Memorandum
Date: October 11, 2012
To: Professor Elliott Maltz
From: Marketing MBA Student
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Re: Launching a national Italian sausage brand for Saxonville Sausage Company
Potential Value Proposition
For close family members and friends of Saxonville Sausage, “The Family Company”, can offer the highest quality, easy- to-cook meal solution that every member of your family will love and will be able to prepare in many gourmet ways; because unlike our competitors, our sausage is produced and delivered to your local grocer fresh and ready for your favorite Italian meal.

I. Facts of the Case A. General Market Facts 1. 1.5 Billion in 2005 Revenues 2. Top 3 Brand Products in Revenues: Bratwurst, 70%, Breakfast Sausage, 20%, and Italian “Vivio” Sausage, 5% 3. Competitors: Billy Bob and Country Home. Both are national giants who are only frozen producers, not fresh 4. Vivio brand, 5% of revenue and increasing, is only available in nation’s grocers in Boston, N. J., N.Y., Maryland, and S.C. B. Psychographic and Behavioral Market Facts 1. Female Head-of-Household Longing for childhood simplicity; wherein, a meal could bring the family together at the dinner table 2. Having the “Ideal”: living a productive, hectic lifestyle, preparing wholesome healthy meals that every member of the family would love, creatively cooking meals differently each time and finding the right balance between an evening’s meal preparation, time and skill. C. Ann Banks’ Mandate 1. Launching a national Italian sausage brand for Saxonville Sausage to achieve its profit objectives for the next fiscal year, which requires a never-before marketing research team and tactical options to “position" the brand Vivio. 2. Possibly changing the brand name Vivio to a more fitting Italian name, in order to compete in the industry brand leader category II. Critical Issue
As a result of declining revenues in product categories, missing marketing research data, and realizing no growth potential within top two product lines, Ann Banks, the new product marketing director of Saxonville Sausage Company, is pressured to save the company by revamping its marketing direction and promoting the 5% line presently called Vivio, a budding growth option. III. Alternatives 1. Family Connection Concept : Crowd-pleasing favorite that brings the family together 2. Love Concept: Making your “Labor of love” efforts in the kitchen feel less like labor and more like love 3. Balance Concept: Balance the demands of your everyday life without cutting corners 4. Creating Cooking Concept: Simply add your own personal touch to create meals that make any day a little special. IV. Recommendation
The winner of the two final concepts should be “Family Connection”, because the concept tested 81 to 72 over “Clever Cooking.” A family-based campaign is very logical choice, because all the category brands of Italian sausage are synonymous with the Italian family’s lifestyle and tradition: 1) large family gatherings 2) laughter 3) kisses to the face and 4) delicious food to share with the entire community. If Saxonville’s “Family Connection” advertisement campaign runs successfully first, the consumers will continue to purchase Vivio even if other sausage companies impersonate the original concept. Overall, the Saxonville’s sausage brand should allude to high family values from our childhood when our father arrived home in time for dinner every evening, when our mothers always made sure we had a home-cooked meal and, most importantly, when we all felt comfortable sharing tidbits about our day.