Category Archives: Consumerism

Death of Marketing Giant Eddie Stobart

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Stobart’s Company Hit Jackpot

What was it about Eddie Stobart and his medium-sized haulage company that was so successful? At 56 years old, Eddie Stobart’s son (Edward Stobart) the man behind the Stobart Group (incorporating Stobart Rail, Stobart Ports, Stobart Air, Stobart Biomass, Stobart Ireland, Stobart Brand, etc.), passed away at University Hospital, Coventry, due to heart problems. But he sure did leave a huge legacy behind him. In fact, it has been said that Eddie Stobart was “a man responsible for one of the UK’s most idiosyncratic brands.” The father remains alive, in his eighties, but his son at 56, died suddenly.

What’s fascinating about the Stobart empire is that it was basically “offering the same product as its competitors” but totally sky-rocketed past any of them, becoming “a much-revered British institution.” Thus for companies looking for top marketing expertise and business success, the Stobart empire has to be the place from where to take lessons.

Stobart History

The Stobart haulage company basically began in the 1950s as an agricultural business, became a haulage company in 1976 (Eddie Stobart Ltd.). Around 20 years later “the brand was known throughout the land.” Big-known companies associated with Stobart include: Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble and Tesco. It thus might not be such a big surprise that Stobart has around 25,000 members in its fan club.

Stobart Success

Whenever you were on any motorway journey throughout the whole of Europe, you would probably catch a glimpse of a Stobart truck; they really became household names of such. Today, the company is run by Eddie’s brother William Stobart who “continues the family involvement in his role as chief operating officer of the Stobart Group.” One of the things that made the company stand out perhaps was the fact that rather than the name truck drivers had accrued for themselves over the years of being somewhat sloppy and unkempt, the Stobart drivers were very smartly dressed. That for sure made them stand out.

Stobart Marketing Lessons?

So for those wanting to take their companies from average to something top notch by Stobart, one way to do this is by standing out from the rest. Do something different. Get yourself known for being the company that does it right; that does it better; that really takes pride in its work. That attitude sure did work for Stobart.

Pringles: More than a Girl’s Best Friend

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Pringles – the yummy crunch savory snack – has been sold to Diamond Foods for a staggering $2.35 bn. Diamond is already pretty hot stuff in the snack business though, with ownership of the Kettle chips brand, Diamond of California and Emerald nuts brands and microwave popcorn brand Pop Secret.

Previous owner Procter & Gamble (P&G) will be waving bye-bye to the tasty chip that has literally made it millions and will be moving into its main business areas – beauty, household care, health, well-being – and out of the food industry. Now it looks like it will be doing the same for Diamond, since it is set to “triple” the size of its business and lead to a revenue of around $2.4bn, with an average earning of $410m.

P&G Shareholders Prosper

Even though Pringles have gone Diamond, there is still some good news for P&G shareholders who will be the beneficiary of a “one-time earnings increase [for the company] of approximately $1.5bn or $0.50 per share.” Having any part of P&G has been proven to be profitable in the past and this isn’t likely to change in the future, even with the sale.

Diamond Deal for Diamond Foods

Of course, those connected to Diamond Foods will also be pretty pleased with the deal. According to the company’s chairman, president and CEO, Michael J. Mendes: “Pringles is an iconic, billion dollar snack brand with significant global manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure. Our plan is to build upon the brand equity Pringles has established in over 140 countries.”

In addition, since snacking is a known business for the food company already, Diamond Foods will be more than capable of further increasing profits for Pringles. As analyst Timothy Ramey quite simply noted, “they’re a snack company. They can breathe new life into the brand.”

Pringles Proven Itself

Although at the end of the day, not all that much work is going to be required vis-à-vis marketing this already very successful snack. Pringles were originally named after a street in Ohio some 43 years ago, and is still accruing the popularity of the very young market. But perhaps if Diamond Foods want to really go for gold, it should look into how better to promote the palatable Pringle further in the United States where it could use a peak in its promotion. According to Mintel International Ltd. analyst Marcia Mogelonsky, the Pringle needs a bit of a push in America, where it only sold $288 million (outside of Walmart and convenience stores) against Frito-Lay’s $2.1 billion figure.
So there is work to be done. The food company purchasing the piquant Pringle is undoubtedly getting a diamond deal but it could still use a bit of an extra crunch in its US marketing.

PTJ: Post Traumatic Japan

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Japan and Travel

The question on everyone’s lips of course is, how is Japan faring, post trauma? What does its road to recovery look like? According to Tourism Australia, pretty good. It looks like the company is going to begin marketing in the country next month again since “officials claimed they were confident of a swift recovery.” Marketing in Japan was put on hold last month by Tourism Australia but that things will be speeding up, pretty much because the company’s MD Andrew McEvoy sees how it is “in the Japanese DNA to travel,” so they won’t be sitting still all that much longer.

Japan isn’t set to sit in the sidelines forever. Indeed it is thought that the country is going to recover fast and “get strong again,” leading to increased growth. There doesn’t seem to be the need to be placing any ads but there are already notable signs that people want to start traveling again.

This is especially timely since next week it is Golden Week, traditionally a very major travel season for the Japanese. As well, schoolteachers were looking at Australian tour opportunities via Tourism Australia. Clearly the Japanese are not living in the past; in fact they are heading out to the future with enthusiasm.

Japanese Industry

As well, news today in Japanese industry is that as the country recovers, demand will increase in Japan for beef, copper and iron ore. According to Melbourne’s National Australia Bank Ltd’s commodities economist Ben Westmore, building up the country again could “drive demand for steelmaking materials and metals used in construction.” Given that the local protein supply was damaged, this will probably result in an increased need for imported dairy products and beef as well.

Further, there will probably be the need for more food imports due to the possibility of radiation leaks from the nuclear plant in Japan. So it looks like in general there will be more business inside of Japan and more travel outside during the coming months as the country goes from strength to strength following its recent travesty.

NZ: Marketing and Markets

Consumerism, Economy, Japan, ,

It’s not always the case that the more money spent on marketing, the better your product will well.  That’s what energy-Drink Manufacturer Red Bull New Zealand just found out.  Although the company netted 7.5 percent gain in 2010 sales (its second best since it first launched more than ten years ago), other factors have been at play.  Still, the company can celebrate a tad since a staggering $30.3 million of the caffeine-infused energy drinks were purchased by New Zealanders last year, that is made with taurine (an amino acid that was originally located in bull bile; hence Red Bull).

But it didn’t come cheap.  The company paid for this with larger marketing and administration costs which “wiped out most of its net profit” that plummeted to $888,171 from $10.7 million.  It’s not always in the sales pitch.

New Zealand Market Recovers Following Japan’s Disaster

V – an energy drink produced by Frucor – is in direct competition with Red Bull.  The latter drink has a hold on around 60 percent of the market share, selling approximately $90m of the drink annually.Good news on the horizon for New Zealanders as its dollar just now jumped ahead “recovering the more than US2c lost in the last week in the wake of Japan’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, followed by a nuclear crisis in the world’s third-largest economy.”

According to HiFX Daniel Bell, “Investors have shrugged off concerns in Japan and the Middle East for now to give risk assets a boost with equities, commodities and high yielding growth currencies all benefiting.”

So things are looking up for New Zealanders and manufacturing companies like Red Bull and V are likely to continue making good profits; so long as they’re careful with their expenses and make the right marketing decisions.

Be My Valentine? It’ll Cost You

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It seems Valentine’s Day still gets to the romantics, despite the current global economic situation. Figures just now released for the end of February for the sale of online jewelry were even higher than those from last February, getting a boost of 7.2 percent.

Americans Ignore Global Economy on February 14

Regardless of what is going on in the financial big wide world, Americans just love to love…or at least all the Valentine’s Day hype.  It was expected that spending on the day reached around $15.7 billion.  And it’s not just the traditional men buying women and vice versa….some individuals are spending decent amounts of cash on their pets.  Well, after all, some do say that the four-legged friends who don’t speak back are the most companionable and loving.