Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Benecol Spread and Media Planning

Johnson, Richard R...

Case

Benecol Spread and Media Planning

Johnson, Richard R.; Carraway, Robert L.; Shames, Ervin R.; Farris, Paul W.

M-0664 | Published January 20, 2002 | 23 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

Product Details

Benecol Spread, a cholesterol-lowering margarine, was a product with unusual media-planning challenges. With a narrow target group and unproven market potential, Johnson & Johnson needed to get the most "bang for the buck" from its Benecol advertising. Would a media-planning model (optimizer) requiring executives to quantify their judgment on several key inputs be helpful in this process? A spreadsheet accompanying the case allows students to weight the target groups and to choose among different advertising vehicles to form the best possible media plan.