Abstract:

Most food and drink companies competing in the European markets of the 1990's see a challenge to exploit efficiently existing brand equities as well as to maximise the chances of success for new brands. The Quaker Oats company is present in Europe in some of the fastest - growing (and most competitive) markets - including breakfast cereals, petfoods and sports drinks. In all of these markets, and in each of the countries in which Quaker operates, one can identify many opportunities to launch new products. From the viewpoint of strategic marketing, the challenge is to prioritise these opportunities and to determine the appropriate ways to develop and grow our brand equities. In this paper, we will describe the approach which Quaker has taken to analysing and prioritising these opportunities for the next five years. This process included an evaluation of our existing brand equities and their potential for further development and renovation as well as an evaluation of the opportunities for some new brand ideas which were at various stages of development in the business.