group 2d himalaya

7/21/2019 Group 2D Himalaya

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HIMALAYA HERBALTOOTHPASTEBrand Management Case Analysis

Submitted By Group 2D:

Arun Balakrishnan

Ayan BanerjeePurnima V

Tonmoy Banerjee

Vaibhav Jain

Vaishali Subramaniam


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Group 2D || Himalaya Herbal Toothpaste

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Introduction:

The Himalaya Drug Company is one of the key players in the pharmaceutical industry for

several decades. They have herbal offerings in retail and prescriptive segments, which include

Health Supplements, Personal care Products and pain ointments. Their USP is the scientific

rigor associated with the testing of its herbal offerings.

Initially, in the late 90s, Ayurvedic Concepts targeted the young urban professional population to

create brand awareness. In the early 20th century, it was brought under the Himalaya umbrella

brand for several categories of soaps, shampoos, face washes, health supplements, baby

products, etc. It had several exclusive outlets throughout India, & had shop-in-shop counters in

modern retail outlets. Himalaya did not advertise as much as other FMCG manufacturers, &

brand associations were nurtured by Word of Mouth. To build market share in the highly

competitive personal health care market, it begun to advertise its face wash & toothpaste

brands

The toothpaste market in India had a penetration rate as low as 60% with urban penetration at

76% and rural at 40%. The oral care market had four benefit based segments namely

Freshness, Herbal, Overall Oral Health and Niche Problem Solving.

FreshnessInstils confidence

HerbalNatural , Ayurvedic ingredients

Overall Oral HealthProtection and strong teeth

Niche - For specific needs viz. Sensitivity, whitening

Himalayas herbal offering in the toothpaste category called Himalaya Dental Cream was

priced in the premium tier and offered benefits such as tightening and reducing swelling of

gums, stopping gum bleeding, preventing toothache and decay etc. The dilemma for the

company was to understand whether the customer was really loyal towards a particular brand in

the toothpaste category.


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Oral Care Industry:

FMCG was broadly split into: Household Care, Personal Care and Food & Beverages. FMCG

market in India was projected to be around US$15- 18 billion in 2010, & Growth of the

toothpaste category was even lower, at around 9%. Growth trend of toothpastes over the past 3

years was relatively slower than that of other key FMCG categories (11%). In 2010, the oral

care market in India was around US$980 million. One study reported that 68% of the Indian

consumers who participated in the survey believed that using the right toothpaste was more

important than using the right toothbrush. However, they did not give much importance to the

toothpaste category. Most of them believed that oral care was not as important for personal

grooming as hair care or skin care.

Another study revealed that only 28% of the respondents brushed twice daily. Yet another study

indicated that 68% of the respondents had never visited a dentist & 87% would not consider

visiting a dentist as a preventive measure. WHO reported that 98% of the Indian population

suffered from oral health problems. Ratio of dentists to patients was dismally low, with just 1

dentist for 10,000 people in urban areas & 1 for about 0.25 million people in rural areas.

In the Indian context, toothpaste was a low involvement category (a routine buy) where

marketers faced the challenge of increasing the degree of involvement. It was a highly

competitive environment with some of the brands and their market shares mentioned below

Others:

GSK2%; Anchor1.5%; Ajanta1.1%, Himalaya- 1.5 %, Dabur- 12 %

ToothpasteIndustry

Colgate PalmoliveIndia (Market Leader)

52%

Colgate

Dental Cream34%

Hindustan

Unilever

25%

Pepsodent

40%

Closeup

11%


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Perceptions (Factor analysis):

Factors Freshness Herbal Overall Oral

Care

Niche:

Problem

solving

Overall

Recommended

by dentist

3.35 3.35 3.35 3.73 3.44

Protection 3.42 3.32 3.39 3.94 3.51

Taste 3.42 3.26 3.35 3.83 3.46

Miscellaneous 1.77 2.00 2.00 1.78 1.88

i) The other factors taken into consideration were Value, Natural, Whiteness,

Confidence, Form and Taste

ii) The Niche segment of toothpaste is ahead on majority of the factors and the general

perception is that it is superior

iii) The Freshness segment provides good protection and good taste in comparison to

the herbal and overall oral care segment

iv) The Herbal segment lags behind in nearly all of the factors

Brand Attitude (Factor analysis):


Care

Niche:

Problem

solving

Overall

Protection 3.49 3.32 3.33 3.89 3.51

Recommended

by dentist

3.31 2.91 3.04 3.83 3.28

Benefits to

teeth

3.28 3.21 3.16 3.89 3.39

Miscellaneous 2.68 2.43 2.52 2.18 2.45


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i) The other factors taken into consideration were Outlook, Advertisement value,

Family care and Taste

ii) The Herbal segment does not enjoy being recommended by dentists. However, its

benefits to teeth is greater than that of Overall Oral Care

iii) The brand attitude towards overall oral care is nearly at par with the herbal segment

but struggles when compared to the freshness and niche segment

Behavior Habits:

A close look at Table 1 of Exhibit 6 has outlined the responses of customers regarding their

habits and practices (demarcated by segment).

Freshness:

i) Brushed mostly once a day and felt that the freshness would remain throughout the

day.

ii) Round the clock freshness gave the customers confidence to get close to people

iii) Frequency of visits to the dentist every six months was the highest for this segment

which gives an indication towards customers being conscious of getting dental

check-ups to know about any problems

iv) While 2 customers got the toothpastes of this segment from the recommendation of

their dentist, the majority bought the toothpaste by themselves

Herbal:

i) Most number of responses towards brushing only once in a day and never having to

visit a dentist which was in line with the storyboard interpretation of Himalaya Dental

cream that it kept away dental problems

ii) Lowest number of oral health problems which provides further justification to it being

beneficial to ones teeth

Oral Health:

i) The storyboard interpretation was of a dentist informing her daughter of the all round

protection from decay quality of the product. Most customers who suffer from oral

problems use this segment of toothpaste

ii) This segment is also the most recommended by dentists and also the most

responses of changing the toothpaste on the dentists recommendation which was in

line with the claim that Colgate is the No. 1 brand recommended by dentists


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Problem solving:

i) The niche segments advertisement focused on the prevalent oral problems of a

person and how after the use of this segments toothpaste, it made gums strong and

healthy by killing off the germs

ii) The frequency of brushing twice in a day is the highest for this segment and had the

lowest responses to never having to visiting the dentist. So clearly this toothpaste

segment is used by those customers who have existing dental issues

Perceptual Map: Taste Vs Protection

Factors Freshness Herbal Overall

Oral

Care

Niche: Overall

Problem

solving

Recommended

by dentist

3.35 3.35 3.35 3.73 3.44

Taste 3.42 3.26 3.35 3.83 3.46

Protection 3.42 3.32 3.39 3.94 3.51

Segments Taste Protection

Freshness 3.42 3.42

Herbal 3.26 3.32

Oral Care 3.35 3.39

Niche 3.83 3.94

Overall 3.46 3.51


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Brand Attitude:


Care

Niche:

Problem solving

Recommended

by dentist

3.31 2.91 3.04 3.83

Benefits to

teeth

3.28 3.21 3.16 3.89

Miscellaneous 2.68 2.43 2.52 2.18

Segments

Recommended

by dentist

Benefits to

teeth

Freshness 3.31 3.28

Herbal 2.91 3.21

Oral Care 3.04 3.16

Niche 3.83 3.89

Herbal

Oral Care

Niche

Overall Freshness

Herbal

Oral Care

Niche

OverallTaste

Protection


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3-Dimensional Perceptual Map:

Freshness

Herbal

Oral Care

Niche

Freshness

Herbal

Oral Care

NicheDentist

Benefits to

teeth


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As evident from the above perceptual maps, there is no clear differentiation for Herbal Category with

the other competitors.

The niche category are the most recommended category by the dentists. They are perceived

high on taste and benefits also

There is very little gap in perceptual map. They are all closely placed

Second best category according to the perceptual map is the freshness category.

Herbal and Overall health care category are paired together and hence the market perceives

their offerings almost similar.

In the third perceptual map niche category is widely spaced when compare to other categories.

They lead in all aspects. Herbal rates the lowest even though this is equally good in both the

aspect.

Even though Himalaya toothpaste is positioned as an herbal toothpaste, it not perceived as such. Hence

if the current situation prevails, it is difficult to capture market share. Since purchase of a toothpaste is a

habitual buying, there is very low involvement and absence of significant brand differences. There is a

clear need to focus on the herbal aspects of the tooth paste and drive in the benefits into the customer

minds to become a player in the market. There is definitely space for Herbal category if Himalaya can

work on bringing out clear point of differentiation. They should also make a conscious effort to educate

the doctors that the herbal toothpaste are at par with niche category when it comes to protection and

experience. They have to successfully make a connect with the customers and their influencers. If they

are fruitful in communicating the brand attributes and benefits, there is a big space in the market to be

filled. Also, being in the premium segment, the value proposition has to be appealing to the customer

and at the same time communicated properly.

Level of involvement /category loyalty:

People are more or less neutral when they consider the functional attributes of a

toothpaste. This suggests that toothpaste is a low involvement product except in niche

category. The functional level score is considerably high in niche segment with category

involvement of around 64% shows high involvement of consumers towards niche

segment.

The herbal category has the second highest percentage (40%) of high involvement

customers. So this segment shows favorable situation.


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Interpretation of findings:

Consumers agree that toothpaste is necessary for them as depicted by highly negative

responses to questions such as tooth paste is useless for me/irrelevant for me/boring

for me,

Consumers display more or less a neutral attitude when they consider the functional

attributes except for niche segment. This suggests that toothpaste is a low involvement

category with consumers knowing the need of a toothpaste but are not too attached to

functional attributes except in the niche category.

Attitude towards Brand:

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%50%

60%

70%

Involvement

Involvement


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Analyzing the brand attachment given in exhibit5-table 3, it can be inferred that

consumers are more emotionally connected to the brand which gives maximum

freshness.

Attitude towards category:

Cognitive belief of customers towards non niche category is around 60% whereas

affective belief of consumers towards herbal category is only 44 %

Toothpaste in general can be categorized under Low involvement-Variety Seeking behavior.

Another interesting thing which was observed in the study is that people who use product for

specific purposes, like sensitivity, gum problems, teeth whitening etc. are those who do not visit

the dentist. The possible conclusion which can be drawn from this observation is that the

consumers might feel that usage of the particular toothpaste is sufficient and going to a dentist

is not required.


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Value Propositions of various brands:

Brand Value PropositionValue Proposition

ConveyedProduct Categor

HUL

Closeup Freshness, Confidence Freshness Freshness

Pepsodent

Healthy Teeth and

Gums, Prevents

Cavities, Fights Germs

Prevents Cavities

and Fights Germs Overall Oral Health

Colgate

Dental Cream

All round Decay

Protection

Decay protection,

No. 1 brand Overall Oral Health

Total 12 Germ Protection Overall Oral Health

Sensitive

Pain relief, tooth

sensitivity Niche

Maxfresh Freshness Freshness

Fresh Energy Gel Freshness, Confidence Freshness

Herbal

Strong Teeth, Healthy

gums, Natural

ingredients Herbal

Cibaca

Strong Teeth, Fresh

Breath, Family product Overall Oral Health

Active salt

Fights Germs, Healthy

teeth and gums

Relieves Pain,

strong and healthy

teeth & gums Niche

Maxwhite Teeth Whitening Niche

Himalaya Dental Cream Total Protection Overall dental care

Niche/Overall

healthcare

Dabur

Babool Mint Fresh Freshness Freshness

Babool Natural Herbal

Red Herbal, Overall Health Herbal/Overall Heal

Meswak Herbal, Overall Health Herbal

Promise Cavities Fighting Overall Oral Health

AnchorAnchor White All round protection Overall Oral Health

Anchor Gel Fights Gums, Freshness Freshness

GSK Sensodyne Teeth Sensitivity Niche

Ajanta Ajanta

Healthy Sparkling White

Teeth Overall Oral Health


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Value Proposition Suggested:

Himalaya Dental Cream is a herbal category toothpaste that provides total oral care with the

herbal &Ayurvedic ingredients like neem, meswak and extracts of tooth ache tree, etc. The

value position that Himalaya portrayed was Indulge like a child, brush like an adult.

The level of involvement of the consumers for the toothpaste category is low. The branding

activity done by various brands has created awareness for this category. The customers now

are choosing a brand that fulfils their dental requirements and liking.

The competitors are giving value propositions such as strong teeth, complete germi check,

freshness and all round protection, Himalaya could not position itself correctly in the mind of

customers.

Following are the reasons why:

It did not communicate the differentiating point and benefits of Himalaya dental cream.

The commercial advertisement was not convincing. It could not get the audience to try

the product.

Value Position Suggested:

The brand should communicate the characteristics of its product to educate the audience about

its benefits. The value position can be Dental protection in an herbal way with Himalaya

The advertisements could portray that the Himalaya dental cream cures dental problems of

swelling of gums, tooth decay, and bad breath using the ayurvedic ingredients like neem,

meswak, pomegranate, etc.

Brand Communication:

The focus of the brand communication is on the tag line If you want to indulge like a child,

brush like an adult and keep away adult dental problems. There is no mention of what sort of

tooth problems can be tackled. Hence, the communication is on the broader perspective and is

not specific. There is no value proposition shown in the communication. The competitors are

communicating what exactly are the problems that can be avoided by using their product and


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they have a visual representation of those problems. Himalaya is not visually representing any

of those and is not communicating its value proposition.

Research Design:

The research design was flawed due to the following reasons:

The samples taken were less. At least 30 samples are required for a proper conclusion

to be drawn.

The opinions could have been biased, as only females were considered

There was no research on the visual representation and its impact on the product

Mention about the alternatives, like tooth powder, mouthwash etc. could have been

considered

Nothing about the buying decisions were taken into account

The above points could also have been considered while designing the objectives.

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