The Ferrero Group
I am sure you are all familiar with the Ferrero Group, and especially with its best-seller, the famous chocolate and hazelnut heart ball, wrap up in a gold paper: the Ferrero Rocher.
The group is present in 55 countries, has products sold in more than 170 countries, and owns 23 production plants in 5 continents. The 10.5 billion euros turnover, with an increase of 1.5% compared to the previous year, testimonies of the success of the group.
Those factors strongly affirm Ferrero’s power and leading position in the European chocolate market.
The Ferrero Group is well-known for some successful brands of its portfolio, for diversifying its activities and its capability to innovate efficiently. In fact, the group created new modes of consumption as it launched chocolate spread in the 40s, chocolate eggs with a toy inside in the 70s and developed chocolate with alcohol since the 50s.
In this article, we will focus on four strong brands owned by Ferrero Group: Kinder, Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello and Mon Chéri.
(A) unique(s) targeting strategy(ies)?
Ferrero managed to implement unique marketing strategies, that can explain the group’s constant success and good reputation. One of the strength of the Ferrero group leans in its targeting strategy. Most of traditional brands have a single specific target but the group adopted another strategy. Its targeting strategy is based on several demographic segmentations as each brand of the group is addressed to a precise age category.
It is quite hard to define precisely the whole target’s age, but we can estimate it to be between 10 and 80 years old. Ferrero’s products can be consumed by families, single person, couple, kids, teenagers, old person. Those products can be used in many occasions: they have a social function (diner with friends for instance) and perfectly suit celebrations (Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day).
Let’s focus on our five brands and try to discover who is their target and why.
Kinder and Nutella Kinder is THE chocolate bar of kids, as reveals the name of the product. “Kinder” means “kid” in German and the packaging of the product is symbolic and clearly designates the target of the product (see picture below). This iconic young boy became the emblem of Kinder and an affective dimension links consumers to the product.
After a few years, the brand launched many Kinder products to enlarge its range: Kinder Bueno, Kinder Country, Kinder Delice, Kinder Maxi, Kinder Penguin, Kinder Fetta al Latte and Kinder Surprise.
Nutella is an interesting product as it addresses to a wider target: from kids to young adults, without forgetting families. It is one of the biggest brand of the group and it can accompany people all along the day: breakfast (Nutella chocolate spread), morning break or afternoon snack (Nutella & Go, B-ready barres).
Kinder and Nutella are mainly related to kids, but they are closely linked to parents as they are the one who buy those products. Parents are long-time consumers that bands should strongly take into consideration in their marketing strategies. So, parents have to be convinced about the benefits and quality of Kinder and Nutella’s products to buy some for their kids or family. For sure, through those products, brands target children, but they also target parents.
Ferrero Rocher and Raffaello Those products have a strong social dimension as it is a typical gift young adults and adults make. In almost every advertising campaign, there is a parallel between the product promoted and a festive occasion, which reinforces this social aspect. Ferrero Rocher are associated to parties. Raffaello is an interesting product, it is a variation of the classic Ferrero Rocher, but with coconut. People consuming Raffaello have a taste for sophisticated products. It is a source of greed with refinement and exoticism that would certainly not suit children, who prefer traditional chocolate products.
Mon Chéri Mon Chéri products are quite unusual and not appreciated by everybody, due to the mix between chocolate, cherry and alcohol. The main target is seniors, with a smaller portion of adults. Here again, it would certainly not suit children, because of the alcohol. Mon Chéri is a premium luxury chocolate product with higher price compared to usual chocolate. It attracts people appreciating sophisticated chocolate and French refinement, which justifies the product’s target again.
The Ferrero’s group success can be explained by its ability to manage and mix tradition, that seduces adults and seniors, and modernity, that rather concerns kids, teenagers and young adults. This global targeting strategy used in the conception and communication of product allows the group the stay the leader in various products’ ranges. And you, which Ferrero group’s product do you prefer?
Cited sources:
- d’Erceville, Angélique, “Ferrero se lance de nouveaux defies, LSA Conso, 24 February 2011 https://www.lsa-conso.fr/ferrero-se-lance-de-nouveaux-defis,119514
- Kreativan Fantastican, “Segmenting and targeting markets”, Kreativanfan, 30 November 2015 http://kreativanfan.blogspot.com/
- Ferrero website, “ A global reality” https://www.ferrero.com/the-ferrero-group/business/key-figures
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