- June 10, 2016
- 1:49 am
- no comments
Atlantic Groupa – A Reflection
Yesterday, we were able to meet with Atlantic Grupa’s head of PR, Gabrijela. Atlantic Grupa is one of southeast Europe’s largest producers and distributors. They produce many different kinds of products from energy drinks to snacks to household goods, but also distribute similar items for some of the world’s largest corporations.
While we didn’t spend as much time researching this company as we did Kras, we thought it would be great to see how they operate, since they are Croatia’s largest distribution company and we learned some interesting things. For example, one thing that I thought was interesting was that while they distribute many products that directly compete with their own products, they actually use that as an advantage because that gives them more bargaining power when dealing with retailers.
Another thing that we discussed with Gabrijela is one of Atlantic’s oldest products, Cedevita. This is a kids’ multivitamin drink that was very popular in the former republic of Yugoslavia. It was great hearing what she had to say about the marketing of that product, since it very much represents their portfolio and the challenges that come with it: Do they focus on the Croatian market first? Will Serbians and Bosnians buy this product? Will younger generations even notice or care?
Gabrijela mentioned that the company was expanding, we were able to ask her what the challenges were with expanding into Western Europe. She mentioned the company has tweaked the names of some products and only decided to launch a few to begin with. They are also present in the US, but have not made a huge investment in the United States yet.
We are looking forward to the day when we can have Cedevita in some local American shops!
-Magi Zlatvoka, MBA student with a concentration in Operations and Economics – Loyola University Chicago