A Study On Effectiveness Of Marketing Strategies Adopted By Meriiboy Ice

Creams, Ernakulam
Project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree
of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

OF

BANGALORE UNIVERSITY

By

GIBIN BABY

Reg. No: 18YUCMD061

Under the guidance of

PROF.M.VISWANATHAN

PROFESSOR

ACHARYA BANGALORE B-SCHOOL

Bangalore University

2019-2020

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DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT

I hereby declare that “A Study On Effectiveness Of Marketing Strategies Adopted By Meriiboy

Ice Creams, Ernakulam” is the result of the project work carried out by me under the guidance of
Prof.M.Viswanathan in partial fulfillment for the award of Master’s Degree in Business
Administration by Bangalore University.

I also declare that this project is the outcome of my own efforts and that it has not been submitted
to any other university or Institute for the award of any other degree or Diploma or Certificate.

Place: Bangalore Name : Gibin Baby

Date:17.12.2019 Register Number: 18YUCMD061

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Table of Contents
CHAPTER NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO

1 INTRODUCTION 7

2 PROFILE OF ORGANIZATION 14

3 DESIGN OF PROJECT REPORT 24

4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 33

5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS,CONCLUSION 50
AND SUGGESTIONS

List of Tables

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

Bibliography

3
LIST OF TABLES

Table No Description Page No

4.1 Most Preferred promotional scheme 33

4.2 Feature Affecting Customer Perception 34

the Most

4.3 Promotional Activity And Influence of 35

sales

4.4 Promotional Activity In Retaining The 36

Customers

4.5 Promotional Activity And Competitors 37

4.6 Most Influential Factor of Sales 38

4.7 Communication of Promotional 39

Scheme

4.8 Challenge During Sales Promotion 40

4.9 Effect of New Advertisement Campaign 41

4.10 Attractive Part Of Advertisement 42

Campaign

4.11 Tagline And Increment of Sales 43

4.12 Brand Ambassador And Increment of 44

Sales

4.13 AD Campaign And Competitors 45

4.14 AD Campaign And Improvement 45

4.15 Promotional Activity And Improvement 46

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LIST OF FIGURES/GRAPHS

Figure No. Description Page No.

Graph 1 Most Preferred promotional scheme 33

Graph 2 Feature Affecting Customer Perception the Most 34

Graph 3 Promotional Activity And Influence of sales 35

Graph 4 Promotional Activity In Retaining The Customers 36

Graph 5 Promotional Activity And Competitors 37

Graph 6 Most Influential Factor of Sales 38

Graph 7 Communication of Promotional Scheme 39

Graph 8 Challenge During Sales Promotion 40

Graph 9 Effect of New Advertisement Campaign 41

Graph 10 Attractive Part Of Advertisement Campaign 42

Graph 11 Tagline And Increment of Sales 43

Graph 12 Brand Ambassador And Increment of Sales 44

Graph 13 AD Campaign And Competitors 45

Graph 14 AD Campaign And Improvement 45

Graph 15 Promotional Activity And Improvement 46

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for
selling that product or service. It can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of
processes for creating, delivering and communicating value to customers and managing customer
relationships in ways that also benefit the organization and its shareholders. Marketing is the
science of choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as
understanding consumer buying behaviour and providing superior customer value.

Today's marketing executives and managers give importance to sales promotion activities because
this promotion activity plays an important role in modern world. TV advertisements can attract a
lot of customers especially in ice cream industry so that promotion activity also laces an important
role. Sales promotion is very useful to introduce new product and also for the existing product in
market. Sale promotion encourage the existing customer to buy and use more product than usual,
they buy the additional product during promotion period to take the advantage of sale promotion
scheme.

An advertisement is very crucial for new and existing products, service or idea in the market. If
advertisement of any concern product or service’s done properly at a right place, through right
media, and within a specific time constraint, can attract customers. This helps to capture the market
and increase sale of advertiser

Some of the points to be studied under this topic are:

 Various sales promotion activities of Meriiboy ice creams and its effectiveness.
 Advertisement campaign and its attractiveness
 How sales promotion activities giving advantage to Meriiboy ice creams
 To find out the sales promotion activities in sales
 Problems which formed during as part of sales promotion
 After effects of new advertisement campaign
 Response about the new tagline used in the advertisement campaign.

The Evolution of Ice Cream

Ice cream's origins are known to reach back as far as the second century B.C., although no
specific date of origin or inventor has been undisputedly credited with its discovery. We
know that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar.
Biblical references also show that King Solomon was fond of iced drinks during harvesting.
During the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-86) frequently sent runners into
the mountains for snow, which was then flavored with fruits and juices.Over a thousand

7
years later, Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that closely
resembled what is now called sherbet. Historians estimate that this recipe evolved into ice
cream sometime in the 16th century. England seems to have discovered ice cream at the
same time, or perhaps even earlier than the Italians. "Cream Ice," as it was called, appeared
regularly at the table of Charles I during the 17th century. France was introduced to similar
frozen desserts in 1553 by the Italian Catherine de Medici when she became the wife of
Henry II of France. It wasn't until 1660 that ice cream was made available to the general
public. The Sicilian Procopio introduced a recipe blending milk, cream, butter and eggs at
Café Procope, the first café in Paris.

WORLD SCENARIO
The annual world trade in milk products (excluding intra-EU) amounts to 33million tons,
valued at US$ 10 billion. Barely 6 to 7% of the world milk Production is traded
internationally. The bulk of the world dairy trade is in Cheese, Butter and Powders. A
growing shift towards cheese is expected in the near future. Two dynamic products with a
substantial projected growth in the coming years are yoghurt and dessert.The international
dairy trade is dominated by four players - EU, New Zealand, Australia and USA - which
together account for 85% of all exports. New Zealand and Australia export as much as 80
and 50% of their milk production respectively. The Asia-Pacific region has been and will
remain a net milk importer in the foreseeable future. It accounts for the bulk of milk powder
imports and half of the imports of condensed and evaporated milk. In contrast, most cheese
imports go from developing countries to developed countries such as Japan and the United
States.The dairy industry is regulated in most countries through various ways. Imports are
commonly restricted, and exports frequently subsidized. High dairy price supports in many
countries are put in place to stimulate production to the extent that subsidies for exports are
necessitated to maintain domestic dairy programs.

In the United Kingdom, all the milk produced by farmers is procured by the cooperatives.
Private dairies are required to buy their milk requirement from cooperatives. New Zealand
has no private sector dairy plants. As many as 90 Percent of dairies in the erstwhile West
Germany and 100 per cent in Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden are in the cooperative
sector.

8
In the United States, 70 per cent of the dairy industry is cooperative. Dairy programs are
subject to more Government participation or regulation than most other domestic
agricultural industries in the USA. There are also Federal Milk Marketing Orders and
movement barriers in the USA for “orderly marketing control, which is associated with
stabilizing fluid milk prices, providing secure and dependable markets for individual dairy
farmers, primarily for the fluid market and improving the balance of market power between
farmers and handlers.In the emerging liberalized global scenario, trade-distorting
agricultural policies have been the focus of the GATT multilateral trade negotiations. With
the liberalization of agricultural trade under the new GATT regime, the heavysubsidies
prevalent in the dairy sector in the countries of the EU as well as in the USA will have to be
brought down in the next few years. The competitive advantages of the Indian dairy industry
are then considered to be substantial.with substantial and continued investment in building
up milk production, India can emerge as a major exporter of dairy products and technologies
in the next few decades.

INDIAN SCENARIO
Ice cream industry occupies important place in India. It is one of the consumer goods
industries its products is important popular diet. India is an agriculture-based country
because of the large number of cattle and large milk production most of the dairy and ice-
cream industries has developed and India is well ranked in the world. Ice cream industry has
brought magnificent change in the rural economy. It provides employment to the marginal
farmers. Today the competition in ice-cream of players like Amul, Kwalitywalls,Vadilal etc.
as ice cream has been a regular edible item the consumption of ice cream is more. In 1983
when Indian Government Issued a control in which the certain price level was fixed. It has
an important role in employment generation and reducing the migration of villagers towards
the town and cities for live hood.

India has one of the largest livestock populations in the world. Fifty percent of the buffaloes
and twenty percent of the cattle in the world are found in India, most of which are milk cows
and buffaloes. Dairy development in India has been acknowledged the world over as one of
modern India’s most successful developmental program. Today, India is the largest milk
producing country in the world. Milk and milk products is rated as one of the most promising
sectors which deserves appreciation in a big way. When the world milk production registered
9
a negative growth of 2 percent, India performed much better with 4 percent growth. The
total milk production is over 72 million tons and the demand for milk is estimated at around
80 million tons.By 2005, the value of Indian dairy produce is expected to be Rs. 1,000,000
million. In the last six years foreign investment in this sector stood at Rs. 3600 million which
is about one fourth of the total investment made in this sector. Manufacture of casein and
lactose, largely being imported presently, has good scope. The milk surplus states in India
are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The manufacturing of milk products is concentrated in these
milk surplus States.

Theoretical Concepts

Marketing Strategy

A strategy is a plan that integrates an organization’s major goals, policies, decisions and
sequences of action into a cohesive whole. It can apply at all levels in an organization and
pertain to any of the functional areas of management. Thus there may be production,
financial, marketing, personnel and corporate strategies, just to name a few. If we look
specifically at marketing then there may be pricing, product, promotion, distribution,
marketing research, sales, advertising, merchandising, etc. strategies. Strategy is concerned
with effectiveness rather than efficiency and is the process of analysing the environment and
designing the fit between the organization, its resources and objectives and the environment.
The strategic process refers to the manner in which strategy is formulated. There are several
approaches. First, the rational approach, making use of tools such as SWOT analysis and
portfolio models. Second, the flexible approach, which employs multiple scenario planning.
The creative approach reflects the use of imagination in planning. The behavioural approach
reflects the influence of power, politics and personalities. And finally, the incremental
approach is based on small adjustments or changes to previously successful strategies.

1.According to Munuera & Rodriguez,the term stratergic marketing means “ A methodology

of analysis which pretends the knowledge of customers needs and the forecast of potential
options ( ours and competitors) in order to gain competitive advantage in a long term (
sustainable ) and defendable”.2.According to McDonald ,the term “marketing strategy”
reflects the company’s best opinion as to how it can most profitably apply its skills and
resources to the marketplace. It is inevitable broad in scope. Marketing strategies are the

10
means by which a company achieves its marketing objectives and are usually concerned with
the 4 p’s”. 3.According to Jain, “Strategic marketing means looking at the whole of a
company’s portfolio of products and markets, and managing the portfolio to achieve the
company’s overall goals”.4.According to Bradley, “ A marketing strategy consists of an
internationally integrated but externally focused set of choices about the organisation
addresses its customers in the context of a competitive environment”.5.According to
Bennet," the process of planning and executing the conception , pricing , promotion and
distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and
organizational goals."

Factors Influencing Marketing Strategies

Marketing is also about managing relationships. In order to persuade the ultimate consumers
of the products to buy, others concerned with the product have to be persuaded that what is
on offer will satisfy customers’ wants and needs. The chain of persuasion can stretch right
back into the organization itself and involve employees of the company.The 21st century is
seeing the development of strategic alliances and networks where firms work together
towards shared goals and collaborate in their operations. Managing such relationships
productively is almost certainly the key to success or failure.Marketing strategy account the
following factors:

1. The opening and closing of strategic windows

2. The impact of market drivers
3. The nature of competition in the market place
4. The stage of the market or industry life cycle.
5. The assets and skills that a firm possesses or can readily acquire/access. Cognisance of
all five of these factors is essential if effective long-term marketing strategies are to be
evolved which will lead to a firm securing a strategic competitive advantage in
industries or product markets.

EVOLVING MARKETS AND STRATEGIC WINDOWS

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Strategic windows arise as a result of market evolution. Markets are not static unchanging
entities but change substantially in nature over time. There are different ways in which a market
can evolve, they are:

• The development of new primary demand.

• The emergence of new competing technologies which cannibalize existing ones.

• Market redefinition.

• Creation of new industries and markets.

• Entry of new highly competitive firms to an industry.

• The changing structure of the retail trade and its impact on supplying firms.

• Impact of substitute products on an industry.

• Timing of withdrawal from a market.

• Managing products in times of high inflation or conditions of economic uncertainty.

STRATEGIC MARKET MANAGEMENT

Strategies have to be developed and implemented as part of the business management process.
Most firms do have some form of regular cyclical planning. However, in an era of rapidly
changing business environments such as those being experienced in the 21st century, the cyclical
planning process does face many problems.Strategic market management is motivated by the
assumption that the planning cycle is inadequate to deal with the rapid rate of change that can
occur in a firm’s external environment. To cope with strategic surprises and fast-developing
threats and opportunities, strategic decisions need to be precipitated and made outside the
planning cycle.It is useful to have a real time information system rather than periodic continuous
monitoring of the environment. In addition, efforts to develop strategic flexibility are likely to be
helpful. The latter involves strategic options that allow quick and appropriate responses to
sudden changes in the environment. An important dimension to strategic market management is
to be proactive rather than simply reactive to environmental change. The firm can itself bring
about change in the environment. It is possible to make a sizeable impact on governmental
policies, customer needs and technological developments. The goal is to develop market-driven
strategies that are sensitive to the customer.

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CHAPTER TWO

PROFILE OF THE
COMPANY

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HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Cousins group was founded by five closely related families in the year of 1990. We began our
business venture by introducing plastic moulded furniture in Kerala. Over the years cousins
group has diversified into several areas like plastic moulding, Ice-cream etc. Today Cousins
group is a fast growing conglomerate having strength of over 250 employees. Meriiboy Ice-
cream is a division of Cousins group that started operations in the year 2003. The first factory
was started near Kalady in consultation with Tetra Pak Hoyer, Denmark. As a part of market
expansion, they setup our 2nd factory at Calicut in 2006 and 3rd factory at Trivandrum in 2010.
Thus they have been able to cater the demand for Ice cream all over Kerala. They also have
markets in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Today with the help of state of the art machines and
world class production techniques we produce 5 million litres of ice cream ever year. They
always ensure the use of quality raw materials produced by reputed organizations. They are
proud a full-fledged laboratory to test raw materials as well as finished products. Another
striking feature of their factories is cleanliness and hygiene. They completely understand and
appreciate the sensitive nature of our product and hence always emphasize, on cleanliness.

They have an expert management and production team who ensure that world class practices are
followed. Every employee joining their organisation is trained to be in line with our norms. Thus
Meriiboy ice-cream promise to provide best quality ice cream at affordable prices.

Meriiboy ice cream gives importance to quality from sourcing raw materials to delivery of
finished goods. An innovative brand which tries to create trends in the ice cream industry. Some
of the innovative concepts developed by Meriiboy are Ice creams in real fruit shells, Fresh fruit
ice creams, Milk lolly etc. New products are developed as a result of continuous R & D. The
drive for excellence has led the organisation to become a market leader and was able to drive
away the stiff competition initiated by multinationals. Brand which started with the vision of
providing quality ice cream has grown from a factory which manufactured 600 litres a day to 4
factories produced a combined volume of 1000 litres a day.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name of the company MERIBOY ICE CREAMS

(SUPREME FOOD INDUSTRIES)
Chelmattom.Website:
www.meriiboy.com
Date of incorporation 2003

Place Chelamattom

District Ernakulum

State Kerala

Country India

Type of organization Private organization

Nature of organization Partnership Firm

Nature of product Manufactured

No.of employees 70 Employees

Production capacity 6000 liters

Exporting products to: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

Major competitors Amul, Lazza, Pappai, Uncle John

VISION STATEMENT
 The Supreme Food Industries (Meriiboy Ice cream Company) has a great vision of
becoming a leader of fast moving consumer goods and products. Its vision is to provide
total customer satisfaction through continuous improvement in production in process and
services.

MISSION STATEMENT
 The mission of the company is to deliver high quality food products that set themselves
apart from others in taste and value.

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PRODUCTS OF THE COMPANY
Meriiboy ice creams (derived from earlier iced cream or cream ice) is obtained from milk and
milk products having the butter fat and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and
flavours, while most of the companies using edible oil as the fat. Natural flavourings and
colourings are used in addition to other. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made
with other sweeteners. The mixture of chosen ingredients is stirred slowly while cooling, in order
to incorporate air and to prevent large ice crystals from forming. The result is smoothly textured
semi-solid foam that is malleable and can be scooped.

Meriiboy ice creams are available at various flavours' like Vanilla, Strawberry, Orange,
Pineapple, Coffee, Lemon Delight, Guava, Pista, Alphonso Mango, Butterscotch, Spanish
Delight, Chocolate, Black Currant etc.

The products of Meriiboy ice creams are classified as follows:

 SUNDAE
The sundae is a sweet ice cream dessert. It typically consists of one or more scoops of ice
cream topped with sauce or syrup, and in some cases other toppings including sprinkles,
whipped cream, maraschino cherries, or other fruits.
In Meriiboy Sundae is available at Chocolate, Strawberry and Pista flavours.

 CASSATA
The different varieties of Cassatas available in Meriiboy are Cassata King, Cassata
Queen, Cassata Prince and Cassata Kid

 BARS
An ice cream bar is a frozen dessert on a stick or a candy bar that has ice cream in it. The
coating is usually a thin layer of chocolate used to prevent the melting and dripping of ice
cream.
Flavours available at Meriiboy are:
Chocolate
Mango
Strawberry

 CONFETTI 
Flavours:

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 Chocolate
Mango
Strawberry
Pista

 MILK LOLLY 
Milk lolly is a special item produced by Meriiboy Ice Cream Company. It is the mix of
various ingredients like milk powder, emulsifier, flavours etc. milk lolly is available at
various flavours like Vanilla, Strawberry, Pineapple, Mango etc.

 KULFI 
Kulfi is a popular frozen dairy dessert from the Indian Subcontinent. It is often described
as "traditional Indian Subcontinent ice cream”. As popularly understood, Kulfi has
similarities to ice cream in appearance and taste; however it is denser and creamier. It
comes in various flavours like Mango and Cardamom. Meriiboy ice cream company
produces cardamom flavoured Kulfi.

MAJOR COMPETITORS
 Lazza ice creams
 Amul ice creams
 Pappai ice creams
 Uncle John ice creams
 Milma ice creams

GROWTH PROFILE

YEAR COMPANY NAME PLACE

1990 Kadambukatil Exports Ernakulum

1998 Golden Traders Vallam

1998 Golden Traders Trivandrum

2003 Supreme Food Industries Chelamattom

2007 National Food Industries Malappuram

2007 Supreme Food Industries Vazhakulam

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 2009 Milky Food Industries Trivandrum

2011 Merii's Food Industries Thaliparambu

QUALITY POLICY
Meriiboy ice cream provides quality policies mainly on the following areas:

 They periodically check the quality in production of ice creams

 Packaging process also include quality procedures such as inspection of packages.
 They also provide quality protection on handling such as refrigerator vans for their
products while marketing
In processes
 Most modern machineries imported from Italy/Europe.
 Procedures like disinfection.
 Fully automated plant to avoid human involvement in manufacturing.
 Each batch tested for quality.
 In house laboratory with trained microbiologist and chemists.
 Dynamic printing of Batch number to trace manufacturing details of particular product.

 In packaging
 Paper packaging done with white ITC food grade cartons (Competitors are using
reprocessed paper in cartons for making their product cheap).
 Packaging workers are inspected before they engage in packaging.
 Packaging materials supplied by reliable suppliers.
 In handling
 Refrigerated vans for transportation.
 Well trained distributors and dealers.
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  Well maintained cold chain facilities-less breakdowns.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY

Quality

They mainly focus on quality. They use pure milk collected from nearby PDDP centers for ice
cream production.

Profit maximization

MERIIBOY Ice Cream Company is looking forward to maximize its profit through its quality
products.

Cost minimization

Minimizing the cost is the best way to maximize profit. They are using cost minimization
techniques and are implementing it to their production.

More employment

As a part of the expansion of the company more employment opportunities are provided by the
company.

Time delivery

The company is strict in timely delivery and feedback of the products provided to various
dealers.

Proper utilization of resources

The resources available to the company were utilized in the effective way in order to avoid
wastage and increasing cost.

Provide service to society

Moreover the company provides finance to charitable institutions on yearly basis.

VALUES OF THE COMPANY

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High quality products

Maintaining good quality with purity raw materials in production is one of the values which
MERIIBOY Company focused on its production.

Customer orientation

The company and management give high weightage on feedback of their customers.

Good relation between management & workers.

There exists a formal and informal relationship between management and workers in the
organization. Employee grievances are handled by the management with due care.

QUALITY CERTIFICATION
ISO 22000-2005 Certification

ISO 22000-2005 Certification specifies requirements for a food safety management system
where an organisation in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety
hazards in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption. It is applicable to
all organisations, regardless of size, which are involved any aspect of the food chain and want to
implement systems that consistently provide safe products. The means of meeting any
requirements of ISO 22000-2005 can be accomplished through the use of internal or external
resources.

PROMOTION STRATEGY
The advertisement is the widely used promotional strategy used by the company. They use
Medias like newspaper, radio, magazines etc. For recruitment they use newspaper, website and
for marketing they use FM radios and magazines. As part of their expansion they were also
looking for introducing its products on TVs.

PRICING STRATEGY
The pricing strategies adopted by Supreme Food industries were cost plus pricing and market
oriented pricing. These are explained below.

Cost Plus Pricing

The firm calculates the cost of producing the product and adds on a percentage (profit) to that
price to give the selling price.
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Market Oriented Pricing

Setting a price based upon analysis and research complied from target market. This means that
marketers will set prices depending on the results from the research. For instance if the
competitors are pricing their products at a lower price, then it' up to them to either price their
goods at an above price or below, depending on what the company wants to achieve.

IMPORT/EXPORT MARKET
Supreme Food Industries export their products to outside states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
They export their products through cold containers.

SWOT ANALYSIS

 STRENGTHS
o Wide variety of unique ice cream and dessert flavors.
o High quality product
o Cooperative employees
o Centralized system
o Committed employees
o Simple technology
o Well-equipped lab
o Well-developed dispatching networks
o Well-developed cold store rooms
o quality certification
o Advertisements

 WEAKNESSES
o Seasonal sales of the product.
o Difficulties in penetrating a new market
o Low professionalism
o Lack of incentives
o Less promotion

 OPPORTUNITIES
o Large young population and very hot summer
o Growing Ice cream market

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 o High economic growth and market liberalizatioN
o Quality advantage
o Availability of raw material
o Exclusive outlets

 THREATS
o Off season
o Competitors
o Rising price of raw materials

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Chairman

General Manager

Production Quality Accounts Marketing HR Technical

Department Department Department Department Department Department

Department Department Department Department Department Department

Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager

Supervisor Quality Accountants Assistant HR Technicians

Controller(S) Marketing Executive
Manager

Skilled &
Quality Regional Sales
Semi- Skilled
Controller(J) Management
Labour

City
Manager

Sales
Manager

22
 CHAPTER THREE

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
1) Kiran.R [2014] stated that effective distribution is widely accepted marketing strategy for
newer products. The study concluded that reputed producers generally use self-sustained
distribution management system rather than independent or outsourced distribution network, when
it is fully equipped, confident and caapable both financially and with human resources.

2) Zaibunnisa Siddiqi [2014] the research was conducted to understand the importance of
marketing practices which had impact on customer brand awareness that leads to enhance the brand
equity of a brand in BTL. “The study surveyed two dimensions namely brand awareness, and BTL
marketing practices. Only two factors of BTL which are “word of mouth” and “availability”
created highest brand awareness of tetra pack milk. Although, the other factors of BTL marketing
practices also appeared to have low influence on brand awareness of tetra pack milk“

3) Izvercianu Monica [2015] analyzed the marketing practices embraced by small and medium
scale enterprises (SME) managers to fulfill their organisation objectives in terms of profit. The
study was based on literature review, structured interviews and quantitative research; a sample
consisting Maltese SMEs was used to acquire a broad image of the marketing practices used within
SME type organisations.

4) Abdul Rahim [2015] had explored the role of marketing practices in SMEs and evaluated the
impact on SME performance through changes in marketing practices from traditional to
entrepreneurial marketing practices. Marketing in SMEs is centered on traditional methods such
as using print media and selling. “The author found that the level of commitment towards
marketing practices varies by business context, by level of marketing expertise and by the maturity
of the company. The study revealed that within certain small business environments, traditional
marketing activities such as advertising and sales promotion of services were perceived to be
damaging to credibility with owners preferring to craft their activities to suit their individual
business dynamics.

5) Arsalan M. Ghouri [2011] stated that marketing practices differed from continent to continent,
countries to countries, cities to cities and sector to sector in relation with social, cultural and
economic backgrounds. The distinction for any firm or business in particular environment may be
the differentiation among space, time and effectiveness of marketing practices. Different
approaches of marketing planning and practices are used in different phases of the organizations
life. The author analyzed the vague marketing practices and its effect on restaurant and catering
business and their performance in Karachi. It was concluded that for the small and medium sized
Catering and Restaurants businesses various marketing practices except advertising are the waste
of money and time.

6) Bhat (1998) in his research he suggested that due to increasing competition as a result
of liberalisation and globalisation, it is necessary to start a separate wing exclusively
looking after the market research activity to study changing market environment.
Basically market research should be done to study the consumer buying behaviour,
24
buying motives, brand loyalty, brand awareness, transfer activities such as physical
distribution, warehousing, advertisement and sales management so that information
necessary for proper marketing strategy can be followed to supplement the efforts for
survival and growth of the food processing units. Also, this activity should be followed
on a continuous basis to monitor the market trends, product situations, competitive
situation and macro marketing environment.

7) Bhusari (2002) found in her research work that the small-scale industries do not have
very well-planned marketing activity and are found to ignore the importance of sales
planning & sales organisation before commencing their activities. Although they know
the importance of planning and marketing research in selling their products, but the same
is not being in practice. The researcher has suggested that in meeting the changing pattern
of customer’s tastes and preferences, the marketer should take the help of experts in
planning and developing the product to suit the consumer’s demand and to compete
effectively with the competitors, product modification should be given due attention. A
broad-based product mix should be suitable to take advantage of economies of scale and
to overcome the risk of concentration on one product. Apart from informing the consumer
about the benefits of the product over a period of time, the owners should try for
identification and distinguishing their brand from others in the same product category.
Hence, adoption of target marketing strategy along with product differentiation is the
need of the hour.

8) Chougale (1986) has made a study of marketing of milk. In this study, he observed
that milk produced is marketed through both direct & indirect channels. But hardly 10%
of the milk produced is marketed through the direct channel. Milk after process is packed
in polythene bags and sold through booths and to the state federation. Both producers of
milk and those engaged in the marketing process are benefitted to more or less extent. It
is suggested that to tap the potential market the policy of competitive pricing should be
adopted.

9) Katkar (2007) has made a study of performance evaluation of dairy co-operatives in

Kolhapur District. The study found that the profit margin across the district is very low.
It is mainly because the majority of the PDCs attempt to give maximum benefits to the
milk producers, in the nature of bonus, awards & prizes in order to increase the production
and procurement of milk.

25
The number of PDCSs in Kolhapur District is increasing steadily. However, there is
regional imbalance. Quantitative and Quantitative development of PDCSs depends upon
the efficient and effective management. As the dairying is main occupation, which
improves income level of the rural people. In the light of this there is large scope for
increase in the production and improvement in the quality of milk in the rural areas. It is
suggested that the District unions should try to increase the collection of milk of PDCS s
for which subsidised loan should be disbursed to the milk producers to enable them to
purchase milk animals.

10) Koli (1987) in his study found that the dairy co-operatives in Kolhapur District have
shown better performance than that in other districts of Maharashtra. Mismanagement
accompanying the increased number of dairy co-operative societies in the villages has
reduced their profitability to a large extent. There is imbalance in the growth of dairy co-
operative societies. He has suggested one dairy co-operative in each village in order to
achieve success. In addition to this, the Unions in the district should provide cattle feed
and veterinary services to the milk producers in order to improve the health and quality
of health as well as milk.

11) Navalgund (1987) conducted a study of Marketing of Milk products. He found that
in Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producer’s Federation Ltd; Dharwad (KMF), the
marketing department in the product plant, on the one hand is handicapped on account of
availability of required number and type of professional marketing executives and on the
other hand, it is over loaded with a number of functions. Also marketing research is not
satisfactorily effective. He suggested that the proper attention should be given to the
customer requirements to produce good quality products. Marketing communication
should be effective to create brand awareness and brand preference.

12) Pawar, Koli and Salunkhe (2003) in their major research project on dairy co-
operatives and rural development in Kolhapur District found that the price of milk once
fixed remains constant in force till the farmers start agitation and thus it shows that proper
care has not been taken by the government. The dairies have to take care of the consumers.
The prices charged to the consumers appear to be high and hence the poor consumers go
for milk sold out by the traders. Hence the cheaper milk should be made available by
reducing the margin of milk unions.

26
13) Trivedi (1988) in his study on milk marketing found that milk producers and
private dairies have the tendency to sell their milk to the local customers and the milk
vendors have the tendency to sell their milk to private dairies only. The co-operative
dairies do not sell their milk directly from door to door. Ifthe co-operative dairies
implement the measures to increase the supply of milk to the local customers, the local
customers will be provided with a good quality of milk at a fair rate.It is concluded
that for the future development of the milk business, the relations among the milk
producers, the local customers and the co-operative dairies should be strengthened in
their joint interest. Milk marketing, purchasing and selling activities must be carried
out on co-operative basis.

14) Warule (2004) reported that with increasing demand for milk in urban areas and
concentration of milk production in the rural areas there has been a need to form
intermediaries which can collect milk form milk producers usually in large quantities
and process it to sell the same to the consumers in rural as well as urban areas. The
governments, co-operative and private milk processing units have been established
for meeting this need and they have been doing the business of procurement and
processing of milk daily. Though the activity of milk production has been taken on
commercial lines by a majority of cultivators in the area there exists strong
competition among intermediaries for procurement of milk from the milk producers
so far as marketing of milk is concerned relatively large bulk goes to Mumbai and
Pune cities. As a result, price of raw milk and processed milk remain competitive and
individual milk processing units are therefore unable to make undue profit out of this
business through manipulation of prices.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

Sales promotions are considered as major tool in the organizations, which helps the
organisation in a different manner it's relevant for the sustainable development of the
organisation.

The main aim of a study is to identifying how sales promotion actives help the growth
and development of the company.

If a customer wants to purchase something he should have adequate knowledge, the

effective sales promotional activities which helps the company to provide more
relevance knowledge about product and services by the way of effective campaign,

27
and the publicity of product. Therefore this study is very essential for understanding
the sales promotional strategies in Meriiboy.

If company wants to introduce new product in the market, then the company has to
adopt various sales promotional activities for boosting its sales growth.

 To overcome a unique competitive situations

 To overcome seasonal slumps

 To retain customers

 To get additional customers

 To supplement to the salesmen's effort

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study the marketing strategies applied by Meriiboy Ice Creams.

2. The impact of marketing strategies adopted by Meriiboy on sales.

3. To identify factors influencing customer preference towards Meriiboy Ice

Creams.

4. To measure the level of customer satisfaction towards Meriiboy Ice Creams.

5. To provide suggestions to Meriiboy Ice Creams from the study conducted.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1. From this study, the company can understand the factors that highly
influencing consumers purchase preference.

2. This study also helps the management to focus on such factors for the
organizational and customer benefit.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

28
Research methodology is a scientific and systematic way to solve research problems.
It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically.
Researcher has to design his methodology. Researcher has to design his methodology.
Research methodology deals with research methods and takes into consideration the
logic behind the methods. It also deals with objective of research study, method of
defining the problems, type of data collected, methods used for collecting and
analysing data.

Research design:

Research design is the conceptual structure with in which research in conducted. It

constitutes the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. The
Research design specifies the method of study. Research design in prepared after
formulating the research problem.

Research type:

The type of research design used this study is the descriptive research design.
Descriptive research in the research for fact finding the major use of descriptive
research is explanation of state of affairs, as it exists at present.

Sample survey or sampling:

Sampling may be defined as the process of obtaining information about an entire

population by examining only a part of it in any' investigation if data collected only
from a representative party of the/universe we say that the data are collected by
sampling. The representative part is called a sample.

Sampling techniques:

Sampling is defined as a process of obtaining information about an entire population

by examining only a part of it. In any investigation if data collected only from a
representative part of the universe we say that the data are collected by sampling the
representative part is called sampling. Type of sample Used here is non-probability

29
sampling. Non-probability sampling is that sampling procedure which does not afford
any basic for\ estimating the probability for each item to be included in the sample. In
non-probability sampling generally the person selecting the sample purposively
selected a sample which is suitable for his study.

Method used for sampling is purposive sample is one which is selected by the
researcher attempt to obtain sample that appears to him representative of the
population and will usually try to ensure that a range from one extreme to the other
included.

Sample size: 30

Sample techniques: Convenience sampling

TYPES OF DATA

For the successful completion of the project study where used two types of data
namely primary data and secondary data. In order to find out the truth the data's are
relevant.

PRIMARY DATA

Questionnaire and observation are the two basic means of obtaining primary data. This
method of data collection is quite popular, particularly in case of big enquiries. It is
being adopted by research workers, private and public organisations and even by
governments. In this method questionnaire is send to the person concerned with a
request to answer the questions and return the questionnaire. A questionnaire consists
of a number of questions printed or type in a definite order on a form or set of forms.
The Respondents have to answer the questions on their own.

SECONDARY DATA

30
Secondary data was collected from the company records, magazines, journals,
websites and internet. Usually the secondary data will be second hand information,
which is collected by someone for some other purposes and the secondary data will
be major records of the organisation and its having the nature of ready.

VARIABLE USED FOR THE STUDY

There are two types of variables under study. There are dependent variables and
independent variables. Dependent variables are the variables directly depended to the
study. Independent variables are the variables they are not depended. Dependent
variable is a title itself that is the "sales promotional tools and technique of the
Meriiboy ice creams.

Independent variables are:

Advertisement

Exhibitions

Customer care

Availability Price

Government policies, etc.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

 Accuracy of the data depends upon the information provided by the

respondents.

 A response from some respondents was not satisfactory.

 Some of the respondents have not shown interest to contribute their

suggestions.

 The study is limited to dealers and hence this does not pertain to the entire
dealer as it is not possible to contact each and every consumer.

31
CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS
AND
INTERPRETATION

32
Table 4.1 Ranking given by respondents to the most preferred promotional scheme
Promotional Scheme Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Radio 0 0 0 4 26

Magazine 2 14 16 4 4

TV Commercial 18 12 0 0 0

Poster & Flex 0 0 8 12 10

Internet 10 14 6 0 0

Promotional Highest
Scheme Rank

Radio 5

Magazine 3

TV Commercial 1

Poster & Flex 4

Internet 2

Chart 4.1 Most Preferred Promotional Schemes

Highest Rank
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Radio Magazine TV Commercial Poster & Flex Internet

Interpretation

The above data reveals that dealers the TV commercial are the most preferred promotional
scheme of Meriiboy ice creams. It can cover and attract wide number of viewers especially
family and children. Internet promotion ranked the second ranked promotional scheme and the

33
magazines occupied the third position because of its coverage in family audience and lady
customer

Table 4.2 Features affect the customer perception the most.

Features Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Heritage Of The 3 4 10 8 5
Company

Quality Of Ingredients 21 4 3 2 0

Customer Endorsement 4 0 3 2 0

Brand Ambassador 1 3 7 3 16

Variety Of Flavours 4 20 5 1 0

Features Highest Rank

Heritage of The Company 3

Quality of Ingredients 1

Customer Endorsement 4

Brand Ambassador 5

Variety of Flavours 2

Chart 4.2 Features Affect the Consumer Perception The Most

Highest Rank
6
5
4
3
2 Highest Rank
1
0
Heritage Of Quality Of Customer Brand Variety Of
The Company Ingredients Endorsement Ambassador Flavours

34
Interpretation

After analysing the above data I can identify that most of the consumers prefer the quality of
the product. Importantly in the case of food products the ingredients quality is an essential one.
so, the quality of the ingredients affects the customer perception the most. Dealers ranked
variety of flavours as the second and heritage of the company thereafter. so, from the above
data I can realize the sales promotion activities should communicate about the quality of the
product.

Table 4.3 Dealer’s response about the influence of sales promotion activities in sales

Extent of agreement Respondents Percentage

Completely Disagree 2 6.66

Somewhat Disagree 1 3.33

Neutral 4 13.33

Somewhat Agree 10 33.33

Completely Agree 13 43.33

Chart 4.3 Percentage of dealer’s response about the influence of sales promotion
activities in sales

Respondents

Completely Disagree
Somewhat Disagree
Neutral
Somewhat Agree
Completely Agree

35
Interpretation

This review stressed the importance of sales promotion activities and its power to influence
sales. The study reveals that major percentage of the responses (agree – 43 % somewhat agree-
34%) so we can easily identify that the sales promotion actives has the power to influence the
sales.

Table 4.4 Dealers response about the influence of sales promotion activities in customer
retain

Extent of agreement Respondents Percentage

Completely Disagree 1 3.33

Somewhat Disagree 5 16.66

Neutral 10 33.33

Somewhat Agree 12 40

Completely Agree 4 13.33

Chart 4.4 Percentage of dealer’s response about the influence of sales promotion
activities in customer retain

Respondents

Completely Disagree
Somewhat Disagree
Neutral
Somewhat Agree
Completely Agree

Interpretation
36
The literature review points to that sales promotion and its effectiveness of retaining the
customers. So the majority of the respondents somewhat agree that sales activities of Meriiboy
ice creams helps in retaining the customers (somewhat agree -40% neutral- 33%

Table 4.5 dealer’s respondents about the sales promotion activities of Meriiboy ice
creams are better than its competitors.

Extent of agreement Respondents Percentage

Completely Disagree 0 0

Somewhat Disagree 0 0

Neutral 1 3.33

Somewhat Agree 1 3.33

Completely Agree 28 93.33

Chart 4.5 percentage of dealer’s responses about the sales promotion activities of
Meriiboy ice creams is better than its competitions

Respondents

Completely Disagree
Somewhat Disagree
Neutral
Somewhat Agree
Completely Agree

Interpretation

37
The data reveals that the majority of respondents believe that the majority of respondents
believe that the sales promotion activities of Meriiboy ice creams are better than its
competitions. It is very clear from the above data.

Table 4.6 sales promotional activities that influencing the sales most

Promotional Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

activities

Price Off 9 6 15 0 0

Discount 25 4 1 0 0

Coupons 0 1 3 20 6

Gifts 7 20 0 1 2

Free 5 4 1 8 12
Quantity

Promotional activities Highest Rank

Price Off 3

Discount 1

Coupons 4

Gifts 2

Free Quantity 5

Chart 4.6 sales promotional activities that influencing the sales most

Highest Rank
6
4
2 Highest Rank
0
Price Off Discount Coupons Gifts Free
Quantity

38
Interpretation

In the sales promotion activities discount ranked as the first. Then the gifts ranked as the second
sales promotion activities that influence the sales. Giving discount to the valuable customer
will help the organization

Table 4.7 Response about the sales promotion activities communication

Medium of Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

communication

Through Sales 4 7 14 3 2
Representatives

Through Customer 2 3 1 2 22

Through Media 21 3 2 4 0

Direct From 10 12 7 1 0
Company

Through Internet 4 6 7 13 0

Medium of Highest
communication Rank

Through Sales
3
Representatives

Through Customer 4

Through Media 1

Direct From Company 2

Through Internet 3

Chart 4.7 responses about the sales promotion activities communication

39
 Highest Rank
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 Highest Rank

Interpretation

The above data shows that respondents think that the sales promotion activies mostly
communicated to them through media so they ranked it as 1. Then the sales promotion directly
from the company ranked second.

Table 4.8 problems which formed during as part of sales promotion

Problems Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Stock out 7 14 8 1 0

Improper 20 8 2 0 0
information

Gifts not received 2 4 13 11 0

Coupons uncashed 0 0 3 24 3

Not received free 0 1 8 6 15

quantity

Medium of
Highest Rank
communication

Stock out 4

Improper information 5

Gifts not received 3

40
 Coupons uncashed 2

Not received free

1
quantity

Chart 4.8 problems which formed during as part of sales promotion

Highest Rank
6

2 Highest Rank
0
Stock out Improper Gifts not Coupons Not received
information received uncashed free quantity

Interpretation

Sales promotion activities should communicate proper information about the product and
quality. But from the above data the respondent’s ranked improper information as the first
ranked problem that formed during as part of sales promotion. Problems like stock out, gifts
not received thereafter.

Table 4.9 after effects of new advertisement campaign

After effects Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Improved sales 27 2 1 0 0

Retained 4 24 2 0 0
customer

Brand 8 1 20 1 0
awareness

Retained 7 3 2 15 3
dealers

Increased profit 1 1 0 0 28

41
Highest Ranking

After effects Highest Rank

Improved sales 5

Retained customer 4

Brand awareness 3

Retained dealers 2

Increased profit 1

Chart 4.9 after effects of new advertisement campaign

Highest Rank
6

3
Highest Rank
2

0
Improved Retained Brand Retained Increased
sales customer awareness dealers profit

Interpretation

The above data reveals that as the after effect of new advertisement campaign the sales of
Meriiboy products improved so they ranked it as first. This campaign also help to retaining the
existing customers it is clear from the above data.

Table 4.10 Most attractive part of the advertisement campaign

Attractive Part Rank Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

1

Theme 7 6 3 12 2

42
 Music 8 5 17 0 0

Tagline 27 1 2 0 0

Brand Ambassador 11 19 0 0 0

Information about the 2 4 3 3 12

product

Attractive Part Highest Rank

Theme 2

Music 3

Tagline 5

Brand Ambassador 4

Information about the product 1

Chart 4.10 most attractive part of the advertisement campaign

Highest Rank
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Theme Music Tagline Brand Information
Ambassador about the product

Interpretation

The above data showcases the details about the attractive parts of meriboy ice creams. The
respondents ranked the tagline as the first. then they ranked the brand ambassador as the
second. Music, theme and information about the product ranked thereafter

43
Table 4.11 response about the new tagline used in the ad campaign help the increment of
sales.

Extent of agreement Respondents Percentage

Completely disagree 0 0

Somewhat disagree 1 3.33

Neutral 7 23.33

Somewhat agree 7 23.33

Completely agree 15 50

Chart 4.11 response about the new tagline used in the ad campaign help the increment
of sales

Respondents

Completely disagree
Somewhat disagree
neutral
Somewhat agree
Completely agree

Interpretation

The respondents think that the new tagline in the advertisement campaign is helpful for the
sales. This clearly showcases the difference between real ice and frozen dessert. The above
diagram shows that 50% of the respondents completely agree with the statement and nearly
24% somewhat agree the statement.

44
Table 4.12 dealer’s opinion against the new brand ambassador help the increment of sales

Extent of agreement Respondents Percentage

Completely disagree 1 3.33

Somewhat disagree 7 23.33

Neutral 6 20

Somewhat agree 8 26.66

Completely agree 8 26.66

Chart 4.12 dealer’s opinion against the new brand ambassador help the increment of
sales

Respondents

Completely disagree
Somewhat disagree
neutral
Somewhat agree
Completely agree

Interpretation

The above data showcases that respondents have mixed opinion about the statement. But we
can find out that more number of responses agreed or somewhat agreed to the statement. 20%
of the respondents did not have any opinion about this.

45
Table 4.13 responses about the advertisement campaign helps to gain a competitive
advantage over the competitors

Extent of agreement Respondents Percentage

Completely disagree 0 0

Somewhat disagree 0 0

Neutral 7 23.33

Somewhat agree 14 46.66

Completely agree 9 30

Chart 4.13 responses about the advertisement campaign helps to gain a competitive
advantage over the competitors

Respondents

Extent of agreement
Completely disagree
Somewhat disagree
neutral
Somewhat agree

Interpretation

The above data reveals that the new advertisement campaign of Meriiboy ice creams is better
than its competitors. The percentage are clarifying that (completely agree-30%
somewhat agree- 47%). So I find out the advertisement campaign of Meriiboy is better than its
Competitors

46
Table 4.14 Dealers response about the Meriiboy ad campaign target group

Target group Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Youth 2 0 4 20 4

Ladies 10 14 3 3 0

Gents 0 0 0 3 27

Kids 9 7 10 2 2

Family 16 7 7 0 0

Attractive Part Highest Rank

Youth 2

Ladies 4

Gents 1

Kids 3

Family 5

Chart 4.14 Dealers response about the Meriiboy ad campaign target group

Highest Rank
6
5
4
3
Highest Rank
2
1
0
Youth Ladies Gents Kids Family

Interpretation

47
A majority of dealers believe that the targeted group of new advertisement campaign is family.
It is because the number of family customers increased after the releasing new advertisement
campaign. So in this statement they ranked family as number of targeted group. Then the ladies
came in the second rank.

Table 4.15 response about the need improvement part of the advertisement

Attractive part Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Theme 10 15 5 0 0

Music 24 3 3 0 0

Tagline 0 0 5 4 21

Brand ambassador 0 0 5 21 4

Information about 0 5 20 4 1
the product

Attractive Part Highest Rank

Theme 2

Music 1

Tagline 5

Brand ambassador 4

Information about the product 3

48
 Chart 4.15 Response about the need improvement part of the advertisement

Highest Rank
6
5
4
3
2
1 Highest Rank
0
Theme Music Tagline Brand Information
ambassador about the
product

Interpretation

The above data reveals that most of the dealers believe the music of the new advertisement is
not up to the mark. From the response it is founded that the music did not have individuality
from the other advertisements.

49
 CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS,
CONCLUSION AND
SUGGESTIONS

50
5.1 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

The major and revelations that the study came up with were as follows:
 From the study it can find out that the sales promotion activities of Meriiboy ice creams
during the financial year was a success.
 Promotion activities influence the happening of sales and retaining the customers.
Especially the new television advertisement campaign and the tagline. New tagline of
Meriiboy helps to give some kind of awareness to the families about the difference
between real ice creams and frozen desert.
 Quality of ingredients is the feature that affecting the consumer perception the most.
So the new advertisement and tagline of Meriiboy was a success in these points. Variety
of flavours and the heritage of the company will be an added advantage for the
organisation.
 The communication between the company and dealers is in a good level. Dealers are
satisfied with the sales promotion schemes of the company.
 The respondents believe that the sales promotion activities can influence the sales and
customer retain. Most of the respondents marked the sales promotion activities
especially the advertisement campaign is giving an advantage to the company over the
competitors.
 Discount is the most attractive sales promotion activity of Meriiboy ice creams.
 Most of the dealers and distributors feel that a good product always delivers a quality
promise.
 Almost everyone likes to prefer healthy and natural ice cream brand to others.
 Improper information is the main problem that arising at the time of sales promotion
activities. Delivering proper information about the price quality, ingredients and other
advantages can attract new customers.
 After the introduction of new advertisement campaign the sales has improved and the
company could retain their customers. One of the well-known movie director Ashiq
Abu directed the advertisement campaign.
 Meriiboy-ice creams is most concentrated the media advertisement and they have their
own brand ambassador. Sreernathi, Manju Warrier Malayalam tine actress is their brand
ambassador.

51
  The respondents feel that the tagline and the brand ambassador was the most attractive
part of the new advertisement campaign. Both can influence the family customers.
 Their new tagline "Natural aanu nalladh" was grand success.
 The new advertisement campaign is targeted to the family and ladies. It is because of
the family customers increase after the releasing of the new advertisement campaign.
 Respondent's feels that the music and theme can be improve little more.
 Advertisement through posters and flexes need to be improved. Also the interne can be
utilising little more.
 They are taking valuable feedback from a group of employees by tasting the product
before delivered to the market.

5.2 SUGGESTIONS

 Sales promotion activities influence the happening of sales and retaining the customers.
Hence it is better to continue with the promotional activities.
 Discount is the most preferred sales promotion activity by the dealers. Hence
concentrating more on discount and price off can increase the sales.
 Improve the quality of the posters and flexes. Can make use of social media for
advertising which is less expensive.
 Discounts and price off should be encouraged by company to attract more dealers as
well as customers.
 Meriiboy ice creams is mostly concentrated on family pack sales that can be identify
from the advertisement campaign so they have to concentrate the other products in the
same manner.
 Give importance to customer complaints and take immediate action.
 Give priority to TV commercials and online marketing in season times. Establish and
maintain a standard in posters and flexes. Give the picture of products in posters to
attract customers.

 Give TV advertisement at prime time (6PM — lOPM). It will help the organisation to
attract customers.

52
  Number of flex boards and posters of Meriiboy ice creams in their main markets was
very less. So the competitors have chance to gain advantage in this areas. Try to increase
the number of posters and flex boards.
 Information of the product and difference of real ice cream between frozen desserts is
clearly mentioning sales promotion activities. Also give information about the quality
of ingredients, variety-of flavours etc.
 Give all details about the product and price of the products in the official website of the
company.

5.3 CONCLUSION

By doing this project I identified that the sales promotion activities of MERIIBOY ice creams
helped them to improve their goodwill and also the product image. The recently released
advertisement campaign helped the organisation to gain their sales. The main factors that
helped them to improve the sales is their brand ambassador and tagline.

This study helped in analysing the existing promotional strategies and the impact of it on the
sales of the company. Many new strategies were implemented and tested and therefore it helped
to attract the customers. The promotional campaign was planned according to the customers
interest.

53
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books

 Marketing Management 13th edition-Kelvin lane Keller, Philip Kotler, Abraham

Koshy & Mithileshwarjha.
 Marketing Research -Donald R Cooper & Parela S Schindler
 Elam G and Richie J (1997), Exploring Customer Satisfaction, Research Report No.63,
A report of research carried out by Social and Community Planning research on behalf
of the Department of Social Security, p. 81.

Websites

 www.kselimited.com
 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, "Customer Satisfaction initiative", viewed on
16/412012 in the Mof website:
http://www.fda.govlockitStOmersevice.html.

54
Questionnaire

1.On a scale of 1-5: which promotional scheme you prefer?

Radio Magazines TV Commercial Poster & flex Internet

1-Most Preferred 5-Least preferred

2.Which of these features affect the consumer perception the most?

Heritage of the Quality Customer Brand Variety of

company ingredients endorsement ambassador’s Flavors
credibility

1-Most Preferred 5-Least preferred

3.Do you think that the sales promotional activities have the power to influence sales?

Completely Somewhat Neutral Somewhat agree Completely

disagree disagree agree

4.Do you think the sales promotional activities of Meriiboy ice cream helps in retaining the
customers?

Completely Somewhat Neutral Somewhat agree Completely

disagree disagree agree

5.Does the sales promotion activities of Meriiboy Ice creams are better than its competitors?

55
 Completely Somewhat Neutral Somewhat agree Completely
disagree disagree agree

6.Which of these promotional activities influence sales most?

Price Off Discount Coupons Gifts Free Quantity

1-Most influenced 5-Least influenced

7.How does the sales promotion scheme communicate to you?

Through sales Through Through Media Direct from Through the

representatives consumer company internet

1-Most communicated 5-Least communicated

8.Rank the following problems, which are formed during as part of sales promotion?

Stock Improper Gifts not Coupons un Not received

information received cashed free quantity

1-Most affected 5-Least affected

9.What is the after effect of new advertisement campaign?

Improved sales Retained Brand Retained dealers Increased profit

customers awareness

1-Most affected 5-Least affected

10.What is most attractive part of the advertisement campaign?

56
 Theme Music Tagline Brand Information
Ambassador about the
product

1-Most attractive 5-Least attractive

11.Does the new tagline used in the ad campaign help the increment of sales?

Complete somewhat Neutral Somewhat agree Completely

disagree disagree agree

12.Does the new brand ambassador help the increment of sales?

Complete somewhat Neutral Somewhat agree Completely

disagree disagree agree

13.Does the ad campaign help to gain a competitive advantage over the competitors?

Complete somewhat Neutral Somewhat agree Completely

disagree disagree agree

14.Which of the following audience that you think the meriiboy ad campaign targeted for.

Youth Ladies Gents Kids Family

1-Most targeted 5-Least targeted

15.Which part of the ad campaign need improvement?

57
 Theme Music Tagline Brand Information
Ambassador about the
product

1-Most improvement needed 5-Least improvement needed

16.Which sales promotion activity of Meriiboy ice creams need improvement?

Radio Magazines TV Commercial Poster& Flex Internet

1-Most improvement needed 5-Least improvement needed

58