IMC, ATL & BTL

IMC, ATL & BTL

Integrated Marketing Communications:

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is an approach to brand communications where the different modes work together to create a seamless experience for the customer and are presented with a similar tone and style that reinforces the brand’s core message. Its goal is to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations direct marketing, online communications and social media work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation, which maximizes their cost effectiveness.

IMC is becoming more significant in marketing practice because of the reduced cost effectiveness of mass media and media fragmentation. As consumers spend more time online and on mobile devices all exposures of the brand need to tie together so they are more likely to be remembered. Increasingly the strategies of brands cannot be understood by looking solely at their advertising. Instead they can be understood by seeing how all aspects of their communications ecosystem work together and in particular how communications are personalized for each customer and react in real time, as in a conversation.

How IMC helps:

1. It can create competitive advantage, boost sales and profits, while saving money, time and stress.

2. IMC wraps communications around customers and helps them move through the various stages of the buying process. The organization simultaneously consolidates its image, develops a dialogue and nurtures its relationship with customers.

3. This 'Relationship Marketing' cements a bond of loyalty with customers which can protect them from the inevitable onslaught of competition. The ability to keep a customer for life is a powerful competitive advantage.

4. IMC also increases profits through increased effectiveness

5. Carefully linked messages also help buyers by giving timely reminders, updated information and special offers which, when presented in a planned sequence, help them move comfortably through the stages of their buying process

6. Finally, IMC saves money as it eliminates duplication in areas such as graphics and photography since they can be shared and used in say, advertising, exhibitions and sales literature.

7. IMC also makes messages more consistent and therefore more credible. This reduces risk in the mind of the buyer which, in turn, shortens the search process and helps to dictate the outcome of brand comparisons.

Above the line (ATL), below the line (BTL)

 In the organizational business and marketing communications, are advertising techniques, or different strategies companies use to sell their products. In a nutshell, while ATL communications use media that are broadcast and published to mass audiences, BTL communications use media that are more niches focused. While both ATL and BTL communications can be used to either build brand awareness or drive sales through specific offers (promotions), it is BTL communication that gives the marketer the ability to tailor their messaging in a more personal manner to the audience.

ATL(Above The Line) Promotion: 

ATL is a type of advertising through media such as television, cinema, radio, print, and Out-of-home to promote brands or convey a specific offer. This type of communication is conventional in its nature and is considered impersonal to customers. It differs from BTL advertising, which uses unconventional brand-building and promotional strategies, such as direct mail, sales promotions, flyers, point-of-sale, telemarketing and printed media (for example brochures) – and usually involves no motion graphics. It is much more effective than when the target group is very large and difficult to define.

BTL (Below The Line) Promotion: 

BTL sales promotion is an immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind, and having short duration. It is efficient and cost-effective for targeting a limited and specific group. It uses less conventional methods than the usual ATL channels of advertising, typically focusing on direct means of communication, most commonly direct mail and e-mail, often using highly targeted lists of names to maximize response rates. BTL services may include those for which a fee is agreed upon and charged up front.

BTL is a common technique used for "touch and feel" products (consumer items where the customer will rely on immediate information rather than previously researched items). BTL techniques ensure recall of the brand while at the same time highlighting the features of the product.

Another BTL technique involves sales personnel deployed at retail stores near targeted products. This technique may be used to generate trials of newly launched products. It helps marketers establish one-to-one relationship with consumers while mass promotions, by definition, make it difficult to gauge consumer-response, except at the time of sales. Examples include tele-marketing, road shows, promotions, in- shop and shop-front activities, display units.

Branding

Branding

• Colgate-Palmolive company  is using the name COLGATE as a brand for it's toothpaste and toothbrush.
• It had been deal in glass jars since 1873.
• Dental Cream introduced in 1896. It was the first toothpaste in a collapsible tube.
• It's packaging and logo remains same from the time of inception.which in turn creates a trust among the users.
• Logo Shows Company’s image. There are some points for Colgate logo.
  •  Colgate logo is used for informational purpose.
  • Colgate logo is different among their competitors.
• It's motive from beginning remains same-"protect your teeth from germ and keep you smiling".
• Red and White are two main colors used in it's logo.
• Red shows signs of supremacy, trust and reliability.
• White indicates towards a cavity and germ free tooth .
• 1940 to 1960, an advertising campaign for Colgate toothpaste used the slogan “It cleans your breath while it cleans your teeth”.
• 1960, the slogan was “The Colgate ring of confidence”.

Brand Promise

• ·       Colgate toothpaste clearly show Indian Dental Association(ida)’s approval on its packaging.
• ·   Colgate created a trust and loyalty among it’s users by promoting it’s toothpastes as best oral care products.
• ·       Over the time its slogan is trying to convince users or potential users that “use Colgate and keep smiling”.which is a very strong statement .it shows brand's confidence and promise that Colgate toothpaste created for a long period.

Holistic Marketing

Holistic Marketing

Healthy and long term growth for a brand requires that the marketing organization be managed properly. Holistic marketers must engage in a host of carefully planned, interconnected marketing activities and satisfy an increasingly broader set of constitutions. They must also consider a wider range of effects of their actions. Corporate social responsibility and sustainability have become a priority as organizations grapple with short term and long term effects of their marketing. Some firms have embraced this new vision of corporate enlightenment and made it the very core of what they do.

Colgate has earned the reputation of the most well know and trusted oral care toothpaste brand in India. Colgate is not only gives superior value for money to its customers, but also serves the interests of its customer by arranging regular health camps in anganwadis and schools to promote oral care awareness among children .

Through its advertising campaign Colgate also acts as a social observer and cares about oral problems in a very satirical manner which instantly connects to the buyers. It also ensures the end-customers get quality toothpaste at affordable prices. It truly practices holistic marketing.

Sales Management

Sales Management

Sales management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of sales techniques and the management of a company’s sales operations. It is an important business function as net sales through the sale of products and services and resulting profit drive most commercial business. These are also typically the goals and performance indicators of sales management.

For Colgate toothpaste, sales are typically in the mom and pop shop, super markets and drug stores. The consumer just has to ask for that particular Colgate toothpaste product in the shop or if it’s a super market he just has to locate it and buy it.

But in other case customer buy Colgate toothpaste because his or her dentist advised him or her to buy that toothpaste.

Now, Colgate is offering its toothpaste through online shopping portal for customers. 

Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix

PRODUCT

· Colgate toothpaste adds value to customer’s life by continues innovation and research.

·  It also adds utility and continuously meeting the wants and need of targeted group by providing different sub-categorized and customized tooth paste for different usages of customer.

·  Its products are unique and different from all similar products that are available on the market.

· Colgate’s strategy is to differentiate  products design and strategy from all others, which in turn causes the toothpaste to stand.

PRICE

·    Price is something which controls competitiveness of any product, so in case of Colgate.

·  It’s prices are almost same or less than it’s competitors giving it an extra advantage to affect customer psychologically.

· This pricing strategy is the result of positioning the toothpaste as a mainstream product rather than a niche product.

a

Visible white	100g	68.00
Max fresh	150g	64.00
Total 12	75g	40.00
Strong teeth	100g	35.00
Sensitive pro	100g	78.00

PLACE

·   Place represents location where a product can be purchased. The most     important part is how a product goes from seller to buyer.

·  Colgate’s product goes through a channel of distribution which includes manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and consumer.

·      The distribution strategy for toothpaste is through dentist, plastic surgeon, drug stores, large retail stores, department stores and mom n pop shops.

·     All toothpaste products are available throughout India including urban, semi-urban and rural markets.

PROMOTION

·      Colgate communicates product promotions through advertising, publicity and   sales promotions.

·      Colgate benefited a lot through in-store displays.

·     Colgate’s advertising strategy focuses on TVC and print media.

·       It also promote its product through radio and print for rural customers. 

Customer Value Hierarchy

Customer Value Hierarchy

Colgate needs to address five product levels. Each Product adds more customer value and the five constitute a customer value hierarchy are

{Core benefit, basic product, expected product, augmented product, potential product}

Core Benefit: It is the fundamental level in customer value hierarchy. It is the benefit or service the customer is really buying. In case of toothpaste, the customer is buying a medium for safety of teeth and mouth.

Basic Product: This is the second level in customer value hierarchy. The marketer must turn the core benefit into a basic product. In case of toothpaste, the marketer must provide toothpaste that provides germ free mouth for all without any side effects.

 Expected Product: This is the third level in customer value hierarchy. Here the marketer prepares an expected product, a set of attributes and conditions that customers normally expect when they purchase this product.

Augmented Product: At the fourth level, the marketer prepares an augmented product that exceeds customer expectations. To fight competition the marketer tries to offer an augmented or may an even better than expected product. Colgate is providing different variety of toothpastes like Colgate herbal for fresh mouth with Ayurvedic effect. now it added Colgate salt for those with cavity problem.

Potential Product: At the fifth level stands the potential product, which encompasses all the possible augmentations and transformations the product or offering might change in near future.

Distribution

DISTRIBUTION

Colgate toothpaste is a daily usable commodity/product. So the company is using intensive distribution.

Colgate India has a strong marketing distribution network across India ranging from big metros to unreachable rural villages. it covered all geographical barriers to nurture it’s distribution channel. It had 1713 direct stores as of 2010.the Oral care distribution network spreads across 90 cities of India. The company products available across 4.3mn retail outlets. The company has a strong workforce of more than 2000 stockiest and their workforce. Colgate Palmolive uses all the available intermediaries wholesalers, retailers, and stockiest. Distribution strategy for the Colgate Totals is indirect. The distribution is through Dentist, plastic surgeon, drug stores, grocery stores, large retail stores.

Conflict among marketing channel members is generated when one channel member action prevents another channel from achieving its goal. Colgate Palmolive fallows the traditionally distribution channel not involving overlapping of intermediaries so there is very less amount of channel conflict.

Product Life cycle and Industry Life Cycle

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE(PLC) & INDUSTRY LIFE CYCLE(ILC)

A company's positioning and differentiation strategy must change as the product, market and competitors vary over the Product Life Cycle. to say that a product has a life cycle consist of four things:-

1. Products have limited life

2. Product sale passes through different stages, each posing a different challenge and opportunity to seller.

3. Profits rise and fall at different stages of life cycle.

4. Products need different strategies in different life cycles.

The product life cycles:

1. Introduction: A period of slow growth, because the product is just introduced in the market, the profits here are nonexistent due high cost of advertising and other product introduction strategies.

For Colgate- 

• 1873 Colgate toothpaste introduced in jars to market.
• 1986 Colgate toothpaste sold in tubes called as Colgate ribbon.
• 1937 Colgate entered Indian market.
• 1949 it touched a new height in India.
• 1976 it tried to growth it's sales in India by launching YOUNG INDIA PROGRAM -"bright smile becomes brighter".

2. Growth: A period of rapid market acceptance and substantial profit improvement.

For Colgate-

• 1990 to 2003 Colgate reaches out to every rural customer and strengthen it's supply chain.
• Colgate herbal white toothpaste launched.
• 2003-2007 Colgate awarded no.1 toothpaste brand for 7 consecutive years.
• Colgate acquired 51%  market share during this period.
• launched many initiatives and promotions to further increase it's sale
•  as it's initiative it started oral care weak and targeted schools and anganwadis. 

3. Maturity:  A slowdown in sales growth, because the product has achieved acceptance by most potential buyers. I believe this to be more of a stable stage for the product, where the graph is almost flat.

For Colgate-

• HUL and P&G emerged as major competitors for Colgate.
• With some other niche player Colgate facing tough competition in toothpaste market. 
• they roped SRK as their brand ambassador in 2009
• oral health month launched in 2010.
• colgate with IDA worked to develop toothpastes for different needs of customer.
• 2011-2013many variants of Colgate toothpaste launched.

4. Decline: Here the sales show a downward drift and profits decrease. This is where the company has to really think of ways to get its product back in business. It may try hard at advertising, or may be add new features, but basically come with a new marketing strategy to increase its falling profits.

Sometime there are some variation due to product and policies by companies.

they are-

Growth - Slump - Maturity Pattern:  Here the sales rapidly grow as the product is introduced, and the fall with the same rapid rate.It is then sustained by late adopters. 

Cycle - Recycle Pattern: Here the sales grow rapidly and fall too. But then the company gives a promotional push and again the sales  grow or again the first cycle is repeated. This second cycle is usually of a shorter duration.

For colgate-              

• Colgate is using this strategy to re-introduce it's sales growth.
• now-a-days Colgate is doing promotions and activation events in most of the malls and housing communities to turn some potential customers into customers.
• they are rigorously doing advertisements on t.v,radio and print media.they have hiked spending rate on advertisements.
• in India they are focusing youth and launching youth eccentric toothpastes.they are also taking sonakshi sinha and sonam kapoor as their brand ambassador to woo new customers.

 Scalloped Pattern- Here sales pass through a succession of life cycles based on the discovery of new product characteristics, uses or users. 

Marketing strategies for Introduction Stage: Since the profits are really low due to all the introduction costs, the company has to carefully plan its introduction strategy. Being first in the market can be rewarding in case of a new to the world product, but may also be disastrous. It is also a lot more expensive to be the first to enter as the consumers and customers are not aware of the product and hence a lot is spent in creating awareness.

Marketing Strategies for Growth Stage: This is the stage of rapid growth. New competitors enter, to cash in on the success of your product. Prices remain same or fall slightly depending on the demand. Sales rise faster than promotional expenditure. Companies must improve the quality of the product, add new features etc.

Marketing Strategy for Maturity Stage: At some point, the rate of sales will slow and the product will enter a stage of maturity. Companies may use different modifications to raise their sales and profits in this stage. They may try and modify the market, which means expand their market. They may also try and modify the product. Here the company may improve the quality of the product and also improve the functionality of it. They may use words like bigger, new, or improved etc in their advertising so catch the customer's attention over their competitor. They may also improve the products aesthetic appeal. The only hitch in this is that consumers may not always like the new and improved features .The Company in this stage must also look at customer feedback to understand in a better way as to how it can help in satisfying the consumer.

Marketing Strategy for Decline Stage:   Sales decline for a number of reasons like technological advance, change in consumer tastes, or increased competition. Unless strong reasons for retention exist, carrying a weak product proves very costly for a company. The appropriate strategy also depends on the attractiveness of the market and the company’s competitive strength in he market. In the decline stage a company may drop its weak products; basically we are talking about phasing out a product.

Competitor Analysis

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS-

Competitor is nothing but rivals sellers, manufacturers ,product or services trying to capture market share, achieve same goals, increasing profit by trying different methods in price, product ,distribution and promotion.

For Colgate the main competitors in India  :

1. Pepsodent

2. Close up 

3. others (Amway-Blister ,VICO bujradanti ,dabur etc)

This competition is greatly affected Colgate in India and it production.

In the first half of calendar year 2011, Colgate Palmolive India's market share in the toothpaste market stood at 53.1 per cent, its highest since 1998, a rare instance of a market leader gaining new ground.

Aggressive marketing and huge 32% jump in spending  on advertising makes it’s sales better and better.

STRATEGIC POSITION

CATEGORY	VOLUME SOM%	MARKET SHARE	RELATIVE SHARE
Toothpaste	53.1	1	2.3

·          Source ac Nielsen

VOLUME MARKET SHARE TILL MAR-2011

NAME	2008	2009	2010	APR-MAR 2010	APR-MAR 2011
Colgate Competitior1(market challenger) all other(market follower)	49.4 24.5 26.1	52.4 22.8 24.8	53.5 22.5 24.0	52.9 22.6 24.5	53.1 22.8 24.1

 * wikipedia

PORTER’S FOUR CORNER MODEL

This model designed by Michael porter describes best about a competitors course of action.

Motivation – drivers

This helps in determining competitor's action by understanding their goals (both strategic and tactical) and their current position vis-à-vis their goals. A wide gap between the two could mean the competitor is highly likely to react to any external threat that comes in its way, whereas a narrower gap is likely to produce a defensive strategy. Question to be answered here is: What is it that drives the competitor? These drivers can be at various levels and dimensions and can provide insights into future goals.

·         The likely entry of the world's largest consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble (P&G), into the Rs.4,500-crore branded oral care sector in India is creating ripples for Colgate.

·         Both Crest and Oral-B are very strong global brands. In fact, Crest is the largest selling brand in the US.

·         GlaxoSmithKline Consumer forayed into the sector by launching Sensodyne, while Future Group launched its toothpaste brand Sach.

·         Colgate is facing stiff competition from HUL & DABUR. later’s share increased from 10% to 15%.

Motivation – management assumptions

The perceptions and assumptions the competitor has about itself and its industry would shape strategy. This corner includes determining the competitor's perception of its strengths and weaknesses, organization culture and their beliefs about competitor's goals. If the competitor thinks highly of its competition and has a fair sense of industry forces, it is likely to be ready with plans to counter any threats to its position. On the other hand, a competitor who has a misplaced understanding of industry forces is not very likely to respond to a potential attack. Question to be answered here is: What are competitor's assumption about the industry, the competition and its own capabilities?

• Colgate India, which, so far, has not been too aggressive on the publicity front, has roped in tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi and film star Rahul Bose as brand ambassadors for its flagship brand Colgate Total.

·         To sustain our leadership, we are chalking out a three-pronged strategy, which includes, innovations, innovative integrated marketing plans and oral care awareness programmes, Rekha Rao, vice-president-marketing Colgate-Palmolive told FE.

Actions – strategy

A competitor's strategy determines how it competes in the market. However, there could be a difference between the company's intended strategy (as stated in the annual report and interviews) and its realized strategy (as is evident in its acquisitions, new product development, etc.). It is therefore important here to determine the competitor's realized strategy and how they are actually performing. If current strategy is yielding satisfactory results, it is safe to assume that the competitor is likely to continue to operate in the same way. Questions to be answered here are: What is the competitor actually doing and how successful is it in implementing its current strategy?

·         We see a big opportunity for growth in driving the penetration of the oral care category. With around 35 % of people still not using toothpastes, it offers us a huge opportunity-p&g.

Actions – capabilities

This looks at a competitor's inherent ability to initiate or respond to external forces. Though it might have the motivation and the drive to initiate a strategic action, its effectiveness is dependent on its capabilities. Its strengths will also determine how the competitor is likely to respond to an external threat. An organization with an extensive distribution network is likely to initiate an attack through its channel, whereas a company with strong financials is likely to counter attack through price drops. The questions to be answered here are: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the competitor? Which area is the competitor strong in?

·        P&G is flying high on it’s two strong global brands crest and oralB.crest is the market leader in America and brazil.

·        HUL is targeting youth segment through it’s strongest supply chain.

Colgate is also facing stiff competition from dabur as this product is doing good job in herbal toothpaste market by creating it’s image as pioneer of “ayurvedic” brand.