Mac Case Analysis

Margarine, "the heart-healthy margarine choice," owned by Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer products companies. Becel was launched in 1978 under the Lipton Food Division at Unilever. Their target market being older, educated and affluent adults, Becel's strategy proved to be a winner when their margarine sales and awareness soared to become the market leader in a short amount of time.

Currently, Becel is not growing at the fast rate it once was and is falling well below the expectations of Senior Management. Competition has been looming over their clever strategies and many of them have taken the same stance as Becel, and at a lower price point. Butter seems to be Becel's biggest competitor, having 50% of the Spreads Market under their belt.

Ross Hugessen, the Brand Manager at Unilever Canada has to come up with a convincing new marketing strategy for Becel. It needs to include a long-term and short-term growth plan, and new branding strategies that tie into Advertising, eventually being emulated by the European divisionof Becel.

The Goals and Objective Include:

 Sales Growth

 Maintain Market Leadership

 Venturing into new market segments

 Educate consumers about eating healthy

Sales and revenue growth are always at the top of the "goals" chart when it comes to the Senior Management yearly review. The question is, what strategies can Becel put into place to gain a higher proportion of their current target market? Their biggest competitor being butter, holds 50% of the Spreads Market share. How will Becel convince these users to switch? Can becel convince other margaine brand users to switch?

The "Young at Heart" campaign had been proven to have increased the market growth back in 1992 through 1997. Becel will keep this in