BBA D-III Marketing Project Sample-2

Project Report on TOOTHPASTE INDUSTRY: An Overview

The toothpaste history in India can be tracked back from 1975 with 1200 tonnes of toothpaste produced by the toothpaste industry. Prior to the toothpastes Oral Hygiene was the domain of local home made powders and ayurvedh practitioners. With the entry of Colgate in Indian marketplace the awareness about Oral care and the importance of oral care. In recent years the Industry has shown impressive growth rate of 18.6% (this growth is calculated in terms of value growth in Rs. ).

The growth in the Urban market has been largely by the Gel Segment. Presently, a large chunk of the Market is still held by Colgate. The major players in the toothpaste Industry being Colgate Palmolive and Hindustan Lever Limited and several minor players like Balsara hygiene, Dabur etc.

Presently Colgate Dental Cream holds 52% of market share. HLL’s Close up lies far behind with 23% of the existing market share. The third player in the marketplace in terms of market share is Colgate Gel with 10.5% of the market share. That leaves 14.5% market share for other Brands like Pepsodent, Pepsodent G, Promise, Babool, Sensofoam, Forhans, Cibaca, Neem, Vicco etc. The toothpaste market is presently valued at Rs. 750 crores out of which the Gel segment has already bagged 1/3rd portion of it. The Gel segment presently stands at Rs. 248 crores and is growing at a rate much faster than Cream. In India toothpaste usage as compared to other countries is very low which signifies about the potential of the market. In Urban India the usage of toothpaste per person per year is just 190gms. Where as it is 200gms of toothpaste per person per year in developing countries as Indonesia and Thailand. In developed countries as USA and other European countries the toothpaste usage is 375 gms per person year. In India the toothpastes companies are going in for advertising on a heavy note, on an average the companies managing this FMCG category are spending 6.15% of their sales on development. Colgate Palmolive had shelled out 15% of their sales on ads in the year 1994. Dabur had an ad expenditure of 5.07% for the year 1993. whereas balsara Hygiene spend a huge 10.17% of their sales.

TOOTHPASTE COMPANIES AND TOOTHPASTE BRANDS

(1) Company	:	Shri Niranjan Aurvedh Bhawan, Tumsur (Mah)
Product Range	:	Niranjan
(a) 200 gm Tube		Rs
(b) 100 gm Tube		Rs
(c) 50 gm Tube		Rs
Segmenting Factor	:	Veg. / Non-veg. Population
Target	:	20% educate customers that all toothpastes have di-calcium phosphate or bone ash which is animal based. Whereas they use calcium rich PIPAL insted.
Availability	:	Maharastra
Distributors	:	107 (newly appointed)
Positioning Stance	:	Yoga For Teeth.
Direct Competitor	:	Vicco Vajradanti, but they feel that will beat them in the price game as VICCO’s 200 gm tube for Rs 44.

 

(2) Company	:	Hindustan Lever Limited
Brand Name	:	Close Up
Marketed By	:	Hindustan Lever limited (HLL)
Product Range	:	Close Up (Red, Green, Blue)
		50 gm Rs 100 gm Rs 150 gm Rs
Pepsodent	:	50 GM Rs 100 GM Rs 200 GM Rs
Pepsodent G	:	50 gm Rs 150 gm Rs
Segmenting Factor	:	Age
Targeted At	:	Young people. The target market being “Multi Brand Households” where young does not use what their parents. This particular targeting was significant when Close Up was launched because Colgate positioning was a sort of Flip flop between Tooth decay and Bad Breath and Colgate was going for a Broad market constituting of all the age groups.

Sought to be perceived by the customers was Fresh Breath. The physical appearance by the users, the Bright Red Gel synerized well with the Fresh breath Benefit. The advertising account was handled by LINTAS which focused on Fresh Breath that brought teenagers closer.

By 1980 Close Up had 3% of the 16,000 tonnes toothpaste market. The production capacity was doubled through a deal with third party manufacturer and the Brand was taken National over the next year and a half, the Premium slashed by 30%. In 1983 Colgate started fearing after witnessing a downfall in market share and started airing its campaign by inviting customers into its Dental ring of confidence, by stressing more on breath and posing as a complete toothpaste. Close Up countered this move by sharpening product benefits, while urging the customers to do the HA test by blowing air on the palm, the message was that Close Up feels a lot cooler which reiterated the basic benefit of a fresh breath.

1987 was a “Probe into Problem” year for HALL as Close Up was much below expectations with only 4.5% of the 32,000 tonnes toothpaste market. They identified two basic problems:

(1) Appearance of Toothpastes detracts prospects from its serious buyers.

(2) Commercials displayed too much of proximity between couples which was too much for a mother, who actually purchased the Toiletries.

1998 Lever reworked 3 Ps in its Marketing mix in Tamil Nadu where people have a strong sense of Oral Hygiene and the area has a cost effective media Reach. The three reworked Ps are as follows:

(1) Product :

· Blue mint flavour introduced.

· Tangerines of Read reduced. (for serious buyers.)

· Soft Squeeze lamitubes for toothpastes introduced for the first time in the country.

(2) Communication

· Advertisement focus moved from spotlight to Gregarious couples. This group orientation was more acceptable to the Mother.

(3) Distribution

· Took Brand to Sub Urban and Rural areas.

· Posters and Mobile Vans arrived in areas where Urban lifestyle was a matter of aspiration. This was a purposeful move as the company did not want the Brand to be saddled with a restrictive.

Up market image

In the year 1990, Colgate followed Close Up by launch of it’s Blue Colgate Gel. It was targeted at the youngsters within its Brand fold who were seeking Freshness. It was priced at par with Close Up gel. The Colgate ad showed a fluorescent Blue spiral round the users body and it talked of Fresh Breath Energy. By this time Gel became the Battleground in order to become the leader because:

* There is rapid expansion in gel segment.

* Youngsters thought white paste to be outdated.

In 1991, Close Up launched Zing Green and simultaneously Lever sponsored “Close Up Sangeet Muquabala” targeted at the rural youth. In 1991 Close Up’s market share increased to 16% of Rs 377 crores per year market. 1991 witnessed a few problems for Close Up Blue, which was faltering on repeat purchases as customers did not perceive much freshness value in it. In 1992, HLL launched “AQUA BLUE” with added attributes like increased Mouthwash contents and a more Minter flavour, so that customer’s perceived benefit is Freshness which is Lever’s Positioning stance. In response Colgate introduced “Red Actirinse” and then “Colgate Blue”. People at HLL thought to counter Colgate’s growth by cashing in on Medicinal appeal and came out with “Pepsodent” with Germicheck snf “Mentadent G” now renamed as “Pepsodent G” for Gum problems. Colgate countered this move by launching “Colgate Total” as an advanced paste to fight.

Tartar, Gingivitis, and other Dental ailments. 1993 was the year when HLL tried to woo the customers by innovative packaging. Firstly it introduced “Stand Up Pump dispensers” for metros but it bombed in the market because of High price perception as compared to benefits. Sachets formula was used by lever to break into Colgate’s fort. The Close Up sachets was priced at Rs. 3 per unit and it offered 20 uses, which means that a family of five could use it four times each. The year it sponsored zee Close Up Antaksharee. HLL also went in for Close Up Toothbrushes under the Brand name “Confident” and launched it in Tamil Nadu.

The confident toothbrushes were taken National and most importantly HLL advertisement account shifted from LINTAS to FTA due to

Global alignment move by Lever’s parent Unilever. The brief given to the new agency was to “Strengthen the Audience’s perception of Brand’s functional values.”

Close Up’s formulation was reworked and the new Close Up was enriched with “Microwhiteners” so that the perceived benefit by the customer be that he will have Shining Teeth. As the ad account was handed over to HTA, the ad moved closer to the Indian Culture, they also took note of the cultural changes which showed in their ads like Females were now more than equal participants in Boy Girl activity as in Salim Anarkali ad which showed her confidence by joining the Boy on the stage and saving the day.

1996 witnessed introduction of “Close Up Liquifresh” a liquid in a carry along squeeze can in two sizes :

·         30 gm Rs.

·         100 gms Rs.

HLL gave it a dual positioning platform of a Mouthrinse and a toothpaste, like squeeze the Gel directly into Mouth. Close Up is pushing hard for semi Urban and Rural areas were disposable incomes are rising rapidly and in order to tap these markets it is going for Vernacular Advertising in Eight languages. In Bengal as the communication did not work all that work initially, HTA has contracted Anjan Dutta a signer popular with both Young and old alike in Bengal.

3) Company : Colgate Palmolive (India) Limited

Brand : Colgate

Product Range :

1. Colgate dental Cream

* 50 gm Rs.

* 100 gm Rs.

* 150 gm Rs.

* 200 gm Rs.

* 250 gm

2. Colgate Gel (Blue and Red)

· 50 gm Rs.

· 100 gm Rs.

· 150 gm Rs.

· 200 gm Rs.

· 250 gm Rs. -

3. Colgate Total

· 50 gm Rs. -

· 100 gm Rs.

· 150 gm Rs. -

· 200 gm Rs. -

4. Colgate Calciguard

· 50 gm Rs. -

· 100 gm Rs. -

· 150 gm Rs. -

· 200 gm Rs. -

5. Colgate Sensitive

Segmenting Factor : Family

Target Audience : The Brand Colgate and it’s extensions are targeted at Indian families taking booth economical and premium stances.

Availability : All over India.

Positioning Stance : on Health care through Duality of benefits, talks about “Stops bad breath and fights tooth decay.” This positioning stance has worked well in Indian probably because Oral. Now also the company is constantly following the fresh breath route which proved successful for the company.

Care is not taken in a sensitized manner and hence the custom looks for multi-benefits.

History of Colgate :

For people in Colgate volume is the key. This is the Mantra for India a. Today the Indian arm is one of the top 10 subsidiaries of the global giant ; one of the top three volume drivers in toothpastes. In India, the Multinational is first and foremost identified with Toothpaste (Dental care) are currently there is a lot of curiosity on how C-P is responding to the challenges that HLL is throwing it’s way. On toothpastes, where C-P claims an overall 62.3 percent market share a clear cut strategy is evident i.e. maintaining leadership in Oral care and expand the oral care market size. Consistency of communication is of strategic importance. More so in an increasingly cluttered environment. Vice President of C-P (India) limited dually complies “We have not changed the platform - Duality of Benefits - for the last 15 years.”

The main growth in the Urban toothpaste market for C-P has for sometime been coming from the Gel segment. Colgate gel has been performing well with it’s market share standing at 11 percent and a growth faster than Close Up’s market share, which has declined by the end of 96.

In an effort to capitalize in the growth, C-P recently introduced it’s latest extensions, Fresh Stripes, with “Stripes of Benefit”. this latest launch brings C-P’s toothpastes to a total of six, with mega Brand Colgate Dental Cream (CDC), the category volume driver; Colgate Gel-Positioned as giving long lasting fresh breath; Calciguard with an anti cavity therapeutic positioning marketed in the Metros; Colgate Total with it’s therapeutic positioning and multi benefits and Colgate Sensitive being Marketed through Dental Profession.

To expand the category, C-P has an on going Rural Van programme, rather similar to the HLL idea of expanding the market and also not being confused as a premium consumers. An intensive investment this Video van develops the market by teaching people to use a brush or seen a finger properly to clean their teeth with the Big Red CDC. In addition there is also a school programme which covered 1.5 million children last year. According to Rechard Usuquen VP C-P (India) Ltd. C-P’s action will center around finely balancing the Urban market - where it claims a 59.5 percent market share - with the Rural where it claims a 68 per cent share. So while the company has introduced such premium packaging as stand-up toothpaste tubes with Flip up caps in the Urban market, it is also selling sachets of CDC at low prices.

In 2001, the company has come up with a lot of schemes such as 25% extra in 100gm pack. In 50% gm pack there is an off of Rs 5.5. In 200gm pack the company is providing 2 toy planes for kids. They are also providing a lot of discount and incentives to its stockiest and retailers. They have also come up with transparent packaging in gel segment to attract the customers.

DATA FOR THE TOOTHPASTE INDUSTRY :

(A) ZONE WISE SEGMENTATION :

ZONE PERCENTAGE
EAST 21%
NORTH 25%
WEST 21%
SOUTH 33%

(B) SEGMENTATION AS RURAL AND URBAN MARKETS :

RURAL MARKET 40%
URBAN MARKET 60%
The above segmentation details gives us an overall scenario of the toothpaste industry. As seen from the zone wise segmentation table, the distribution is fairly even in all the zones. Also the rural to urban markets ratio is 40:60 which is expected and thus no surprises are seen from this data or rather no unusual variation is observed.

(C) MARKET SHARE OF MAJOR PLAYERS OF THE INDUSTRY :
NAME % SHARE
COLGATE DENTAL 46
COLGATE GEL 10
CIBACA 3
CLOSE UP 18
PEPSODENT 09
PROMISE 9.5
BABOOL 0.5

The data tabulated above clearly supports the fact that Colgate and HLL products are way ahead as far as market share goes. These brands have earned a place in customers minds or speaking in a technical term they have been positioned in the customer's minds.
Secondly, the brands like Promise and Babool are catering to a very specific segment of customers which is the Herbal toothpaste user segment. Thus, they also have positioned themselves as Herbal toothpastes and hence they always target the same segment. This can be termed as a 'niche market' which they are catering to these segments.