Cheerwine: Bold Enough

Integrated Marketing Communications Campaign

Tyler Blackshaw

Christina Carbone

Emily Farris

Danielle Turo

Rachel Warrick

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Main Issue:

Our campaign is going to address Cheerwine’s

weakness of brand awareness. Cheerwine is

available in much of the southeastern United States,

from West Virginia south to Florida; however, it is

not well-known across the country. Compared to

other soft drink companies, like Coca-Cola and

Pepsi, Cheerwine does not have a distinct product

campaign. Nor does Cheerwine advertise on

television. They have radio ads, but they are not

nationwide. We want to create a new awareness for

Cheerwine nationwide. We will work on a campaign

that allows Cheerwine to expand its market, as well

as creating recognition of its core values and history.

Target Market: Cheerwine is a sweeter tasting soda that would likely

best be marketed towards younger generations, who

have yet to make a decision on their soda preference.

The campaign will be based in the Northeast, just past

Pennsylvania, where Cheerwine currently tops out. The

ideal demographic would be to middle-class, 18-34 year olds, of all races. On

a psychographic level, consumers should have high family morals, possible

southern roots, and religious tenets. We plan to target heavy soda drinkers

who are not currently loyal to one drink, based off of behavioral segmentation

strategies.

This is an attractive segment for Cheerwine because a recent survey

conducted by Gallop.com showed Americans between the ages of 18 and 34

consume the most soda. This is also the age when most Americans are

starting to leave their parent’s homes and starting families of their own. With

this change comes the ability to make purchase decisions independently

from family influence. Based on a behavioral basis, consumers will most

likely have purchased soda in the past but on a wavering basis with no set

current preference.

Positioning Strategy: We will position our product based on attributes. Cheerwine offers consumers a refreshing

soft drink with a distinct cherry flavor. The company is the oldest family-owned soft drink,

dating back to 1917. The company is already making efforts to expand to allow customers

from across the United States to order the product online. The issue with their attempt is

that there is no awareness for this attribute. As a company with strong traditional roots,

Cheerwine has been able to stick to its original recipe while supplying diet and caffeine

varieties.

Our positioning statement will focus on tradition as well as bold flavor. These are two

attributes that we feel set our product apart from the rest. “Since 1917, Cheerwine has been

a family-owned soft drink company dedicated to providing customers with the most

refreshing, crisp, cherry soda on the market.” Competitors such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and

Dr. Pepper all position their product based on benefits. A lot of their marketing focuses on

feelings and experiences rather than taste and tradition. For example, Coca-Cola focuses

on “opening happiness,” with their “Share A Coke” campaign. Pepsi wants consumers to

“live for now,” as advertised through their celebrity endorser- Beyoncé. Dr. Pepper focuses

on individuality with “Always One of a Kind,” emphasizing that even though people are

different, they can collectively enjoy Dr.Pepper. We feel that our positioning strategy will set

Cheerwine apart and create a new market for the product.

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One Persuasion theory that will directly influence our campaign will be Robert Cialdini’s

persuasion tools. He identified six tools of persuasion that will play a role in the development

of our Integrated Marketing Communications campaign. The six tools are reciprocation,

commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

Reciprocation involves the idea that with a favor comes a favor. In order to play on this idea,

we will have to be honest and sincere with our customers. Consumers need to feel like they

are getting some benefits when they buy our product. An example of this could be to make

consumers feel like they are receiving tradition and the gift of refreshment in every sip of

Cheerwine. Commitment and consistency involves making sure that our consumers stay

faithful to our product. In order to do that, our campaign will need to remain consistent with a

solid message. We will use the ideas of tradition and taste throughout each one of our

marketing efforts. According to the text, consumers are most likely to remain consistent

when they are highly involved in the purchasing process. Social proof can be found in the

behavior and actions of society. The marketing campaign we develop for Cheerwine needs

to appeal to trendsetters and opinion leaders, who will show social proof to other potential

customers. We will be able to do this by appealing to young soda-drinkers from 18-34 years

old who have not made a decision about soda preference yet.

Application of Communication, Consumer Behavior and Persuasion Theories:

Continued…

From there, they will show social proof by consuming our product in public and

spreading a positive word of mouth message. The type of people that we would like

to promote our product will be young and interested in trying new things. Our target

market fits into this category. The authority figures we will use include peers and

parents. Some people in our target market may have children. If Cheerwine is kept

in the home, then through the household life cycle the next generation will be likely

to continue using Cheerwine. Liking is the idea that society is most likely to act if a

likeable person promotes the product. Two main domains that we will have to focus

on is attractiveness and similarity. We will be able to do this by using different types

of celebrities or people to promote the product. This will allow us to appeal to more

demographics. Most people respect the opinions of authoritative figures. The idea of

authority is that a company should also respect these figures and appeal to them.

Scarcity is the theory that items that are rare are more valued. Psychological

reactance helps explain why people react against any efforts to reduce their freedom

of choice. Cheerwine will use tactics to promote the distinct flavor of their soft drink

that cannot be found in any other beverage. This will make consumers feel like they

are missing out if they do not buy our product.

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Continued…

In order to ensure that potential customers learn and remember our product we

will utilize the consumer processing model. For Cheerwine, rather than using the

usual soft drink route of linking benefits we want to form concrete claims about our

cheery, bold taste. Part of the problem with rival companies is their inability to

describe the taste of their drinks. With Cheerwine, the cherry flavor is obvious and

distinctive and can be illustrated through various means. Repeating this

information with creative ads and billboards will expose customers to our brand on

a regular basis and build up their desire to try our product. The stage that will be

vital for us in being successful with this model will be the exposure stage.

Cheerwine is not the most well-known soft drink; therefore, we will need to

advertise on many mediums. We plan to utilize social media, television, radio, and

direct marketing in our IMC campaign. This will, in turn, increase the amount of

people who are exposed to our product, increasing awareness.

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Campaign Objectives: 1. Increase Cheerwine’s engagement with Generation Y from the Northeast through

social media (Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and Instagram followers) by January

2017.

• Facebook: Increase likes from 135,343 to 300,000

• Twitter: Increase followers from 5,411 to 10,000

• Instagram: Create account with following of approximately 5,000.

In order to achieve this objective, our Cheerwine campaign is going to have its own hash

tag, #boldenough. By having this hash tag, Cheerwine will be able to keep track of social

media engagement. We will be able to get Generation Y involved, and feel a part of the

campaign. The hash tag will be featured in all of our marketing efforts to encourage

Generation Y to become involved, just like the “Share a Coke” campaign. In order to

measure the social media engagement, we will be looking to see how many of our

followers are using the hash tag specific to our campaign. We will also look at the increase

of likes and followers we have. Just by logging onto our accounts, we will be able to see if

our following has increased or not.

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Campaign Objectives: DAGMAR

2. Cheerwine will increase brand awareness for Generation Y in the Northeast from

about *10% to 100% by January 2017.

*This is an estimation based on the amount of retailers that sell Cheerwine in the

Northeast. Cheerwine needs to conduct marketing research in order to quantify current

levels of brand awareness in the Northeast.

In order to measure this objective, Cheerwine will be conducting marketing research, to

see how brand awareness has grown. The marketing research we will be conducting is

aided awareness. After releasing the campaign, we will have to attend various functions

in the Northeast where we can survey Generation Y. This will help us see if they know

who we are as a company is. In our surveys, we will want to ask questions such as: Do

you know each one of these brands? Did you know each of the following brands were

soft drink companies?

Our entire IMC campaign will achieve this objective through our advertisements on

television and social media.

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Campaign Objectives: DAGMAR

3. Increase Cheerwine sales by Generation Y in the Northeast by

*65% by January 2017.

*Cheerwine needs to do market research to determine the current sales

level in the Northeast region.

-This objective will be achieved through launching our campaign and

creating greater brand awareness. We will need to collect measurement

scanner panel data from all our retailers and distributors to determine

changes in sales volume. Our efforts to create brand awareness will

inspire people to go out and try our brand.

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Message Strategy:

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!Source: The source for our campaign will be the Tonight’s Show host Jimmy

Fallon. We feel that he is the perfect fit for the values and audience

our company wants to appeal to. His personality is captivating, and

his comedy is something our target audience generally enjoys. The

origin of Cheerwine’s name also relates to Fallon’s personality.

Cheerwine’s name came from the drinks burgundy color and the

cheerfulness drinkers experience after that first sip, similarly to the

feeling one gets after drinking wine. Fallon has a cheerful, bubbly

personality that is easily relatable to Cheerwine. As a family man

himself, Fallon also ties into the message of tradition. He is also

based out of New York City, an area

that we are attempting to reach. As an

icon in the North, we feel he is the

best fit for our campaign.

Message: Have Jimmy Fallon participating in various “southern” activities

such as attending country concerts, driving pick up trucks,

standing in a crowd at a NASCAR race, and dressed in bow ties

and pastels at an outdoor party. The entire time he seems

completely out of his element. At the end of the commercial he is

back in New York City visibly enjoying a nice cold Cheerwine

where he states, “Some things should stay in the South, others

shouldn’t. Cheerwine, bold enough for the North”

We believe this message will be effective in reaching our

northern audience because it takes a well-known and respected

figure and puts him in humorous situations. The commercial

pokes fun at the South but makes it known that Cheerwine can

be universally accepted and enjoyed. This ties in the products

routes while also appealing to a new target market.

Channel: The main media channels that Cheerwine will be advertised on are: ABC, NBC, and

CBS. We will air the commercial from the hours of 5 p.m. to Midnight. The reason for

this is because our target audience, 18 to 34 years old, generally watches television

during this time. This may be the only time that they have to relax and watch television

after a long day of work or school.

Because Cheerwine’s new spokesperson is Jimmy Fallon, we will ensure to have

Cheerwine on his desk during his show, as well as the preferred refreshment for his

guests. This will be a great tool as celebrities from all over will be using and endorsing

the product during The Tonight Show.

We will also utilize social media in our campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

After our campaign is launched we will implement the hash tag #boldenough to get our

product trending. It is important that we use social media to reach our audience

because Generation Y is the most technologically advanced. According to Forbes

Magazine 70 percent of Generation Y check their phones at least once every hour.

Additionally, Jimmy Fallon has a public of almost 16 million followers on Twitter and 3.8

million followers on Facebook.

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Target: The signs and symbols in the commercial all relate to things

that are considered southern. The country music concert,

NASCAR, pick up trucks, and preppy clothing will all be easily

connected to the South. Jimmy Fallon, a known northerner,

experiencing these events will create a link between the target

market and our commercial. At the end when he finally enjoys

his Cheerwine out of the glass bottle, northerners will

understand that even they can enjoy the great southern taste

of Cheerwine.