual stories that are told through their branded media such as photos and videos. 7. What is your most favorite and least favorite part about these accounts? -Almost everyone agreed on the fact that everything that Red Bull post on their social media is very visually appealing and that they can see how Enerzen is attempting to follow that path. 8. Do you follow other food or beverage accounts on social media in general? -If so which, and why? Red Bull and StarBucks were the main talking points of this question. The one male had the most input about RedBull and the 5 females talked Heavily about StarBucks social media since they drink coffee on a regular basis compared to energy drinks. 9. Have you ever seen a billboard for a beverage company? -Yes, they have. Especially on busier roads such as I4. 10. Did the billboard result in you researching that beverage, and or buying that beverage? -Depends very much on the visual content of the billboard. For example, Red Bull was a main talking point of them. We pulled up on the TV examples of their work and everyone was more inclined to the Ads that had more “extreme activities” such as a photo of an athlete surfing.

11. Have you bought an energy drink due to an advertisement?

-One participant said that they were influenced by billboards that used professional athletes such as Payton Manning.

INBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS1. How engaged are you on social media with Energy drink brands?

-Most participants had a high level of interest in brands that appealed to them, since most of the females enjoyed Starbucks, they all had a strong following of their social media. The biggest topic they discussed is how companies such as Red Bull have a very clear and consistent brand identity throughout their social media channels. Enerzen biggest issue that they felt was the cross platform branding of the company does not

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align. As well as the instagram has no brand identity at all. They felt like there was no defined target audience and the photos were very random and sporadic. They also mentioned how they would be more inclined to be engage with the drink, if they saw more product placement within a more creative light. For example, how Red Bull places their logos in very extreme media campaigns to build a larger brand awareness by using sports as a medium.

2. Enerzen is on the forefront of non-caffeine energy drinks within this industry, do you

prefer to follow a brand that is traditional or more progressive in their recipe? -They liked the idea of a more progressive company, since they felt that this industry you have to go above and beyond to stand out compared to competitors.

3. Do you like to read blogs pertain to sports/ and energy drinks and does that make you more inclined to try Enerzen? No, Majority of them enjoyed interacting with energy drinks through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

4. If Enerzen would host a sports event highlighting their product, would you attempt to learn more? Most of them said yes, as long as there were items that provoked them to go. For example, giving out free t-shirts or samples of their drink.

5. Do facebook ads annoy you or do you like how facebook knows what you’ve been looking at online? They seem not to mind the Ads on the side of the page, but mainly had a issue with the ads on their news feed. Although the suggested ads still captured their interest to look more into the product.

6. Do you click on sponsored facebook ads usually on your timeline? They usually avoid the ads since they do not feel that it was specialized to them, and also usually got in the way of what they were doing.

7. Are you influenced by what your friends are drinking? Yes, they all felt that if their friends liked in and trusted it, then they would be more open to trying the product.

8. What do most of your friends drink? What do you drink? In regards to energy drinks.. Most of their friends drink Red Bull, mainly for drinking purposes with alcohol. The participants mainly drank water or juice with the occasional Red Bull. No one really mentioned Monster drinks.

OUTBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS

1. How likely are you to buy an energy drink if you see it on a billboard? -It varies on the billboard. The whole group agreed that the content on the board had to be very strategically planned to draw the attention of the demographic segment the company is trying to attract. They suggest to place a billboard by Patrick Air Force base since the company is owned by a veteran and they feel it would be smart to target other veterans

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2. How often do you purchase a new drink based on a commercial you've seen?

-Since they do not drink energy drinks often, they are not as inclined to buy them from commercials due to the fact that it is not too personal to them.

3. Have you ever heard of a drink being promoted on a radio station?

-Most of the group said how they hate radio stations commercials and tend to change the station when the commercial comes on.

4. If you are at an event, how often do you check out the sponsorship tables? -What guides your decision-making?

5. Do you even notice who sponsors certain events? It varies per event, For example they discussed how well of a job Red Bull does with their event marketing. Since when Red Bull attends an event, they make their presence known and provide a very valuable experience for their potential customers.

6. Would you say free-samples are something that you are interested in? They were very interest in free samples, although more on the inbound focus. They did not want samples just sent to them with no interactions with the provider. They suggested setting up a booth outside of the UCF Rec and Wellness center to provide samples to students part taking in the gym. They also suggested events like Red Bull, and target markets like surfing events.

7. Do these free samples usually cause you to buy more of that product? Between free samples and their friends testimonials.

PRICING AND DISCOUNT QUESTIONS

1. How much does price affect your decision to buy energy drinks? Greatly, since they felt that the low end name brand can only ask so much compared to the more reputable brands.

2. If Enerzen was on sale, and cost less than all competitors, how likely would you be to try it had you not ever heard of it before? Very unlikely, since they were very brand loyal to Red Bull. The females were little more open to the “value brands” compared to the male who was very brand orientated.

3. What is an average price you are willing to pay for an energy drink? $3

4. What is the most you would be willing to pay for Enerzen? $2 is fair and $2.50 may be pushing it.

5. Would you take the time to do a mail-in rebate for enerzen if it were free? No, Takes too much time for such a little payback. Since we only studied millennials, this view may

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change with an older market segment. They would rather have a coupon or a instant discount versus having to wait for it.

6. What do you spend the most money on when it comes to beverages? Coffee, Soda etc. Since we mainly had females in our focus group, Coffee was the biggest hit. It seems that the coffee flavored Monster was a very viable option to non-energy drinkers.

HEALTH

1. Do you look at calories before you buy drinks? For the most part no, they seemed to base it more off of their prior knowledge of the product and how it is perceived.

2. How much does the health factor affect which beverages you purchase? Very largely since all participants were very health concious of what goes into their body.

3. What do you know about energy drinks and health side effects in general? The main issue most participants had was that energy drinks made them feel jittery after consuming a drink.

4. What do you think is the healthiest sports drink or energy drink? They felt that overall, water was the best options followed by sports drinks even though they were high in sugar, then lastly they would choose energy drinks.

5. Do you think enerzen looks healthy? They seemed to be confused by what the drink offered. The packaging for the good and the website promises a lot of health benefits yet does not provide any supporting evidence.

Focus Group 2 Notes:

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. Have any of you heard of Enerzen before?

No one in this focus group had heard of Enerzen previously.

2. How do you prefer to stay hydrated? The general consensus was water is the hydration method of choice.

3. What are your thoughts on a drink to improve your sports performance?

The group was very positive about a sports drink that can improve your performance. Most wanted a preworkout type of sports drink that boosts performance.

4. What is the first energy drink that comes to your mind?

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The drinks that came to their minds were Red Bull and Monster Energy.

5. How many energy drinks do you usually consume in a given day?

Most of the group said none. The one participant said about one a day.

6. What makes you come to actually purchasing an energy drink?

The group said the only real factor is needing a boost of energy. They have no other reason or preference to make them purchase an energy drink.

7. What is the first sports drink that comes to your mind?

Gatorade, based on common household knowledge and advertising campaigns.

8. Do you have a preference on what type of energy drink you consume?

They prefer mostly Red Bull because of taste and knowledge of this brand.

9. Do you have a preference on what type of sports drink you consume?

Mostly Gatorade, but occasionally powerade if this brand is the only one available.

10. How do you feel about caffeine in your energy drink?

The entire group fostered negative feelings towards caffeine and prefered to have beverages without it in them.

11. Do you drink energy drinks for the taste or for the energy factor?

This question had mixed answers with both taste and energy being a factor depending on the reasoning behind the purchase.

12. How influenced by your friends are you when it comes to drinks?

Most of the group said what their friends drink does not directly correlate to what energy drinks they purchase. Two of the participants said what their friends drink do influence their decisions on what to purchase.

13. What makes you come to actually purchasing an energy drink after wanting one for a while?

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The desire of wanting one for a while makes them want to purchase an energy drink.

MARKETING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. How did you first hear about Gatorade?

Household name and advertising campaigns

2. What about Red bull?

Advertising campaigns and commercials.3. What about 5 hour Energy?

Advertising campaigns and front of grocery store displays.

4. Do you follow any energy/sports drink companies on social media platforms? If so, which drinks and which platforms?

Red Bull extreme sports on social media.

5. Why do you follow these accounts?

Entertaining and unique videos that capture attention.

6. What is your most favorite part about these accounts?

The uniqueness of most of the videos that Red Bull puts out.

7. What is your least favorite part about these accounts?

They still feel like an advertisement and the audience can sense they are still being sold something.

8. Do you follow other food or beverage accounts on social media in general? If so which, and why?

None of the participants followed any other accounts.

9. Have you ever seen a billboard for a beverage company?

The entire group has seen an ad billboard before.

10. Did the billboard result in you researching that beverage?

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Very unlikely that the billboard resulting in an info search about the product advertised.

11. Did the billboard result in you purchasing that beverage?

On occasion, but not very often.

12. Have you ever bought an energy drink due to an advertisement?

Yes, typically they were due to catchy ad campaigns or just general knowledge of the specific brand purchased.

INBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS1. How engaged are you on social media with Energy drink brands?

Not engaged at all, only brands that are followed are the previously mentioned Red Bull videos, which are not direct ad campaigns.

2. Enerzen is on the forefront of non-caffeine energy drinks within this industry, do you prefer to follow a brand that is traditional or more progressive in their recipe?

The group was very receptive to the idea of a healthier alternative to traditional energy drinks.

3. Do you like to read blogs pertain to sports/ and energy drinks and does that make you more inclined to try Enerzen?

None of the participants felt that there was a correlation between sports blogs and Enerzen.

4. If Enerzen were to sponsor an event, would you take the time to research them?

It is very unlikely the participants would take the time to research any of the sponsors for any particular event without a table engaging people about their brand.

5. Do facebook ads annoy you or do you like how facebook knows what you’ve been looking at online?

The entire group is opposed to facebook ads and do not like that facebook knows what they are looking at.

6. Do you click on sponsored facebook ads usually on your timeline?

Only on accident, never do the ads get purposefully clicked on.

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7. Are you influenced by what your friends are drinking?

Only one participant felt he was heavily influenced by what his friends drink.

8. What kind of energy drinks do most of your friends drink?

Monster and Red Bull were the group’s consensus.

9. What kind of energy drinks do you drink?

Very little, if at all they would be Red Bull or Monster.

OUTBOUND MARKETING QUESTIONS9. How likely are you to buy an energy drink if you see it on a billboard?

The answer was if they are on a long drive they are highly likely to purchase one. If it is a local drive the likelihood of purchase is extremely low.

10. How often do you purchase a new drink based on a commercial you've seen?

Most of the participants felt that they purchase drinks based on a unique commercial. They feel that ads with well known sports or music celebrities would be the most effective.

11. Have you ever heard of a drink being promoted on a radio station?

On occasion, most participants use streaming services that skip ads.

12. If you are at an event, how often do you check out the sponsorship tables?

Very often, mostly for free promotional items.

13. What attracts you to those sponsor tables?

Engaging brand reps and promotional items.

14. Do you ever notice who sponsors certain events?

Typically if it is a well known brand yes, sometimes for a lesser known brand depending on the event sponsored.

15. Would you say free-samples are something that you are interested in?

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Absolutely, the response was that free samples are the main reason why sponsor tables are visited.

16. Do these free samples usually cause you to buy more of that product?

Depending on the product and the quality if the brand is unfamiliar.

PRICING AND DISCOUNT QUESTIONS7. How much does price affect your decision to buy energy drinks?

Price is a huge factor, in fact less energy are purchased just based on the average price point alone.

8. If Enerzen was on sale, and was priced lower than all competitors, how likely would you be to try it?

This group felt they were still highly unlikely to purchase Enerzen for a lack of knowledge about the brand.

9. What is an average price you are willing to pay for an energy drink? The average price the group was willing to pay was $2.00 to $3.00

10. What is the most you would be willing to pay for Enerzen?

Unfortunately, the group felt they would pay roughly $1.50 and at maximum $2.00 per Enerzen bottle.

11. Would you take the time to do a mail-in rebate for enerzen if it were free? None of the participants said they would take the time to use a mail-in rebate.

12. What do you spend the most money on when it comes to beverages? Coffee, Soda, Sports drinks, or water.

The group agreed that coffee was the drink they spent the most on regularly.

HEALTH7. Do you look at calories before you buy drinks?

The male participants did not care much about the calorie count in the drink they

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purchase. The female participant did look almost always at the calorie count before making a drink purchase.

8. How much does health guide your purchasing decisions for energy drinks?

The group felt that the nutritional facts are a very important part of the food and drinks they choose to buy. They also felt like energy drinks are not considered healthy and would not put much stock into the nutritional facts of one.

9. What do you know about energy drinks and health side effects in general?

The group was very familiar with the dangers and side effects of energy drinks. They all agreed energy drinks do have the potential to be dangerous.

10. What do you think is the healthiest sports drink?

Gatorade, they didn’t have a clear answer as to why, they just believe Gatorade is the healthiest.

11. What do you think is the healthiest energy drink?

The group believed that in no way are energy drinks healthy and they don’t consider any of them to be healthier than another.

12. Do you think enerzen looks healthy?

The group feels that Enerzen looks healthy and can be confused in a positive way as another brand owned by Gatorade. As they feel Gatorade is perceived as healthy, naturally they feel the same, at least aesthetically about Enerzen.

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Appendix E: Here, you should include either the full transcript of each interview or a physicalrecording of each interview (either audio/video tapes or files burnt onto a CD/USB Drive/DVD;remember to write your group’s name and/or the contact person’s name on such tapes/CDs/USBdrives/DVDs).

Attached with Submission.

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Appendix F: Recommendations

Focus group 1 consensus: The first focus group had several quality recommendations for Enerzen to market their products better. Overall, their main concern was that the company was trying to target too many demographics. At the current time Enerzen is focused on reaching the military demographic primarily, followed by athletes, followed by the college “partying” demographic. The group felt as though these target demographics clashed completely, and this was evident via their social media channels. Another major thing the group also disliked that they would like to see changed was the use of the word “tranquility” next to “energizing” on both the bottle packaging and all over the internet and social media channels. Since these words are polar opposites it does not really make sense that a drink can be both. Finally, the groups third main recommendation would be that overall, Enerzen focus on creating a strong brand for itself on instagram, twitter and facebook before reaching outwards into the commercial and billboard world. Social media is a great way to interact with consumers and get good feedback from individuals. The group liked the idea of the drink overall, but agreed that to make it successful their focus needs to be on inbound marketing to develop a two way relationship with new clients.

Focus group 2 consensus: The general recommendations of this focus group is to use celebrity endorsements and utilize social media to capture the market. The group felt very positive about the overall look and design of the bottle and logo. This group did not drink energy drinks regularly, but was familiar with energy drinks and other brands. They recommended that they advertise for the brand by telling a story. Being authentic and unique is key to differentiation. They recommended for there to be one message the brand wants to send to its consumers. They feel there are too many different themes and Enerzen should stick to one thing to convey to their audience. To make Enerzen successful they must convey a story through Inbound marketing and convey one consistent theme to their customer base.

Overall: Enerzen should use inbound marketing to grow their business long term while fostering a trusting relationship with their clients since they are such a new company. Compared to using outbound marketing to just get their name out there, but having a very low conversion rate to new clients.

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