Kingsford Charcoal Case Summary
Kingsford Charcoal
Brand managers Marcilie Smith Boyle (HBS MBA Class of 1996) and Allison Warren were getting together for their weekly Kingsford Charcoal ("Kingsford") debriefing meeting in February 2001 at Clorox's corporate offices in Oakland, CA. As the job-sharing brand managers for the $350 million charcoal business, Smith Boyle and Warren had a lot to discuss during their Wednesday "overlap" day. Both women were assigned to the brand in July 2000, just as it became apparent that the summer results were going to come in below forecast. Since the 1980s, Kingsford had continued to enjoy steady, moderate growth of 1-3 percent in revenues each year. During this time, the charcoal category as a whole had been growing as well. However the summer of 2000 represented the first softening in the overall charcoal category in several years, and Smith Boyle and Warren were tasked with determining the causes and coming up with recommendations.
As the team analyzed various trends relating to competition, pricing, advertising, promotion, and production, Smith Boyle and Warren were faced with a series of critical strategic decisions that …show more content…
They started by hiring a third Marketing Management Analytics ("MMA"), to analyze the effects of advertising on Kingsford sales in past years. MMA's analysis of 1998 spending indicated that TV advertising drove a 7 percent incremental volume increase in targeted markets in 1998, and the benefits accrued in 1999 as well with an estimated 3-4 percent volume increase from the residual impact of advertising. Based on the data provided by MMA's marketing mix analysis, Smith Boyle and Warren believed that Kingsford should be spending at least $7 million on advertising during the peak grilling season of April-September. They knew it would be difficult to get those funds, but they believed that "base volume would continue to erode if Kingsford didn't start advertising
Brand managers Marcilie Smith Boyle (HBS MBA Class of 1996) and Allison Warren were getting together for their weekly Kingsford Charcoal ("Kingsford") debriefing meeting in February 2001 at Clorox's corporate offices in Oakland, CA. As the job-sharing brand managers for the $350 million charcoal business, Smith Boyle and Warren had a lot to discuss during their Wednesday "overlap" day. Both women were assigned to the brand in July 2000, just as it became apparent that the summer results were going to come in below forecast. Since the 1980s, Kingsford had continued to enjoy steady, moderate growth of 1-3 percent in revenues each year. During this time, the charcoal category as a whole had been growing as well. However the summer of 2000 represented the first softening in the overall charcoal category in several years, and Smith Boyle and Warren were tasked with determining the causes and coming up with recommendations.
As the team analyzed various trends relating to competition, pricing, advertising, promotion, and production, Smith Boyle and Warren were faced with a series of critical strategic decisions that …show more content…
They started by hiring a third Marketing Management Analytics ("MMA"), to analyze the effects of advertising on Kingsford sales in past years. MMA's analysis of 1998 spending indicated that TV advertising drove a 7 percent incremental volume increase in targeted markets in 1998, and the benefits accrued in 1999 as well with an estimated 3-4 percent volume increase from the residual impact of advertising. Based on the data provided by MMA's marketing mix analysis, Smith Boyle and Warren believed that Kingsford should be spending at least $7 million on advertising during the peak grilling season of April-September. They knew it would be difficult to get those funds, but they believed that "base volume would continue to erode if Kingsford didn't start advertising