What we do- Strategy video transcript

OLIVIA:
Here in the Strategy Group at PwC we have two main types of clients. We do a lot of work in the merging and acquisitions space working with private equity firms and helping them decide whether or not they should invest in certain businesses. We also work with a lot of corporates and businesses helping them improve their performance.

DUNCAN:
As an Associate Consultant you will have an incredibly varied role and you will really be at the heart of the project team. The role will involve number crunching, research analysis, attending management meetings, speaking to industry experts, and really getting involved wherever you think you possibly can contribute.

OLIVIA:
What we're gonna go through now is the kind example of the kind of work that you could be getting involved with. So we're gonna have a meeting on a project that we did recently.

Group Meeting

DUNCAN:
I'm Duncan

INGE:
My name is Inge

OLIVIA:
I'm Olivia

GEORGE:
I'm George

FELICIEN:
I'm Felicien

OLIVIA:
OK, we've got our meeting next week feeding back to the client. They're still in the auction, they need to put their bid in at the end of next week so we need to give them answers to their key concerns. Felicien, can you start off and take us through what's happening in the market place?

FELICIEN:
Well, I've been taking a look at the overall market, trying to segment the market and get a feel for what the historical growth has been and what we're expecting it to be over the next couple of years.

FELICIEN:
Overall what we've found is that the confectionary market has been quite flat. We've seen around 1% growth and so this is expected to continue in the same order. There are four key players that have different products and different brand positionings.

OLIVIA:
George, what's been coming out of the competitive review you've been doing?

GEORGE:
in terms of our competitors, there's one dominant player who is over twice the size of us, we are number 2 the good news is that we've actually, in a flat market, gained share, whereas the other three players have either held their share or it's fallen slightly.

OLIVIA:
And store visits?

GEORGE:
Well, store visits really back up the dominance of the number one player in the market. The number one manufacturer has all it's products at sort of chest level we tend to be at, above eye level or lower down.

GEORGE:
We did a price comparison of all the confectionary and what was quite interesting is that we had similar price points; we were generally more discounted than the number one player.

DUNCAN:
Taking on from what George has said, I've been looking at how the different marketing expenditures compare for our client versus the competitors there are two different types of marketing. You've got your consumer marketing, which is very useful for brand building and then you've got your account marketing, which is much more along the lines of short-term discounting. The major competitors they have that consumer marketing so they are getting that long-term brand growth and we are not getting that sort of awareness. We tend to have our account promotions on for significantly longer than our competitors.

OLIVIA:
Inge. How do you think we're gonna sort of summarise all of this to the, to the client?

INGE:
I think there are actually four key concerns. I think the product categories our business is in are actually under performing. The second issue the company is facing as well in that they are planning to do quite a lot of new product development, however when you look at their track record in new product development it hasn't been very good.

INGE:
The third area of concern I'd say is round the marketing spends. I'm a bit worried that consumers have got used to the fact that these brands are always on promotion; reversing that trend I think will be quite difficult.