Q1. Should VCIL be a manufacturer alone or get into marketing ?

If so, what
resources, competencies does it require ? Do they have it ? What needs to be
done to acquire it ?
The company Victor should consider to continue manufacturing its cocoa based beverage Victor
Plus although its share is still in red, but as case says its improving. The company could cover a
good percentage of its fixed costs and variable costs. Victor Plus has been one of its highly
regarded product line. It is hence recommended that company may focus or continue to focus on
this product with some changes in aggregate marketing approach.

Q2. Should VCIL be a local player or a national player ? Can they become one at
this juncture ? If so, what resources, competencies does it require ? Do they
have it ? What needs to be done to acquire it ?
The retailers have echoed concerns of poor visibility and appeal of Victor Plus. In order resolve this
issue, the company would have to invest heavily in to advertisements and marketing initiatives.
At the national level the brand would require to compete with large brands who are currently
spending up to Rs.85 Crores in marketing and advertisements
VCIL currently has a budget of Rs. 30 Lakhs, making it a very difficult task to change its market
position.
The retail presence of VCIL is about 25% of that of the national players in the market.
Any attempt to improve its distribution network at a national scale would be very costly, with little
or no guarantee of returns owing (again) to the lack of appeal and visibility in the market.
VCIL should not become a national player. Instead it should focus its resources in the
South Indian markets where it already has a lower cost of distribution (Table 7).
They can become a South Indian player at this juncture by focusing distribution network in the
market. Within the south Indian market, VCIL should focus on institutional customers.
An improved commission structure in comparison to its more established competitors would aid in
acquisition of more distributors and thus reaching out to more institutional customers.

Q3. Should VP concentrate on institutional or consumer markets ? Or both ?

VP should focus on Institutional markets and not on consumer markets for the following reasons:
For a product such as VP, an Institutional customer can generate greater demand than a retailer selling VP
because:
There is little or no competition from bigger brands since the consumers are not brand conscious
There is a habit of drinking milk along with breakfast in the south Indian market.
There are multiple uses for the product (milk additive and flavoring for other products such as juices and Lassi)

VP is the cheapest amongst major brands in the market. Price would be a key decision factor for
institutional customers.
VP lacks sufficient visibility and appeal in the consumer market. This is echoed by the retailers and also
evident from the market share of the product.
The company is not financially strong enough to match or compete with the larger brands in their
advertising and marketing initiatives. This affects the brand visibility and customer mind share.
The brand has access to only a quarter of the retailers network in comparison to its competitors. This
affects product availability and also, brand visibility.
Brand visibility and favorable brand perception is essential in generating pull from the customers.
Hence there would be more return on efforts if the focus is to target and improve sales through
institutional customers.

Q4. Is VP a me-too product in the market ? If yes/no, what are the implications ?
Yes. VP is very much a me-too product in the market.
Some of the features of the product showing it is a me-too product:
Low market share
No unique feature or selling point for the product
Poor brand visibility
Low marketing budget in comparison to leading brands

Implications of being a me-too product in the market:

Low demand in from customers
Absence of loyal band of customers
Competing on price points with other brands
Minimal leverage in setting incentives for distributors and retailers since there is not demand (Pull) from
the markets
The net impact of this would be low demand/sales and minimal margins from sales.

Q5. What benefits is VP really offering ? Nutritional or tasty or both ? How much
does it communicate and how is it received by target audience ?
Benefit(s) offered by Victor Plus:
Based on the ingredients of Victor, (Table 2) it is evident that the product has minimal ingredients with
nutritional benefits. The product is mostly cocoa and sugar. Vitamin is present in the product but this
includes only Vitamin (table 3), and vitamins are present in 7 of the other 9 products compared (Table
2).
Victor Plus was infused with more nutrients like Vitamin A, B1, B12 as well as minerals, niacin and iron.
Milk additives improve taste of the product but the milk additives and malt are not added in Victor Plus
due to manufacturing constraints.
Thus, Victor plus offers only Nutritional benefits and not taste benefits.

Brand communication:

Brand perception:

The packing emphasized that the product is

Nutritional and Tasty with the bold text in
contrasting colors. The image of the kids with
a winners trophy also symbolizes the
nutritional benefits of the product.

The evaluation of the competing brands by

consumers (Table 6) makes it evident that the
product is perceived as a cheap and tasty
drink without significant nutritional benefits.

The label on the backside of the VP bottle

also highlights the key words Taste and
Nutrition.
While most of its competitors focus their
brand communications either nutritional or
taste benefits, the brand communication of

In the list of 9 brands evaluated, Victor Plus

ranks 2nd in terms of Taste while it ranks 9th in
terms of nutrition.

Q6. Should VP be discontinued ? Can it be revived ? If yes, how ?

a) Company should add more product line or variants of Victor Plus and position it differently vis
Personality , Healthy ,Catching Name , Unqiue Taste or combination of the above.
b)Company initiate a thorough market research and examine its feasiblity to enter the White
Beverage/Milk Industry with its core competencies
c)They may also consider options to produce ready instant boiled healh drinks ( with different
flavours)
d)The company should consider revising or revisitng its current design , logo & labelling . A brand
management team maybe appointed to offer suggestions on the contemporary practices in
marketing .
e) Company should invest of Public Relation Tool and paid news to enhance its branch image
through mass media reach.
f)Incentivize the retailers for the shelve space offered.
g) Company should come up with discounts and contests on the subsequent purchase to ensure
high repeat habit among customers
h) Company should build a dashboard for daily track of the business and sales across regions .

Q7. Was correct segment identified and targeted ?