Placement, Action Plans and Assessments

  We will build upon the strong international branding Lipton has established.  The world’s

best known tea will now be more available for customers in places that they visit often. Even

though Lipton sells products in Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, Africa and America we will

premiere the machine in the United States. We will start off by introducing the product in Saint

Louis, Missouri at 5 large locations. Our product will be available in a new innovative vending

machine, the Tea Garden. The Tea Garden machine will allow our consumers to be in full

control, by choosing between hot and cold tea, as well as choosing the flavor of their tea.

Vending machines will be placed in large facilities where there are over 5,000 people

participating in their program or purpose. The Tea Garden will be available at gyms, YMCA’s,

college campuses, hotels, hospitals, large office buildings, recreation centers and sport park

centers.  Our product will conveniently located for the “health oriented” consumer market. 

Open lines of communication between Lipton and its distributors will be essential.

Vendors will need to take training courses in order to properly be able to maintain the machine,

including the installation, and the replenishment of tea. There will need to be a set schedule when

the machines will be refilled. The vendors will also need to take courses on how to repair the

machines if there should be any malfunctions. These vendor’s will be employed by Lipton, and

trained by Lipton.

                Our customers are used to selecting their own brew of coffee. We will focus directly

on displaying the benefits of choosing tea over coffee. The fact that customers will be able to

choose between hot and cold tea will be our competitive advantage.

Since our product is a purchase that is made casually we do not expect that there will be a

dire need for reverse channels.  Our main goal is provide our consumers with the benefits of

drinking tea at their convenience. On every Tea Garden machine we will have a customer service

number that our customers will be able to provide feedback about our product. They will also be

able to place any complaints that they might have about our product or the vending machine.  In

order to maintain a loyal customer base we will provide those who are dissatisfied with a refund.

The customer will be able to go to the main office of their location and receive a gift card that

they will be able to use on Tea Garden machines anywhere. Tea Garden cards will be available at

each location and replenished as needed when the tea is refilled.

 

 Promotion, Action Plans and Assessments

Drink purchases are usually made casually and without extensive research.  There are

many drinks available for customers to quench their thirst. The fact that our customers will be

able to choose if they want hot or ice tea and then chose the flavor they want will maximize their

options and they will be able to satisfy their thirst better. The customer will feel like they are in

control. This good feeling will translate to a positive attitude toward our products. Our tea will be

affordable and placed in convenient locations where there are people in large numbers where our

target market will be able to purchase it. We will continue to use the slogan "tea can do that" and

incorporate it with our new idea.

Our target market is already familiar with the taste of the Lipton brand. We are taking a

more environmentally friendly approach while providing our customers with the same great taste

that comes in a bottle. Our customers will have more options than they would normally get from

a regular bottled vending machine. Also, there will be pamphlets available on the side of the

machine that educates our customers on the benefits of drinking tea. Our pamphlets will be made

using recycled paper. We will encourage our customers to bring their own cups that they will fill

up with our tea, if they do not they will be able to purchase a 16 oz. cup. These cups will all be

made from recyclable material. Lipton Tea is Rainforest Forest Alliance Certified. The Rain

Forest Alliance is guided by ten principles. These principles focus on conserving eco-systems,

protecting wildlife, conserving water, and managing wastes responsibly. We plan on also joining

the alliance with our new product and meeting its standards. This will appeal to our

“environmentalist” target market. (See Appendix …..)

Our website and social network sites we will use will provide our customers with the

health benefits of Lipton tea. Even though our customers will not be able to purchase our product

on the internet, large establishments will be able to contact us to request the installation of a Tea

Garden. The internet is a very important promotional tool for getting the word out about Lipton’s

new vending machines and products. We will add a new tab for Tea Garden on Lipton’s official

website. On this site customers will be able to find out about the benefits of drinking tea, our

environmentally friendly approach, the different flavors available, and where to locate a machine

near them. Also, we will promote Tea Garden on social networks, primarily on Facebook and

Twitter. Lipton already has a Facebook page that people can "like." Our marketing department

will create a page that focuses on our new product. Status updates will provide consumers with

very timely information about promotions we have going on at the time and where we will be

holding promotional events. This information will be available to our customers at their

fingertip. Also this is a way of getting word out and reaching a younger demographic. (See

Appendix …..)

  We will take a nontraditional approach on the promotion of our product. A portion of our

market will rely on information they receive from their peers who have tried beverages from Tea

Garden. We believe that customers will share their Tea Garden experience with those around

them after trying our product. Consumers will be able to upload videos about their experience

with our product on our website. Our marketing department will filter through the videos and

post the best ones on our official website, as well as on Facebook. In a sense our consumers will

be able to create their own commercials. We will also place ads in a variety of magazines in

order to reach our very diverse target markets. We will focus on healthy magazines, food

magazines, women magazines and sport magazines. We will place ads in Better Homes &

Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Midwest Living, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, Weight

Watchers, People, and Fitness magazines (Publications, 2005). (See Appendix …..)

We will hold events monthly at large facilities where we will have samples for game

goers. These events will be held at universities, YMCA’s, hospitals, offices, and hotels. After

introducing the machine we will hold several events to raise awareness about our product. After

we have a sufficient customer base we will focus on acquiring more. We will have booths at

large events. We will focus on sporting events since our “healthy” target market will be in

attendance. We will have booths at large football and soccer games at several universities in the

Saint Louis area (See Calendar). One of the most effective buzz marketing strategies, the taste

testing has been perfected in recent years by CSD giant PepsiCo. By increasing trial usage, we

feel that Lipton can dramatically raise brand awareness in the community. Furthermore, the new

towns that Lipton’s Tea Garden will be entering will be relatively close-knit, resulting in the

word-of-mouth advertising. We plan on hosting taste-testing events in conjunction with

community events. We will host events during the hot summer months, as well as festivals

during the colder times of the year. At these events, as well as Tea Garden locations, our

customers will be able to sign up for a reward program. By being part of the reward program

they will swipe their card every time they make a purchase. After making ten purchases they will

be receive a free cup of tea. We believe this will motivate customers to purchase more

frequently.

Regardless of where Tea Garden is placed, the efforts towards promotion are of greatest

importance. In almost any town or location, there are a notable number of potential Lipton tea

consumers. The goal is to turn these potential consumers into real customers through focused

promotion.

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