Dr. Pepper
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DR. Pepper
Current marketing factor
Brand History
Dr Pepper was created at MorrisonЎЇs Old Corner Drug store in Waco Texas in 1885, making it the oldest soft drink in the United States. It was first created by Charles Alderton, a pharmacist, when he mixed several fruit flavored carbonated beverages. After creating a flavor he liked his boss test-tasted it and decided to serve it at their soda fountain. Popularity grew and soon other soda fountain operators wanted to sell it so Morrison began producing syrup for the drink. Robert Lazenby a beverage chemist and proprietor of The Circle ÐŽoAÐŽ± Ginger Ale Company tasted the drink and offered to produce the syrup at his bottling plant. In 1904 Lazenby and his son-in-law J.B OЎЇHara introduced Dr Pepper at the Worlds Fair, giving 20 million people a chance to taste it (Dr Pepper/Seven Up). As Dr Pepper continued to grow, Morrison and Lazenby created a new firm, the Artesian Mfg. & Bottling Company, which later became the Dr Pepper Company. In 1923 the growing company moved from Waco to Dallas. In 1986 Dr Pepper Company merged with The Seven-Up Company. Cadbury Schweppes acquired Dr
Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. in 1995. It is currently the largest beverage division of the London based non-cola global beverages firm (Dr Pepper Packet).
Market Size
198,602,000 total adults
127, 979,000 consumers of non-cola carbonated beverages
28,065,000 consumers of Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper drinkers represent 14 % of the total market
(Simmons Choice 3)
Geographic Breakdown
NE 10.5% of Dr Pepper drinkers;
2,958,000 people
Midwest 20.7% of Dr Pepper drinkers;
5,808,000 people
South 46.6% of Dr Pepper drinkers;
13,080,000
West 22.2% of Dr Pepper drinkers;
6,219,000
(Simmons Choice 3)
Consumer Involvement
Dr Pepper has a very loyal market. The majority of sales go to a small portion of the total target population. Dr Pepper tries to maintain consumers and gets its message out to its audience in a variety of ways to help keep them informed.
Brand Loyalty: 63.5% of Dr Pepper drinkers are in the average ÐC far above average quintiles.
Informed consumers: 64.7% of Dr Pepper drinkers are in the average through far above average quintiles.
Ad Receptivity: 69.8 % of Dr Pepper drinkers are in the average-far above average quintiles.
Dr Pepper drinkers are mostly influenced by television ads, followed by magazine, radio and lastly newspaper.
TV: 40.1% above average influence
Magazine: 39.7% above average influence
Radio: 38.1% above average influence
Newspaper: 30.2% above average influence
Ad negativity does not seem to have a high impact on consumers of Dr Pepper.
As far as being influenced negatively by ads, 40 % of Dr Pepper consumers were below average, while 31.2% were above average.
(Simmons Choice 3)
Current sales, market share, awareness, goals
In recent years Dr Peppers sales have not done as well as they had in the past. This is in part due to the overwhelming number of competitors. Still, Dr Pepper is the highest selling non-cola in the US. Pepsi and Coca-Cola are at the head of the soft drink industry overall. Dr Pepper has implemented new marketing strategies as well as an abundant array of new products to maintain interest in the brand. Dr Pepper is looking to for a ÐŽobrand stretch,ÐŽ± which is going beyond logic so that a brand can evolve and flourish. They hope to do this by going back to fundamentals by increasing business at convenience stores and gaining greater access to cold sales with positioning and placement for impulse purchases and focusing on vending machines (Branding). In 2001 according numbers released by the company; ÐŽoDr Pepper was on display only 58 percent of the time versus 77
percent to 79 percent for the two top cola brandÐŽ±, so they are intent on changing this through aggressive marketing and promotions (Dr Pepper ups marketing). In 2004, Dr Pepper hopes to increase its sales by capitalizing on the new low calorie craze.
Dr Pepper/7 Up Co is the third best selling US soft drink company
Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. is the largest division of London-based beverage and confectionery firm Cadbury Schweppes plc, and the largest non-cola soft drink enterprise in North America, with approximately 16 percent of the carbonated soft drink market
2003 Brand Market Share ÐC Dr Pepper was 6th in the market
2003 Company Market Share was 17.2
2004 goals are to increase growth with a main focus on diet consumers
(Dr Pepper Marketing)
Sales Techniques
Dr Pepper was originally sold based on word of mouth alone. In 1904 it was sold to its first large audience at the Worlds Fair. A variety of advertising and promotions have been used to sell Dr Pepper. The company mainly focuses on television advertising, in which a variety of celebrities have been used to help sell a fun energetic image. Since the 70ЎЇs a variety of celebrities, both those who were famous pre-campaign and those who were not very famous have been used in television ads:
-ÐŽoalready famousÐŽ±: Chuck Berry, Susan Lucci, Garth Brooks, Black Eyed Peas
-ÐŽonot famousÐŽ±: Luke Perry, Makualy Culkin, Michael Bolton, Jennifer Grey
(Dr Pepper Packet & DrPepper.com)
Marketing Communications Strategies