Marketing Organic Chocolate Bars: IMC Strategy for Everyday
This paper presents a comprehensive marketing strategy for Everyday, a new line of organic chocolate candy bars designed to bridge the gap between mainstream non-organic candy and high-end organic alternatives. The paper covers the product's competitive positioning, pricing strategy, distribution channels, and integrated marketing communications (IMC) plan. It examines how advertising, direct marketing, and sales promotion can work together to build brand awareness and drive consumer adoption. The analysis draws on market data showing rapid growth in organic food sales and identifies a largely unmet opportunity to offer familiar flavors at more accessible price points.
- Introduction and Market Overview: Organic chocolate market size and growth opportunity
- Product Positioning and Competitive Advantage: Four Ps strategy and differentiation from organic rivals
- Integrated Marketing Communications Overview: IMC defined as holistic promotional approach
- Advertising Strategy: Research-backed findings on advertising channel effectiveness
- Direct Marketing and Sales Promotion: Direct mail, email, couponing, and sampling tactics
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper applies the classic four Ps framework (product, price, place, promotion) in a structured and practical way, making the strategy easy to follow.
- It grounds claims in specific market data — citing the $70.8 million organic chocolate market and projected 71% growth in organic food sales — lending credibility to the business rationale.
- The competitive differentiation argument is clearly stated: existing organic brands created designer flavors at premium prices, while Everyday replicates familiar mainstream candy bars at a mid-range price point.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied marketing analysis by systematically linking the integrated marketing communications (IMC) framework to specific channel decisions. Each IMC element (advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion) is defined and then evaluated in the context of the product's real constraints — lower margins, price-conscious consumers, and the need for broad distribution — rather than treated abstractly.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a market overview and product concept, moves into the four Ps strategy, and then shifts to a detailed IMC section. Each promotional tool is introduced with a definition, supported by cited research on effectiveness, and connected to Everyday's specific strategy. The paper ends mid-discussion of sales promotion, suggesting the source was truncated. Overall structure follows a standard marketing plan format appropriate for an undergraduate business course.
Introduction and Market Overview
The selected new product for development is a line of organic chocolate candy bars to be branded under the name Everyday. The organic chocolate market currently totals $70.8 million — just a small fraction of the overall chocolate market, which is approximately $6 billion in the United States alone (Organic chocolate booming in U.S.). Given that sales of organic foods are projected to increase by 71% from 2006 to 2011 (Knudson, 2007), the growth prospects for organic chocolate should be equally promising.
Rather than establishing a high-end brand like other organic candy companies — such as Dagoba, Green & Black, Lake Champlain, Chocolove, and Newman's Own — this organic chocolate product line will serve as a closer alternative to popular non-organic candy bars. Everyday candy bar varieties will mimic America's leading-selling candy bars: Snickers, Hershey's Chocolate, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and M&M's (Beirne, 2006). The company will position the product line as a healthier alternative to popular candy bars, offering the same beloved flavors while providing greater affordability and broader channel availability than current organic substitutes.
The overall goal is to increase both the number of consumers who embrace organic chocolates and the frequency with which they purchase them. With its lower price compared to high-end organic brands and its similarity to popular mainstream candy bars, Everyday should be able to capture a share of the larger chocolate market rather than remaining confined to the present niche market for organic chocolate.
Product Positioning and Competitive Advantage
Everyday's mission is to ensure that all foods — including widely consumed candy bars — are healthy, nutritious, desirable, and affordable. To fulfill this mission, Everyday will provide organic candy bars made entirely of natural ingredients, free of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, and offering the same flavor options as leading non-organic candy bars at only a slightly greater price. The strategy to achieve this mission centers on the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion.
Product: Like organic competitors, all Everyday products will be made with natural ingredients. However, unlike those competitors, the candy bar varieties will mirror America's best-selling candy bars — Snickers, Hershey's Chocolate, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and M&M's (Beirne, 2006) — rather than introducing unfamiliar designer flavors.
Price: To maximize affordability, the retail price will be set at $1.75 — a midpoint between non-organic candy bars, which sell for approximately $0.75, and high-end organic candy bars, which sell for between $2.50 and $4.00.
Place: Given lower profit margins, broad distribution will be critical to the product's success. Everyday will embrace the specialty and high-end food stores that organic chocolate companies currently focus on. However, unlike other organic chocolate products, Everyday will also pursue wide availability in supermarkets, drug stores, and mass merchandisers such as Walmart — acknowledging that buyers of organic food products are often price-conscious (Knudson, 2007).
Promotion: Promotional efforts will focus heavily on the retail channels that are central to the product's success. A strong presence in those channels is required to compensate for lower margins relative to other organic chocolate competitors.
Competitive Advantage: In most organic food categories, organic products differ from conventional ones primarily in their use of all-natural ingredients and sustainable growing techniques. Competitors such as Dagoba, Green & Black, Lake Champlain, Chocolove, and Newman's Own have largely focused on developing entirely new, designer-style flavors. While organic foods are priced higher than their conventional counterparts, organic candy bar makers have often tripled or quadrupled the price of a regular candy bar, putting them out of reach for many consumers. Everyday's competitive advantage lies in duplicating familiar non-organic candy bar options at a far more reasonable price point.
Integrated Marketing Communications Overview
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing. It considers the combined relevance of advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, publicity and public relations, and personal selling in order to deliver consistent and effective messages to consumers.
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