SNICKERS® Study on Product and Consumer Behaviour

ABSTRACT Snickers, the well-known chocolate bar, has recently witnessed drastic changes in its marketing and positioning strategies. This has happened thorough numerous TV commercials and massive social media campaigns. In the following report, these strategies adopted by Snickers® have been studied and analysed in detail.

Aditi Yadav ABM10037 Venu Madhav PGP29360 Nivedita Patnaik PGP29355 Rushikesh Thakkar PGP29350 Swati Singh PGP29361

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The Snickers Product Snickers is a candy bar made of peanuts, caramel and chocolates, owned by Mars

Incorporated. The brand derives its name from one of the favourite horses owned by the Mars

family. Salient features of the product –

A normal Snickers bar gives energy equivalent to 276 kcal. Globally it is positioned as

a snack rather than chocolate. The same positioning has been adopted in India.

Mars India was set up in 2004 as a subsidiary of Mars Inc. It spreads over other

South East Asian countries – Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Product line of Mars includes Mars, Milky Way, M&M, and Snickers etc.

Recently, Snickers has launched Snickers Green Dot, vegetarian Snickers in India to

cater to the Indian consumers. It will be available in two pack sizes (32g & 54g). The

company claims that there has been no change in taste, and its nutritional value has

been kept intact.

A certain set of consumers still believe it to be a chocolate, while another section

who think of it as an energy bar have it only when they are hungry. Following charts

show the correlation between the different sets of consumers.

Figure 1 Consumers preference for a quick bite

Figure 2 Perception of the product Snickers by consumers

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6

12

Burger/ Sandwich /Wraps

Chips / Cookies Chocolate / Energy bar

You are running late for work and you are hungry. Which one will you pick?

1714

82

ENERGY BAR, I WON'T HAVE IT

UNLESS I AM HUNGRY

IT'S ONLY A CHOCOLATE!!

LUXURY / IMPORTED BRAND LIKE

HERSHEYS ETC

SIMILAR TO DAIRY MILK

What is your perception of Snickers?

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Snickers Green Dot – The Vegetarian Variant The product is composed of nuts, caramel, milk chocolate and nougat. It is currently

manufactured and imported from UAE.

The new Snickers Green Dot is especially launched for the vegetarian population of

India that stands at approximately 20%-42% of the entire population (based on FAO

survey).

The launch is in line with their business objective of growing Snickers range in India –

an innovative step forward as part of growth strategy in India.

Figure 3 4Ps of Marketing Mix for Snickers

Placement The Indian chocolate market estimated at around Rs 3,000 crore is expected to grow at 15%

in the year 2013. According to a report by TechSci Research, the chocolate market in India is

expected to grow at about 20 percent and become Rs 19,200 crore by 2018. The product placement

saw the following changes take effect in the subsequent years after its launch –

Availability of Snickers was confined to malls and high end outlets little over a year

At that time it was majorly positioned as a luxury brand and perceived as an imported

chocolate for high income consumer

Post 2012 some major changes took place in their marketing and positioning strategies

The distribution channel of the product has expanded. Local dealers and grocery store

owners were selling the product alongside the familiar Cadbury’s Dairy Milk

Product

•Peanut based candy bar

•Energy content - 276 cal/54g bar

•Launched, Snickers GreenDot, a vegetarian variant

•World’s largest sellingcandy bar

Promotion

•Minimum advertising -Tried to leverage globalbrand equity in 2004

•International ad campaignadopted in the year 2012

•Placed in stores alongsidemarket leader, Cadbury’sDairy Milk

Price

•Price of 25gm candy barreduced from Rs 25 to Rs15

•Price of 50gm bar reducedfrom Rs 45 to Rs 30

Placement

•Product availability in shopping malls until 2012

•Scaled up distribution network in 2012 to include kirana stores

•Greater market penetration

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Promotion / Placement

The visibility of the product has increased due to the aggressive promotional activities via

billboards, posters, television, Facebook groups and product placement at all local grocery,

confectionary stores. They are also planning to launch an app coming for android and iPhone users

soon. This has been elaborated in the section Evolution of Snickers Advertising in India.

Evolution of Snickers Advertising in India Unlike some global brands that follow a different marketing mix for launching the product in

India compared to launching it globally, Snickers followed no such strategy during its launch.

Essence of the Global Snickers Campaign The objective was to make people think about Snickers when out and about. The solution

was to tap into one of basic and the most powerful requirement of mankind, ‘hunger’. Snickers

decided to tap between-the-meals hunger of its potential market which included everyone above

the age of 13. The following situations in their global television campaigns very aptly convey the

message –

Moments when people feel irritable, bad tempered, and hunger aggravates that

irritation

Snickers brand was positioned as a one stop solution to this hunger. Thus, any time one

feels angry or irritable because of hunger, grab a Snickers instantly.

A key issue with the campaign was that one is unlikely to face such moments while

watching a TV. It is more likely to happen when one is out with friends, travelling or at

work.

Therefore a perception had to be built wherein Snickers had to own those "You're not

you when you're hungry" moments. The Facebook fan page very cleverly capitalizes on

that by placing the Snickers bar next to everyday such as a work station, a book shelf.

Early Launch in India (2004) Snickers first made its foray in India in 2004 as an imported product. The $3.6bn candy bar,

owned by Mars International and imported by Mars India along with Mars, Galaxy, Milky Way, Twix

etc in its product line. Advertising was sparse and they relied on global brand equity (Snickers is the

largest selling candy bar in the world) for sales in India as well. Likewise distribution was narrow.

First Campaigns (2008 – 2012) The product was first advertised in 2008 and revamped later in 2012, the former tagline

being “Hunger bajaye char, Snickers khol yaar”. This campaign turned out to be a slow starter for

sales in India. The reason was the high price point owing to high import duties and the resulting

perception of the candy bar as a luxury commodity.

Conclusion – Price point should be right, distribution should be rectified.

Unless Snickers makes a dent at the price point of its competitors, it will always remain as an

exported product. Mars Int’l India understood this and that if they wanted to make a dig in the

Indian market and start manufacturing in India, they had to address the price and distribution of

Snickers in India.

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Indian Adoption of Global Campaign (2012 – 2013) With continued efforts at positioning itself as the preferred between-the-meals snack,

Snickers launched an Indian adaptation of its international campaign. The English tagline (you're not

you, when you're hungry) becomes 'Hunger Achhe Achhon Ko Badal Deta Hai', and iconic Bollywood

diva Rekha replaces the many renowned Hollywood actors Snickers has previously featured. The

advertisement shows how a big bite of Snickers turns the cricketer back to an energetic and

agreeable man from an irritable diva Rekha.

To supplement the TV commercials, Snickers has a very active Facebook fan page (over

1.3mn fans and 8,500+ users tagging the product on a daily basis) only for Indian consumers and

evokes the culture, personal factors with posts related to the youth – It tell a joke day, friendship

day; events having significance to Indians – Independence day and festive occasions.

Other active promotional strategies, social campaigns, online gaming, on – ground activities,

initiated by the company are summarized below –

On-ground activities for communication to drive awareness

Gaming has been used as an integral part of its communication plan

Effective personal interaction with customers facilitated through word of mouth

publicity when consumers share experiences via discussion in person or social media

website

Massive online and on-ground campaign using technology has been instrumental in

creating excitement around the launch of the all new vegetarian Snickers

Active campaigns to attract consumers conducted at tier-2 cities as well.

First campaign flagged off in Ahmedabad and subsequently to cover Surat, Jaipur

and other tier II cities.

Gaming zone set up by Snickers at a well-known shopping centre in Ahmedabad

Consumer Buying Behaviour A consumer behaviour survey was conducted to understand the marketing and

environmental stimuli resulting in the ultimate purchasing decision. The responses were analyzed

using the stimulus – response model as shown in the figure. The demography targeted was in the

age group of 18 to 25, since a good percentage of consumers belonged to that category as per the

Mars market research survey results summarized in the appendix.

Figure 4 Stimuli - Response Analysis of Snickers

Buying Decision Process

Stimuli

Consumer Psychology

Consumer Characteristics

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Stimuli The stimulus for having a chocolate was divided into 5 broad groups, their distribution given

in the chart.

Figure 5 Purpose to buy a chocolate

Social factor was dominant in recognition of the product Snickers as majority came to first

hear of the product from friends / relatives

Figure 6 Information about the product

Perception of the product – Perceived as an energy bar to be consumed when hungry

indicating a success of the active campaigning by Mars (Mapped in Figure 2)

Consumer Psychology Quick replacement for a snack – driving factors are hunger and running short on time (Refer

Figure 1)

The personal factors that facilitated sales of chocolates were also the inherent need to

indulge in a craving for chocolates, succumbing to being an impulse buyer or just out of

habit. Few considered chocolate having a nutritional value or as a convenient snack.

Consumer Characteristics Consumers differentiated between the different types of chocolates that they can purchase

from the market (response in graph below)

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3

1312

4

CONVENIENT SNACK

HEALTH / NUTRITIONAL

VALUE

INDULGE IN A CRAVING

ON IMPULSE OUT OF HABIT

Main reason for buying a chocolate ?

10%

58%

27%

5%

How did you first know about Snickers?

Overseas visit

From friends/ relatives

TV ad featuring yesteryearactress Rekha

I haven't heard of it !!

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Figure 7 Preference for type of chocolate

The frequency with which one would purchase a Snickers bar –

Figure 8 Frequency of purchasing a Snicker bar

Consumer Behaviour Survey – Qualitative Analysis

The most interesting insight was received from respondents who loved to have Snickers and

consumed on a daily basis. The irony was that they became aware of Snickers only a year

ago, even though Mars Inc launched Snickers way back in 2004

Figure 9The first time one came to know about Snickers

12%

20%

24%

44%

What kind of chocolates do you like?

Caramel chocolate

Milk chocolate

Dark chocolate

Chocolate with nuts

61%24%

5%10%

Frequency of purchasing Snickers

Once in a while, when Iam looking for a change

Never ! I dislike Snickers

Can't have, am a strictvegeterian

Almost daily, I loveSnickers

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Last 6 months

More than a year ago

Past 6 months - 1 year ago

When did you first hear about Snickers?

Last 6 mths – 1 year

Past 1 – 2 years

Last 6 months

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Most respondents, who didn’t consume Snickers because it had egg as a chief ingredient, are

still unaware of the new Green Dot

Some consumers showed a brand loyalty towards the market leader in chocolates “Cadbury”

and hence over a period of time preferred to have a Dairy Milk or 5-Star over Snickers

Recommendations Snickers can look forward to targeting the segment that prefers dark chocolate (24% of the

respondents, who seemed favourable to try the Snickers Dark chocolate variant)

The Snickers Product line in international markets features includes Snickers Peanut butter,

unwrapped bite, Snickers Almond, Snickers Ice cream, Snickers Dark chocolate, Snickers

miniature.

Once Snickers starts production in India, it can increase the consumer base with the reduced

price (achieve reduction in import duty by 30% on average)

Given the high energy content that can be derived from an average Snicker bar (~276 kcal –

54gm), sportspersons, adventure sport enthusiasts can use a high energy variant of Snickers.

There is a specific variant existing globally known as Snickers Marathon bar.

Appendix Research studies by Mars International Inc.

Figures from Mars International India show 29% of people eating chocolate in the country

are 13-19 year olds, while 23% were 20-25 years old, a total hitting 19% for 26-30 year olds and 30%

for 30-40 year olds. Also, as a marketing code of conduct, Mars Inc. has stated that it does not direct

any of its ads for the children less than 12 years of age. The company's research also found that 24%

ate a bar of chocolate for relaxation. Hunger posted 23% on this measure, the same score as

sharing, and ahead of rejuvenation on 14% and indulgence on 11%.

Below is a pie chart

Figure 10 Survey respondents - Income and age classification

63%5%

32%

Which group do you belong to?

College student

just started working

Working professional formore than a year