Nirmal Soap

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Brand Management Branding NIRMAL Developing a hygiene soap brand targeted towards the bottom of the pyramid.

Transcript of Nirmal Soap

Brand Management

Branding NIRMAL

Developing a hygiene soap brand targeted towards the bottom of the pyramid.

Submitted to Professor Syed Ferhat Anwar Course Instructor Brand Management

Submitted by Group 4 Omaer Ahmad (ZR- 09) Shaik Mahmood (ZR-18) Kawsar Ahmad (ZR-50) Rafaat Wasik Ahmed (ZR-53) Rashed Al Ahmad Tarique (ZR-61) BBA 16th Institute of Business Administration University of Dhaka

Contents1. 2. 3. Problem recognition ........................................................................................................................ 4 Solution ........................................................................................................................................... 4 Business development strategy ....................................................................................................... 5 Branding strategy ................................................................................................................................ 6 Marketing strategy .............................................................................................................................. 7 Pricing strategy:................................................................................................................................... 8 ANNEX: CHALLENGES TO FACE ................................................................................................................ 9 Hygiene practices and behavioral processes ........................................................................................ 9 Price and perception about the soap ................................................................................................... 9 ANNEX: Public Private Participants and their roles ............................................................................... 10 ANNEX: PRODUCT MIX .......................................................................................................................... 11 Product ............................................................................................................................................. 11 Price .................................................................................................................................................. 11 Place.................................................................................................................................................. 11

1. Problem recognition

In the category of infectious diseases only acute respiratory infections and AIDS kill more people than Diarrhea, which accounts for more than 2.2 million deaths worldwide annually. When it comes to Bangladesh every year, a rural child suffers on average from 4.6 episodes of diarrhea, from which about 230,000 children die.1 In the category of food and water contaminated diseases bacterial and protozoal diarrhea comes first causing severe health issues mostly in rural area2. So in the recent years Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) are on the rising. Now there are some vital reasons that cause this water contaminated diseases and ARIs. These are given below: Lack of adequate sanitation facilities is a vital reason for diarrheal disease. Lack of clean water supply and occasional flood also plays a vital role in rainy season for causing diarrhea. In rural Bangladesh, poor hygiene practices are one of the primary reasons for diarrhea. People use hands for preparing foods, feeding children and most importantly they eat with their hands. Hence, hands are the main vectors of diarrheal and in some cases ARI pathogens, transferring them from surface to surface and person to person.

2. SolutionTo address the current problem we come up with the hand washing solution, the hygiene soap NIRMAL. This soap brand is tailored to meet the hygiene requirements of lower income segment of the rural portion of the country. The brand attributes and benefits of NIRMAL are given below: Cheap hygiene product (100 grams of soap for only taka 5). Hygiene product with anti bacterial component. Hard soap produced through the milled process that lasts longer. Soap bar, dedicated towards sterilization/ hygiene only.

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DIARRHEA AND ARI IN RURAL AREAS OF BANGLADESH : Helga Piechulek, Ahmed Al-Sabbir, Jorge Mendoza-Aldana, 2003. 2 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK, March, 2010.

3. Business development strategyThe whole business strategy for NIRMAL soap will be based on Public Private Partnership between the government, department of Public Health Engineering and the business entity. The business model integrates government health and awareness program targeted towards sanitation and hygiene quality improvement and the product NIRMAL being the solution to the poor hygiene condition of the targeted segment. The participants of the PPP are given below: Government through Health Ministry. Department of Public Health Engineering. Business entity.

Probable participants are: UNICEF. World Health Organization. Other foreign advisors who are experts in this sector.

Government run programs like SOBUJ CHATA or programs like SHEWA-B are conducted throughout the country to build awareness and improve the hygiene practices of the people of the bottom of the pyramid to reduce insurgence of diarrhea and other diseases. Most of these programs or interventions include teaching people hygienic practices like washing hands with soaps before and after eating or after defecation. But one of the vital problems remains unattended and that is the products or services needed to address those hygiene practices which are affordable for the targeted segment, in this case cheap soap. So the brand NIRMAL will be launched with the establishment of PPP to address this issue by making low profit margin making the product affordable for the people from bottom of the pyramid. As for the business entity, the profit margin will be lowest in the market. But as the target segment is the bottom of the pyramid, the target segment will be the largest untapped segment in the market. So with establishing economies of scale and by selling large volume of products there will be cost reduction and enough profit to earn. Currently majority of the consumers who are in the bottom of the pyramid do not use toilet soap for washing their hands to prevent diseases for two basic reasons and they are: Perception of the soap as a beauty enhancing component. High price which means not for everyday usage.

Considering these two reasons we have defined marketing, branding strategies for NIRMAL soap which are discussed below.

Branding strategy

The ultimate goal for branding and marketing strategies for the soap NIRMAL would be establish it as a brand with unique selling proposition and standout in its own product category.

Defining categoryThe product category for the brand NIRMAL unlike other soaps would be hygiene product. There are soap brands in this category like Dettol, Savlon, Lifebuoy etc but none of these are targeted towards the bottom of the pyramid. So for this target market, this will be the first in this product category. Also, most of the consumers perceive soap as a beauty product. So defining the product category with distinct marketing strategies and brand elements is a must.

PositioningThe key brand promise for NIRMAL would be: Everyday hygiene at the lowest cost The positioning statement of the brand NIRMAL is given below: NIRMAL is an everyday hygiene product for the people from lower income segment which will ensure a healthy life by making their hands germ free.

Brand elementsBrand name: The name of the brand is going to be . This name has been chosen because the word has a connotation of cleanliness and health. Hearing the name the customers are expected to associate the product with health and hygiene. Packaging: The package of the product is going to emphasize on the color green. One of the ways the product is going to be promoted is through the health workers. Villagers of Bangladesh are likely to associate the color green with health and hygiene as well because they receive health advice from health workers

working under the banner the logo of which is a green umbrella. Inside the package there are going to be two 50 gram soaps. The name of the brand, the slogan and instructions on how to wash hands properly are going to appear on the package. Slogan: There are a few slogans that can be used in the marketing campaign of the soap: , ,

These slogans will appear on the packaging, the promotional flyers and posters.

Marketing strategy

The following activities are going to be taken as parts of the marketing strategy: Children are proved to be one of the vital touch points when it comes to the bottom of the pyramid. Sessions will be held in schools to teach the children how important it is to have the hands clean before eating, feeding a baby, cooking and other such vital times. Then they will be told about the low price of NIRMAL soap and its ability to help consumers to clean their hands properly. Children being energetic will spontaneously spread the word about NIRMAL soap through word of mouth to their parents and other children. To capture the bottom of the pyramid of rural Bangladesh as the customers of NIRMAL soap they have to be made aware of the importance of clean hands. There are numerous health workers currently active in different villages. Their primary purpose is to give the villagers health advice regarding family planning, vaccination, health and hygiene, maternal care etc. These health workers will be one of the main promotional channels for the product. They will inform the villagers the importance of washing hand properly with soap before and after certain activities. They will also recommend NIRMAL soap as a cheap means to get germ-free hands. Flyers will be distributed in the haats to catch the attention of large numbers of villagers. These flyers will emphasize on the importance of clean hands and NIRMAL as a cheap product that will help the consumer to sanitize their hands properly. The flyers will also have the slogan of the brand. Radio commercials will also be launched. These commercials will have catchy jingles so that both the project and the product have the exposure to the rural people.

Pricing strategy:

The soaps that are currently available in the market for the purpose of washing hands are brands like Lux, Lifebuoy, Keya, Meril etc. These bars are available in reduced sizes of 50 grams and cost around 6-8 taka. The chief components that are required to make soap are oil extracted from animal fat or vegetable oil and lye or caustic soda chemically known as sodium hydroxide. Some other additives are used later for fragrance, color, moisturizing and other purposes. For the fragrance and other attributes of these soaps they are perceived primarily as beauty products by the rural people belonging to bottom of the pyramid. For the brand NIRMAL, it is going to be promoted as a hygiene product and cleansing ability of the soap is going to be the focus. So cost reduction strategy will be cutting cost by getting rid of the additives such as fragrance, color etc. Moreover we will use a less sophisticated blend of oil than those present in the soaps available in the market so that we can achieve the basic function of cleanliness for a reduced cost. These cost cutting measures will enable us to supply the soaps to our target customer at a price of 5 taka for two 50 gram bars. Brands available in Market LUX Meril Keya Sizes 50gm 60gm 60gm Prices 8 tk 6 tk 6 tk

NIRMAL

50gm

2.5 tk

ANNEX: CHALLENGES TO FACEHygiene practices and behavioral processesThe existing hand washing practices of the people in rural Bangladesh is nowhere near to the proper hygiene practices. Studies have been conducted by different organizations in the past regarding the hand washing behavior of these people and they have found that many of them think that rinsing the hand with water alone suffices3. One such research found out that although 47% of caregivers reported and 51% demonstrated washing both hands with soap after defecation, in structured observation, only 33% of caregivers and 14% of all persons observed washed both hands with soap after defecation. Less than 1% used soap and water for hand washing before eating and/or feeding a child. More commonly people washed their hands only with water, 23% after defecation and 5% before eating. Spot checks during the cross sectional survey classified 930 caregivers (55%) and 453 children (28%) as having clean appearing hands. This shows that these people need to be taught the importance of washing hand with soap to sterilize it properly.

Price and perception about the soapAlmost 40% people in Bangladesh lives below poverty line4 and their main concern for the basic requirements like food, clothing, shelter comes very first, even education is perceived as not so necessary to many. In this scenario spending 6-8 taka for a mini bar of soap just to maintain proper hygiene practices is a long shot for most of them. As this market segment is very price sensitive when it comes to products other than bare minimums, price should be fixed considering the affordability of the segment.

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Handwashing behavior in rural Bangladesh: BMC Public Health. CIA FACTBOOK, March, 2010

ANNEX: Public Private Participants and their roles

Government roles Health Infrastructure Welfare infrastructure Educational infrastructure.

Private Sector Expertise in product and service design Optimizing resources & profits.

Development Agencies Financial resources to drive the program. Helping with past experiences.

ANNEX: PRODUCT MIXProductNIRMAL is hard soap that is going to be available in the shape of bars. Its primary function is going to be to act as a basic hygiene product that the customers are going to use primarily to sterilize their hands before activities such as eating, feeding children; and after activities such as defecating, returning home from work, cleaning up a child after defecation etc. There are not going to be any attributes such as fragrance, color that have nothing to do with sterilization.

PriceBy adopting cost cutting strategy NIRMAL the consumers will be provided two bars of 50 gram soap to our customers at a very convenient price of 5 taka which is in the affordable range of the target segment.

PlaceNIRMAL is going to be available in dispensaries and rural medicine stores and daily commodity stores from where the villagers purchase their necessary items.