Section 2: The Company & SWOT Analysis

BBQ Pringles

By: Michael Davis, Joshua Catchpole, and Hollie Couch
Baker College

The Company

Company Overview

    Pringle's current company slogan is, “Make every moment pop with a taste of the unexpected” and it has been their slogan for a number of years because it encapsulates everything Pringles is trying to convey to the market through their advertisements (“Pringles”, 2019). Its goal in the snack industry is to produce and sell uniquely flavored, stackable chips to consumers at an affordable price and to provide the snack market with an alternative product to the normal, and sometimes bland, potato chip snacks. The company sells its products in over 140 nations all across the globe, including: Argentina, Finland, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa, Switzerland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Sweden, and Japan (“Where To Buy Pringles”, 2019). Average sales for pringles is nearly $550 million per year, putting it third in yearly sales behind Lay’s and Wavy Lay’s chips at approximately $1.69 billion (Conway, 2018). In the United States, there are on average an estimated 32.1 million cans of Pringles eaten each month (Conway, 2019). Pringles currently owns approximately 9.6% of the potato chip snack market, which makes Pringles the second largest potato chip brand in the United States (Conway, 2018).

Company History

     Pringles is an American potato chip snack company that was created in 1967 by Procter & Gamble and sold to the Kellogg's company in 2011 for $2.7 billion dollars (“Pringles”, 2019). "Pringles is a brand of saddle-shaped potato crisps. The Pringles brand has had an interesting ride through history and is known for its unique can that Pringles chips come in" (“Pringles”, 2019). Pringles are known as one of the most common brands of Potato Chips bought in the United States in order to snack on. During the process of creating Pringles the company focused on proving to their customers they could create a potato chip that wouldn't break on them (“Pringles”, 2019). When Pringles were first introduced to the market they were called "Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips" where they eventually turned into Pringles (“Pringles”, 2019). "After over nearly a decade from the start of its development, Pringles potato chips were released to the public in the year 1967 (“Pringles”, 2019). The product started small, being sold in limited regions until became sold countrywide in the United States by the mid-1970s" (“Pringles”, 2019).

Business description

     Pringles is an American potato chip snack company owned by Kellog's and competing within the snack food industry. The business produces potato chip snacks and snack accompaniments, however, the potato chips are only a small percentage of potato since they are made of a potato and wheat mixture. This sets them apart from the competition because of the different flavor, texture, and manufacturing process of the product. The company is one of the largest potato chip manufacturers in the world behind Lay's and Ruffles chip brands, but it is slowly gaining more market share each year and closing the distance between its competition thanks to the financing of Kellog's. 

Corporate Vision/Mission

     The corporate vision and mission of Pringles are encapsulated by their mission statement; “Pop, Play, Eat" (“Pringles”, 2019). Pringles is a fun and different way to enjoy eating chip-like snack foods. Their goals are to be profitable while providing the top tasting chip flavors to rival others in the market and secure their competitive edge. This vision is identical for all Kellogg’s products as they are a very predominant brand in the industry and will continue to hold much of the market share in many different grocer categories for years to come.

Keytop Management People By Department

     Since the purchase of Pringles by Kellogg’s the company has been fully integrated into Kellogg’s command structure and thus, the chain of command for Kellogg’s are the decision makers behind Pringles. The keytop management people are as follows ("Kellogg's Leadership Team"):

CEO- Steven Cahillane

CFO – Amit Banati

President, Middle East, Asia, and Africa – Amr Farghal

Global Supply Chain – Alistair Hirst

President – Chris Hood

Global Human Resources – Melissa Howell

President, Europe – David Lawlor

Chief Growth Office – Monica McGurk

President, Latin America – Maria Fernanda Mejia

CLO – Cary H. Pilnick

CIO – Lesley Salmon

Location & Subsidiaries

     Pringles are a popular product that is owned by the Kellogg Company, so the company has a few mixed factories that produce both Pringles and Kellogs products. Pringles currently operates in five different factories around the world. These plants are located in Jackson, Tennessee; Mechelen, Belgium; Johor Malaysia; Kutno, Poland and Fujian, China (“Pringles”, 2019). Pringles became a subsidiary company once Kellogg Company had purchased them. The Kellogg Company known as Kellogg's is a food manufacturing organization that is located in Battle Creek, Michigan. These products can be purchased at stores like Walmart, Kroger, Target, and Meijer. 

Brands/Major Products/ Services 

     Pringles is a wheat-based stackable chip that offers many different flavors to their buyers. BBQ Pringles come in different forms. The product can be bought in a wavy form that gives the chip a different crunch. It can also be purchased on a lighter side with reduced-fat that allows healthier snackers to enjoy the product. The company also offers a variety of packs to its buyers where they can enjoy different flavors at once. Pringles understands that customers are going to reach out to the company with questions and concerns. The company provides customer service through phone and email. The website is set up with a contact us section that allows customers to contact them about general things, product concerns, and promotions. 

Product Sales History

     "Since acquiring Pringles in 2012 from Proctor & Gamble CO., parent company Kellogg's has seen its snack sales grow from $4.8 billion in 2011 to $6.5 billion in the 2014 fiscal year" (Lasane, 2016).  The product sales history of Pringles has been growing consistently around the world where over two-thirds of the product are being sold outside of the United States. In 2017, Pringles had sold the 2nd most potato chips in the United States behind Lay's where they generated 549.7 million dollars (Conway, 2018). With Pringle's selling in over 140 countries, the product has had an amazing sales history and is on a good track to continue its success. 

Current Marketing Objective

     Pringle's marketing objectives are mainly to increase market share, improve product sales, increase brand recognition around the world, and differentiate itself from competitors further through marketing activities and a streamlined manufacturing process. However, overall the company is attempting to increase market share and sales because they want to better compete with other brands like Lays and Ruffles. Pringle's advertisements and marketing activities have increased in the last few months due to the approaching holidays, which means Pringles is using the holidays as a way to improve their position within the market by releasing Thanksgiving and Christmas inspired logos and chip flavors. 

Company's Current Marketing Communications Strategy and Budget

     The current promotional strategy of Pringles is to target young adults through a mix of public relations stunts, online marketing, traditional marketing activities, social media marketing, charity work, e-commerce, and strategic product releases. The product packaging matches the flavor of the can and changes for each new flavors so customers can easily identify what flavor a product is based on color. There are frequent coupons, discounts, in-store sales, and free samples in many stores and online, which helps increase sales and improves customer perceptions of the company. Public relations activities focus mainly on sponsored and charity events where the company promotes healthy eating and exercise to children all over the world. 

    The marketing communications strategy is to create advertisements and marketing activities that focus on how unique and delicious the product is. For instance, the company’s slogan, “Once you pop, you can’t stop”, has been the same for a number of years because it encapsulates the main message that Pringles is trying to get across to its customers. Public relations and sponsored events are also a part of the company’s marketing communications strategy because it helps them separate themselves from the ‘unhealthy’ and ‘fatty food’ opinions of many consumers. It shows consumers that the company does care about the health of its customers, which is something many snack food companies struggle with due to the health trends in the country currently. Furthermore, the company holds contests where consumers can submit new flavor ideas and the winner will become an actual flavor the company produces, the flavor may be a limited edition for a short time or a permanent flavor depending on the market's response to the new product. This helps the company create more loyal customers and improve the brand image of the business, as customers become more involved in the business and see a new flavor as ‘the people’s flavor choice’. Pringles budget for their marketing communications strategy and activities is nearly $100 million a year for their digital marketing, print promotions, and TV marketing (“Pringles Advertiser Profile”, 2019). The budget is mainly for promotions and advertisements, as the company has a separate budget of approximately $50 million for public relations and charity events (“Pringles Advertiser Profile”, 2019).

SWOT Analysis

Strengths	Weaknesses
Differentiation - pringles is considered a unique product in the market The packaging is superior to many other chip brands, as it better protects the chips from breaking or going stale. Strong Brand Recognition - easily recognizable logo and product packaging Research & Development - constantly coming up with new and original chip flavors that people enjoy Diverse Product Line - 100s of flavors and types of chips Customer Experience - fun product packaging and mouth-sized chips	Large company - can lose focus or have conflicting marketing messages Product positioning mainly focused on young adults The cost structure for product manufacturing Not considered a real potato chip Product packaging does have some issues due to the measurements of the can versus the size of a person’s hand Products not carried in every grocery or food-related retail store
Opportunities	Threats
Increasing demand for convenience and easy to eat food products Increasing demand for Pringle’s flavors in the international snack foods market Rising demand for chip accompaniments and new flavors Growing demand for healthier snack options Online websites and technological advancements mean it has become easier for a company to expand globally than it ever has in the past	Saturated Market - many competitors in the snack market Easy market entry Strong Competition - Pringles is only third in yearly sales Technology advancements making products cheaper and more available Changing importation and exportation laws/regulations Increasing health and environmental consciousness Economic changes in the global market

References

Conway, J. (2018, August 09). Sales of the leading potato chip brands of the United States in 2017 (in million U.S. dollars). Retrieved October 30, 2019, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/262117/sales-share-of-the-leading-10-potato-chip-brands-in-the-us/

Conway, J. (2019, July 03). U.S. population: How many bags of Pringles potato chips have you eaten in the last 30 days?. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/289277/bags-of-pringles-potato-chips-eaten-in-the-us/

Kellogg's Leadership Team. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://investor.kelloggs.com/CustomPage/Index?KeyGenPage=1073753435
Lasane, A. (2016, March 31). 12 Crispy Facts About Pringles. Retrieved November 10, 2019, from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67583/12-crispy-facts-about-pringles

Pringles. (2019). Retrieved October 30, 2019, from https://www.snackhistory.com/pringles

Where To Buy Pringles. (2019). Retrieved November 3, 2019, from https://www.pringles.com/us/where-to-buy.html

Pringles Advertiser Profile. (2019). Retrieved from https://advertisers.mediaradar.com/pringles-advertising-profile#Creative

Yu, D. (2017, November 21). Kellogg adds seasonal Pringles flavors for Thanksgiving. Retrieved October 30, 2019, from https://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Article/2017/11/21/Kellogg-adds-seasonal-Pringles-flavors-for-Thanksgiving