A group project for the Syracuse Masters Class ADV 612: Strategic Account Research and Planning

1. Prepared by:
Josh Crafter, Cheng-en Lee, Li Tang, and Nancy Weickhardt
Prepared for:
Dr. James Tsao, Syracuse University; Niel Sandfort, Chobani, Inc

2. What We’ll Talk About
• The Major Insights
– Cultural Insights
– Consumer Insights
– Product and Competition Insights
• Overarching Insight
• Cognitive Map
• Media Insights
• Quantitative Surveys
• Creative Brief

3. What We Did
• College Students
• Conducted Focus Groups
• Conducted Quantitative Surveys

4. Cultural Insights

5. Cultural Insight
Research Objectives
• Key trends and issues about yogurt
• Possible future trends
• How the brand Chobani and Greek yogurt are perceived in society.
Research Questions
• What are the current trends relating to the consumption of yogurt?
• What are potential future trends or issues relating to the consumption of yogurt?
• How is yogurt portrayed in the media?
• What are cultural perceptions of the brand, Chobani, and its products?
Methodologies
• Secondary research, specifically
• Researching how yogurt is portrayed in the media
• Researching current diet and health trends

6. Cultural Insight
Current trends relating to the consumption of yogurt:
• Health trend, eating nutritious foods, high in protein. (Krashinsky, 2012)
• Greek yogurt has rapidly increased in sales within the past 6 years.
• Greek yogurt percentage of overall market
• 0.7% - 2006
• 19% - 2012. (Badkar, 2011)
Potential future trends relating to the consumption of yogurt:
• About 40% of Americans do not consume yogurt.
• Yogurt is perceived as feminine. (SodaHead, 2010)

7. Cultural Insight
Insights
The emergence and prevalence of Chobani and the Greek yogurt in recent years has
successfully sparked people’s interests into eating them.
A person holding a Chobani cup and eating from it is often perceived as cool and
such act reveals the person’s high consciousness on well-being and a possibility he
or she belongs to a higher economic status group in the society.
Rationale
• Greek yogurt has become trendy because it’s:
- Fairly new product,
- Frequently portrayed in current media
- Considered exotic and satisfies current health trends.
• Sales of Chobani and Greek yogurts continue to rise -> many traditional
yogurt-making brands are now entering this category as latecomers.

8. Consumer Insights

9. Consumer Insight
Research Objectives:
• Identify behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles
• Identify current consumer trends
Research Questions
• What changes in behavior and lifestyle have affected sales?
• What are the segments of yogurt eaters? Their strengths and/or weaknesses?
Methodology
• Predominantly focus group based

10. Consumer Insight
What Changes in consumer lifestyle and behavior have affected sales?
• Increase in dairy advertising
• Nearly $1 billion in measured media spending
• 11% of food advertising overall
• Consumers are seeing more
What are the existing segments of Chobani consumers? What are the
strengths/weaknesses/potential for each segment?
• Yogurt Lovers: Yogurt is an intricate part of their diet and lifestyle
• Frequent Yogurt Eaters: Eat often but go from brand to brand
• Occasional Yogurt Eaters: They eat yogurt when the mood arises. Flavor dictates all
• Non-Eaters: For one reason or another, this segment usually refuses to enter the
yogurt category

11. Consumer Insight
Focus Group
• Two Focus Groups • Not brand loyal
• October 19th, 2012 &
November 2nd 2012 • Some use yogurt as a
• 13 participants substitute for other foods
• 10 female, 3 men
• Predominantly Asian and
• Negative perceptions of
Caucasian Dannon, Yoplait
• Roughly equal split among
class rank
• No such perceptions for
• All Syracuse Students Chobani
• Convenience sampling
• Varied yogurt consumption
• $10 Starbucks or iTunes gift
card for participation

12. Consumer Insight
Consumer Insight:
Because of its high protein content, Greek yogurt provides consumers with a more
“filling” experience, unlike other yogurts.
This draws consumers to the product, though not loyally. Negative perceptions of
Dannon and Yoplait among the college demographic prevent the brands from
establishing brand loyalty, an issue Chobani doesn’t have.
Rationale:
• Frequent and occasional eaters offer room for growth
• These eaters are unaware of Chobani’s benefits or superior taste
• Poor reputation and credibility among its competition

13. Product & Competition Insights

14. Product &
Competition Insight
Research Objectives:
• Explore current perceptions of Chobani products and packaging
• Understand competitive advantage
• Understand users perception of Chobani vs its competition
Research Questions:
• What aspects of Greek yogurt are most appealing?
• Is yogurt gender specific?
• What are key differences between Chobani and its competitors?
Methodology
• Focus groups

15. Product &
Competition Insight
What aspects of Chobani Greek yogurt are most appealing?
• Health, “fruity”, “natural”, high protein
• Exceptional love towards certain flavors
• Plain Greek yogurt (They didn’t like plain)
• “It’s healthy for me. I don’t think I’m obsessed with yogurt. The taste is not the
best, but Greek yogurt has a lot of protein.”
Is yogurt gender specific?
• Socially perceived as female oriented
• Male students don’t feel comfortable eating it in public
• Packaging contributing to perception?
What are key differences between Chobani and its competitors?
• Young adults more likely to be brand loyal (Frank, 2012)
• Community and charitable Image
• Reputation

16. Product &
Competition Insight
Insight
• College students eat Greek yogurt because they believe it is healthy for them,
especially because of its low fat and high protein content. Among Greek yogurt
eaters, those who are loyal to Chobani are health-conscious and hold Chobani in a
higher esteem than its competitors because of its responsible and ethically
profound company culture.
Rationale
• Nutrition is important
• Chobani has a strong reputation
• Consumers respect that reputation

17. Overarching Insight
Consumers have negative perceptions of major
brands such as Dannon and Yoplait, and
consequently, consumers are very apprehensive
towards those brands. Chobani doesn’t have this
problem because of its reputation and new-ness as
a brand, a “clean slate”, if you will.
Chobani lovers show unparalleled loyalty to the
brand because they view themselves as part of
Chobani’s community and Chobani as a part of their
own.

18. Media Insight

19. Media Insight
Media Objectives:
• Drive awareness among college students
• Drive Chobani eaters online to talk about and engage with the brand
• Increase followers of brand sponsored social media accounts
Description:
• Increase specified use of CHOmobile
• College tour
• Utilize social events to create positive interaction with students

20. Media Insight
CHOmobile College Tour
For example:
• Friday, August 24th, 2013 – Syracuse, Move-in weekend for students
• Monday, August 27th, 2013 – NYU student orientation
• Friday & Saturday, August 30-31, 2013 – Rutgers, Move-in weekend for students
• Tuesday, September 4, 2013 – Temple University, Student organization and career
fair
• Ask for a Like or Follow in exchange for a Chobani Greek Yogurt
• Allows for interaction then and later
• School with most interactions wins Chobani Greek yogurt sponsored concert
• Measured through Facebook, Twitter analytics

21. Media Insight
CHOmobile College Tour
Why is this important?
Chobani lags in consumer awareness, especially among college students
• 76% awareness
• 48% conversion rate
Dannon and Yoplait suffer from perception issues
• Chobani has a “clean slate”
• Let keep it that way

22. Quantitative Survey

23. Quantitative Survey
Research Objectives:
• Explore lifestyles of college students
• Explore expectations of diets
• Identify the factors that drive purchases
Research Questions:
• What is Chobani’s current awareness?
• How important is social responsibility?
Methodology
• Quantitative Survey

24. Quantitative Survey
Quantitative survey
• 150+ total responses
• 74 currently in univeristy
• 18 male, 55 female, 1 other
Two surveys
• One if they’d purchased Chobani
• A different if they hadn’t

25. Quantitative Survey
Quantitative Survey:
Findings

26. Quantitative Survey
Quantitative Survey:
Reason To Purchase

27. Quantitative Survey
Quantitative Survey:
Importance of Nutrition

28. Quantitative Survey
Quantitative Survey:
Community Involvement

29. Creative Brief

30. Creative Brief
Objective:
To persuade the college students that Chobani is more than a brand; it’s a
community.
Target Audience:
Emma is a junior in college, and she lives the typical college lifestyle. She does
school work all morning and afternoon, has a few meetings in the p.m., and tries to hit
the gym at night at least a few times a week. She drinks heavily with her friends on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and she knows she eats fairly unhealthy, though
that’s more a product of being on campus all day and never being home to cook.
Emma volunteers biweekly at the local soup kitchen on campus, and when she returns
home every summer, she does community outreach in conjunction with her city’s
child services.
Emma likes yogurt, but she doesn’t love it. It isn’t essential to her day like it is for
some of her friends. That’s because she harbors negative perceptions about a lot of
“big brands”. Emma is looking for something more personal, more cultured, and great
tasting that fosters a sense of community as a business and a brand.

31. Creative Brief
What Does The Target Currently Believe?:
They distrust “big brands” because of negative perceptions
What Do We Want Them To Believe?
Chobani is a brand you can proudly associate with
Single Minded Proposition:
Chobani isn’t a brand, it’s a community
Reason To Believe:
Chobani supports local businesses, initiatives and charities within your
community.

32. Prepared for:
Dr. James Tsao, Syracuse University; Niel Sandfort, Chobani, Inc