Course Project
Naycherie Nguyen
MKGT/522
February 22, 2015
Michael Vincent

Course Project
Executive Summary:
Gerber is just as healthy and good for parents and baby if not better. There has been so much development with Gerber and they are doing not just over process food for baby and promote raising a healthy baby. Gerber is still healthy and nutritious for baby. Gerber is more than just an older brand that been around for a long time. The objective is for people to remember that Gerber is just as healthy and good for parents and baby if not better. Gerber is going to try and reach all types of parents and their families through out this campaign. Research has been conducted to find out average income and ages in households that we are targeting to help with price points. A thorough market analysis helped us learn whom we are going to get more involved with. Even though Gerber is already known for targeting parents and their young children we want this campaign to specifically include first time parents, parents that are expanding the family, stay at home parents, organic parents, parents on a budget, and parents who want to be as educated as possible about their children health and growth.
We want to use many means of communication during this campaign to promote purchase motivation is that Gerber is more than just a familiar face they have a product that is right for every type of parent. We will mix the old and new with this campaign we want families to think “ Growing Up Gerber” for years to come along with the Gerber Baby original picture. All this will be accomplished with a very reasonable budget broken down explaining where money will be invested in this campaign. The end result will be more continued revenue and education for the families.

Introduction:
Gerber has been around since 1927 and is a very well known and established brand. Dan and Dorothy Gerber introduced Gerber Baby Food. Gerber was the first baby food sold in grocery stores and advertised nationally. Gerber has Life insurance, children swear, and now Gerber is organic to help with all those organic moms. Gerber developed a site to help moms with their baby’s growth and development. Gerber promotes their brand through education of whom they are and what they are trying to accomplish.
Through out this campaign further insight into the world of Gerber will help consumers better understand the brand and in a sense rekindle the reason why Gerber is such a good brand for Parent and growing baby to use. Displayed within this brief will the IMC objectives, marketing analysis, communication strategy, a timeline of how long this campaign will take, and a budget breakdown of this campaign. These topics will break down what exactly this IMC campaign will attempt to do for Gerber to be more successful now and for the future. Gerber may be one of the oldest brands for babies out there, but it is still just as good if not better than other brands that represent the growing baby.
IMC Objectives:
The target audience are parents and their families specifically children from birth to four years of age. New target audiences include first time moms who are trying to find ways to best start nutritional development of their either unborn child or newborn child. What is unique about this brand in particular is that Gerber includes many types of families that would be considered new to this brand. Included in the new target audiences as well will be stay at home parents, organic parents, parents on a budget, and parents who want to be as educated as possible about their children’s health and growth. There is something helpful for each type of parent that has a growing baby.
The objective is for people to remember that Gerber is just as healthy and good for parents and baby if not better. There has been so much development with Gerber and they are doing so much to not over process food for baby and promote raising a healthy baby. Gerber is still healthy and nutritious for baby. Gerber is more than just an older brand that been around for a long time. By conveying the objective the overall corporate objective will be shown. Gerber wants parents learn how the Gerber Nutrition Journey helps support your baby’s healthy growth and development. Which is what the campaign is about, educating parents on their baby’s development, but also how Gerber can help you along the way with their products and services offered.
Market Analysis:
A) SWOT Analysis S-Strengths | W-Weakness | O-Opportunities | T-Threats | * The Brand. Almost all Parents already know about Gerber. * Gerber has been in business since 1928. * Meet all the latest food safety, quality, and regulatory standards for our products, ingredients, and packaging. | * Balancing quality and affordability. * Not keeping previous promises of Gerber being healthier. * Weak parent sentiment of the product. | * Development of Gerber Feeding Model that scientist and Medical professionals use to ensure quality. * Highlight research departments to help capitalize * Touring of Centers where development of products are made and researched. | * Competitors such as Pfizer and organic brands that make same type of products. * Reputation based on Word of mouth |

B) Target Audiences and Customer Profile: Target Audience | Profile | Parents and Babies through age four in Hagerstown, Maryland | Parents that are 21-35 in age with families, and all races not one specific race. | Average Income for Parents in Hagerstown Maryland. | The average income in this town for working families 55,700 to allow for possibility of purchasing power. | Average Amount of Children Ages 0-4 in Hagerstown Maryland. | 8106 total Females 4194 and Males 3912 |

The price chart shows prices just for the jar of baby food in the east coast.
Gerber is going to stay affordable among other brands while be equally as nutritional for the growing baby and promote just how they plan on staying this way without sacrificing the quality of the product they offer. Gerber is right for all parents out there and can help and guide then. This will produce purchase motivation that Gerber is more than just a familiar face they have a product that is right for every type of parent.
Gerber has all types of products that appeal that can appeal to all target audiences. Gerber offers baby formula, cereal, baby food, snacks (yogurt snacks), full meal options, sides, beverages, organic food, and specialty products for babies with special needs. They also have Gerber clothing, and Gerber tableware to help your baby transition to independent feeding. Gerber also offers life insurance for your growing baby that is very affordable. Prices start as low as $3.27 for newborns.
Communication Strategies:
A) Traditional Media
This part of out communication strategy will focuses on television, print, radio, and direct Mail. The part that will we focus be during prime time which is generally around the time baby goes to bed for the night and parents get some time to themselves. When parents see what is new with Gerber it will trigger what we hope to a reason to research what Gerber is bringing to the table that once was not. The slogan will be “Growing Up Gerber”. Then Gerber will do smaller segments on the radio advertising for about 15 seconds about Gerber products such as life insurance. There are many ways to buy consumer information that you can market to. Gerber will purchase consumer information based on our target audiences to send direct mail to.
B) Internet
The Internet will provide an abundance of resources for Gerber especially the website for Gerber. When parents hear or see any advertising for Gerber that will spark that interest to research what Gerber has to offer now. Some search engine optimization will be key words such as Gerber, newborn nutrition, life insurance, and development of baby. All these words will trigger the site for Gerber when parents are researching for their needs. The site can then help them find the answers they need to help guide them through their growing baby stages of development and nutrition. We also will be purchasing side bar advertisements that will appear on Google when searching. There will be ads that will target parents on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Instagram will have ad sponsored by Gerber that will appear on the feed periodically to make it more affordable.
C) Direct Marketing
Gathering of information will be gathered at places such as pediatric offices, stores for children in the mall, educational booths at places such as health fairs. Parent will receive coupons, links for the Gerber website, and phone numbers to receive help on questions parents may have. Newsletter will be sent out to keep parents updated on what is new with Gerber or promotions they may be having. Post cards that will be sent out will include a small gift on baby’s birthday up to the first year.
D) Sales Promotion
Direct marketing and the intranet will tie into sales promotion. We will work with local businesses in target area to work hand in hand with promoting our brand. Purchasing magazines with our ads in it will help with our communication to parents. Providing samples of new products at local grocery stores and places that sell our products to help spark interest. Coupons with savings for choosing to purchase our product versus the competitor’s product. Offering incentives for joining our email promotion list. We will invite parents to join our texting marketing where a coupon a month will be sent via text to parent. This will help promote more awareness of what Gerber has to offer.
E) Public Relations (PR) A team will be assembled to help through out the entire process of developing this IMC campaign. There focus will to promote and make the publicity of Gerber a positive product. This team will be there to handle what was analyzed in in SWOT analysis. Issues such as negativity for brand from the consumer, proving we are keeping our promises, and making our image better and better. They will also help promote “Growing Up Gerber” through events with local communities. They will attend local health fairs; have booths that promote Gerber at local grocery stores or places in general that carry our products. Employees that work for Gerber will be well educated on the product from the PR team. Anything related to controlling any issues regarding confrontations, negative press, negative consumer comments, complaints directly to Gerber will all fall into the roles of the PR team. Development of relationships with local health care systems will also tie into the duties and responsibilities of this team as well.
Communication Schedule:
Calendar Of Events
This campaign will have three parts in the calendar events. We expect to ready for campaign within three months of starting. Once launch date is set and started we will run this campaign for at least a year depending on the way it goes and the way we purchase marketing materials. Events will be held during the warmer part of the year when parents can enjoy time outdoors to attend local events at health fairs, farmers markets, and going shopping.
A) Development B) Launch Stage C) Event Stage Stage * There will be a timeline of 90 days to launch this campaign. * Research and Development will start 02/22/15 and be ready by 05/22/15. | * Campaign will launch by 05/22/15. * All teams with campaign will set forth with tasks and start promotion. | * First Commercial with new branding will start 05/25/15. * Radio announcements will start on a Monday first day of workweek. * Ads will start to appear on the Internet by 05/22/15. * Attendance of health Fairs and local events will start in June. | * At 45 days a report of progress will be provided. This will provide by 04/10/15. | | | * Rough draft of completed development set for 05/01/15. * On 05/15/15 Final approval will be made to set campaign in motion. | | |

Budget Evaluation:

Rough budget guestimate of design and production of our message will be about 150,000 would be the high ending while 90,000 would be the low end for the overall budget. Estimated numbers that we predict where will be spent will be in Traditional media and PR events. Direct marketing will also be high. An average piece of mail with stamp cost around 0.28 if purchased in bulk. We wanted to leave plenty for that. The cheapest form of advertising in our campaign will be ads on the intranet.
Conclusion:
Gerber is just as healthy and good for parents and baby if not better. There has been so much development with Gerber and they are doing not just over process food for baby and promote raising a healthy baby. Gerber is still healthy and nutritious for baby. Gerber is more than just an older brand that been around for a long time. This campaign will confirm how far Gerber has come through the many channels of communication will be using. Among them will be advertising through traditional media, intranet, sales promotion, and public relations. A timeline to launch this campaign has been set for 90 days where we will show just the potential that this campaign has to bring more awareness to Gerber. Through education and advertising our target audiences of parents and families will see just what Gerber has to offer that can help during their children’s most crucial time of development. The budget is more than reasonable for this company and brand. There is also our team of Public relations and research teams to help deal with competitors and so scan out who could be beating us in terms of affordability which is also very important as well.
Topic Proposal:
MKTG522 Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Campaign Plan Topic Proposal Form
Due ‘Wednesday’ of Week 1
Complete this form and submit it to the Week 1 Course Project: Topic Proposal Dropbox. Your instructor must approve your idea, and will return feedback and/or suggestions to your drop box.
Your name: Naycherie Nguyen
Identify and describe your selected brand:
I want to do my IMC campaign plan on the brand Gerber. Gerber products are designed to help support child developmental and nutrition needs at each stage of her early life. And their services and tools are there to help give your child the best nutritional start.
What brand problem are you attempting to solve with an IMC campaign plan?
The brand problem I am attempting to solve with an IMC campaign is going to be getting people to remember that Gerber is just as healthy and good for mom and baby if not better. There has been so much development with Gerber and they are doing not just over process food for baby and promote raising a healthy baby. I want people to think healthy and nutritious for baby rather than just know it has been around for a long time.
Who do you think the target audience is? (Remember that you will need to confirm this with research):
The target audiences are moms, expecting moms, and their children in their early stages of life.
Are similar or competitive brands available? List or briefly describe a similar brand:
Nestle Baby promotes health and nutrition for baby and mom.
Baby Earth for moms or parents who want to be more healthy and eco friendly whether it be in the products they use for their baby or feed their baby.
How does your brand differ from competitors, and what is the distinctive competitive advantage?

Gerber differs in that it has been around since 1927 and is a very well known and established brand. Gerber has Life insurance. Gerber is now organic to help with all those organic moms. Gerber developed a site to help moms with their baby’s growth and development. Gerber promotes their brand through education of whom they are and what they are trying to accomplish.

References:
Advertising Placement and Pricing. (2015, January 1). (2015). Retrieved from http://www.quirks.com/advertise/online/web_ads.aspx
How Much Does Baby Food Cost ? (2015, January 1). Retrieved from http://www.costevaluation.com/baby-food-cost.php
Friesner, T. (2014, May 14). Sales Promotion. Retrieved from http://www.marketingteacher.com/sales-promotion/
Hsu, T. (2012, April 23). $11.9 billion for baby food? Nestle pays up for Pfizer Nutrition. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/23/business/la-fi-mo-nestle-pfizer-baby-food-20120423
Maryland State Data Center. (2015, January 1). Retrieved from http://www.mdp.state.md.us/msdc/home.shtml
Why Gerber. (2015, January 1). Retrieved from https://www.gerber.com/why-gerber/why-gerber