King's Own Institute BUS104: GSK Sensodyne Marketing Report

This report presents a marketing plan for GSK's Sensodyne toothpaste in Australia, focusing on strategies to increase brand awareness and sales. It includes an executive summary, introduction, situation analysis with company and environmental analyses, competitor analysis, and SWOT analysis. The report outlines marketing and sales objectives, target market segmentation, and concludes with references. The situation analysis covers political, economic, social, and technological factors impacting Sensodyne's marketing. The SWOT analysis identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report emphasizes the importance of marketing in business success, highlighting Sensodyne's position as a leading sensitivity toothpaste brand. The report also incorporates the assignment brief, addressing the essay prompt and the purpose of the assignment.

Marketing Group Report

Table of Contents
Executive Summary......................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................2
Situation analysis............................................................................................................. 2
Company Analysis....................................................................................................... 2
Review of current promotional programs.....................................................................2
Brand image.................................................................................................................3
Environmental analysis.................................................................................................... 3
Competitor analysis......................................................................................................4
Objective ..................................................................................................................... 7
Target Market ..............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................. 9
References .................................................................................................................... 10

Executive Summary
This report is the marketing plan for GSK Sensodyne toothpaste in
Australia . The Purpose of this report is to outline the marketing strategy for sensodyne
toothpaste for GSK company that manufactures the product of sensodyne across the
globe. The inter brand was approached by GSK to create a compelling identity for a
new premium range of Sensitivity oral care products .The marketing plan that is created
for GSK will focus on the advantages of using sensodyne toothpaste in comparison with
other toothpastes such as Colgate in the market. The aim of the company is to build a
world class brand and quality product. The marketing objective is to make people aware
about this products and raise awareness regarding this product. The sales objective is
to increase the sales of this product by 50 % in the market.
1

INTRODUCTION
The success of business lied in the marketing. On successful marketing the most
of the aspects of the business depends. The marketing is the process by which good or
services are introduced and promoted to potential customers. Advertising,public
relations,promotion and sales are covered in the overall marketing umbrella ( Chitra and
Sasikala, 2016.).
The GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) company manufactures world's number 1 sensitivity
toothpaste brand sensodyne (GSK Fortune ranking, 2017.). This paste is
recommended by dentists across globe. For the care and treatment of sensitive teeth
sensodyne offers a range of products. This report will present the different marketing
strategies and plans that are used by the company for sensodyne. The market
environment analysis have been conducted for this product. The SWOT tools is used in
order to determine the strength,weaknesses, threat and opportunity for the company for
promoting and marketing sensodyne product in the market. The marketing report of the
GSK based on its sensodyne product will be created in this report.
Situation analysis
Company Analysis
In 2000, GlaxoSmith Kline was established by merging two organizations, GLaxo
Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. Firm has a primary share listing on LSE and
secondary on NYSE and headquarter was established in Brentford, London. It’s
segmental operations has been divided into three separate parts, vaccines,
pharmaceutical & consumer healthcare business. Its mission statement is to deliver
patient with the best quality healthcare facilities so that they can enjoy a healthier life.
Sir Andrew Witty is the CEO of GSK and Phillip Hampton is the Chairman.
Review of current promotional programs
The activities of pro,motions are currently undertaken by the GSK
sensodyne .The snesodyne products was promoted through social media sites such as
Facebook,twitter and blogs etc. In terms of promoting any kind of product the twitter
handle and Instagram are very fascinating .Over dental care one can find people with
similar interest in dental care online social media. The potential customers can be
2

collected by gathered attention of the people over the years and sales can be increased
by targeting the people (Chung and Muk, 2017).
Brand image
Sensodyne is healthy and nutritive toothpaste is perceived within the
marketplace .The aesthetically pleasing packaging and the premium pricing strategy
have allow sensodyner to positions itself in the market.
Environmental analysis
The possible environment factors are identified with the analysis of marketing
environment
Political and legal factors
With the political instability of the country GSK is affected that directly influence
the marketing strategy for the sensodyne product. In the international trade the changes
caused can affect the formulation and selling of the sensoydyne that is developed by
GSK. The policy of government that is issues should be kept in mind by GSK and
develop the product according to it. All the rules and regulations that a re imposed by
the government of Australia ned to be followed by GSK in the manufacturing of
sensodyne toothpaste. If the is any change in the laws then the company need to
implement that change in the company (Godey and et.al , 2016.).
Economical factor
Due to change in the market conditions of Australia the production of sensodyne
toothpaste will be affected. This can lower the production for the company. Increasing
the economic growth of the country the company should produce the product.
Social factors
The change in the lifestyle of the people and attitudes towards the product can
affect the production of toothpaste. As the shift of people towards more healthy
lifestyle may affect the sales of the product. The doubts can be treated about the
company and its product if the comp-any is having large profit. (Srinivasan, Rutz and
Pauwels, 2016) The customers now prefer more eco-friendly products as they have
become more health conscious so the marketers may face issues in predicting the
correct needs of customers. The marketeers have forgotten to make a product that is
3

green as now-a-days majority of people have become environmentally conscious. For
people the green factors is vital and are willing to pay more amount of money for it.
Technological product
The sales of sensodyne toothpaste can be affected due to advance technology.
The field of marketing is going a lot of change as the accessibility is now available
through the web with an internet connection and browser. On a much larger scale it is
now possible to find customers .But sometimes various issues are faced in order to find
out prospects interested in what the company sells. As a marketer,the focus is more on
to increase the number of followers on Facebook,Twitter and blog. But the building of
brand is not about getting more number of followers (Menegaki, 2012. ). As the focus
have now shifted to getting quality followers for the brand. The problems for marketers
is to develop a dynamic content that attracts a large number of customers in the
company products and services.
The tradition al marketing approaches is more focused by some
companies .While the e-commerce businesses pays more attention on the use of digital
marketing in order to search customers. In order to reach the largest target market
possible the marketers today must search a way to combine the strategies. Before the
heading to store to buy products and services the target markets spend time on the
internet to research about the company's product and services so the company's need
to implement effective strategies for marketing. The move to location -based is made
by the many companies by creating advertisements that comes on mobile phones.
When a prospective customers is within a few block of business the
advertisements created appears on the mobile devices of the customer. The current
issues that is faced by the markets is to figure out the reputation that need to be
invested in the location-based marketing,particularly in small business where funds are
not so much. The success of location-based campaigns ned to be measures in order to
find out whether they are working as per plan or not.
As more and more companies are using technologies to promote their company
product in the market. The innovative and creative strategies are made by the company
for their product promotions. So a huge competition is their for marketeers in order to
4

make use of better technology and make more innovative strategy for introducing their
product in the market (Singh and et.al., 2017.).
Competitor analysis
As the great care to teeth is provided by the sesnodyne toothpaste and it is often
recommanded by most of the dentists. The main competition that is faced by this
product is pepsodent and Colgate sensitive (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).
Competitors Comments
Pepsodent The celebrities like sharukh khan are the
brand ambassadors of this product. A
range of toothbrushes are also
manufactured by this products. The
specific problems solution is offered by
pepsodent oral care expert.
Colgate The root cared are protected by
Colgate .Due to advertising high brand
awareness is created and it is very popular
brand.
SWOT analysis
SWOT is an internal analysis tool that helps firm in recognizing their internal
business strengths by using which, they can grab benefit of market opportunities.
However, weaknesses should be minimized and strategies should be devised to
minimize threats (Hastings and Domegan, 2013.).
Strengths:
 Worldwide operations of the company as it operates in more than 100 countries
i.e. UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, India, Costa Rica, France, Germany
and many others
 Very high investment in the research and development operations so as to bring
innovations and in UK, it is the largest private investor in R&D activities
5

 With the excellent use of resources in the chemical sector, it won Chemical
industry manufacturing and Resource efficiency award (GSK's annual report,
2016).
 A portfolio of skilled, well-experienced and competent workforce with having a
portfolio of more than 99,300 employees
 In 2017, in Global 500 fortune ranking, it is ranked at 273 position
 One of the largest company in the world’s 5 biggest pharmaceutical companies
 Excellent & vigorous marketing efforts and various campaigns of public relations
 Strong revenue base worth of AUD 37,642 million in 2017 at a profit of AUD
1230.9m. Weaknesses:
 GSK comes under controversies regarding their drug safety which tends to build
negative brand image
 Expiry of their patents for various drug and vaccination products
 Failure of some R&D plans do not fulfill consumer expectations appropriately
Opportunities:
 Rising awareness among consumers regarding their healthcare safety and
security
 GSK can grab benefit of Global penetration via merger and acquisition (M&A)
strategies to expand their business in more countries
 Prevalence of rising demand in the market for the best quality treatment and
healthcare solutions
 Strategic partnership, agreements and collaboration with the other leading
pharma companies. Currently, it has strategic alliances with Dong A-Pharma,
Dynavax, Dr. Reddy’s laboratory, Glycovaxyn, Gavi and many others (Hanssens
and et.al., 2014. ).
 Moving to new segments i.e. biologics, oncology and antibodies specialization
Threats:
 Tough and throat-cut competition from the rival organizations such as Abbott
Laboratories, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Novartis and others
6

 Stringent and uncertain regulatory environment UK separation from EU led to
bring change in legislative and regulatory framework for the pharmaceutical
industry which might threaten the GSK operations in UK
 Possibility of slowdown economy in the European markets
 High business risk of unsuccessful products might be due to lack of customer
awareness GSK is experiencing threats due to new conventional medicine forms, herbal
medicines and others which is considered highly effective with less possibility of
any side effect
Customer analysis
For sensitive teeth this toothpaste is recommend by dentists as it provides a
gentle low-abrasive tooth whitening solution with proven sensitivity relief. It is
convenience product that will target people at all age -group especially small kids as
they eat too much of junk food and cavity is causes due to germs in the mouth. People
now-a-days have become more conscious about their health and body so for them price
is not an issues they only want quality product. So sensodyne toothpaste will target 10-
50 age group living in metropolitan areas.
Objective
Marketing objectives
 To make people ware regarding the benefits of sensodyne toothpaste across
globe To educate the market of Australia on health benefits of sensodyne toothpaste.
Sales objective
 In the Australian toothpaste segment to increase the market share by 50% by
2017
 For 2018 to sell 100000 sensodyne toothpastes To be the largest supplier of toothpaste in Australia
Communication
 In the toothpaste category to raise awareness of sensodyne toothpaste
 To raise awareness for the new slogan “ Expert recommended to stop the pain”
7

Target Market
Geographic - The market will be divided into various units of geographic units.
According to world region or country, city. population density,climate this product will be
segmented. The complete care and is given by this product. So countries such as
US,Canada,Australasia will be their targets.
Demographics – Once the segmentation of the product is done as per geographically
then according to demographics such as size of family size,occupation ,race etc
segmentation will be done. As the product is a premium product so income plays a very
important role and when buying this product people do consider this product (Gordon,
2012.).
Psychographic – Based on class,lifestyle or personal characteristics psychographic
segmentation divides a market into different groups. People often have different
lifestyles and personalities in the same demographics. As the product is a premium
product and the income divides the lifestyles and classes. So,the product will be
selected according to it.
Behavioral - The usage rates can be known with the help of this. The loyal status of
customers can be known with this. The ex-users,first -time users etc are known by
behavioral.
Positioning
The Target Audience Profile(TAP)template will be sued to collect and interpret
this information. The data to potion the product will get related to the product they prefer
,whether they buy product on warrant etc. The positioning of the competitors need to be
know about their plans what strategy they are using for positioning. The buying criteria
then need to be mapped against the competitive positioning .The strength of the
sensodyne toothpaste need to be compare with buying criteria. The competitive
advantage will add as there high tech system in the toothpaste. The gaps need to be
analyzed against the competitors that is the value to the product need to be added in
order to make it more innovative in the market as per the requirements of customers
and market (Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015.).
Marketing Mix Strategy
Product
8

A greater chance of being effective in the long-term is achieved if the marker
strategy is flexible and adaptive to changing marketing circumstances. The consumer
perception and products are variable. So,in order to address the needs of
customers ,new laws change strategy is required (Stephen, 2016.). The change in
product strategy can be due to preference of customers .Sensodyne toothpaste is the
paste that is used for treating teeth. In the Australian market it is the first brand to
launch such toothpaste. As it continues to grow the company will continue to
manufacture more number of such toothpaste .It is useful for human as it is used for
treating cavities that is caused by germs in the mouth. No added sugar is added to this
product and is made from 100% natural products.
Price
The price of the product will be affordable for target group. With the good promotional
marketing strategies the product will enter int market. As the product is related with
dental and advanced technology is used for this advanced so the estimation is made
from the before that product will be of high price. The affordable prices are kept as the
company aims for customers retention and long relationship with customers (Armstrong,
Denize and Kotler, 2014).
Promotional
The products will be promoted through campaigns such as social media promotion. As
on social media the much expense is not required. The free dental care camp will be
organized in order to make the people are about the benefits of this toothpaste.
Place
Several distribution channels have been focused by Sensodyne toothpaste to
gain the customer reach.
CONCLUSION
The people who care for their teeth and do not have enough time to go to dentist
for them Sensodyne toothpaste is the best fit. It should be considers by the pole who
can afford to premium. For along-period of time this product can be used .
9

References
Books and Journals
Armstrong, G. Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Fan, S., Lau, R. Y. and Zhao, J. L., 2015. Demystifying big data analytics for business
intelligence through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research. 2(1). pp. 28-
32.
Gordon, R., 2012. Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix.Australasian
Marketing Journal (AMJ). 20(2). pp. 122-126.
Hanssens, D. M. and et.al., 2014. Consumer attitude metrics for guiding marketing mix
decisions.Marketing Science. 33(4). pp. 534-550.
Hastings, G. and Domegan, C., 2013. Social marketing: From tunes to symphonies.
Routledge.
Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2012. Principles and practice of marketing(No. 7th).
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Menegaki, A. N., 2012. A social marketing mix for renewable energy in Europe based
on consumer stated preference surveys. Renewable Energy. 39(1). pp. 30-39.
Chitra, K. and Sasikala, K., 2016. Social Media Marketing Strategies for Enhancing
Brand Awareness: A Study with reference to select Startups.Asian Journal of
Research in Social Sciences and Humanities. 6(9). pp.1081-1095.
Chung, C. and Muk, A., 2017. Online Shoppers’ Social Media Usage and Shopping
Behavior. In The Customer is NOT Always Right? Marketing Orientationsin a
Dynamic Business World. Springer, Cham. pp. 133-133
10