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Case Analysis

Population Services International: The Social Marketing Project in

Bangladesh

Problem Statement:

Under Social Marketing Project (SMP) Population Services International while marketing birth

control products for men and women experienced huge success for mens product. On the contrary,

the female version saw the face of failure. Though the marketing strategy applied and resource

allocated to each segment were of similar nature, the comparative performance of female

contraceptive Maya saw a continuous decline as to volume sales of Raja condom for men. In

this analysis we will analyze the above phenomenon in order to find out the possible causes; also to

find out the alternatives that can be considered to make female and male both birth control

products success on comparable measures.

Objective of Company/Decision Maker:

Despite sharing the same distribution network, marketing impetus and pricing strategy performance

of Maya was subpar in Bangladesh. Being a success in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in condom

marketing, the PSI wanted to replicate the same across the female contraceptive segment.

Analysis of Alternatives:

The case details the variables that affect the performance of Maya. In this case there are two most

prominent alternatives such as:

1. Repositioning the Maya brand as a better quality brand through direct enhanced

communication with the consumers.

2. Scrapping the brand Maya and build a new brand to cater the consumer needs and get

back to high sales volume track.

Lets consider the former option in which we can consider repositioning the brand as a quality

product. The popular belief that Maya is not as good as other contemporary drugs is fueled by

RMPs who are practitioners without formal knowledge. Yet they are consulted by poor people as the

later dont have immediate access to improved health care. These RMPs took advice from

professional doctors. This means professional doctors hold the key of communicating the usefulness

and rejecting the baseless belief. The RMPs in turn can convey the same to the consumers. However

this is not the only problem hindering the growth. The profit margins earned by local retailers werenot at par with what other similar products were fetching for them. Thus to provide retailers the

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motivation the price of the product has to be increased which can even further deteriorate the

dwindling sales of Maya as the consumer may find sudden increase a discomfort. Moreover,

improving communication to reach the target consumers directly is difficult as buyer, adviser and

consumer are not the same person. The socio-cultural settings for females in Bangladesh buttress

the above. Hence brand repositioning exercise may not be a viable one, also considering the costs

involved in pursuing related activities.

Having discussed the repositioning strategy, we may now consider building a new brand in place of

Maya. There are several reasons to justify doing so would revive the reach of product and drive

sales volume of the new product.

First reasoncan be doing away the popular belief that Maya can have side effects; also that the

drug is not as good as other contemporaries. Once present, it can be very difficult to replenish the

negative sentiments of people with a positive image of the product. Also, the RMPs will find it

difficult to negate the advice they made to locals as it might tarnish their otherwise clean reputation.

Second reasonis motivating the retailers. A larger part of the female contraceptives are sold by pan

shops or small general stores, by positioning the new product in a higher price bracket would allowthe retailers to gain which in turn can motivate the retailers to drive the volume sales to generate

profit at par with other brands. Third reason can be communicating the facts about the drug to

professional doctors and RMPs who advice rural people. They can be convinced that the new

product is as capable and with equal composition as other similar products which can benefit the

mass in the same way while costing a fraction. Fourth reasoncan be rebranding and repackaging the

product in an attractive manner to represent confidence, control and prudence. Raja can be about

masculinity but the women at home are more about nurturing, managing internal affairs and taking

practical decisions. These all can be conveyed to the customer through different media. Along with

this the safety of the new productshould be conveyed. For this purpose a woman brand ambassador

can be established who people revere as a role model. This can make people bring the new product

into consideration. Fifth reason is about giving the buyer, in this case the men who buy for their

women, the chance to touch and feel the product package before buying. Convincing retailers to

make the product available off the shelf at counter can increase the visibility of the product which

can contribute to the sales in a big way. Apart from these, the same vast distribution channel can be

used. All these steps dont need infusion of new resource or money.

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To implements this we need to go back to the organizational structure that PSI follows. The General

Manager implements the strategy and Area Manager looks after sales. The responsibility of effective

communication can be taken care of by a dedicated person who will see through end to end

communication happening. He can make use of the field workers who have extensive reach. He also

can reach to the Professional Doctors as well as the RMPs. This can help in conveying people and

advisers the right information and the benefits of the product as compared to pricier equivalent. The

sales reps can be trained to convince the sub-wholesalers and retailers to position the drug at

attractive places easily reachable by customer. As the top level management is quite familiar with

coming up with new product and making it successful, the same can be repeated in case of the new

female contraceptive.

Hence, It can be recommended that a new product should be brought in to replace Maya

supported by improved communication network and new pricing strategy.