MRKT 310 Part 1 and 2

Part 1-What is Strategic Marketing?

Part 2-Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, Management and Empowerment

  • Creating Value for Customers. The American Marketing Association defines customers as “the actual or prospective purchaser of products or services” and Halo Top Creamery customers are generally health conscious individuals who love ice cream (AMA, 2009). The definition of marketing is defined as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large and within the definition there are four activities, or components, of marketing with are creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging (AMA, 2009). Eden Creamery which does business as: Halo Top Creamery, markets their offerings as a low-calorie ice cream, either dairy or non-dairy, that only contains 280-360 calories per pint. I believe the company is creating value to their customers by offering an option to health-conscious consumers who have a restricted diet and wouldn’t otherwise consume ice cream. In regard to cost value though, the company is not doing a very good job because one pint of ice cream averages $5.99 and is marketing to consume the entire pint in one sitting.
  • Role of the Customer in the Company’s Strategic Plan. Although Halo Top Creamery doesn’t have a mission statement, it’s strategic plan and marketing strategy of 2017 made it the best-selling pint of ice cream in the United States. It’s slogan as a “healthy” ice cream allowed sales to increase 2500%, selling 28.8 million pints in 2016 (Dua, 2017). This slogan could focus on the customer a little more, but I believe the product sells itself therefore it’s impact via social media has reached the customer digitally. I would not recommend its slogan or advertising campaign be changed because the tactics are legitimate based off sales. I do not see any information of a value statement, so I am unable to identify any other evidence regarding customer focus.
  • SWOT Analysis.
    • Strength of Halo Top Creamery is that the company continues to produce a product in which consumers can eat an entire pint of ice cream under 360 calories while having protein in your desert. Personally, that is a strength for a product because it’s an indulgence for the consumer without the guilt.
    • Weakness of Halo Top Creamery is that their ice cream doesn’t truly taste like ice cream. As a consumer of Halo Top, I am not fully persuaded that it tastes like full-fat ice cream.
    • Threat of Halo Top Creamery is that there are several competitors in the market of a low-calorie, high-protein desert. There not a way to patent because it’s a type of food therefore other companies will continue to make a comparable product. For instance, Breyer’s recently released a comparable ice cream but they’re in the beginning phases and offer seven flavors (breyers.com, 2018).
    • Opportunity of Halo Top Creamery is expansion. As of today, they have expanded their flavors with offerings of fourteen dairy-free flavors and twenty-six regular flavors. Furthermore, they have two “scoop shops” in southern California that have soft-serve and scoops (halotop.org, 2018).
  • Competitive Analysis. I chose the two competitors because they were the two I could find at my grocery store, so I could conduct a taste sample. I employed the help of my husband and two kids and the numbers are averaged on our likes. I chose the three criteria because they are my personal reasons, and for most adults who are health conscience; we want low-calorie ice cream to taste closest to regular ice cream while not spending too much. So-delicious dairy-free ice cream and Ben & Jerry’s Moo-Phoria tied for taste, So-delicious rated highest for price, and Halo Top was rated highest for calories. All three of these products were ice cream however the only difference is that So-delicious was dairy-free. These results are just a glimpse into the myriad of choices in the low-calorie ice cream industry because all major brands are trying to compete with Halo Top Creamery.

References:

  • Customer Empowerment. Halo Top has paved their way as the number one ice cream in 2017 by using social media. For instance, on Instagram, they have 708,000 followers and their Facebook page has been liked 768,097 times (Instagram.com and facebook.com, 2018). The marketing process for Halo Top has become digital with the use of hashtags on social media which empowers their customers. For instance, you can utilize their Instagram request form to notify them of a local grocery you would like to carry their product, whether regular or non-dairy and this helps Halo Top distribute their products to their customers desired location; which increases their marketing strategies. They also offer a newsletter on their website and a link of their social media accounts. All of these things combined, are creating a fantastic platform of buzz marketing and I don’t think there is much more that Halo Top could do that they’re not already doing. Any company that has a slogan of- “we’re cold, let’s spoon” is doing a great job marketing!
  • Customer Satisfaction. Customers can use the social media hashtag (link) in their photos or stories to be featured on Halo Top’s Instagram page to express their satisfaction. With that being said, they can also use that same avenue to express their dissatisfaction. The openness of social media allows consumers to rate their discontent as well as their approval. Lastly, all of their social media platforms have a direct link to send an email to the company to communicate with corporate directly.
  • Customer Relationship Management. With Halo Top Creamery sales, it’s hard to obtain data on their consumers. A grocery store utilizes a barcode system to collect data of the number of sales in a region, specific store or location however that information isn’t linked to the type of customer purchasing their product. Therefore, I don’t believe there is a customer relationship management strategy. Conversely, I believe that Halo Top does cater to a specific category of consumers which is young adults and people who prefer a low-calorie, high-protein and low-sugar desert. Their website doesn’t advertise their marketing strategy in this manner-this is just an assumption. Again, there is no way for Halo Top to track their consumers therefore they do not treat their top tier customers differently than a regular customer. The text does discuss, level 1-3 of customer groups in consumer markets, with level 2 being repeat customers and level 3 being initial and one-time customers. Halo Top consumers are more than likely categorized into level 2 customers. This is an assumption because of Halo Tops ranking of the number 1 ice cream company in the U.S. which makes me believe their customers continue to purchase the product.
  • Customer Privacy. After review of Halo Tops privacy policy, I think it falls in line with any other privacy policy when it comes to gathering of personal information and social media guidelines. Unfortunately, they do not publish a remedy if a customer’s privacy was to be breached. Their website states: Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be fully secure (halotop.com, 2018). As a result, while we are committed to protecting your personal information, we cannot ensure or warrant in any way the security of any information you provide to us (halotop.com, 2018). I don’t think they need to take further actions or preventions within their privacy policy because most of their data being gathered is given by the customer in an online forum.

Dua, T. (2017, August 02). Halo Top is now the most popular pint of ice-cream in America – here’s how it did it. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-last-summers-trendiest-ice-cream-brand-halo-top-is-expanding-beyond-its-social-media-roots-to-go-national-2017-7

WE’RE COLD, LET’S SPOON. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2018, from https://www.halotop.com/

Weitzel, E. (n.d.). Halo Top Creamery. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from https://www.facebook.com/HaloTop/

Exhibit:

Internal Micro Environmental Factor Strengths Weaknesses
Halo Top Low-Calorie Desert and continued development of flavors. Does not taste like real ice cream
External Macro Environmental Factor Opportunities Threats
  Expansion and store fronts Other low-calorie ice-cream companies
Criteria Halo Top Ben & Jerrys Moo-Phoria So Delicious Dairy Free Ice-Cream
Calories per ½ cup 5 3 2
Taste 1 5 5
Price 4 3 5
Total 10 11 12

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