C

COPCUP

Marketing
Plan

Tristen Lawrence, Hunter Knight,

Rebecca Houser

Managerial Summary

Have you ever been in a situation where you have been out at a party, restaurant or
bar and had some alcoholic beverages and then had to question whether or not you were
capable of driving?

Would you say that you have possibly driven drunk or even buzzed? According to
a study performed by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), 4.2 million
Americans admit to having done so at least once within the given month (Mundell, 2015).

Likewise, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) states that, Every two minutes, a
person is injured in a drunk driving crash. If there was a simple, consequence free way to
test your actual blood alcohol concentration would you?

With the Cop Cup, you can actually test your own or your friends blood alcohol concentration, keep a digital drink tally, all with your favorite drinking cup.

The Cop Cup is a way to ensure that you are having fun in a responsible way. You will
find the cop cup in many convenience stores, liquor stores, and campus bars near your
college.

COPCUP

Description of the Business

Introduction

Small company with the sole purpose to provide a fun and safe way to keep consumers
enjoying alcohol but also be the cop (Authority figure that knows their limitations) thats

Cop Cup

within them.

Cup that counts the # of times you refill it and has a built in breathalyzer.

Cop Cup: The Brand

Has an authoritative, empowerment, and responsibility vibe that should make the overall

COPCUP

consumer have a sense that the product is a fun way to enjoy drinking but also a way to
stay safe.

Need Satisfying Qualities

Have a fun way to drink but also be able to stay safe. Helps consumers maintain a safe
blood alcohol content (buzz), and alerts them if they are capable to drive and be able to
stay far away from the fuzz. Its a cup that relies on safety but doesnt put things down
(debbie downer). Gives consumers the knowledge of knowing their limit and also
knowing if they are capable to drive and be under the legal limit (0.8).

Business Objectives

Relate to consumers with emotion (pathos), but also establish the fact the product is fun
as well as establishe safety for the consumer as well.

Let the consumer know its okay to drink and maintain a buzz.

Give the consumer the empowerment of being the cop in their own drinking lifestyle.

COPCUP

Establish that the consumer is the cop for themselves by using our product thus making
them responsible in maintaining their safety for themselves and others if they decide to
drive.

Situational Analysis
WEAKNESSES
STRENGTHS
Nothing like it
Combine fun with responsibility
Two products for the price of one

Lack of funding
No reputation yet
Our specified markets may not find the
need for our brand initially

Allows consumer to gauge their limits

THREATS
OPPORTUNITIES
Expand quickly to a large market
Ability to partner with other
organizations that promote safe drinking
Customer loyalty
Cut down on drunk driving incidents

Not have enough revenue in the first

year
Sustainable financial backing
Consumers may think the brand is
promoting not to drink, rather than
drinking responsibly

Situational Analysis

One of the key strengths to our product, is that there is nothing like it. And because
of that there is a huge opportunity to quickly expand the brand. We will start with our
target market, but will very quickly be able to expand outside of that market.

Second, the main purpose of our brand and product is to promote a safe drinking
environment, where consumers can have fun, but know when enough is enough. Our
overall goal is to help college students gage their consumption in order to limit many of
the tragic events that can follow drinking.

COPCUP

Next, you are getting two items for the price of one. To buy just a breathalyzer, you
will pay roughly $30 if not more. But you still dont have a place to hold your drinks.
With our brand, we are giving consumers a two for one deal, making it one less thing they
need to carry when they go out.

Finally, our product itself will allow you, as the consumer, to gauge your limits. And
since you are able to gauge those limits, you will be able to cut down on the drunk driving
incidents significantly.

Situational Analysis

With strengths, also comes weaknesses. With any brand, one of the biggest fears is
that the specific market may not see the need or want for the brand initially. Because of
that, you may not have enough revenue in the first year.

Second, with any startup company you always run the chance of not having enough
funding. Many start-up brands have to borrow the money to get the brand up and running. But you run the chance of not having that financial backing you need to sustain the
brand as a whole.

COPCUP

Finally, it is difficult to build up a reputation with a start-up brand. You run the risk
of consumers thinking the brand is promoting you not to drink, rather than the fun of
drinking responsibly.

Summary of Consumer Information

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and their
recent national survey, almost sixty percent of college students ages eighteen to twentytwo drank alcohol in the past month, and almost two out of three of them engaged in
binge drinking during the same time frame (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism , 2015).

Drinking on college campuses has become a ritual or right of passage for students
across the country. Most even see it as an integral part of their higher education
experience. This ritual that is mean to be extremely fun, unfortunately can turn very
dangerous very quickly. While most realize how extremely dangerous drinking too
much can be, few realize how scary the real statistics are. About 97,000 students between
eighteen and twenty-four report experiencing alcohol related sexual assault or date rape,
approximately 696,000 students in the same age range report being assaulted by another
student who has been drinking, and 1,825 college students die from alcohol-related
unintentional injuries, including motor-vehicle crashes (National Institute on Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism , 2015).

COPCUP

Summary of Consumer Information cont.

Due to the previously stated statistics, we have chosen to market our drinking
tumbler with built in breathalyzer to college students as well as parents of college students.

Our strategy behind marketing to college students will be to make the cup seem fun,
functional, but also necessary to their safety. We would sell our product to liquor stores
near college campuses as well as convenient stores in and around colleges. For college
students this cup could be something fun that they and their friends could use at parties
or bars, but it could also keep them from getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while past
the legal consumption limit.

COPCUP

According to a study done in 2014, the top three concerns for parents of college
students are college finances, not knowing what is going on with their child on a day to
day basis, and their largest concern: their childs safety (Wolfenden, 2014). That being said,
we would market the importance of drinking safety and how our cup can help to keep
their children safe. We would encourage parents to give our cups to their college-aged
children as gifts. Our cups would in that case be sold in convenience stores as well as on
line.

Marketing Mix

Discussion of Product

Augmented Product: 30 day warranty (Incase there are in bugs or malfunctions with the actual
product. Customer Services: servicing the customers by establishing to them with ads and promotions that the cup gives them the power to be their own boss and not listen to the authority most
young adults dont like to listen too. In other words they are their own cop.

Actual product: The Cop Cup in itself. First launch would be some standard colors (black, blue and
red). The Style would be slick tumbler design with a pop up Breathalyzer and a digital BAC read out
and a digit counter for how many times you refill your 16 oz cup. Also each cup will have the Brand
logo Cop Cup on then and the slogan Keep your Buzz, Dont alert the Fuzz.

COPCUP

Core Product: is overall giving customers the benefit of being safe and having fun. But also to give
them the power and responsibility to know when they should cut themselves off.
Brand extension: Bars can pay us to have their logos on the cop cups.
Product extension: would be new colors of cop cups. (Yellow, Pink, Aqua, White, etc.).
Packaging: Clear plastic wrap around the entire cup or just around the lid for security purposes.

Marketing Mix cont.

Discussion of Place and Development of Brand

The cups will be made in the U.S. at a small commercial warehouse. Also have a little shop
for our cups as well. Then cups will be shipped to stores across the U.S.
Where we are going to sell them?

Start out with local shops/Bars: Harvest Market, Marsh, Muncie Liquors, Family Friendly
Package Liquors, Be Here Now, Savages, Punk Cowgirl, Valhalla, and etc. Then eventually
pair up with convenient stores (CVS, Walgreens). Then when the revenue gets bigger and
more consumers hop on the bandwagon, we then try to sale our product in big name department stores/super stores (Walmart, Target, Meijer, Kohls, and etc.).

COPCUP

Partnership with local bars Be Here Now, Savages, and etc. Have the bars sell the cups
and put their logo on the Cop Cup as well. The end goal of partnering up local bars is to
eventually get big chains (such as Brothers) and well known bars (Harrys Chocolate Shop,
which is the number one college bar in the U.S.).

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Giveaways

Discussion of Product

Marketing Mix cont.

Social Media
Our promotional plans will be directed at our college student consumer base. We will
put promotional ads on our various social media sites giving contestants a chance to win
a cup. We will also have print ads containing 10% off coupons that can be put on college
bulletins or put out inside of college restaurants and pubs.

Discussion of Product

COPCUP

Our goal when pricing the Cop Cup would be to find a reasonable price point that college
students can afford while still creating a profit and using sturdy materials for the cup itself.
For materials we will need the following:
Plastic tumbler cup: $2.00
Plastic Lid: $1.00
Breathalyzer: Wholesale cost $6.17
Digital Readout Screen: $1.05

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Total Cost: $10.22

Sale Price: $20.50 ( Just over 50% markup)

Timeline

Hiring

Research

Development

Release of product

Promotion

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec

1/1/17-3/31/17

17

3/1/17-5/30/17

COPCUP

5/31/17-7/31/17

8/1/17-8/31/17

8/1/1712/30/17

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Timeline cont.

Hiring: 1/1/17-3/31/17

We will be a very small business at first until you are making enough revenue to
sustain a larger operation. Not only are the VPs going to run the overall company, they
are also going to work side by side with other employees. We will have a public relations
professional that will be in charge of the social media accounts and then the overall image
of the brand. As well as a head of research. To save money, we will start with unpaid
interns that help conduct research and work on the side of public relations. This way, we
are helping out our fellow classmates, but still getting the product to the consumer as fast
as possible.

COPCUP
Research:
3/1/17-5/30/17

The first step should be to research how others have gotten their products to market,
understand the tools available such as trademarks, copyrights and various patents, and
the potential market for your product. We will also need to conduct market research
by identifying other products that are similar to ours. We will also need to develop a
prototype, before finally drafting a business plan. This research will take just under 3
months, before we go into the development of the product itself (Entrepreneur, 2009).

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Timeline cont.

Development: 5/31/17-7/31/17

All of our cups will be made in the U.S. at a small commercial warehouse. We will
also have a little shop to store our cups as well. From these warehouses we will be able
to ship to stores across the country. The development of the product will take roughly 2
months.

ReleaseCOPCUP
of Product: 8/1/17-8/31/17

Our main goal is to have our brand and product ready to be released on August 1,
2017. This is about the time that school starts and will give us the perfect opportunity to
market to college campuses. We will be hosting small online parties getting ready for the
release where customers can win anything from 10% off to a free cup.

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Timeline cont.

Promotion

When it comes to promotion, our main focus is going to be through social media,
radio advertisements, billboards, print advertisements, and partnering with other
organizations. Since this is a startup company, and we have very limited funds, we want to
have an effective way to market our products without spending an arm and a leg.


For social media, Cop Cup will have a Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. They will all
have a public relations professional, or intern to save money, posting to these accounts 2-4
times a week. This will give us a strong social media presence from the very beginning
(Entrepreneur, 2008).


Radio advertisements are a good way to promote a product without having to pay a
large sum of money. According to Fit Small Business, radio boasts a 93% weekly reach
among Americans, which is even more than the amount of Americans watching TV or
browsing the internet. (Fit Small Business, 2016) Radio is a vital part to marketing our
product. Local marketing ideas quotes radio advertisements to be anywhere from $500$1500 in small towns, whereas in places such as Chicago or Los Angeles you will pay
$4000-$8000 per week. Until we start making money, our radio advertisements will be
focused to smaller towns to save us money (Local Marketing Ideas, 2016)

COPCUP

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Timeline cont.

Promotion cont.

Typically, a full-size billboard will cost around $5k-$10k, though you can get as low
as $1k in rural areas and can expect to pay $10k or more around cities and busy highways.
Youll also have to pay for art and set up, which starts around $1k (Fit Small Business,
2015). We would have no more than 2 billboards in large traffic areas.


Moreover, at the beginning of the process we will also send out a few print
advertisements. This will be done in local newspapers, a possibility magazines if we can
get one to run ours. According to Entrepreneur, to promote an ad in a newspaper, it will
cost roughly $500 to $20,000, depending on whether the publication is local or national,
the size of your ad, whether you use color and if youve negotiated a multiple-ad rate. We
will be focusing on local newspapers and magazines, black and white and no more than
half a page to keep the costs down.


Finally, towards the end of the year, the hope of the brand is to partner with other
organizations that promote safe drinking. These organizations could include but are not
limited to, College Drinking Prevention and Dont drink and drive.

COPCUP

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Discussion of Methods

To continue build the brand we can market the cup to bars ( Brothers, Be Here Now,
Mark III, Twin Archer, and etc.) We can sell the cups at the bars and have the bars put
their logo on the cups. This way we can hit a wide range of consumers and cater our
product to the brands of bars our consumers like. This way the brand of Cop Cup will
be known by others but bars can put their logo on it as well. Also, we can increase profit
by selling our cups in bars and also increase the price of ones with the bar logos on them.
The standard price of one can be increased by 10 to 15 dollars depending on what the bar
wants to do. Also, the bars can do drink specials when someone purchases the cup they
can get refills of domestic beers for one to two dollars.

COPCUP

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Mock-ups
Tweet 2-4 times a week
Follow trending hashtags so
consumers will be able to find our
product
Every tweet will display #copcup at
the end of it

@copcup

Cop Cup

Cup that counts the

# of times you refill
it and has a built in
breathalyzer.

COPCUP

Monday: #motivationalmonday
Everybodys got to believe in
something. I believe Ill have a beer
#drinkresponsibly #copcup

Thursday: #tbt
COPCUP
Picture of executives brainstorming
Cop Cup @copcup 45s
Get your #copcup today. #keepthebuzz #dontalertthefuzz

Cop Cup @copcup 2d

#Motivationalmonday You miss 100% of the shots you dont take.
#keepthebuzz #dontalertthefuzz #copcup

the idea
[picture of dad] #tbt your dad
in college. Bet he wishes he had the
#copcup
Sunday: #selfiesunday
[Picture of someone holding the
cop cup] A happy customer with
their #copcup

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Mock-ups
Post 2-4 times a week
Focus more on pictures and
infographics, but also offers
giveaways
Infographic of the dangers
of drunk driving

Giveaway posts- Share this

post and tell us why you
love your #copcup, and you
have a chance to win a free
cup. A $20 value. Tell your
friends.
Comparison of Cop Cup to
other cups

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Infographic of the BAC

levels for male and females

COPCUP

Cop Cup

Mock-ups

COPCUP

COPCUP

Post to the snapchat story no more than 3 times a week at first. Later on in the promotion
process, post more like 4-5 times a week.
a consumer using the cup (10 seconds)
displaying the cup (10 seconds)

comparing our cup to other cups

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Billboards

Mock-ups

One billboard will be very simple, just displaying our logo and slogan. This will give
drivers a chance to look at the billboard, without having to spend a lot of time reading it.

BUZZ OR BUST
Keep your buzz, dont alert the fuzz

COPCUP

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Mock-ups
The second billboard will be more image based. By using pictures, we make it known to
drivers that this billboard is for a cup.

Keep your buzz,

dont alert the fuzz

.08

COPCUP

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Mock-ups
By making the print advertisements black and white, we will save money.

Waht
if yuor life

BUZZ OR BUST

on
how
you

fsat

can

read

DONT
DRINK
AND
DRIVE

depneded

this

setnence?
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Keep your buzz,

dont alert the fuzz

Dont be part of the statistic.

Keep your buzz,
Dont alert the fuzz

COP CUP

Mock-ups

Radio

10 sec; Buzz or bust. You decide. Cop Cup (sung out)

15 sec: Keep your buzz. Dont alert the Fuzz. Cop Cup (Sung out)

release the cop in you.

30 sec: Cop Cup the first ever cup that counts the number of times you

COPCUP
refill your cup. Also has a built in breathalyzer, so you can know if you
are able to drive. Keep your buzz. Dont alert the fuzz. Cop cup (sung
out) Release the cop in you!

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Today. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/radio-advertising/
How Content Marketing Helps You Build y. (2016, July 8). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://localmarketingideas.com/
How to Estimate the Cost of Starting a Business from Scratch | The U.S. Small Business Administration | SBA.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved

November 28, 2016, from https://www.sba.gov/blogs/how-estimate-cost-starting-business-scratch

Kobliski, K. J. (2016, January 17). Magazine Ads. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/arti
cle/83094

Monosoff, T. (2009, May 7). Get Your Product to Market in Six Steps. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.
entrepreneur.com/article/201526
Mundell, E. J. (2015, August). Millions of Americans admit to drunk driving, CDC finds. Retrieved November 2016, from CBS News:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-of-americans-admit-to-drunk-driving-cdc-finds/

COPCUP

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism . (2015, December). College Drinking. Retrieved November 2016, from National

Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism : http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/CollegeFactSheet/CollegeFactSheet.pdf
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) | National Institutes of Health (NIH). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2016,

from https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-almanac/national-institute-alcohol-abuse-alcoholism-niaaa
Prosser, M., Marsan, J., & Harrington, M. (2015, November 03). How Much Does Billboard Advertising Cost? Retrieved November 28,

2016, from http://fitsmallbusiness.com/how-much-does-billboard-advertising-cost/
Wolfenden, R. (2014, September). Parents Top 3 College Concerns. Retrieved November 2016, from Empowering Parents: https://www.
empoweringparents.com/blog/parents-top-3-college-concerns/

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