Activity 1: Rationale for Calmsun
Calmsun is a plant-based business that produces a variety of plant-based milk products from yogurt to
ice cream to flavoured milk products. The business id facing fierce competitions from other plant-
based competitors, who are already established and offer a range of flavours and forms of plant-based
milks from barista styles plant milk, dairy-free ice cream and yogurts.
The main aim of the business is to increase sales and they require research into the plant-based milk
market in the UK. The primary research collected by Calmsun states that demographic that needs to
be target by calmsun, the information is useful because it offers an insight into the average city
dwellers habits about plant-based milk products.
The secondary research provides calmsun with the incentives to promote itself because the UK’s
plant-based market is increasing rapidly, the plant-based market is worth £363m in 2020 and is
expected to double to £729m by 2025.
The marketing aim for the business will be increase brand awareness because the plant-based market
has two businesses (Oatley and Apro) dominating the market and Calmsun has to be able to penetrate
the market if it wants to generate high sales. Calmsun will use AIDA to intrigue and urge potential
customers to researcher more into the business, firstly I suggest that the business generates a slogan to
attract customers, i.e.” wow, must be calmsun” to show that only calmsun can produce quality milk.
Then interest potential customers with a viral marketing campaign that can include tutorials on how
calmsun milk is produced, tutorials on how to bake and cook with plant-based milk products etc. To
make customers desire calmsun products by building an emotional connection by showing how the
business is protecting animals and the environment. Finally, for action we will implement all the plans
into a full social media campaign and include billboards to attract customers that we may not be able
to catch on social media.
Aims and objectives:
- To increase brand awareness by gaining 10% of the plant-based milk market in the UK within
12 months of campaign launch.
- To gain 50,000 Instagram and YouTube followers by end of December 2022.
- To diversify into three main popular plant milk categories- Almond, Oats and Soya, 12
months before campaign launch.
Plant-based milk market:
Secondary research:
The plant-based market is growing rapidly in the UK, with soya being the first mass produced plant-
based milk. In the past years the UK has consumed multiple new plant-based products from almond,
coconut, oat and soya milk being the most common and main favoured. Plant-based is the main
alternative dairy product in the UK with a 75%, the other 25% of the market is plant-based ice cream,
yogurts, cheese and butter.
In 2020 roughly 25% of people in the UK were consuming plant-based milk compared to 19% in
2019. Furthermore, in the UK an estimated £363m was spent on plant-based milk and this is expected
to double providing an opportunity for Calmsun to penetrate the market early and satisfied itself as
main dominator in the plant-based market for the long-term, Calmsun sales should rise if the business
promotes its products and raised brand awareness in 2021.
The market is dominated by two main brands:
, Oatley: Is a Swedish food company that produces alternatives to dairy products from oats. Oatley in
the UK has surpassed almond and soy with 42% increase from 2020 to 2021. Moreover, 49% of the
plant-based milk growth in the UK was contributed by Oatley.
Oatley sells high volumes of their products due to the consumers emotional connection to the brand,
Oatley stated that its different from its competitors because it’s a “brand that aligns with my values”.
Finally, Oatley has gained a reputation for being authentic and sustainable by the general public.
Alpro compared to Oatley produces variety of products, from yogurts to ice cream, however their
main sales come from alternative products such as ice creams and yogurts rather than plant-based
milks. Calmsun produces mainly plant-based milks rather than ice-creams and yogurts, so we don’t
necessarily see Alpro as a threat to Calmsun compared to Oatley who only produces plant-based
milks.
Calmsun to compete with its Oatley and Alpro should produce a variety of plant-based milk products
and in a range of flavours. The main plant-based milk produced by Calmsun should be almond and
oats as the average UK spent an average over +£100 million on those two flavours alone.
Target market:
Secondary research:
Reports suggests that majority of plant-based milk is consumed by women compared to men, in
survey conducted by grocer 58% of women regularly consume plant-based milk in the UK compared
22% of men. Furthermore, individuals who didn’t consume plant milk for vegan reasons suggest that
it is for the following reasons:
- They cannot drink cows milk because they are lactose intolerant.
- They think plant-based milk is lower in calories than cow’s milk.
- They are against dairy farming.
A Mintel reported states that the shift in preference for plant-based milk can be due to the rise in
veganism, according to vegan society there were over 600,000 vegans in Britain, a rise from 150,000
in 2014. Furthermore, a Mintel report states that majority of 16-24-year olds who consumed plant-
based milk producers were the most likely to agree with the statement that dairy farming had a
negative impact on the environment.
Primary research:
Calmsun conducted a survey by questioning 100 people in the city centre on Tuesday from 2pm-6pm,
both genders were questioned and the ages ranged from 16-25, 26-35, 36- 45, 46-55, 56+.
The first questions asked was “How often do you consume plant-based milk or other non-dairy
products?”- from the response it shows that majority of 46-55 and 56+ consume plant-based milk
several times a week or every day. Furthermore, majority of survey responders stated that they chose
plant-based milk because they believe its healthier for them and that they believe dairy farming is bad
for the environment, the third highest response was the people preferred the taste over cows’ milk.
Reliability and validity of information:
The primary research collected has been conducted by Calmsun itself, meaning the information is
relevant to the business and is guarantees that the information collected is up-to-date and relevant to
market Calmsun is trying to increase sales in.
The secondary research conducted is reliable because the information collected are from news
websites such as the Guardian and BBC News. Majority of information based on segmentation has