Mobtown Fermentation’s Wild Kombucha Project

PROJECT 1: Regional Analysis for Wild Kombucha Expansion

SYNOPSIS

PROJECT PROCESS

PART 1: Analyze & Rank Cities within 150 miles of Baltimore

In order to decide which markets are best for Wild Kombucha, they need help analyzing the cities within their reach. They need help better understanding the market size, the relevant demographics, and the competitive landscape.

Milestone Deliverable – Due on November 1st:
Prepare an expansion analysis detailing out a diverse set of factors that are relevant to Mobtown’s needs and goals. This can be done in the form of a scorecard or any other method the team determines appropriate to clearly communicate benefits and drawbacks of various cities in the region.

PART 2: Launch Strategy

Once you’ve decided on the next city for Wild Kombucha, Mobtown would like help with the product launch plan. These plans typically revolve around marketing, sales, and distribution. They know they will ultimately need to create some buzz around their product and brand. They also want to consider the different types of influential people, places, and events that exist so that they can leverage them as part of the plan. They need to know estimated costs of the suggested launch, what resources are required, and ultimately how they should ultimately be measuring the effectiveness of the plan in both the short and long term.

Milestone Deliverable – Due on December 1st:
Prepare a Launch Strategy for Mobtown and be sure to include all the information requested in the prompt. This list of suggested items is not exhaustive so think through any additional information that will be useful to Mobtown as they prepare a launch strategy.

PROJECT 2: Existing Customer Growth

SYNOPSIS

In order to for Mobtown to continue growing, they need to increase their market share through expanding their relationships with existing customers.In order to do this, they need to better understand their customers and distribution channels. This project requires interviewing existing customers and distributors about the product so they can learn more about the relevant consumer preferences. They would like to collect as much feedback as possible, including metrics around customer satisfaction, customer retention, product enhancements, and product developments. This will also include an assessment of the competitive landscape so Mobtown Fermentation can better understand how they’re positioned and performing compared to their closest competitors.

PROJECT PROCESS

PART 1: Distribution & Sales Mapping

The first step is to learn more about their current sales mix.

• Who are Mobtown customers?
• Is this different from their consumer?
• What percentage of their products are being sold direct-to-consumer vs. wholesale vs. other methods?
• What do the margins look like under these different arrangements?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on September 30th:
Provide a detailed report about Mobtown’s sales and channel mix. Define their customers and analyze their industry to determine if there is anything they should be doing in addition to their current efforts. Make sure to look at this through the lens of growing customer accounts, this will be used in part during the final presentation.

PART 2: Contacting Wholesale Clients

Mobtown wants you to help gauge how they are performing compared to similar products in the region. For example, how are the yoga studios moving Kombucha compared to the cafés? How are cafés in Baltimore doing compared to similar facilities in DC? How is the Kombucha selling compared to other similar brands? Understanding the general perceptions around performance will allow them to understand the types of stores they should be targeting for growth.

Milestone Deliverable – Due on October 15th:
Conduct a competitive & comparative analysis for Kombucha sales at various distribution points to help target stores to sell their product with optimal sales potential.

PART 3: Understanding End Customers

Mobtown wants help better understanding their end users:

• They want to know who’s buying their product and from what channels/stores? They want to learn more about the demographics of their end consumer and how they feel about the product so far.
• What flavors do they enjoy the most?
• Do they share the product with others? If so, who?
• When are they usually drinking the product?

They are ultimately looking to learn more about the fine details when it comes to customers purchasing and consumption habits.

Milestone Deliverable – Due on November 15th:
Conduct user research and help Mobtown understand flavor profiles, customer needs, pricing and sales channels. Aim to interview at least 20 people for this analysis. Synthesize and consolidate your research and use this analysis to create a comprehensive customer profile / persona for Mobtown to leverage.

PART 4: Additional Channels & Marketing

Are there stores/locations or other distribution channels that Mobtown hasn’t tapped into yet that would be a good fit for their product? In order to saturate the market, they need to better understand what’s out there. Also, they want help assessing their current marketing mix to see how they can improve within their existing region. Are there influencer’s, events, or other customer engagement strategies that they can be using that may help with their local growth strategy?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on December 15th:
Using the research conducted, provide Mobtown with an analysis of additional channels and marketing opportunities to help them grow their business. This involves a current state analysis and future state ideal vision for the ideal marketing mix and channels.

PROJECT 3: New Product Development

SYNOPSIS

Mobtown plans to release a new product in early 2018 called Café Maté. A Maté is a cold tea beverage that’s different from their original core kombucha product. Mobtown is looking to analyze their competitors, identifying ideal customer segments and distribution strategies, and assess ways to launch their new product within the most ideal markets. Unlike their Kombucha, this product will not require refrigeration since it’s not a probiotic. It’s a caffeinated alternative to sugary coffee-based drinks like the Starbucks Latte you can buy off the shelf. With this product, the company is much more flexible with distribution, though they certainly want to leverage their existing distribution network and relationships as they think through their strategy.

PROJECT PROCESS

PART 1: Product Positioning

Help Mobtown position its new product by thinking through the following:

• What are the different ways Mobtown can position their new product?
• Is this a premium product?
• What type of packaging makes the most sense?
• What types of products will they be competing with?
• Who should Mobtown target with their trendy, ready-to-drink tea/coffee beverage?
• Will this new product potentially cannibalize their existing product? Why or why not?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on September 30th:
Provide a detailed report about how Mobtown’s can position its new product in the marketplace by conducting an analysis on the consumer demand for such a product, potential packaging and the type of person that it should be targeted toward. Additionally, provide a perspective on the potential cannibalization of sales given the new product that is coming to market, and discuss how to mitigate against this.

PART 2: Production & Sourcing

Mobtown Fermentation is planning to have this produced by a third party. In order to do this, they need to find a co-packing facility with the capacity to produce carbonated tea in glass bottles. What are their options? Also, they need to source organic tea, organic sugar, and a few other ingredients to produce this product. What are their best options for bulk sourcing these ingredients?

They also need help identifying the unit economics with different available co-packers:

• How much should they produce in their first order?
• How much will it cost per unit to produce?
• How much will they be able to sell the product for?
• What will be the expected margin on the product at different levels of scale?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on October 15th:
Provide an analysis around Production & Sourcing of the new product to help Mobtown understand the unit economics of different available co-packers. Additionally, Mobtown is looking for potential options to select from for their product, given the requirements described above, provide Mobtown with options to consider for the production of the product by a third party.

PART 3: Stores & Distribution

• What are the different go-to-market strategies for this new product?
• What types of Stores and Distributors should they be targeting?
• Which of their existing distribution/retailer relationships should they try to leverage for their new product?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on November 15th:
Help Mobtown establish a go-to-market strategy for the product given your research and analysis in the prior parts of the project. Focus on new and existing avenues to enter the market, provide a perspective on which stores would be most ideal and why. Mobtown needs to understand the most optimal and least costly way to approach distribution of its new product.

PART 4: Launch Party

Mobtown wants your help thinking through the different ways they could officially launch their Maté beverage. They want to make their new product exciting and modern. They also want it to feel trendy and tie it to the pop culture scene:

• What different ways are there to launch the product?
• How much would an effort like that cost?
• What would be the potential impact?

Milestone Deliverable – Due on December 15th:
Help Mobtown come up with a plan to have a Launch Party to advertise and market the launch of its new product. They want the launch to attract lots of people and ensure key stakeholders are present to enjoy the launch. Provide an analysis of the cost and impact of having the Launch Party and the best way to approach this event in terms of location, logistics, food & beverage. Additionally, provide Mobtown with ideas on how to make the Launch Party geared toward a hip and trendy crowd.