Assignment 3 - Whiskas

Whiskas is a one of the most renowned brands of cat food in the world, and it owned by the American group. Mars, Incorporated. Started as a candy manufacturer, Mars grew over the years to eventually include the purple packaged products for cats. The brand consists of wet and dry food in a variety of flavors, as well as cat treats and lactose reduced cat milk. The brand was first introduced in 1936 under the name Kal Khan, then later changed it’s identity to Whiskas in 1988. The food is manufactured in McLean, Virginia. John Mars is the chair man, and Paul Michaels is the president and CEO. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskas

Main products:

-Wet Food

-Dry Food

-Cat Milk

-Treats

-Dry Food for Kittens

Whiskas target market are those with a very pragmatic relationship with their cat and its food. They believe their cat is the authority and would therefore choose cat food by what their cat likes. In other words, their relationship with brands is emotional rather than rational.
http://www.thinktv.co.nz/resources/case-studies/whiskas-dry/

Short Run Costs:

plant, equipment, labor, food ingredients

Long run Costs:

opening other plants, supplying more labour, equipment, food ingredients

Competitors include Fancy Feast, Kirkland Signature, Friskies, and Iams.

The company has succeeded largely due to their ability to adapt over the years to a changing market. By diversifying their products they have been able to stay in good business.

One weakness is that they are not keeping up with the new trend of organic cat food with no buy products. Their ingredients in their current dry cat food is Chicken meal, Chicken by-product meal, Corn Gluten meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Rice, Animal fat (preserved with BHA/BHT), Natural Chicken Flavour, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Beet pulp, Wheat Flour, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Sulphate, Vegetable oil, Caramel colour, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, dl-Alpha toCopherol Acetate [source of Vitamin e], Vitamin a Acetate, Niacin, Vitamin b12 supplement, Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin b2], Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin b1], d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin d3 supplement, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin b6], Folic acid), Taurine, dl-Methionine, Trace minerals (Zinc Sulphate, Copper Sulphate, Manganese Sulphate, Potassium Iodide), Whitefish meal, Calcium Carbonate, Ethoxyquin (a preservative). http://www.whiskas.ca/en-ca/home.aspx

Some other organic cat food manufacturers have stolen some of the market through appealing to a more descerning cat owner market, willing to pay top dollar for only the best in cat food.