Skittles Media Plan

Skittles Media Plan

ADV 6305 Dr. Lu Zheng

Kristina Netzler, Katie Shupe, Yichen Wu, Chao Zhao

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Situation Analysis 4

Company Background 4

Corporate Responsibility 5

Advertising History 6

Marketing Mix 7

SWOT Analysis 8

Uncontrollable Constraints 10

Brand Positioning 11

Competitive Information 11

Market Share 11

Advertising Share 14

Media Mix 16

Share of Voice Analysis 18

Marketing Objectives 19

Target Audience 20

Advertising Objectives 21

Media Objectives 22

Media Quintile Analysis 24

Proposed Media 28

Pros and Cons of each advertising medium to be included in the media mix 29

Advertising Details 32

Cost Summary and Budget Recap 35

Flow Chart 36

Monthly Detail 37

Bibliography 38

Appendix – Table 1 42

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Skittles are a variety of bite-sized, fruit flavored, chewy candies with a colorful shell in the non-chocolate confectionaries product category. Owned by the Wrigley Company, a subsidiary of Mars, Inc. is a recognized leader in the confections industry. Skittles were first introduced in the United States in 1979 in the Original flavor that included a combination of Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grape, and Strawberry candy pieces. Today Skittles candies have diversified to include seven different flavor products; Original, Sour, Wild Berry, Riddles, Tropical, Darkside, and Blenders. According to the official company website (Wrigley, 2013).

The tag line “Taste the Rainbow” has been used since Skittles were first introduced. The Wrigley Company has used Cable TV, Network TV, Spot TV, Syndication, Network radio, Internet Display, and Magazine advertising to promote the Skittles brand. Recently, Skittles has also amplified their website (Skittles.com) and social media presence in an effort to build a strong relationship with their customers. Skittles now has over 25 million likes on Facebook and over 65,000 Twitter followers, making social media a large part of its strategy.

According to Mintel (2012), Mars, Inc. dominates the chewy candy segment, with a 27.1% market share. Specifically, Skittles is Mars, Inc. leading brand occupying 82% of the market. Starburst and Life Savers Gummies hold 7% and 3.2% market shares respectively and are another two popular brands under Mars’s Wrigley unit. Other competitors in this segment include Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish brands with a market share of 4.2% and 3.4% respectively.

Skittles are primarily targeted to consumers aged 18-44 who look to satisfy a sweet craving, value products made of real fruit, and most purchase them at supermarkets and mass merchandisers (Mintel, 2012). These consumers are predominately white, Black/African American, and Asian with more female users (46.9%) compared to male users (36.1%) (MRI, 2011). Also, MRI data shows Skittle users live primarily in the South (41.1%) and Midwest (23.3%) and these two segments of people are 11% (South) and 7% (Midwest) more likely than the national average to consume Skittles. We also conclude the secondary target market are children and teens aged 6-17. While no MRI data is available for this age group, we believe the creative direction of advertisements and MRI data on vehicles used suggests Skittles targets both children and the mom’s purchasing the product for them.

Media consumption is highest amongst the primary target audience through magazine, newspaper, Internet and TV media. This media plan will focus on five different media through which Skittles will continue to advertise through magazines, Internet, Network Radio, TV and with the implementation of outdoor advertising.

Since Skittles are purchased year-round, our media plan utilizes the pulsing method with continuous advertising throughout the year and heavier periods of advertising during certain months to capitalize on important holidays, Easter and Halloween.

Overall, our budget for the campaign is 7,500,000, but accounting for 7% contingency the budget is $ 6,975,000. The contingency allows for additional units to be purchased if necessary. Our campaign will run from January through December 2014. Since Skittles are in the mature phase within a saturated market, our campaign and budget are designed to remind consumers about the product and increase interaction between the brand and its consumers. The actual amount spent was $2,756,778, which is less than our project budget, but will allow for additional units of media to be purchased if necessary.

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SITUATION ANALYSIS

Company Background

The Wrigley Company, a subsidiary of Mars, Inc. is a recognized leader in confections

with a wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, lollipops, and hard and chewy

candies including Skittles (Wrigley, 2013). Some of the Wrigley’s other world-famous brands

include Starburst, Altoids, Life Savers, and several popular gums such as Take 5, Big Red, Extra,

Orbit, and Doublemint. The company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and has operations in

more than 40 countries and distribution in more than 180 countries (Wrigley, 2013).

Skittles candies were first introduced in the United States in 1979 (Wrigley, 2013). The

Original flavor included a combination of Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grape and Strawberry chewy

candy pieces. Today Skittles candies have diversified to include seven different flavor products;

Original, Sour, Wild Berry, Riddles, Tropical, Darkside, and Blenders. According to the official

company website (Wrigley, 2013), “Skittles are a variety of bite-sized chewy candies with a

colorful candy shell, Skittles® candies have been allowing fans to enjoy Skittles® for decades.”

Skittles candies are part of the non-chocolate confectionaries sector with competitors

such as our Sour Patch Kids, Life Savers Gummies, and Starburst, which is also owned by the

Wrigley Company. The competitive set for the non-chocolate confectionaries sector includes

fruit-flavored confectionaries, primarily non-chocolate candy and gum. According to Business

Wire (2012), the 2011 industry's revenue was reported at $6.4 billion USD, with an estimated

gross profit of 39.18%. This finding suggests that despite a lagging economy, the snacking

industry remains strong and presents opportunities for growth.

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Corporate Responsibility

The Wrigley Company is dedicated to “Putting Our Principles into Action” and bringing

a bright world to life (Wrigley Principles, 2013). Focusing on three P’s; the Planet, People, and

Performance, Wrigley believes in their role of responsibility and strong citizenship to the wider

world. The company provides the below statements about the three P’s (Wrigley Principles,

2013):

1) Planet

“From the way we source our ingredients, to how we fuel our factories and package our

products, we are mindful of our impact on the world around us. We’re at our best when

sound environmental, social and economic practices are part of everything we do. We

take great care to plan for the future and minimize waste at every turn.”

2) People

“We aim to make a difference by respecting diversity and encouraging inclusion,

consistently improving our health and safety practices, providing volunteer opportunities

for our associates and through philanthropy with real impact.”

3) Performance

“Increasing the simplicity and efficiency of our operations keeps lifting our business to

new heights. And remaining financially sound affords us the freedom to forge ahead with

an uplifting vision of the future.”

With 41 brands worldwide, and 17,000 associates in more than 40 countries these

dedications for corporate responsibility are imperative to The Wrigley Company’s success

(Wrigley Principles, 2013).

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Health and safety for the environment, employees, and consumers continue to be at the forefront

the company’s value chain. In 1987, the Wrigley Company Foundation was created and has

donated more than 50 million USD to charitable organizations with the mission to improve the

health of people and the planet (Wrigley Principles, 2013).

Advertising History

Skittles was launched in 1979, but its memorable advertising began when “Taste the

Rainbow” was introduced in 1994 (Ives, 2004). “Taste the Rainbow” has been one of the longest

running campaigns in the advertising history (Janssen, n.d.), and Skittles has not stopped using it.

The slogan was introduced by the agency D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in New York and

was originally accompanied by fanciful images such as dancing wizards (Ives, 2004).

In 2004 TBWA/Chiat/Day took over the account and started adding variations to the

fanciful images and “Taste the Rainbow” theme (Ives, 2004). Where the original ads were light

and fanciful in a fairytale sense, the new agency made ads that were fanciful in a zany way. The

new ads included images such as people being fed Skittles by birds and teenagers sitting on a

rainbow in the sky (Ives, 2004). New tag lines were also introduced that played off of the

original slogan such as “taste the rainbow, believe the rainbow.” After this, Skittles has

continued this trend of zany ads that do not directly relate to the product except to express an

element of fun and surprise. They have also continued to keep “taste the rainbow” while adding

other twists. When Sour Skittles were introduced in 2000, they were advertised with the slogan

“Feel the charge. Taste the Rainbow.” This campaign has remained consistent to zany themes

and “Taste the Rainbow” even through many years and product variations.

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More recently, Skittles has embraced social media and used it to further their zany image

by posting and tweeting random and zany comments on their pages. In 2009, Skittles decided to

fully embrace social media to make it a part of their advertising identity.

They linked their website to their Twitter account, allowing tweets to be a large part of their

website which was so popular when it was first launched that in caused Twitter to crash in the

after two days (Capell, 2009). They have since started to regulate what appears on their site and

their Twitter to a larger degree, but skittles.com still features their social media as much if not

more than the actual product (Skittles.com). Skittles now has over 25 million likes on Facebook

and over 65,000 Twitter followers, making social media a large part of its strategy.

Marketing Mix

Product

Skittles are small colourful candies with as fruit-inspired sweet and tangy taste. They

consistently come in Original, Wild Berry, Tropical, and Sour flavor varieties, and a variety of

other flavors are constantly being introduced for limited time periods. They come in packages

ranging in from a standard 4 ounce package to 1 pound packages, or in packages of “fun size”

packets, sometimes with only Skittles and often as part of a candy assortment.

Place

Skittles are currently sold across the US and the UK anywhere that candy is sold, including

convenience stores, grocery stores, vending machines, movie theaters etc.

Price

The standard size usually sells for under $1 while larger packages that contain fun size packs

can be sold for up to $10.

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Promotion

Skittles advertises on television, national radio, and they have advertised in magazines in the

past, though not in 2012 (Ad$pender).

They also advertise on the internet and put a large focus on their social media campaign. Their

ads in all media are zany to the point of being outrageous, and the slogan “Taste the Rainbow” or

some variation of this slogan has been central to the ad campaign since 1994.

SWOTS

Strengths

• Skittles has high brand awareness.

• The candy has a great taste.

• It appeals to many different demographic groups.

• Skittles currently has a large distribution.

• Diverse distribution channels exist such as checkout counters and vending machines.

• Can be changed slightly with new flavors.

• They contain real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.

• The small candies are easy to share with a group.

• They are gluten free.

• Many varieties contain vitamin C.

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Weaknesses

• Skittles are high in sugar with 42 grams per serving.

• Not everyone likes the super sweet taste.

• They can be a choking hazard for young children.

• They can be very messy if children play with them.

Opportunities

• Can be expanded to a more international market.

• People have started using them as mixers in “Skittle Vodka.”

• Branded products such as Skittles lip gloss and Skittles backpacks can be created.

• Candy focused holidays such as Halloween and Easter provide seasonal sales

opportunities.

• New flavors can be created to suit the tastes of a new market or target group.

Threats

• People are becoming increasingly health conscious.

• The government is trying to limit high-calorie products in schools, including in school

vending machines.

• There is a great deal of competition for non-chocolate candy, and new competitors

surface regularly.

• Association with the Trayvon Martin incident may have added a negative stigma to the

product. (Severson, 2012)

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Uncontrollable Restraints

Skittles are a fun, fruit-flavored, chewy, bite-sized candy with limited restraints.

However, the Great Recession has impacted both unemployment rates and consumer spending

habits. With limited finances, consumers have to watch every dollar they spend and focus

purchases on the necessities of life.

Although employers have been adding jobs for three consecutive years the growth in

gradual.

Overall, the US economy has only regained about two thirds of the labor market from where it

was at the beginning of the Great Recession. According to Kurtz (2013), the United Stated

unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since 2008 at 7.7% with 236,000 jobs added in

February 2013. While this is promising, only 119,000 were added in January, and the country

overall still is feeling financial pains of the recession with 12 million workers still unemployed

(Kurtz, 2013).

In relation to unemployment rates, consumer spending rates have also impacted the

United States economy. In concurrence with the boost of jobs, purchases also rose 0.6% in

February 2013 and 0.2% in January 2013 (Chandra, 2013). While this is also encouraging, it is

important to note the majority of this spending went towards household goods, which accounts

for about 70% of the economy, not discretionary spending on confection candies (Jamrisko,

2013). With the recession effecting both employment and consumer spending, this will likely

reduce the number of purchases spent on confection candies.

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Brand Positioning

Skittles positions itself as a variety of bite-size chewy candies with a colorful candy shell

that has been allowing fans to “Taste the Rainbow” for decades (Wrigley, 2013). It is the only

candy that is the color of the rainbow and encourages consumers to live in color by being unique,

out-of-the-box, and fun. The Skittles brand is not solely the taste of the confection candy, but

instead, the experience of eating Skittles is just as or more important than the candy itself.

Recently, in an effort to build a stronger relationship with its customers, Skittles

revamped its website (www.skittles.com) to encourage visitors to “Experience The Rainbow.”

Filled with social media hooks, the website uses a myriad of touch points to convey the position

of the brand. Carole Walker, VP of Integrate Marketing Communications stated the effort

reinforces the brand position that, “Skittles lives in a world that is unexpected” (Wasserman,

2009). It is the first brand who has trusted the position of Skittles to be influenced by consumers

who have significant control over the website.

Market Share

According to Mintel (2012), in the 52 weeks ending Sept. 9, 2012, Mars, Inc. continued

to dominate the chewy candy segment, holding 27.1% market share. Skittles, as Mars’ leading

brand, occupies 8.2% of the market. Starburst and Life Savers Gummies hold 7% and 3.2%

market shares respectively and are another two popular brands under Mars’s Wrigley unit.

After Mars, the next three leading companies are Kraft Foods Inc. (now Mondelez

International), the Hershey Company, and Farley’s & Sathers Candy. Kraft holds 10.7% market

share thanks to a strong performance from its Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish brands with a

market share of 4.2% and 3.4% respectively.

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The Hershey Company holds 7.7% market share with a leading brand of Reese's Pieces (4.0%)

and Jolly Rancher (2.7%). Farley’s & Sathers has a number of brands in the chewy category that

represent small slices of its overall market share of 6.6% (Mintel, 2012).

Apart from big brands, private label maintained a strong presence with 11.4% market

share, surpassing the second leading national brand, Kraft. This could be explained by the

economic depression when many consumers shift their dollars to less expensive private labels.

However, the sales dip (Table 1) of private label from 2011 to 2012 may predict its decrease of

market share due to slow economy recovery possibly because low prices may not be enough to

attract consumers (Mintel, 2012).

Both of the pie charts show that the chewy candy segment is a pretty fragmented market

with thousands of competitors (36% of other companies and 67% of other brands) holding a tiny

market share each. However, it is undoubted that Skittles has been leading the chewy candy

industry. Moreover, a sales increase of 10.5% of Skittles has been seen from 2011 to 2012

(Mintel, 2012). We have reasons to believe that Skittles has the ability to expand its market share

in the near future, especially by taking the market share from private labels as the economy

recovers.

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Figure-1

Figure-2

27%

11%

8% 7%

36%

11%

2012 Chewy Candy Market Share (Companies)

Mars Inc.

Kraft Foods Inc.

The Hershey Company

Farley's & Sathers Candy

Other leading brands

Private Label

8% 7% 4%

3%

4%

4%

3% 67%

2012 Chewy Candy Market Share (Brands)

Skittles

Starburst

Sour Patch Kids

Life Savers Gummies

Swedish Fish

Reese's Pieces

Jolly Rancher

Others

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Advertising Share

Figure-3

Figure-4

2010 Advertising Share

Skittles Starburst Sour Patch Kids Life Saver Gummies



Skittles 34%

Life Saver Gummies 4%

Starburst 46%

Sour Patch Kids 16%

Skittles 32% Sour Patch Kids 19%

Starburst 38%


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Figure-5

All three pie charts (figure 3-5) show the advertising share of Skittles and its three main

competitors: Starburst, Sour Patch Kids and Life Saver Gummies during 2010-2012. It’s

obviously that the advertising share of Skittles basically remains the same among three years

with the percentage around 33%. For Starburst, advertising share of 2010 and 2012 is both

around 45%, while the percentage goes down a little bit as 38% in 2011. For Sour Patch Kids,

there is a clear increase on advertising expenditure from 16% in 2010, 19% in 2011 to 21% in

2012. Regarding Life Savor Gummies, the situation is a little dramatic. From 4% of advertising

share in 2010 to 11% in 2011, Life Savor Gummies has increased its advertising share 2 times

more than previous year. However, in 2012, due to the sharp cut on its advertising expenditure,

the advertising share also falls to less than 1% accordingly.

In summary, Starburst has been the champion in advertising expenditure among these 4

brands, followed by Skittles, Sour Patch Kids and Life Savor Gummies. Only Sour Patch Kids

shows clear tendency of a continuous increase in advertising share.



Skittles 33%

Starburst 45%

Sour Patch Kids 21%


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In 2012 Starburst spent $9,792,900 in advertising while Skittles spending $7,341,600 followed

by Sour Patch Kids with $4,710,500 and Life Savor Gummies with the least of $71,300

(Ad$pender, 2013).

Media Mix

Media change tendency chart

Brands Media used in all

three years 2010

Unique media 2011

Unique media 2012

Unique media

Skittles

Network TV Cable TV

Syndication Spot TV

US int-display

/ Magazines Network radio

Network radio

Starburst

Network TV Cable TV

Syndication Spot TV

Network radio US int-display

/ Magazines /

SPK Cable TV Spot TV

US int-display US int-display /

LSG US int-display / Magazines /

Chart-1

Chart-1 reflects an interesting finding in comparing data from all three years’ media

usage for all four brands. In 2011, three out of four brands spent money on magazines

advertising. However, advertising expenditure on magazines all disappeared in 2012. For

Skittles, data shows the possible trend that network radio may be included into its routine media

for advertising.

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For Sour Patch Kids (SPK) and Life Saver Gummies (LSG), whose advertising expenditure is

much smaller than the other two brands, the trend shows that they would like to put all the

money focus on only one kind of media.

Figure-6

Figure-7

2012 Skittles Media Mix

Network TV Cable TV Syndication Spot TV Network radio US internet-display

2012 Starburst Media Mix

Network TV Cable TV Syndication Spot TV Network radio US internet-display

Cable TV 58%

Syndication 8%

Network radio 4%

Network TV 26%

US int-display 4%

Spot TV less than 1%

Cable TV 54%

Network TV 30%

US int-display 11%

Network radio 3%

Syndication 2%

Spot TV 1%

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Taking the media mix data of 2012 as example for analysis, the two pie charts above

(figure 6 & 7) show the detailed media mix information for Skittles and Starburst. Since Sour

Patch Kids (SPK) and Life Saver Gummies (LSG) all used only one kind of media, chart for

these two brands will be omitted here. SPK spent $4,710,500 on cable TV while LSG spent

$71,300 on US internet-display. For Skittles and Starburst, their advertising expenditure in 2012

was relatively $7,341,600 (Skittles) and $9,792,900 (Starburst). These two brands both spent

over half of advertising expenditure on cable TV and more than 25% of the money on network

TV. Reflected on actual dollars, for cable TV, Skittles spent $4,242,000 while Starburst spent

$5,270,100. For network TV, Skittles spent $1,915,900 comparing to $2,897,400 from Starburst.

However, 11% of Starburst’s budget ($1,062,000) goes to US internet-display while this number

for Skittles is only 4% ($296,300). The lease amount of advertising expenditure is Spot TV with

Skittles at less than 1% and Starburst at 1% (Ad$pender, 2013).

Share of Voice Analysis

Brand Network

TV Cable TV Syndication Spot TV

Network Radio

US int-display

Skittles 39.80% 29.83% 73.27% 2.15% 53.62% 20.72% Starburst 60.20% 37.05% 26.73% 97.85% 46.38% 74.29% SPK 0.00% 33.12% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% LSG 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 4.99% Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

Chart-2 Chart-2 above shows the share of voice for Skittles and its three main competitors in the

industry. Skittles only takes domination in syndication and network radio.

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It’s important to mention that in the column of cable TV both Starburst and Sour Patch Kids had

higher share of voice than Skittles. In the media categories of network TV, spot TV and US

internet-display, Starburst all takes the 1st place in share of voice.

However, MRI data shows a different way on how to spend money on various media

categories to make effective advertisements. According to MRI data from 2009 to 2011, heavy

magazine users and medium to heavy Internet users are more likely to buy Skittles. Hence,

Skittles should include magazines into one of its routine media for advertising while keep raising

its share of voice for US internet-display with utilizing all of its current social platforms like

Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, YouTube page and its official website. If Skittles spends money

on magazines in the future while all main competitors don’t, Skittles will definitely become one

step ahead in this fierce competition. Regarding the internet-display part, digital advertising like

banner ads and mobile apps should also be taken into consideration. Moreover, since female

shows more preference towards Skittles according to MRI data, several popular social apps with

majority of female users like Instagram and Pinterest can be powerful platforms as well.

Marketing Objectives

The marketing objective for the Skittles media plan is to increase its market share by 2

percent from current 8.2% to reach 10% from Jan 1, 2014 to Dec 31, 2014 to keep its 1st place.

2% seems a little bit lower as the target for a year-round plan, but it’s based on several

considerations about the outside environment and product per se as below: 1. currently the US

market is still under an economic recession; 2.

Skittles is not the necessity product for daily life; 3. the candy market has been quite saturated.

Hence, we set a relatively moderate target to make this more practical and easier to reach.

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Based on the data from Mintel and MRI, it is shown that white female aged 18-44 are the

main target audience. However, according to conclusion from other research, it is mentioned that

kids and teens are the actual consumers who eat Skittles, although their parents are the ones

paying money for the candies (Kee, 2010). Bearing all these in mind, we are going to target kids

and teens aged 6-17 together with targeting white female aged 18-44 because children are the

most important motivations to attract actual buyers for Skittles. By increasing the sales of the

product, it will be important for Skittles to grab a larger market share while strengthening its

brand image.

Target Audience

The target market of non-chocolate confectionery, according to Mintel (2012), is

consumers aged 18-44 who look to satisfy a sweet craving, value products made of real fruit, and

mostly purchase them at supermarkets and mass merchandisers. Mintel also showed that Asian

and black respondents are more likely than average to consume the products.

Similar conclusions can be drawn by analyzing the MRI Mediamark data.

The primary target audience for Skittles during 2014-2015 campaign year is people aged 18-44

(MRI, 2011). This segment of people occupies more than 70% of Skittles users and is

significantly more likely than the national average to make a purchase. Also, MRI data show that

in 2011 there are more female Skittles users (46.9%) than their male counterparts (36.1%) in the

age group of 18-49, and women (Index 161) are more likely than men (Index 124) to buy

Skittles.

Moreover, white people make up more than 70% of Skittles users followed by Black/African

American people (18.5%) with a significantly high Index number (159) meaning they are 59%

more likely than the national average to use Skittles (MRI, 2011).

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Therefore, we are wise to target the white audience primarily and regard Black/African people as

the secondary target audience. However, note that sometimes the target market includes, but not

limited to, the target audience. According to Kee (2010), the target market of Skittles is tweens,

teens and colorful candy-lovers. We can also see from the MRI data (2011) that children aged 6-

17 account for more than a half of total Skittles users in 2011 and are far more likely than the

national average to use Skittles due to high index numbers (134 for children aged 6-11; 130 for

children aged 12-17), though they don’t necessarily buy Skittles themselves. Therefore, our

advertising messages are also wise to be relevant to children to some extent.

In addition, the MRI data (2009, 2010, 2011) reveal that heavy magazine users, medium

to heavy Internet users, light to medium newspaper users, and light TV users tend to buy Skittles.

In 2011, heavy magazine users account for more than a quarter (27.9%) of Skittles users while

medium to heavy Internet users occupy nearly 70% of those consumers. Accordingly, both

magazine and Internet are important to reach the target audience of Skittles.

However, although light TV users are more likely to use Skittles, the Skittles users who are light,

medium, and heavy TV users are pretty evenly distributed (MRI, 2011). Therefore, it is arbitrary

to exclude TV as an option to reach the target audience.

Skittles users live primarily in the South (41.1%) and Midwest (23.3%) and these two

segments of people are 11% (South) and 7% (Midwest) more likely than the national average to

consume Skittles (MRI, 2011). As a result, it will be imperative to advertise more in those

regions.

Advertising Objectives

The advertising objective for Skittles with this media plan is to increase the interaction

between the brand and its consumers.

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Time period for this plan is the whole year of 2014. Well utilizing media of TV, magazines and

internet will help Skittles to accomplish this goal. Advertising content will focus on the fun and

emotional experience Skittles bring to its customers to continuously improving its brand image

and personality of “taste the rainbow”. Advertisement will also focus on product attributes.

Media Objectives Level Reach Frequency

Range Average Range Average

High 76-99% 80% 9 – 12 10

Medium 61-75% 68% 6 – 8 7

Low 50-60% 55% 2 – 5 3

Reach and Frequency Goals

Period 1: April 2014 (Reach 58.8, Frequency 1.8; Spot: Reach 63.8, Frequency 1.9) Period 2: October 2014 (Reach 58.8, Frequency 1.8; Spot: Reach 63.8, Frequency 1.9)

The reach and frequency goals are divided into six categories for the 2014 campaign

year, and further broken down into two categories to specifically target white, moms, and aged

18-44. The campaign schedule utilizes the pulsing method with continuous advertising

throughout the year and heavier periods of advertising during certain months to capitalize on

important holidays, Easter and Halloween.

During the campaign we will target children aged 6-17 consistently throughout the year

to remind them to “Taste the Rainbow” and experience life in color with Skittles.

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In addition, during the higher pulsed periods we will target specific geographical areas and

white, moms, aged 18-44 with strategy that they will be the purchasers of candy during these

holiday seasons. Due to the limitations of the Media Flight Plan software, we are only able to

calculate our campaign for the adult target audience.

The first and second campaign periods during the seasonal months of April and October

have low/medium reach and frequency goals because of Skittle’s limited budget. The first

seasonal promotion will occur in the first period during April, with Easter falling on April 20th,

2014. During this time the reach and frequency goals specifically target mothers, and the

southern and midwestern geographical areas of the United States. The next promotion occurs in

October during the Halloween season and we have kept the reach and frequency goals consistent

to period one.

Similar to period one, period two has low/medium reach and frequency goals to capitalize on

moms shopping for seasonal candy and geographical areas already more likely to purchase

Skittles than the national average. Finally, we will also include outdoor advertising that

considerably increases our reach and frequency goals. Unfortunately the Media Flight Plan

software does not allow us to specifically manipulate outdoor data. Our strategy will be to place

outdoor advertisements on freeways near exits with gas stations and rest stops in the southern

and midwestern geographical areas.

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Media Quintile Analysis

27.9

20.2 23.3 23.4

21.8 20.1 20.2

21.7

16.6 19.3

14.7

19.8

% of Skittles Users in the Heaviest (I) and Heavy (II) Quintiles

140

101 117 117

109 101 101 108

83 96

74

99

Index of Heaviest (I) and Heavy (II) Users

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According to the 2011 MRI data for people who purchased Skittles candy in the last 6

months, magazines and internet are the best ways to reach Skittles users and while outdoor and

radio are also both good options. Television and newspaper are not as popular media for these

users. (All data in this section taken from MRI data for Fall 2011 Product: Skittles- Bought Last

6 Months)

The first thing that can be observed from the MRI data is that Skittles purchasers are

heavy magazine readers. They are 40% more likely than average to be in the heaviest quintile of

magazine readers. Also, 48.1% of Skittles purchasers fall into the top two magazine quartiles,

meaning just under half of our target are heavy or heaviest magazine users.

Internet is the next medium that Skittle purchasers seem to favor. There are about an

equal number of heavy and heaviest Internet users who purchase Skittles, and both are 17% more

likely than average to be in one of these top two quintiles. Furthermore, 46.7% of Skittles

purchasers fall into the top two quintiles meaning, as with magazines, that just under half of the

Skittles audience are heavy or heaviest users.

For outdoor, Skittles purchasers are 9% more likely than average to be heaviest outdoor

users and just 1% more likely than average to be heavy outdoor users. 62.9% of Skittles users

fall into the top three quintiles, making outdoor still a reasonable choice for Skittles marketing.

Radio comes in just under outdoor in popularity with Skittles users. They are slightly

more likely than average to be heaviest or heavy radio users, and 64.5% of Skittle users fall into

the top three quintiles. However, they fall most strongly into the third quintile, which is why

outdoor appears to be the slightly better option.

For television, Skittles purchasers are 17% less likely than average to be heaviest users

and 4% less likely than average to be heavy users.

26

55.8% fall into the top three quintiles of television watchers. Television may not be a bad choice

considering its ability to target children and its visual elements, but MRI suggests that it is not

the strongest choice.

Finally, newspaper seems to be a very poor choice for Skittles advertising. Skittles

purchasers are 26% less likely than average to be the heaviest newspaper consumers and 1% less

likely than average to be heavy newspaper readers. They are significantly more likely to be in the

lower three quintiles of magazine readers.

For comparison, the following charts show the MRI media usage data for our primary

target market, women ages 18-34 and then 35-49 who are classified as homemakers/primary

shoppers.

Women in this age group appear to favor Internet more heavily that Skittle purchasers, but

besides this, the media trends are quite similar to Skittles purchasers.

117 103

132 123

105 106 102 109

57

86

46

88

Females age 18-‐34 Index of Heaviest (I) and Heavy (II) Users

27

116 104

118 119 120

99 106

113

75 86

75

97

Females age 35-‐49 Index of Heaviest (I) and Heavy (II) Users

23.4 20.6

26.3 24.6

21 21.2 20.5 21.7

11.4

17.1

9.2

17.6

% of Females age 18-‐34 that are Heaviest (I) and Heavy (II) Users

28

Proposed Media

Based on the media quintile analysis, media mix and share of voice analysis of Skittles,

we have picked several media as below to reach all the target audience and make the advertising

more effective during the campaign year of 2014. These media includes magazines, Internet,

network radio, TV and outdoor.

First, we strongly recommend including magazines as the routine advertising media for

Skittles. According to MRI data, nearly half of Skittles purchasers belong to the heaviest and

heavy magazine users. Hence, magazines will be a wise way to reach potential buyers.

Moreover, these group of people also have fairly high index number of 140 and 101. Analyzing

from Ad$pender, using magazines will also help Skittles to lead a step ahead of its competitors.

Because after 2011, Starburst and Life Saver Gummies all cancelled their advertising

expenditure on magazines. (Chart-1)

23.1 20.7

23.7 23.7 24.1

19.9 21.3 22.5

15.1 17.3

15

19.4

% of Females age 35-‐49 that are Heaviest (I) and Heavy (II) Users

29

Following magazines, increasing expenditure on internet advertising will definitely work

for Skittles. In 2012, Skittles only spent 4% of its budget on internet advertising while Starburst

spent 11% of its money on this (Figure 6 & 7). The share of voice analysis also shows that

Skittles only have 21% share in internet-display category comparing to Starburst’s 74% (Chart

2). From the information we got from MRI, similar to magazines, nearly half of Skittles

purchasers fall into the heaviest and heavy internet users. And these people also show tendency

of being more likely to buy the product than national average. Another strong point to support

this decision is our target audience of kids and teens aged 6-17. Internet is the best choice to

reach younger generation. We also think remaining network radio as one of the routine media for

Skittles advertising will be wise. Upon MRI data, over 60% of Skittles users belong to the top

three quintiles.

For TV, both Skittles and Starburst all spent over half of the budget on cable TV and over

25% of the budget on network TV. Sour Patch Kids spent all its money on cable TV as well.

Hence, although TV seems not a recommended media from MRI data, it’s still a powerful media

in reaching mass target audience.

Finally, another important media neglected by all four brands is outdoor media. Data

shows that over 40% of Skittles purchasers fall in heaviest and heavy outdoor media quintile,

which makes outdoor becomes an effective channel in delivering messages to potential Skittles

buyers.

Pros and cons of each advertising medium to be included in the media mix

Magazines

Magazine is a very suitable media for Skittles because of the following reasons.

30

First, it’s easy to create high quality print ad with strong visual effect on magazines, which is

perfectly fitting the “rainbow” concept of Skittles. Second, the extensive pass-along readership

of magazines makes every single edition can be read by large group of people. Third, magazines

enjoy long shelf life comparing to other kinds of media. Finally, since magazines are divided into

niche categories based on the content and target audience, it will be easy to reach several niche

target audience group via this media. However, the main disadvantage of magazines is that the

cost is very high. And the lack of immediacy and easy to be buried among bunch of

advertisements will be problems as well.

Internet

For a creative brand like Skittles, Internet will be the best place to express the creativity.

With well utilizing all the flexible types of internet-display, various online channels Skittles

currently have can be integrated into one unified platform to strengthen the brand image

communication and customer relationship building. As mentioned in the previous part, internet is

also the 1st choice to reach the younger generation, thanks to all the technology development

today. Furthermore, the cost of Internet advertisement is quite affordable comparing to many

traditional media. Regarding the main cons, Internet advertising is easy to be ignored by

audience. And it’s hard to trace and measure whether certain advertisements have reached the

target audience.

Network Radio

The main benefit of using network radio lies in its cost and ability to reach the mass

group of people. However, for the Skittles case, the disadvantage is also obvious. Radio

advertising can only express the message through sound and music, but not image, which will be

a big con for Skittles.

31

Television

Television is a powerful media in this case. With network TV, cable TV and spot TV,

this media can both target national and regional target audience. Furthermore, it’s also easy to

reach niche market like children via certain channels like Disney Channel. However, the cost to

advertise on television is basically the highest among all media. Furthermore, the perception of

thinking commercials as intrusive and the characteristic of fleeting are other negative aspects of

television advertising.

Outdoor

Utilizing outdoor in advertising for Skittles will be very helpful. Because outdoor

advertising is affordable and it’s the best one to present visual effect, which perfectly fits the

attribute of our product per se. Another advantage of outdoor print is that it can be shown in

various places to target different group of people. The only limitation is that copy may not work

well in outdoor advertising.

32

Advertising Details

Figure-8

The total budget for the 2014-2015 Skittles campaign year was set to be $7,500,000

($525,000 with contingency, $6,975,000 actual), a little higher than the annual budget

($7,341,600) of 2012 with the consideration of the recovering economy.

Specifically, the budget was split into the following 6 different media categories with the allotted

percentage of budget respectively: Internet (13%), magazine (11%), cable TV (50%), network

TV (18%), network radio (4%), and outdoor (4%).

As was mentioned before, Internet tends to be the best choice to reach the target audience

and express the brand’s creativity with a reasonable cost. Although Skittles has been active on

social media (Mintel, 2012), previous analysis of Skittles’ 2012 advertising share reveals that

Skittles spent only 4% of its annual budget on US internet-display, which was far less than the

counterpart of its primary competitor, Starburst (11%). Also, Skittles (20.72%) was beaten by

Starburst (74.29%) in terms of Internet share of voice.

13%

11%

50%

18%

4% 4%

2014-‐2015 Media Mix

Internet

Magazine

Cable TV

Network TV

Network Radio

Outdoor

33

We will increase Skittles’ Internet advertising share to 13% in the 2014 campaign year to

make it comparable with competitors. Based on the MRI data (2011), we will choose Internet

vehicles like Gmail.com (which attracts 24.9% of Skittles users), Yahoo! Mail (with 37.8% of

Skittles users), Weather.com (with 29.8% of users) to advertise Skittles. These people are also

17% to 29% more likely than the national average to use Skittles. Such vehicles will help expand

Skittles’ online presence.

The analysis above shows that magazine is a quite suitable media for Skittles. However,

considering this will be the first time for Skittles to advertise on magazines since 2010, we will

allocate 11% of the annual budget to magazines a little bit conservatively. According to MRI

data (2011), the target audience of Skittles mostly reads magazines such as Women (47.7% of

Skittles users), News and Entertainment Weeklies (44.7% of Skittles users), and General

Editorial (42.3% of Skittles users). Moreover, these readers are 19% to 25% more likely than the

national average to purchase Skittles. Magazines like Parenthood (18.4%) and Parents (11.4%)

also have fair readerships, and the readers respectively are 61% and 77% more likely than the

national average to make a purchase. Therefore, these magazines will be used to advertise on.

In order to reach the target market of children and teens, we will target kids by advertising in

magazines such as Disney Magazine and Sports Illustrated Kids. For teens, Skittles should

advertise in young teen magazines J-14 and Twist. These magazines are geared toward those

under 18. Although no MRI data is available right now, the magazines are targeted to the right

age group and thus are worth attempting.

Cable Television received a half of the budget even though most Skittles users are light

TV users (44.2% are in quintile IV and V) because it is still possible to reach a large portion of

these consumers through television.

34

ABC Family Channel attracts 30% of the Skittles users; MTV attracts 27.9% of the Skittles

users; The Disney Channel attracts 24.5% of the Skittles users; Cartoon Network attracts 20.7%

of the Skittles users. The audience of these programs is also 42% to 70% more likely than the

national average to buy Skittles. Hence, these vehicles will be used in the 2014 campaign.

Network radio remained to receive 4% share of the annual advertising budget with the

consideration that Skittles consumers are only slightly more likely than average to be heavy and

heaviest radio users. Radio thus will be considered as a supportive media and related ads will

mostly be aired on the time periods of 6:00 am-10:00 am and 3:00 pm-7:00 pm on Weekdays

and from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm on Weekends.

Finally, outdoor media also received 4% of the advertising budget for the 2014-2015

campaign. Prior media quintile analysis reveals that heavy outdoor users are 9% more likely than

the national average to use Skittles. Accordingly, outdoor media will be used as supportive

media to advertise on for our campaign. Also, the campaign will concentrate on the southern and

mid-western geographical regions of the United States where Skittles largest loyal customer base

resides (MRI, 2011).

In the following planning process with Media Plight Plan, we will basically focus on the

target segment of 18-44 year-old mothers due to the limited availability of “target demographic”

(age groups). In other worlds, the age groups only range from 18 to 65 so we cannot reach the

children and teenagers who are also chosen to be our target audience. Therefore, we will ONLY

focus on the mother category of the target audience in the planning process.

35

Based on our pulsing advertising method stated above with continuous advertising

through the year to reach children and teens and heavier periods of advertising during important

holidays to reach mothers, we will allocate 60% of the total budget to support the advertising all

over the year, and 40% of the money to higher pulsed 2 periods. In other words, our following

planning featuring on the mothers will be based on the months of April and October with the

40% of the actual budget ($6,975,000*40%=$2,790,000).

With these amounts of money available, we will basically use Internet, magazines, cable

television, network radio, and outdoor media to reach our target audience, 18-44 years old white

mothers. Nearly half (46.2%) of the allocated Internet budget (that is 6% out of the total budget),

72.7% of the magazine budget (that is 8% of the total budget), 36% of the cable TV budget (that

is 18% of the total budget), and all the network radio and outdoor budget will be used to reach

the mothers (Chart-3).

Allocated Budget Used to Reach White Mothers Aged 18-44 (Media Flight Plan)

Media Amount of money Percentage of the specific

media (e.g. Internet) budget

Percentage of the total

annual budget

Internet $418,500 46.2% 6%

Magazine $ 558,000 72.7% 8%

Radio $ 279,000 100% 4%

Outdoor $ 279,000 100% 4%

Cable TV $ 1,255,500 36% 18%

Total $2,790,000 - 40%

36

Chart-3

37

38

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42

Table 1 Sales of leading chewy candy brands MULO sales of chewy candy by leading companies, rolling 52 weeks 2011 and 2012 Company

Brand 52 weeks ending September 9 2011

Market share

52 weeks ending September 9 2012

Market share

Sales change 2011-12

Share change

$million % $million % % Percentage point

Mars Inc.

Total 446.2 28.0 461.6 27.1 3.4 -0.8

Skittles 126.2 7.9 139.4 8.2 10.5 0.3 Starburst 122.7 7.7 119.6 7.0 -2.5 -0.7 Life Savers

Gummies 64.9 4.1 54.0 3.2 -16.7 -0.9

Starburst Flavor Morph

0.3 - 15.1 0.9 5,361.7 0.9

Skittles Riddles - - 12.9 0.8 - 0.8 Starburst Fave

Reds 14.9 0.9 12.4 0.7 -16.9 -0.2

Other 117.2 7.3 108.1 6.4 -7.8 -1.0 Kraft Foods Inc.

Total 160.1 10.0 182.1 10.7 13.7 0.7

Sour Patch Kids 58.3 3.7 71.1 4.2 21.9 0.5 Swedish Fish 53.2 3.3 57.9 3.4 8.7 0.1 Other 48.6 3.0 53.1 3.1 9.3 0.1 The Hershey Company

Total 117.8 7.4 131.5 7.7 11.6 0.3

Reese's Pieces 67.4 4.2 68.1 4.0 1.1 -0.2 Jolly Rancher 30.5 1.9 45.2 2.7 48.2 0.7 Zero 10.3 0.6 8.6 0.5 -16.6 -0.1 Other 9.7 0.6 9.7 0.6 -0.5 - Farley's & Sathers Candy

Total 98.3 6.2 112.6 6.6 14.5 0.5

Brach's 16.2 1.0 24.7 1.5 52.2 0.4 Trolli Brite

Crawlers 9.7 0.6 17.0 1.0 74.9 0.4

43

Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers

9.8 0.6 9.8 0.6 -0.4 0.0

Heide Jujyfruits 8.7 0.5 7.9 0.5 -9.3 -0.1 Now & Later 7.8 0.5 7.4 0.4 -4.7 -0.1 Brach's Wild 'N'

Fruity 4.6 0.3 7.2 0.4 56.1 0.1

Other 41.5 2.6 38.7 2.3 -6.9 -0.3 Just Born Inc.

Total 78.4 4.9 84.0 4.9 7.1 -

Mike And Ike 36.7 2.3 42.2 2.5 14.9 0.2 Hot Tamales 26.7 1.7 24.1 1.4 -9.6 -0.3 Other 15.0 0.9 17.6 1.0 17.6 0.1 Tootsie Roll Industries Inc.

Total 81.1 5.1 81.9 4.8 0.9 -0.3

Tootsie Roll 51.5 3.2 48.8 2.9 -5.2 -0.4 Tootsie Dots 16.1 1.0 15.7 0.9 -2.2 -0.1 Sugar Babies 5.7 0.4 6.7 0.4 17.1 - Other 7.7 0.5 10.6 0.6 36.8 0.1 Perfetti Van Melle

Total 66.7 4.2 71.8 4.2 7.6 -

Air Heads 18.7 1.2 23.4 1.4 25.3 0.2 Air Heads

Xtremes 20.7 1.3 22.1 1.3 6.8 -

Air Heads Out Of Control

14.2 0.9 13.5 0.8 -4.9 -0.1

Air Heads Kung Fu Panda 2

13.2 0.8 12.8 0.8 -2.8 -0.1

Haribo Of America Inc.

Total 46.9 2.9 54.2 3.2 15.6 0.2

Haribo Gold Bears

37.0 2.3 42.2 2.5 14.2 0.2

Haribo 5.5 0.3 7.2 0.4 30.7 0.1 Haribo Happy

Cola 4.3 0.3 4.7 0.3 8.8 -

Other 0.1 - 0.1 - 7.0 - Other 304.8 19.1 327.5 19.2 7.4 0.1 Private Label

195.1 12.2 194.7 11.4 -0.2 -0.8

Total 1,595.5 100.0 1,701.7 100.0 6.7 -

44

Note: Data may not equal totals due to rounding Source: Mintel/SymphonyIRI Group InfoScan® Reviews