Title: 2 In The Spotlight
Course: Principles of Marketing > Section: Chapter 2

Figure 2.1 A team of marketing strategists brainstorm to develop a strategic plan. (credit: modification of work “Design a Better Business Masterclass @ Zoku Amsterdam, October 2017” by Sebastiaan ter Burg/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Chapter Outline

2.1 Developing a Strategic Plan

2.2 The Role of Marketing in the Strategic Planning Process

2.3 Purpose and Structure of the Marketing Plan

2.4 Marketing Plan Progress Using Metrics

2.5 Ethical Issues in Developing a Marketing Strategy

In the Spotlight

Frito-Lay, the producer of Doritos, Lay’s, and Cheetos, is a $13 billion business division of PepsiCo.^1 If you’re a snack food fan, you might have noticed how Frito-Lay seems to constantly come up with new flavors for its chips—dill pickle, Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice, Chile Limón, and more. You might picture nutritionists and scientists working in labs, trying recipe after recipe in order to come up with a winner. But Frito-Lay has a unique way of including customers in its strategic decision-making process.^2

The company crowdsources its new flavors through a contest called “Do Us a Flavor,” in which it asks customers to submit ideas for flavors they’d like Lay’s to develop. The company then selects the three best entries and awards a cash prize to the winners.^3

For example, Frito-Lay’s “Turn Up the Flavor” contest resulted in three limited-time flavors inspired by three different music genres: hip-hop, pop, and rock. To pique interest in the content, Frito-Lay teamed up with singer/songwriter Bebe Rexha, who wrote the theme song for the campaign, and the company included a unique code for the new chip packets so that buyers could unlock Rexha’s new tracks.^4

Link to Learning

Lay’s Commercial

Check out the Lay’s Turn Up the Flavor commercial with Bebe Rexha.

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