1. Analyze Bel Brand’s current situation in the U.S. market? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the brand?

Bel Brand is currently in a downward sales trend after the South Beach Diet craze ended in 2006. Before this diet became popular, Bel Brand applied a global “one size fits all” marketing campaign promoting wholesome family values and a passion for providing nutrition. They wish to somehow reinstall such values into their brand image while trying to differentiate themselves from the flood of other United States cheese brands using a similar family-oriented approach.

Some of their current strengths include an increased brand awareness resulting from the South Beach Diet craze. This provides the Bel Brand with credibility in the health food industry, thus presenting Laughing Cow with an opportunity to leverage their healthy image to appeal towards a larger audience of health-conscious Americans. Weaknesses however, include Bel’s declining market share (5%) and intense competition in United States cheese industry. Competitors such as Kraft and Sargento are currently using their traditional method of stressing family-oriented products and wholesome values. Now, Bel Brand finds itself in a situation where they need to act quickly to make some repositioning decisions.

2. Consider each of the 3 positioning alternatives described in the case and list several strengths and weaknesses of each alternative.

The first alternative is to position the brand in a manner consistent with its European heritage as a family staple strongly associated with children’s needs in order to align the United States with the overarching global positioning. Strengths to this alternative include a streamlined advertising approach across all markets, which could solidify a global brand image and save on advertising costs. Also, this would allow Bel to remain true to their wholesome