MINI CASE STUDY TWO: Creme brulee man

Food from street carts have become a foodie favorite for San Franciscans. Food carts travel from neighborhood to neighborhood, offering their delicacies to range of local foodies. But without a set location, how do these carts let consumers know here they will be? Well, through Twitter of course. Curtis Kimball, the man behind the enormously popular Creme Brulee Cart in San Francisco, has quickly amassed over 12,000 followers in a little over a year. He knows that most of his business comes from people who follow him on witter because Twitter is the only way you can find the cart’s location for the day, says Kimball, a former construction worker turned creme brulee expert. “It gives people a valid reason to follow me,” he says.

The other use of Twitter for Kimball is to tell people what flavor of creme brulee he is serving in a given day. And Kimball says that Twitter gives him the ability to develop a personal relationship with his followers and others. He says he tries to engage his followers by asking for suggestions of what type of custard to serve or where he should park his cart, and he always tries to keep things humorous.

Kimball says he has no marketing budget and Twitter has been a great way to amass fans. He doesn’t have as much of a presence on Facebook, and he’s not sure the model is as efficient as Twitter. “Twitter can absorb more than Facebook with very little effort,” Kimball adds. Yelp has also been a valuable source of referrals for the entrepreneur. The cart has 224 reviews and is rated with 4 and a half stars.

QUESTIONS:

1- Make a SWOT analysis based on the organisation in the given case study.

2-Make a Boston Consulting Group matrix analysis based on the organisation in the given case study.

3- What is the importance of social media in the strategic marketing?

4- What type of market segmentation would work well for this organisation?

5- Imagine this organisation decide to market their product/service in your home country. What cultural differences do they need to be wary of?

6- Give three alternative strategies that the organisation could follow?

7. Is there any possibility for the following strategies at Innocent Drinks? If so, give your ideas.

a- Forward integration

b- Backward integration

c- Horizontal integration

d- related diversification

e- unrelated diversification

f- market development

g- product development