dentonic (marketing)

INTRODUCTION

Dentonic was the first industrial toothpowder launched in Pakistan. It was

launched in 1963 and in a couple of year it started used to be at most

households. You can judge from the fact that every other day you would hear a

Dentonic ad on TV and Radio. But now it’s slowly losing its popularity. Why?

Because of change in cultural trends, people like convenience and comfort. They

are concerted about their health and fitness. The trend is towards showoff and

not simplicity. Therefore they have switched over to paste. This explains the

declining popularity of Dentonic.

To take hold of the declining sale we are trying to come up with a new Dentonic

product (Dentonic toothpaste), which caters for the current changing in cultural

trends. To take forward our idea we conducted a market research in the two

cities of Pakistan. Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The aim of the research was to

know our target market, their need and demography. Due to hostile competition

in the today’s environment the customer has a huge choice to choose from high

quality to the lowest price toothpaste. Many people want good quality product

with the lowest price. This thinking follows largely in the middle class population,

which we consider a favorable segment for our product.

In the proceeding pages we have written a full marketing program for our new

product. Such as objectives, situational analysis differentiations and positioning,

and Marketing Mix. (Product, pricing, placing and promotion.)

MARKETING PROJECT DENTONIC TOOTH PASTE

MARKETING PROGRAMO

UR MISSION STATEMENT

We offer a product that is a unique blend of good quality with least

price for average Pakistani.

Major objectives for Dentonic toothpaste

1. To produce such a product which is according to the financial capacity of

average Pakistani.

2. Coming up with a product that caters for the current changing cultural

trends.

3. The image of the Dentonic toothpaste should enhance the image of the

parent product.

4. Initially we will launch our product in Rawalpindi and Islamabad but later

on we plan to introduce it into new geographical areas where our Dentonic

tooth powder already exists.

5. We will promote our product through effective promotional campaign.

6. Concentrate on decreasing costs through effecting management of cost

and through using latest technology as well as hiring a skilled

management, workers and sale force.

7. Increase its availability by expanding the distribution channels over time.

8. Efforts should be made to get a financial assistance so that we can give a

practical shape to our idea.

9. At the initial stage while introducing this product our goal is sale oriented

rather than profit oriented.

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS


Micro and Macro Environment

Micro Environment: Micro Environment:

While producing product like Dentonic toothpaste in the competitive market

we must consider the following Micro/Macro factors.

(Note that these all are assumptions because there is no information available about company on

Internet.)

Financial position

Suppliers

Market intermederies

Customers

Competitors

Financial position: (internal factor)

In our view the financial position of the company is not very strong (for 39yrs they

are producing a single product) so we have to take huge loan from the banks to

pay for raw materials and for other marketing expenses. As the interest rates are

very high therefore it is difficult to pay it back. But we hope through effective

planning, we can manage it.

Suppliers:

In Rawalpindi and Islamabad where we have conducted a research there are

three main suppliers. It mean that here some sort of monopolistic type situation

exits therefore the rate of raw material is very high.

Market Intermediaries:


Distribution channels: In Islamabad and Rawalpindi there are two main

wholesale markets. In Rawalpindi “Lankari Bazar” and in Islamabad “G-9 Karachi

company.” These markets are not only popular in these cities but also in other

areas situated near these cities.

Financial markets: In both twins cities many banks are situated such as

I.D.B.P, etc. we hope we can get a required amount of loan from these institutes.

Marketing services agencies:

We have to get the services of these agencies because we need effective

marketing for our new product. We try to find those companies, which provide

these services at reasonable rates.

Customers:

Almost 70% of the population of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are middle class

people. [E.g. the average monthly income of citizens of Islamabad, which is a

capital city of Pakistan, is only Rs.10, 000 (source: www.asiaweek.com)] People, these

days are very conscious about spending money because their buying power has

reduced to a great extend because of the inflation. Middle class is actually our

target market, which in reference to these cities, are huge in number. Our

present customers largely belong to the lower class Majority of them are tradition

bound and are trapped in the vicious circle of poverty. They take a lot of time to

accept changes. Therefore we are trying to target new market e.g. middleclass

etc.

Competitors:

The market we are going to target is highly competitive. Many low price

toothpastes are available in the market. For example English, sparkle two good,

Minto etc. To get an edge on them we need to offer a quality product with low

price and start an effective marketing campaign.

Macro Environment:Macro Environment:


http://www.asiaweek.com/

Economic conditions:

Economic condition are further subdivided into three categories:

Business cycle

Interest rate

Inflation

Business cycle:

As we know our economy is in resection. At this time the launching a new

product or in other words expanding a business is highly risky. Especially in the

case of our product it is more risky.

Interest rate:

The interest rate offered to us in case we take a loan is in between 17% to 20%,

which is very high. As the market is very competitive so it is very difficult to get

higher profit so we have to stand on a minimum profit and under these

circumstances it is very difficult to repay loan with such a high interest rate.

Inflation:

In Pakistan the inflation rate is very high generally speaking the growth rate is

from 8 to 10%. Consumer buying power is decreasing day by day. All the raw

material is increasing day by day. Our mission is to produce a product of better

quality with a low price. Under these circumstances a lot of effort is needed to

achieve our mission.

Government policies towards industry and business:


Now, a day the government is very harsh towards business community

Documentation of economy results in disaster. As a result of it business suffer a

lot.

Taxation:

Government has declared some areas as tax free zone. So we will go for this

facility. But we must keep one thing in mind that in Pakistan govt. Polices are not

permanent.

Smuggling:

This is one of the major factors because we are producing toothpaste of low price

(20-25) where the smuggled toothpaste (family size) of better quality is available

in Rs18-20. Therefore we must keep this fact in our mind.

Demography:

The average income of citizens of Islamabad is 10,000 the population of

Islamabad is more than 800,000 and the population of Rawalpindi is almost more

than 1,500,000. For our product age wise and income wise population

distribution is important. Below we are providing age wise population distribution

of Pakistan. Population (2000) in thousands

AGE TOTAL MALE FEMALE

TOTAL 141,554 72,488 69,06610-14 17,939 9,254 8,68415-19 15,141 7,830 7,31120-24 12,942 6,700 6,24225-29 10,706 5,559 5,14630-34 9,439 4,873 4,56635-39 7,711 3,957 3,75440-44 6,391 3,233 3,15945-49 4,998 2,481 2,51750-54 3,920 1,913 2,00655-59 3,498 1,721 1,77760-64 2,987 1,484 1,50

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

Cultural Factors:


There is a cultural shift is our society and now the people are not ready to use

products such as toothpowders Dandasa etc. They like convenient products.

Show off is very common in our society. Therefore almost 70% people in related

to the areas where we took interview use toothpaste. Moreover most of the

people of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are health conscious and know the

importance of good toothpaste for their healthy teeth. Therefore we include

beside the element of low price, the element of quality, which guarantee dental

care.

International Trade policy:

The policies of World trade organization are very hostile against third world

countries e.g. if Pakistan allows free trade, this result is the bankruptcy of local

industries. So we must produce such a good, which could meet the international

challenges.


SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTH

The strengths of the Dentonic manufacturing company are as follows:

1. Brand is well established.

2. Product is available in the market with consistency.

3. It was established in1963 which proves, has survived four decades.

4. It is the only well know brand of powder available in the market.

5. Its ads are very popular among the youngster.

6. It was the first industrial project in Pakistan so the banks can trust on it

while providing loans. (Source: www.webpages.com.pk)

7. People have awareness about this product and most of them whom we

interviewed rate it good. (16 out of 40, 40%)

8. Most of the people are willing to use Dentonic toothpaste, if it is available

in the market. (36 out of 40, 90%)

Weaknesses

1. Its image in a whole Pakistani community is not very good.

2. People want convenience so dislike using tooth powder. Whom we

interviewed most of them including a lower middle class people use

toothpaste. (28 out of 40, 70%).

3. No additional facility has ever been given to customers for enhancing it

image and sales, since it was established.

4. The customer has an image in mind that this product belongs to the lower

class of society.


http://www.webpages.com.pk/

5. In our view the company is not financially so much strong. Because for

almost 40 years they didn’t introduce any new product nor improve the

quality of their existing product. Similarly they didn’t promote their product

a lot. Therefore it is difficult for company to take high risk.

Opportunities:

Almost 70% of the population of Pakistan is miserly effected by inflation. They

are ready to buy a product of good quality at reasonable prices. So considering

this we have a huge target market which is loyal to good quality & low priced

product. While introducing Dentonic toothpaste we have good opportunity of not

only increasing the sale volume but also increasing share in the total target

market.

Threats:

1. The toothpaste market is very competitive. Therefore vast promotional

campaign is required.

2. Majority of the Dentonic users belong to the lower class and are tradition

bound so take time to accept change.

3. Because the image of Dentonic is not good therefore it is a danger that

may be Dentonic toothpaste will not be accepted in the society. But we

believe although the image is bad but it is not incurable. Through effective

planning and marketing efforts we can manage it.

4. Due to influence of foreign companies hard work is required to compete

with them.


GROWTH STRATEGIESAfter scanning our micro/macro environment and SWOT analysis the question

arising here is that what are we doing? Basically we are developing a new

product for a new market. We are entering into a new market as well as with a

new product due to the change of cultural patterns. Now people like

convenience. They like those products, which are easy to use. Moreover on the

basis of our research we find that a large population of our new market use

toothpaste so we are introducing Dentonic toothpaste for them. This approach

helps us to increase our revenue as well as market share. The important feature

of our new market is, that they are mostly belonging to the middle class. They

want quality if provided to them at low price. Secondly due to the intensive

competition in toothpaste market as such nobody is loyal to any toothpaste.

Those products are sold much, which are promoted much. To keep our product

growing we have to promote it much other wise we cannot achieve our goals.

Along with diversification strategy we are also trying to sell our new product to

Dentonic toothpowder user. We hope sooner and later we are able to acquired

goals and over previous customers will also buy toothpaste. One can ask that

you are the only firm that is producing toothpowder. Why you are developing new

product and entering into a new market? The answer is due to the availability of

low price toothpaste we think our toothpowder market cannot compete with them.

To give them a tight competition it is necessary to develop a new product so that

we cannot loose our market.


DIFFERENTIATION AND POSITIONING

Differentiation:

In order to give birth to our product name and image we are launching

Dentonic toothpaste. This paste is although not so much different from the

existing toothpaste available in the market, but we have planed to

differentiate it from our competitors using various marketing techniques, such

as owing a different word in customer mind, by using flexible tubes (like

close-up tube) which is not yet been introduce in a low price toothpaste. We

will focus on quality and project its quality features excessively through

advertisement such as “only reliable low price toothpaste for your dental

care” etc.

Positioning:

Before we discuss positioning. First of all we want to discuss, the different

segments of the market. What segment we are targeting and why we are

targeting this?

Since in Pakistan majority of the population lives in the rural areas, they are

still uneducated, uninformed and of a conservative nature making them quite

tradition bound. Therefore it is very difficult for us to develop a product for

these people. These people don’t like to change their habits. According to

the rough estimate 55% of the total population of Pakistan belongs to the

category of laggards. Whereas 15% are lower middle, 18% are upper middle,

10% are upper class and 2% are elites.

Our tooth powder is very popular among the lower class, lower middle class

as well as to some extent upper middle class. In the resent years because

many other low price toothpaste like English, Sparkle two good etc. have

emerged. This result is our toothpowder and its market shared to start


decreasing. To take control over this situation we have decided to develop a

new product as well as a new market.

Segmentation:

We have divided the Pakistani community on the basis of their need

characteristics and behavior. We consider different social classes as our

basis of segmentation. They are upper class, middle class and lower class

people.

The upper class people generally want a high quality product. They are

mostly health conscious and being greatly influenced with imported product.

Now getting the attention of these people is very difficult. Because Dentonic’s

image in the eyes as a powder and a product for lower class, repels them

away from any product under the brand name of Dentonic. Secondly we

cannot finance a huge research to develop a product, which is of high quality

that could compete with foreign toothpaste. Neither can we start a

comprehensive promotional campaign to get the attention of these people

towards our product.

The lower class people are mostly conservative and they have limited excess

to media. Therefore they take time to accept new product.

The third and last segment is middle class, which is a favorable segment for

our new product. We have various reasons to target these people. Because:

Our economic conditions are getting worse to worst. The gap between

rich and poor is becoming wider and wider. People belong to middle class

mostly are concerted about a low price and a high quality product. Among

these there are many people who easily adopt a new product if it is of a

low price but of good quality.


Through our research we came to know that majority of these people

have an awareness of Dentonic toothpowder (32 of 40, 80%) and they

have a good image of Dentonic. (13 of 40 32.5% good & 14 of 40,35%

fine). Almost 90% of people are ready to buy Dentonic toothpaste if it

available in the market.

Many people want some change in the packing of toothpaste as well as it

quality e.g. some suggest flexible tube for Dentonic toothpastes.

Some Dentonic users are also ready to buy the product if the product

meets their financial capacity as well as expectation. E.g. Quality of

toothpaste should be like Dentonic powder or better

Target Market:

We think from the above discussion as well as from the result of the survey that

middle class people could be our target market. Among middle class we have

targeted those people that belong to the income rage of 2000-10000,all people

from children to elders up to age 50. The some common characteristics of these

people are:

They are price sensitive although the results of the survey showing

some thing else but we think it could be an error of research. The

figures we obtained from our survey shows (17 0f 40 42.50% said they

see price, 14 of 40, 35% said they see quality & 9 0f 40 22.5% said they

see both price and quality.)

They belong to the income rage of 2000—10000.

Most of them do a lower level job e.g. clerks, mechanics, lower level

administrative work etc.

They are basically our new market because majority of them use

toothpaste. (28 of 40, 70% use toothpaste, 8 of 40, 20% use

toothpowder and rest of them use other things e.g. Maswaq etc.)


The lower class as well as the upper middle class can be our potential

target market if we are successful in promoting our new product.

They are culturally moderate people as compare to lower class.

Moreover as we are mentioned in our initial objectives that in the

beginning we will only target the market of Islamabad and Rawalpindi

(largely lower areas of these cities). Although the market here as

compare to the other cities of Pakistan e.g. Karachi is small but we think

it is good for testing. If our product is successful in this area than we will

definitely target other cities of Pakistan e.g. Karachi, Lahore etc. after

conducting a comprehensive survey.

Rest of the detail about this class will be given in the research analysis.

Now we will explain where we have positioned our toothpaste in our

expected customer mind.

“Twice a day every day “ is the phrase, which is already known by the

name of Dentonic toothpowder. In case of Dentonic toothpaste we are

replacing this phrase with this: “we care for your teeth” Moreover some

change definitely we will bring in projecting the image of the Dentonic

toothpaste, which could make it different from other toothpaste. We have

decided that we will project it as a low price and good quality paste for

average Pakistani. This projection helps us to get unique position in the

market. Because all the existing low price toothpaste e.g. English

projecting their toothpaste on the basis of low price only. We project our

toothpaste as good quality paste, which is the only reliable paste available

at low price for your proper dental care.


Forecasting Demand:

AS we already said that almost 70% of the population of Islamabad and

Rawalpindi belongs to middle class. Therefore there can be a huge demand

for our toothpaste in these cities. If we talk in respect of our survey almost

90% (36 of 40) people are ready to buy Dentonic toothpaste. According to

the census of 1998 the total population of Islamabad is 800,000 of these 800

thousand 34.4%(275 thousand) is a rural population and 65.6%(525

thousand) is an urban population.

(Source: population censes 1981 & 1998 or www.finance.gov.pk)

We have no reliable statistics of Rawalpindi population. In our view it

population is more than 1.5 million. On the bases of these statistics and our

survey results the expected demand for our product in Islamabad is 331

thousand in urban areas and 52 thousand in rural areas.) In

Rawalpindi we expect 700 thousand people will buy our product. Hence our

product minimum total market is 1.08 million. Among this large population

belong to the middle and lower middle class. If we are able to sell our product

to maximum people of our target market we can get our initial objectives. (Formula we use is total population * .70 this give us middle class people after that we multiplied the answer

with .9 (our survey result) this will give us the expected demand. In order to save it from over estimating we

deduct some people of rural side as well as urban side).


http://www.finance.gov.pk/

MARKETING MIXFinally after analyzing our expectation and survey results now we are

designing the marketing mix of our new product, DENTONIC TOOTHPASTE.

There are four elements of marketing mix.

Product

price

Placement

Promotion.

Product:

We have chosen Dentonic because our research shows that most of the people

know Dentonic very well. By using this product, people would easily recognize

Dentonic as the company, which has served them for decades and has satisfied

their needs. Therefore any new product by them would never be ignored

because of the loyalty people have with the old things.

Varieties:

We’ve thought of installing Dentonic initially in one variety only, which is the mint

flavor.

SIZE:

Initially we’ll be introducing a large size pack of seventy grams. Later on we’ll

plan to introduce a small size pack as well as family size if it’s successful.

Design:

Well use the same design as that of Dentonic tooth powder, which has a

multitude of yellow and green color.


PACKING:

As we know it’s one of the major factors in promotion of the product. A good

packaging encourages impulse buying. Along with the fact that it attracts the

customers eyes and attention towards itself. Therefore, we’ve made an attractive

pack of Dentonic toothpaste the important features of our packaging are as

follows.

1. Price;( which is clearly written on the pack.) Its effect would be that

the customer at first sight of the product would be able to assess its

value and would itself do the work of a sales person.

2. Some information relating to the use of the product and benefits etc

would be given in the pack.

3. Company name and P.O box number shall be given in front. So that

if any customer or the retailers etc if have any query than they could

easily contact the manufactures or the whole sellers for their urgent

problem.

4. Another thing is that the package shall be attractive which we’ve

taken form the original Dentonic parent product, which is quite

attractive. And we’ve used family packing, such as the one that

already exists in the original Dentonic so as to create a familiarity

with the original Dentonic product.

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF DENTONIC:

1. It’s a low price high quality product.

2. The regular use of the Dentonic toothpaste twice a day prevents from

bacteria

3. It’s available in a flexible plastic tube, which is soft packing that helps the

ejection of the paste a lot easier. This feature has never ever before been

introduced in a low priced toothpaste. We’re the first one to introduce it.

4. It packing resembles that of the original Dentonic powder.


Price:

As our target market is middle class (largely lower middle) whose earning per

month is between RS 2000 to 10,000. So we must keep the price between

RS 18-20 because.

Our target market financial capacity is not so good.

Our aim is to produce a quality product at low price.

We want higher sales.

We at initial stage will concentrate on higher sale and less profit margin.

Listed price:

The printed price of our product will be Rs 20.

Discounts and allowances:

We will provide 10% (Rs 18/tube) discount to the whole seller. If we authorized

any firm to distribute our product we will provide 12% (Rs17.6/tube) discount to

distributor, 8% (18.4/tube) to retailer. In case of credit 0.5% will be deducted in

each case. Further we offer a bonus of 1% for whole seller if he sells 3600

toothpaste/month whereas 0.50% will be given to retailer if any retailer sells 250

pack of toothpaste per month.

We set low price because we want to increase our sale. It is basically our sale-

oriented objective. If we are able to sell as much toothpaste to our target market

we will achieve our initial goals.


Distributional channel:

We will use two types of distribution channels.

1. Producer Wholesaler Retailer customer

2. Producer Retailer customer.

CHANNEL # 1

We will sell our product directly to wholesaler in case of Rawalpindi at

Lankari Bazar and in case of Islamabad at G-9 Karachi company. AS we

know that other areas markets are also attached with Lankari Bazar, so by

selecting a wholesale market at Lankari Bazar we can also introduce our

product in Taxila, Abbtabad, Heripur, Wah, and Gujar khan District etc. The

villages related to Islamabad can come to Karachi Company for their

purchase.

CHANNEL # 2

This distribution channel will largely work in Islamabad. We hire some

Suzuki’s from the market. We have our own sale person who will sell the

product directly to all well-known retail stores of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

By this approach not only, we can, give some profit margin to retailer but

also we can get higher profit margin. This will also promote our product.


PROMOTION:

No big idea gets off the ground without an adequate promotion. We plan to

promote the product but that also, staying in our financial capacity, for that we

want to advertise it as much as possible. All of our ADS must show the same

idea. “We care for your teeth”. This is the word we want to owe in the prospects

mind. For advertising we will use ‘above the line’ as well as below the line

advertising mediums. But our major focus will be on below the line strategy.

BELOW THE LINE MEDIUM:

We will distribute brochures in all sectors of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. We also

plan to display our brochures in front of every major shop of Islamabad and

Rawalpindi.

In Rawalpindi, we’ll use the billboards to advertise our new product which is the

most effective advertising among the below the line strategy.

Big banners, especially the one’s hung at the entrance of bazaars and at different

mela`s etc provide an adequate advertising.

We’ll try to hang them at places where the maximum amount of people can see

our Ads. Such as Murree road Rawalpindi etc.

ABOVE THE LINE:

We will do this type of advertising according to our capacity .Now in this case if

we go on TV, then we will try that our ads come on prime time as well as on the

children time. We plan in a way that our Ads at least continue for one month on

Ptv and PTV World.

MAGAZINES:

According to the current statistics the Jung, dawn, news, akhbar-e-jehan etc are

the biggest distributors of news. Now if we use them for this purpose then we’ll

have the widest promotion as compared: if we give somewhere else.


Apart from this the evening newspaper are also going to be in consideration, so

that these people who read these newspapers should also get aware of this

product. Also the women digest such as the KIREN and KHAWATEEN etc will be

considered.

We are trying to give our ads in front page of every print media for at least one

month.

RADIO:

Since most of the population in Pakistan lives in the rural areas. Over there due

to the cultural trends, as well as poverty their still using radio habitually while

working .In these places, Fm 100 and Fm 101, The RADIO PAKISTAN are

mostly the most heard mediums of information interchange.

Sales promotion.

In order to increase our sale we have set a low price. Other strategies of sale

promotion such as free sampling, free toothbrush with toothpaste etc at the initial

stage we are not using. But when there is a need of it we will definitely use it.


dentonic (marketing)

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