Directions
Case Study - General Mills Warm Delights –
Indulgent, Delicious, and Gooey!
1. Read the case on pages 647-649 in your text.
2. Watch the video supplement to the case at link tv/13e/v22-5 (Links to an external
site.)Links to an external site..
3. Respond to the following case question. (Disregard the questions in the text.)
You have been asked to consult with the Warm Delight marketing
team. They are specifically looking to grow this brand in terms of
product line and brand extensions. In your suggestions, specify:
1. The target market you would pursue with your plan
2. The potential opportunities and hindrances of the target market
3. How you would position or re-position Warm Delights in that
market place
4. The product changes would you recommend to increase sales
of Warm Delights
There is no minimum number of references that need to be utilized to support the
completion of this assignment; however, it is generally understood that any good case
study analysis will incorporate the appropriate quality and quantity of scholarly sources
to support any suppositions and recommendations.
The submission will not exceed four (4) pages in length, excluding the
title and references pages.
The document must adhere to the APA writing style.
Finally, the document should be prepared as a Microsoft Word document and uploaded
to Submit Assignment.
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VIDEO CASE 22
General Mills Warm Delights: Indulgent, Delicious, and Gooey!
Vivian Milroy Callaway, vice president for the Center
for Learning and Experimentation at General Mills,
retells the story for the "indul-
Video 22-5
gent, delicious, and gooey"
Warm Delights Warm Delights product. She
Video Case
summarizes, “When you want
kerin.tv/13e/v22-5
something that is truly innova-
tive, you have to look at the
rules you have been assuming in your category and
break them all!"
When a new business achieves a breakthrough, it
looks easy to outsiders. The creators of Betty Crocker
Warm Delights stress that if the marketing decisions
had been based on the traditions and history of the
cake category, a smaller, struggling business would
have resulted. The team chose to challenge the as-
sumptions and expectations of accumulated cake cat-
egory business experience. The team took personal
and business risks, and Warm Delights became a
roaring success.
PLANNING PHASE: INNOVATION, BUT In sum, the small, fast-cake product didn't resonate
with a compelling consumer need. But it would be a
A SHRINKING MARKET
safe bet because the Dessert Bowl positioning fit
"In the typical grocery store, the baking mix aisle is a nicely with the family-friendly Betty Crocker brand.
quiet place," says Callaway. Shelves sigh with flavors,
types, and brands. Prices are low, but there is little
IMPLEMENTATION PHASE: LEAVING
consumer traffic. Cake continues to be a tradition for
BEHIND THE SECURITY OF FAMILY
birthdays and social occasions. But, consumer de-
mand has declined. The percentage of U.S. house- The consumer insights team really enjoyed the hot,
holds that bought at least one baking mix in 2000 was gooey cake product. But they feared it would languish
80 percent. Fifteen years later the percentage was in the cake aisle under the “Dessert Bowl" name since
about 62 percent, a very significant decline.
this didn't capture the essence of what the food deliv-
Today, a promoted price of 89 cents to make a ered. They explored who the indulgent treat custom-
9 x 12 inch cake is common. Many choices, but little ers really are. The data revealed that the heaviest
differentiation, gradually falling sales, and low uni- buyers of premium treats are women without children.
form prices are the hallmarks of a mature category. This focused the team on a target consumer: "What
But it's not that consumers don't buy cake-like treats. does she want?”' They enlisted an ad agency and con-
In fact, indulgent treats are growing. The premium sultants to come up with a name that would appeal to
prices for ice cream ($3.00 a pint) and chocolate "her.” Several independently suggested the "Warm
($3.00 a bar) are not slowing consumer purchases. Delights” name, which became the brand name.
The Betty Crocker marketing team challenged An interesting postscript to the team's brand name
the food scientists at General Mills to create a research: A competitor apparently liked not only the
great-tasting, easy-to-prepare, single-serve cake idea of a quick, gooey, microwavable dessert but also
treat. The goal: Make it indulgent, delicious, and the “Dessert Bowls” name! You may now see its com-
gooey. The team focused the scientists on a product petitive product on your supermarket's shelves.
that would have:
Targeting on-the-go women who want a small, per
sonal treat had marketing advantages:
• Consistent great taste.
Quick preparation.
The $2.00 Warm Delights price compared favorab.
• A single portion.
to the price of many single-serve indulgent treats.
• No cleanup.
The product food message "warm, convenient,
delightful” is compelling.
The food scientists delivered the prototype! Now, On-the-go women's meal plans do include the
the marketing team began hammering out the four occasional delicious treat.
Ps. They started with a descriptive name "Betty
Crocker Dessert Bowls” (see photo) and a plan to
One significant problem remained: The cake-aisle
shelve it in the “quiet” cake aisle. This practical ap-
shopper is probably not browsing for an indulgent,
single-serve treat.
proach would meet the consumer need for a “small,
fast, microwave cake” for dessert. Several marketing
The marketing team solved this shelving issue by
challenges emerged:
using advertising and product point-of-purchase dis-
plays outside the cake aisle. This would raise wom-
• The comparison problem. The easy shelf price en's awareness of Warm Delights. Television
comparison to 9 X 12 inch cakes selling for advertising and in-store display programs are costly,
89 cents would make it harder to price Dessert so Warm Delights sales would have to be strong to
Bowls at $2.00.
pay back the investment.
• The communication problem. The product message Vivian Callaway and the team turned to market re-
“a small, faster-to-make cake” wasn't compelling. search to fine-tune the plan. The research put Warm
For example, after-school snacks should be fast Delights (and Dessert Bowls) on the shelf in real gro-
and small, but “dessert" sounds too indulgent. cery stores. A few key findings emerged. First, the
• The quiet aisle problem. The cake-aisle shopper is name "Warm Delights” beat “Dessert Bowls." Second,
probably not browsing for a cake innovation. the Warm Delights with nuts simply wasn't easy to pre-
The dessert problem. Consumers' on-the-go, pare, so nuts were removed. Third, the packaging with
calorie-conscious meal plans don't generally a disposable bowl beat the typical cake-mix packaging
include a planned dessert.
involving using your own bowl. Finally, by putting the
The microwave problem. Consumers might not be- actual product on supermarket shelves and in displays
lieve it tastes good.
in these stores, sales volumes could be analyzed.
o
648
Warm
Delights
EVALUATION PHASE: TURNING THE
PLAN INTO ACTION!
The marketing plan isn't action. Sales for Warm De-
lights required the marketing team to (1) get the retail-
ers to stock the product, preferably somewhere other
than the cake aisle, and (2) appeal to consumers
enough to have them purchase, like, and repurchase
the product.
The initial acceptance of a product by retailers is
important. But each store manager must experience
good sales of Warm Delights to be motivated
to keep its shelves stocked with the product. Also,
the Warm Delights team must monitor the display
activity in the store. Are the displays placed in
the locations as expected? Do the sales increase
when a display is present? Watching distribution
and display execution on a new product is very im-
portant so that sales shortfalls can be addressed
proactively.
Did the customer buy one or two Warm Delights?
Did the customer return for a second purchase a few
days later? The syndicated services that sell house-
hold panel purchase data can provide these answers.
The Warm Delights team evaluates these reports to
see if the number of people who tried the product
matches with expectations and how the repeat pur-
chases occur. Often, the “80/20 rule” applies. So, in
the early months, is there a group of consumers who
buy repeatedly and will fill this role?
For ongoing feedback, calls by Warm Delights
consumers to the toll-free consumer information line
are monitored. This is a great source of real-time
feedback. If a pattern emerges and these calls are
mostly about the same problem, that is bad. However,
when consumers call to say "thank you” or “it's
great,” that is good. This is an informal quick way to
identify if the product is on track or further investiga-
tion is warranted.
CHAPTER 22 Pulling It All Together The Strategic Marketing Process
© Daniel Hundley/Token Media
Questions
GOOD MARKETING MAKES A
DIFFERENCE
1 What is the competitive set of desserts in which
Warm Delights is located?
2 (a) Who is the target market? (b) What is the
point of difference on the positioning for Warm
Delights? (c) What are the potential opportuni-
ties and hindrances of the target market and
positioning?
3 (a) What marketing research did Vivian Callaway
execute? (b) What were the critical questions that 649
led her to conduct research and seek expert advice?
(c) How did this affect the product's marketing mix
price, promotion, packaging, and distribution
decisions?
4 (a) What initial promotional plan directed to consum-
ers in the target market did Callaway use? (b) Why
did this make sense to Callaway and her team when
Warm Delights was launched?
5 If you were a consultant to Vivian Callaway, what
product changes would you recommend to increase
sales of Warm Delights?
The team took personal and business risks by choos-
ing the Warm Delights plan over the more conserva-
tive Dessert Bowls plan. Today, General Mills has
loyal Warm Delights consumers who are open to try-
ing new flavors, new sizes, and new forms. If you
were a consultant to the Warm Delights team, what
would you do to grow this brand in terms of product
line and brand extensions?41
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