Stephanie Dunfee
Article Summary 1
May 27, 2015
Video Case #1 – Chobani: Making Greek Yogurt a Household Name 1. Hamdi Ulukaya identified residents of Long Island, New York first for his first cups of Greek yogurt. The first cups were placed on shelves of a small grocery store in 2007. He focused on the “4Ps” to promote his yogurt. The first P was his product strategy. Ulukaya hired a yogurt master to help him develop Chobani. The product strategy focused on the actual product and packaging that product appropriately. The product undergoes an authentic straining process that removes excess liquid whey, resulting in a thicker, creamier yogurt with 13-18 grams of protein per single-serve cup. Chobani is higher in protein than regular yogurt, made with real fruit and only natural ingredients and preservative free. It does not contain any artificial flavors or sweeteners, but does contain five live and active cultures, including probiotics. As far as packaging, Ulukaya wanted a European style cup with a circular opening exactly 95 millimeters across. This shorter, wider cup is more visible on store shelves. In addition, he chose shrunk-on plastic sleeves with bright colors. Ulukaya’s price strategy involved approaching retailers directly rather than utilizing distributors. Prices were set high enough to recover costs and give reasonable margins to retailers, but not so high that they could be undercut. Ulukaya’s place strategy proved to be an extremely smart move. He worked to get Chobani into the conventional yogurt aisle of traditional supermarkets. Because of start-up costs, Chobani had no money for traditional advertising so the company relied on word-of-mouth between customers. The company utilized social media to track customer feedback and utilized a mobile vehicle traveling across the country to promote the product. 2. Yoplait, Dannon and PepsiCo