Snapple
P ro d u c t B ra n d M a n a g e m e n t

28/02/2012

Question 1: In the period of 1972 to 1993, why do you think that Snapple flourished when so many small startup premium fruit drinks stayed small or disappeared?

I think that Snapple flourished in this period of time primarily because of their mantra: 100% natural and non-preservative fruit juice. Other factors of success in 1972 to 1993 I think have been: -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ -­‐ It included a high variety of drinks such as ice teas or diets. Not all of the products where as successful as others and here came the premium pricing strategy. The premium prices generated high revenues and accounted for any losses produced by any part of the product range. The bad advertising actually helped Snapple, which became something nice and cute, Snapple knew how to take advantage of this. Wendy and the brands ‘real people, real circumstances’ got to be close to people and made a connection with consumers. Expanding into New Jersey and Philadelphia Outsourcing production and development of the product as well as building distributors network across New York. The distributors network of 300 small businesses created great strength for the brands distribution.

Question 2: Now look at the period from 1994 to 1997. Did Quaker make an error in buying Snapple or did they manage it badly? I think Snapple was a great company to purchase, in my opinion it was managed badly or mismanaged. I think Quaker maybe tried to change Snapple to what they thought it should be and that was a major failure. Maybe the problem was following the strategies they had with their other products to manage Snapple, when Snapple needed different management (its original management). I think Snapple stopped being ‘different’. Snapple could not be compared to Gatorade due to the differences in product, market and audience. These