Prices Table

Competition

The main competition to Ernest Adams is Farmbake, and to a lesser extent; the large, bagged variety of Homebrand, Budget and Griffins’ Chocolate Chippies. Apart from these three there are not really any significant bagged cookie brands.

Farmbake

Farmbake takes most of Ernest Adams sales. This is purely because of branding. Farmbake promote their product as a social, homemade biscuit that is good for all occasions and all ages. It is generally positioned on either eye level or just below which is prime for selling. They have a range of flavours, which mainly target a yum side of biscuits. All their bags are 350g and range in price at different store, these being Countdown $4.39, New world $4.49, Pak n Save $3.86 and the Fix $7.40. These prices being the more high end of the price range which also promotes a sub conscious quality image. 

Farmbake is owned my Arnotts, which is the leading biscuit company in Australia and has been going on for over 144 years. Starting from a small bakery. They promote themselves as very community friendly and their quality produce.

Homebrand

There is very little information on these biscuits apart from the fact that it is only sold at Countdown as they own it, they don’t sell Budget because of this. It is by far the cheapest bagged biscuit for the quantity at $0.84/100g for the 350g bag. It also looks the cheapest, which offers the customer a sense of an honest brand that is all about savings. The brand also offers a 500g bag that works out at $0.70/100g, less than half the price of Griffin’s Chocolate Chippies at $1.59/100g, providing even more value for money.

The biscuits are always on the lowest shelf, at floor level, as with all the other Homebrand products, of which there is a huge range. Homebrand does no promotion whatsoever; it lets the packaging and the price do the talking.

It has had many of its products come out on top against other more expensive brands in multiple product checks of taste, quality and value by Target.

Budget

Budget is owned by Foodstuffs NZ who own New World and PAKn’SAVE along with many other brands such as Pams. Budget is extremely similar to Homebrand so in New World and PAKn’SAVE they don’t sell Homebrand like Countdown doesn’t sell Budget. 

The pack is 350g and sells at  $1.99 at New World and $2.37 at Pak n Save  which is great value for money. The packaging and promotion of budget is very similar to Homebrand, they have very simple packaging and no promotions ‘to ensure cost-savings are passed on to the buyer.’ 

Budget has a huge range of products including a lot of bulk items or large packets, designed to give customers more value for money.

Griffins’ Chocolate Chippies (320g bag)

These biscuits are the closest competitor out of the ‘tray packet’ biscuits who don’t really pose a threat to the bagged biscuits because of small size and high price. This pack consists of two trays rather than the usual one, which still only comes to 320g, compared to the 350g of the bagged biscuits. The pack costs a rather exorbitant $5.09 which is $1.59/100g, almost double that of Ernest Adams.

The pack comes with 32 biscuits, two trays each with 16 biscuits. Compared to the bagged biscuits, such as Ernest Adams and Farmbake, these biscuits are very flat and small. They are also all identical shape and size as opposed to the slight variations of the Ernest Adams biscuits that are marketed as homemade.

The biscuits come from a large range of Cookie Time and Chocolate Chippie cookies with varying sizes of biscuits and packets and are one of the highest selling biscuits in supermarkets. Their target audience is definitely kids who love the high sugar content and chocolate taste.

Griffins’ biscuits have been made solely in New Zealand since the beginning in 1864, 150 years ago and are one of New Zealand’s largest branded food companies.

Mood Board - Balance Trend

Big Idea (Version 1)

BIG IDEA

These days people are a lot busier than they were 30 years ago with longer work days to be able to pay for high housing costs and many other expenses that have been on the rise because of the recession. This is reflected in the huge increase in items such as smartphones, made to make life easier through speed and access to a wealth of resources all in one place. In the past in families it was normal for men to be out working while the women stay home and look after the kids. These days women are working as well as men and still coming home and looking after the kids and cooking and cleaning. This is definitely influenced by the recession.

Women, mothers more specifically, are the main targeted buyer of biscuits as most of the time they do the shopping for the family. Mothers are extremely busy so to make life that little bit easier our biscuit caters for health and indulgence. During the day the health element will act to energise and provide brain food to keep you going at work. The indulgence element will act as a treat for the end of the day, something to enjoy after a hard day at work. The same applies for kids, they get to have an indulgent biscuit that they will enjoy while still getting an element of health that the parents would be pleased with.

PRODUCT

This idea has three main ways to approach it; the two elements could be packaged in separate sides of the bag; they could be joined together in the same biscuit as two distinct sides; or they could be completely mixed into a single biscuit.

Two separate sides of the bag could be a good idea although we worry that the indulgent side would be eaten and the healthy side discarded as they are two separate biscuits.

The half and half biscuit would be a good idea as it is pretty unlikely that someone would eat half a biscuit and throw out the rest, maybe kids would be more likely to.

The completely mixed up idea would work to fix the problem of people leaving the healthy side although we think that the biscuit would look less healthy and less indulgent, leaving just a plain old biscuit.

Research - Ernest Adams

Brand History

Ernest Adams has been around since the 1920’s and was started by the English-born Adams who came from a family of bakers who immigrated to Australasia.

Ernest Adams has won an award for being the number one baked brand on New Zealand. The brand was acquired by Goodman Fielder in 1999 who sell in New Zealand and Australia. Ernest Adams is New Zealand’s favourite bakery brand.

They are New Zealand’s biggest and leading sweet-baked brand offering a range of products such as slices, loaves, cookies, éclairs, brandy snaps, meringues, profiteroles, cakes, sponges, puddings and tarts, along with gluten free options.

Product

Ernest Adams offers a huge range of baked goods, including pastry, cakes, desserts and biscuits. They market themselves as a homemade brand and claims the biscuits ‘taste just like homemade.’ The brand is ‘New Zealand’s leading sweet-baked brand’ and in 2011 added a large number of gluten free options to their range.

The range is constantly growing and now includes:

Ernest Adams Shortbread Biscuits, 350g

Ernest Adams Apricot Chocolate Chip, 350g

Ernest Adams Brownie Slice, 350g (available in gluten free)

Ernest Adams Raspberry Slice, 350g (available in gluten free)

Ernest Adams Caramel slice, 350g (available in gluten free)

Ernest Adams Ginger slice, 300g

Ernest Adams Fruit Slice, 300g

Ernest Adams Gooey Caramel Slice, 300g

Ernest Adams Louise Slice, 350g

Ernest Adams Apricot Slice, 300g

Ernest Adams Sultana Cake, 450g

Ernest Adams Chocolate Cake, 350g (available in gluten free)

Ernest Adams Fruit Cake, 400g or 680g

Ernest Adams Jamaican Cake, 330g (available in gluten free)

Ernest Adams Lemon Cake, 350g (available in gluten free)

Ernest Adams Maderia Cake, 280g

Ernest Adams Lamington, 300g

Ernest Adams Unfilled Sponge Roll, 225g

Ernest Adams Raspberry Sponge Roll 280g

Ernest Adams Sweet loaf (Date and Walnut, Banana Choc Chip, Apricot and Sultana, Ginger), 400g

Ernest Adams Éclairs, 10pk

Price

Ernest Adams is priced pretty standardly at around $3.50 - $3.75 which is a fairly affordable price for 350g of biscuits and 14?? servings. This comes out at $1.00/100g. In comparison to other biscuit packets which cost at least $3.50 for much less (around 200g) this is a very good value. In comparison to other bagged biscuits this is definitely a good price.

Ernest Adam’s Chocolate Chip (350g) – $3.50 ($1.00/100g)

Homebrand Chocolate Chip (350g) – $2.95 ($0.84/100g)

Arnotts Farmbake Chocolate Chip (350g) – $4.39 ($1.25/100g)

Griffins Cookie Bear Chocolate Chip (320g) – $5.09 ($1.59/100g)

Place

Ernest Adams is sold in every supermarket except Pak'n'save and some dairys (assuming they sell Farmbake) and is always placed next to the Farmbake cookies up high in the shelves with the Homebrand underneath, on floor level.

Promotion

Ernest Adams has almost no advertising these days as there aren’t many bagged biscuits on the market and all seem to cater for a slightly different audience.

The brand doesn’t have a dedicated website although a short background can be found through the Goodman Fielder.

Ernest Adams also has no presence on social media.

Management New Zealand Magazine – 2009 Biscuit and Cake category report

ERNEST ADAMS : AFFORDABLE INDULGENCE

The Ernest Adams brand from Goodman Fielder includes cakes, loaves, cookies, slices and Christmas seasonal products. In the past several months the company has launched the Mackenzie Christmas Cake and relaunched Ernest Adams. Since then Ernest Adams Christmas cakes have grown 11.8% against a category growth of 8.2%. The focus for the future is on the core Ernest Adams range of cookies and improvements in packaging options across the range.

Improved shelf appearance and consumer appeal is a priority for the brand and a focus on superior product delivery to the consumer is on the cards, as is improved product quality.

There is a move towards premiumised offers that will see an emergence of flavours previously seen as cafe offerings, single serve or individual treating, and treating on the go. There appears to be a counter trend to ‘Health and Wellbeing’ that is best described as ‘Affordable Indulgence’. Consumers are looking for something special, to take them out of the every day; an unadulterated treat, but one that can easily fit into the weekly grocery bill.

ARNOTT'S SWEET SURRENDER

Arnott’s is a significant player in the New Zealand biscuit market with three of the five top brands with Shapes, Farmbake and TimTam.

Arnott’s is the No. 1 player in Cookies with 42.1% share, Crackers with 45% share and Flavoured Snacks with 83.2% share and the No. 2 player in Chocolate, Kids and Plain Sweet.

Key to Arnott’s success in the New Zealand market is its innovation of key brands and its significant TV support in the trade with consumer promotions. The last two consumer promotion run with Tim Tam Sweet Surrender and a Coronation St promotion resulted in over 28,000 entries combined.

Arnott’s out-spends its competitors on TV by three to one supporting its key brands Tim Tam, Vita-Weat, Shapes as well as consumer promotions.

Some key highlights over the past year include:

• Vita-Weat growth in the past 12 months moving the brand from $4.3 million to $7.4 million. This significant growth has been driven by the brand positioning “surprisingly tasty” resonating in a health-conscious market and supported by a New Zealand-specific TV communication. Growth in the core crispbread SKUs achieved 23.8% and the remainder of the growth came from the extension of the brand into a new segment – healthy snacking – where Vita-Weat added $2.1 million to this segment in the first year with the launch of Vita-Weat Grain Snacks. This huge increase in consumption has come from penetration where the brand has moved from 20% to 35.8% since June 2008.

• Shapes continues to be the dominant brand in the flavoured snacks segment and continues to innovate with new products. In 2008, Flavours of the World launched adding $880,000 to the brand and in June 2009 Shapes launched Mini Munchies moving the brand towards a mini products trend and increasing consumption in snacking occasions. Shapes MAT value sales are almost $18 million with almost half of all households consuming Shapes in a year.

Significant packaging artwork improvements have been executed across Plains, Creams and are now moving into Chocolate.

Research - Farmbake

The 4 P's research into Farmbake the competitor:

Product:

Farmbake biscuits is a company owned by Arnott's and in turn an American company known as Campbell soup Company. The sell a Wide variety of flavours, these include:

• Chocolate chip
• Chocolate chip fudge
• Peanut Brownie
• Golden crunch 
• Butter shortbread
• Crunchy oat and fruit 
• Triple choc
• White Choc

All of these flavours are only available in the 350 Gram bags. 

The brand aims their product towards the homebaking side of the market and I quote from a company action plan, "Campbell Arnott's has always been committed to the health and well-being of its consumers". This reasures the target audience, mothers, as they are the usual enforcers of health and homebaking within a home for their children.

 Promotion:

Every so often Farmbake holds competitions, the last one being able to win a trip to see the Coronation street set, this also gives light on their audience as elderly or middle aged people. It is effective because biscuits are things you have when you relax or as a treat such as during a show your watching, in combination with a hot drink is quite nice.

They also used to do old TV adverts which targeted a much younger audience. Either through this time they have changed their target audience through their branding or they have targeted a wide age group.

Farmbake don't promote themselves on a large scale, and promote themselves through their packaging as a yum, healthy, homemade product to remind you of home.

Place:

With Arnott's having their main headquarters in Australia they are one of the largest food companies in the Asia Pacific region providing 2800 jobs in Australia and spending over $3 billion in the past decade on Farmer's produce. Arnotts started in 1865 as a small bakery. They supplied bread, pies and biscuits to local townspeople as well as crews who worked on the port  importing coal. Since then they employ thousands of workers and supplies biscuits to more than 40 countries in the world. They pride themselves as part of Australia's history.

Price:

Farmbake biscuits generally on the high end if not the highest on the price range within the bagged biscuits section. With all bags 350g and all flavours the same price, the prices are as follows:

Countdown: $4.39
Pak'n'save: $3.89
New World: $4.49
The Fix: $7.40

With the prices on the higher end it creates a sub-conscious representation of quality and "a piece of home" to go with it.

Trends

In class we have been told we must find a trend that we can use or, "ride the wave" of a trend that will help sell our product.

Here are some that we thought of:

These are:

• Economical mindset
• Snack food
• Environmentally friendly
• Animal friendly
• Recycling
• Fair trade
• Organic, gluten free, GI
• RDI (Nutritional info)
• Quality (Freshness)
• Local product
• DIY meals (TV shows)
• Craft food
• Health

 We decided to go with the health trend and may combine it with a decadent twist as biscuits are not usually seen as healthy and as a treat.

Perceptual Charts

Perceptual Charts

Chart 1.

•  Gaps within the mature/decadent area and an even larger one in healthy/youth
• May look into market position to be in the middle, a biscuit that is healthy and decadent while targeting a wide audience.

The reason we are looking into that area is because people are looking for a balance within their life, and giving them a healthy/decadent biscuit they wont feel like they are going either way.

Chart 2.

• Noticeable gap within the individual/special occasion and individual/everyday
• Also only one product dominating shared/special occasion

We will look into the area of product that targets both shared and the individual on a special occasions tension as there is a rather large gap in the market.

Project Brief

Hours

[Not including class time]

Received brief 3rd April

#hours - date (amount of time spent with partner/meeting time)

3 - 24/4

1 - 25/4

3 - 27/4 (1 - meet)

1 - 28/4

1.5 - 29/4 (1 meet up)

2 - 30/4 (.5 meet up)

2.5 - 1/5 (.5 meet up)

2.5 - 8/5

0.5 - 11/5

2 - 12/5

1 - 13/5 (.5 meet up)

1 - 14/5

3 - 15/5

1 - 18/5

2 - 19/5

2.5 - 20/5 (.5 meet up)

8.5 - 21/5

5 - 22/5

2 - 23/5

4.5 - 24/5

12.5 - 25/5

8.5 - 26/5 (2.5 - meet up)

5.25 - 27/5 (2 - meet up)

15.25 - 28/5 (4.5 - meet up) [91hrs]

[9.00-1] - 29/5