ACKNOLOGEMENT

All praises and thanks to Almighty Allah. The lord and creator of this universe by whose power and glory all good things have been accomplished. He is the most merciful, who bestowed on us the potential, ability and an opportunity to work on this report.We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our respected Mr. Arslan Aseem who is well known for his vast expertise and guided us in the report further, providing us a great opportunity to learn the implementation of the courses we had taken in a life case scenario. We believe that this experience have not only added value to our knowledge but have also strengthen the core knowledge of the previous courses at Bahria University. It was her dedication in supervising the report that made us study and learn practical life matters in a well-defined manner. He, with her vast experience and knowledge, lead us in every step during the course and also in the preparation of this report.

Dec

30, 2009

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C R E S T (White Strips)

ABOUT CREST:Crest is a brand that has continually pushed to improve oral health since its inception in 1955. Crest is committed to building on its history of developing innovative oral care products that meet the needs of consumers around the world. Today Crest offers a family of products including toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouth rinses, floss and whitening treatments. Apart from that Crest is among the most trusted household brands, a value reinforced by the continued recognition of many of its products by the American Dental Association. Crest’s dream is to lead the way in the passionate pursuit of perfect oral health so that everyone can have a healthy, beautiful smile for life.

CREST WHITE STRIPS:Crest white strips are an ultimate solution to get whiter teeth and a brighter smile. That's because Crest white strips use the same enamel-safe ingredient dentists use, so you get great results and whiter teeth.Crest White strips is a daily product that is applied to the teeth for five minutes. It is geared toward those consumers who want a whitening product but don't want to spend as much time applying the product to their teeth.

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HOW TO USE CREST WHITE STRIPS IN THREE EASY STEPS:

Peel: For best results, do not brush teeth immediately before applying

strips. Open foil pouch and remove. Peel strips from backing.

Apply: Apply gel side of strip to teeth. Align strips with gum line and press gently for good contact. Fold the rest of strip behind teeth to keep in place.

Reveal: Wear strips for the recommended amount of time, remove and

discard. If you notice gel on your teeth, brush, rinse, or wipe it away.

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CATEGORY HIERARCHY

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MARKET SEGMENTATION

GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS:The geographic market for Crest white strips are the top five cities of Pakistan.Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad and Gujranwala.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS:Age: 25 and above.Gender: Both males and females.Social Class: LSM 6- 8 and above.Income level: Above 115,000 rupees.Life Style: Urban.Household Structure: 5 to 7 members.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS:The typical consumers targeted by Crest white strips are people above 25, which have active and healthy life style and are health conscious.These consumers also have excess disposable income and they value brands that reinforce their self-image.

BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS:The behavior of Crest white strips target market is:Usage rate: Oral care products are used daily.Price Sensitivity: Low price sensitive or non price sensitive.Benefit Sought: Brighter and healthy teeth along with taste and refreshment.

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INSIGHTS

CONSUMER AND SHOPPER INSIGHTS: Average time for oral product selection is 1 to 2 minutes. Buying whitening strips or and new oral product is not pre

planned. Whitening stripes are just mouth freshener. People with whiter teeth enjoy better lives. Whitening stripes are for people who smoke. Whitening strips are more convenient then gels and laser

whitening. People with whiter and brighter teeth are more confident. Consumers use dentist recommended products for oral care. Consumers are quality conscious. Whitening products are considered as damaging to gums and

teeth. Taking care of the mouth, teeth and gums is “absolutely

needed”. Consumers prefer to try new oral products. Smile, a most important physical attribute. Beautiful smile is not always a healthy smile; it can mask

underlay oral health problems. Brand is of greater concern than price. Product’s appealing display helps in buying.

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CATEGORY AND BRAND

LEARNING:As it is known that the consumer will pay very small attention to the information seeking they might not be influenced via cognitive learning, i.e., there is no active perception, no problem solving or insight. The learning about low involvement goods will take place subconsciously. That is why classical conditioning would be taken into account.Applying this to Crest White strips the consumer will learn in the following way:

The consumers are aware of Crest’s name so they will learn from the Logo and the color of the packet and associates this with Crest’s high quality.

When the parents would buy crest strips repetitively, so it would be learning for the younger generation.

Advertising on television and in magazine can be the best for classical conditioning in which it can be shown that people with bright white teeth are successful and liked by other people.

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ATTITUDE:One outcome from the different processes of learning will be an attitude. In case of a low involvement purchase, the attitude comes usually after the behavior. The consumer will not make up his mind in advance due to a lack of information search. After the purchase he will evaluate whether he or she likes the Crest white strips or not.

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Besides the learning there are various factors which influence the attitude development:Personal experience: It is closely linked to the learning, which will manipulate the consumer’s attitude, e.g., when the consumer is buying teeth whitening product, but the taste is not good, so another product will be bought the next time.Reference groups: Another strong factor of the attitude building and development results of the influence of others. Therefore, if a friend tells the consumer, that the teeth are not whitening, although he is using the teeth-whitening toothpaste or strips, the consumer will probably avoid the product owing to his attitude.

MEMORY: A persuasive message might influence the buyer’s attitude; it is likely that the buyer will soon forget the message, as information about Crest white strips attributes has not a very high priority. Although the message, for instance advertising will be received, there is only little motivation to process the information.

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PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS

CONSUMER:

The main consumer of Crest white strips are people of age 25 and above, who are seeking outstanding care for their teeth and gums along with brightness and shine.

SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES:

Physical Surroundings:Physical surrounding involves the material environment surrounding the consumer at the time of communication, purchase or consumption. In store advertising about the brand and communicating to the target consumers that whitening teeth isn’t only about caring for your teeth but it’s about feeling your best and living life accordingly would attract the adults who have less white and dull teeth.Product itself placed on stands over the counter would also help in attracting the target market.

Social Surrounding:Social surrounding means presence of other people who could have an impact on the individual consumer’s behavior. Sales personnel can play an effective role in convincing the consumers to purchase Crest white strips by interacting and informing about the product benefits to them.

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Temporal Perspectives:They are the situational characteristics that deal with the effect of time on consumer behavior. Consumers today do not have the time to visit grocery and departmental stores all the time, availability of Crest white strips at convenience store of Petrol Pumps/ Gas Stations etc. would help in influencing the purchase as availability would help in creating more awareness and ease.

Task Definition:

It is the reason for engaging in the consumption behavior. The reasons for buying Crest white strips would be to get instant whitening for teeth along with freshness, confidence, taste and self-satisfaction.

Antecedent States:

These are the features of the individuals that are not lasting characteristics. They are momentary mood or conditions. Consumers would buy Crest white strips when they would feel that he or she has dull and less bright teeth and wants instant whitening within less time.

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PROBLEM RECOGNITION:Here is where the consumer perceives a need. This happens when you recognize a difference, one that is large enough to get you to act, between the ideal state and the actual state.A good advertising campaign may make the consumers aware of a problem that dull and less bright teeth are a problem, and convince them that Crest white strips would improve their self image and appearance, so the consumer will be aroused by a desire to try something new.

INFORMATION SEARCH:The information search stage clarifies the options open to consumer and it involve internal and external search.

Internal Search: If the consumer have a satisfied previous experience with the brand Crest, so he or she will try the new Crest white strips based on previous experience.

External Search: If the consumer did not have previous experience then he or she can obtain information from personal sources such as friends and family or market dominated sources such as advertising, company website and sales person.

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EVALUATING AND SELECTING ALTERNATIVES:When consumers are buying a product, they are purchasing bundle of attributes which are the evaluative criteria. At this point there is enough information to select one alternative from the list of choices that consumer thinks, would most likely solve the problem. Competitors of Crest white strips include:

Aqua fresh white trays. Rembrandt whitening strips.

The different alternatives are selected based on perceived quality, benefits and brand awareness.

OUTLET SELECTION:The selection of a specific retail outlet, whether before or after a brand decision involves a comparison of alternatives outlets on the basis of the consumer’s evaluative criteria that include outlet image, location and size. Apart from that the store’s atmosphere or internal environment affects the shoppers’ mood and willingness to visit the store. The atmosphere is influenced by such attributes as lighting, layout, presentation of merchandise, fixtures, floor coverings, colors, sounds, odors, dress and behavior of sales personnel, and the number, characteristics, and behavior of other customers.Outlet for Crest white strips includes all the reputable and big retails outlets in the five cities.

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POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR:After purchasing the product, the buyer will experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. When consumers buy products, they expect certain outcomes or benefits to accrue from the purchase. How well these expectations are met determines whether the consumer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase.The marketer’s job does not end when the product is bought but continues into the post purchase period. Marketers must monitor post purchase satisfaction, post purchase actions and cognitive dissonance. The buyer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction will influence future behavior. A satisfied buyer will purchase the product again and recommend it to others. Dissatisfied buyers will respond differently. They may stop using the product, return it, or take some form of public action.Crest must maintain its market leader position by offering the consumers with ever high quality products, so that consumers are satisfied in getting healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

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CATEGORY GROWTH DRIVERS

In Pakistan, oral care market offers huge potential as penetration and per capita consumption of oral care products is very low.

Rising per capita income and increasing awareness is driving demand of oral care products.

Consumers have started switching to value added toothpastes, gels, mouthwashes and teeth whitening products.

A key industry trend is the move towards natural products comprising of herbs, vitamins and minerals.

Consumer’s trend towards wellness and healthy living is driving growth in the personal care category.

The growing desire of adults to improve their appearance combined with oral care has resulted in an increase in total market size.

Consumers are becoming more conscious of the potentially harmful ingredients found in many oral care products, and seek a more innovative approach. They want oral care products that deliver a combination of efficacy and purity.

JOBS TO BE DONE FOR CATEGORY

Using advertising campaigns to promote and educated the consumers for higher consumption of oral products for good oral health.

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BRAND STRATEGIES

PENETRATION:Within an existing market, penetration by Crest could be increased through aggressive advertising (television, print ads, billboards, in store etc). The non users of the product can be convinced to use the product at least once by educating them about oral hygiene and care.

CONSUMPTION:Consumption could be increased by the introduction of a Crest white strips advanced pack for 12 months to get a whiter smile that lasts all year long.

FREQUENCY:By reducing the amounts of strips per pack, it would lead to increase in frequency of purchase.Apart from that smaller pack of Crest white strips can also be introduced to increase frequency.

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