Saralyn Mills Case
Case #2: Saralyn Mills
Nicole Vichon, marketing manager of Saralyn Mills, Ltd. A Canadian company is being urged to approve the creation of a separate marketing plan for Quebec. This would be a major policy change because Saralyn Mills international parent is trying to move toward a global strategy for the whole firm and Vichon has been supporting Canada-wide planning.
Niclole Vichon has been the marketing manager of Sarlyn Mills, Ltd. For the last four years—since she arrived from international headquarters in Minneapolis Saralyn Mills, Ltd., headquartered in Toronto, is a subsidiary of a large US based consumer packaged-food company with worldwide sales of more than $2.8 billion. Its Canadian sales are just over $450 million, with Quebec and Ontario markets accounting for 69 percent of the company’s Canadion sales.
The company’s product line includes such items as cake mixes, puddings, pie fillings, pancakes, prepared foods, and frozen dinners. The company has successfully introduced at least six new products every year for the last five years. Products from Saralyn Mills are known for their high quality and enjoyed much brand preference throughout Canada, including the Province of Quebec.
The company sales have risen every year since Nicole Vichon took over as marketing manager. In fact, the company’s market share has increased steadily in each of the product categories in which it competes. The Quebec market has closely followed the national trend except that market, in the past two years, total sales growth in that market began to lag.
According to Vichon, a big advantage of Saralyn Mills over its competitors is the avility to coordinate all phases of the food business from Toronto. For this reason, Vichon meets at least once a month with her product managers—to discuss developments in local markets that might affect marketing plans. While each managers that is free to make suggestions and even to suggest major changes, Nicole Vichon has the responsibility of giving final approval for all plans.
On of the product managers, Marie LeMans, expressed great concern at the last monthly meeting about the poor performance of some of the company’s products in the Quebec market. While a broad range of possible reasons—ranging from inflation and the threat of job losses to politics—were reviewed to try to explain the situation, LaMans insisted that it was due to a basic lack of understanding of that market. She felt not enough managerial time and money had been spent on the Quebec market—in part because of current emphasis on developing all-Canada plans on the way to having one global strategy.
Marie LeMans supported her position by showing that Quebec’s per capita consumption of many product categories (in which the firm competes) is above the national average (see Table 1). Research projects conducted by Saralyn Mills also support the “separate and distinct” argument. Over the years, the firm has found many French-English differences in brand attitudes, lifestyles, usage rates, and so on.
LeMans argued that the company should develop a unique Quebec marketing plan for some or all of its brands. She specifically suggested that the French-language advertising plan for a particular brand be developed independently of the plan for English Canada. Currently, the Toronto agency assigned to the brand just translates its English-language ads for the French market. Nicole Vichon pointed out that the present advertising approach assured Saralyn Mills of a uniform brand image across Canada. Marie LeMans said she knew what the agency is doing, and that straight translation into Canadian French may not communicate the same brand image. The discussion that followed suggested that a different brand image might be needed in the French market if the company wanted to stop the brand’s decline in sales.
Table 1 Per Capita Consumption Index Province of Quebec Canada
Cake Mix 107 Soft drinks 126
Pancakes 87 Pie fillings 118
Puddings 114 Frozen dinners 79
Salad dressings 85 Prepared pkg. foods 83
Molasses 113 Cookies 123