THE 4 LEVELS OF MARKETING SOPHISTICATION

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

This piece highlights a case study from Kraft's Cheese & Dairy unit, illustrating how it crafted a category growth strategy across diverse brands. It identifies 4 levels of marketing sophistication: marketing as a cost center, brand building and pricing power, product and business model innovation, and driving marketing capitalization. Price-slashing Philadelphia would've wrecked the cheese's premium status. Cost-cutting on Velveeta would've been a massive opportunity cost. Each Kraft brand required tailored strategies based on their market positions and consumer dynamics.