A Report on IMC Analysis of PRAN UHT Milk

A Report on IMC Analysis of PRAN UHT Milk

Submitted To
Md. Iftekharul Amin
Assistant Professor
IBA, University of Dhaka

Submitted By
Golam Sarwar

00, 52D
Noman Sabid

44,

Ahmmed Imtiaj

45, 52D

Tanvirul Kader

41,

52D

53D

Date of Submission: 08-05-2016

PRAN UHT MILK

PRAN
is
a
Bangladeshi
conglomerate that started its
operation in 1981 as a vegetable
and fruit based food processing
comapy in Bangladesh. Since its
inception it has diversified its
business a lot. Over the years,
the company has not only grown
in stature but also contributed
significantly to the overall socioeconomic development of the
country. It is currently one of the
most admired food & beverages
brands among the millions of
people of Bangladesh. With PRAN
Products regularly being exported
to 106 countries, it is believed to
be the first Bangladeshi conglomerate to be the truly internationally well recognized
MNC. PRANs one of the major characteristics is its broad product diversification.
PRAN is currently producing more than 200 food products under 10 different
categories i.e. Juices, Drinks, Mineral Water, Bakery, Carbonated beverages, Snacks,
Culinary, Confectionery, Biscuits & Dairy. The company has adopted ISO 9001 as a
guiding principle of its management system. The company is complaint to HACCP &
certified with HALAL which ensures that only the best quality products are reaches
to the consumers table across the Globe.(Source: Wikipedia Page of PRAN Group).
Among the different entities under the umbrella of PRAN, PRAN Dairy is one of the
most important revenue earners for the PRAN group. Under the name of PRAN dairy
they process various milk based products. There are many products under this
brand. They produce UHT milk, pasteurized milk, full cream milk powder, and some
milk allied products like ghee, cheese, and milk based drink. Among these products
PRAN UHT MILK has seen the strongest growth rate in the few years. In the year
2013 PRAN dairy launched a totally new product in the market named UHT milk. The
only kind of milk Bangladeshi people were acquainted with were pasteurized milk
and milk powder. So the first think came in the mind of the people was what the
UHT milk is. The main differences of UHT milk form pasteurized milk is that the
normal pasteurized milk was processed by heating up to 70 degree Celsius where
the UHT milk was heated to 140 degree Celsius. Then the milk is immediately
chilled within 6 seconds. In the normal pasteurized milk there are some bacteria in
the dormant state. When the milk is kept in normal temperature the bacteria
become active again. But in the UHT milk all the bacteria get destroyed with the
constant increasing and decreasing of temperature. The main advantage of this milk

is that it doesnt need to be stored in a freeze or boiled before consuming. The heat
used in the UHT milk processing kills all the bacteria that are harmful for health.
Also, PRAN used a special 6 layer pack for this UHT milk.
PRANs approach towards UHT milk

a) Initial strategy and response

The main advantage of UHT milk was that it did not need to be stored in a
freeze or boiled before consuming. So, the initial strategy of PRAN focused
around letting people know about this feature. The 6 layer pack used to
maintain the product was heavily featured in the advertisements and the
responses of the customers were look warm. Most people did not want to
switch from the familiar pasteurized milk and PRAN got only a small portion of
the dairy market through this product.
b) Review of current market
When PRAN decided to check on the current market situation of the UHT milk
product in 2013, they found that their earlier efforts to differentiate the
product from pasteurized milk did not work at all. Most people still saw UHT
milk as just an expensive milk brand. Still, PRAN was at the top of the small
market for UHT milk. So, a market survey was done to find out the customer
base of UHT milk.

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Among them, Fusionist group seemed to be the major customer base of the
UHT milk product.

c) Strategies used by PRAN to capture the market

To fully take advantage of this fusionist group, PRAN decided to change their
marketing approach. Instead of using the conventional advertisements which
usually consisted of a scientist talking about the benefits of UHT milk, they
went for something different.
At first, they introduced a new slogan , , to make people aware
of the UHT milk product.
They also targeted the fusionists directly with billboards and television
advertisements which mainly focused on the easy use of UHT milk compared
to pasteurized milk. The main focus of this advertisement was to create a
certain mindset among the population so that they consider UHT milk to be
the milk of choice for modern people.

PRAN also wanted to take a share of the nutritionist/purist group.

For them, they used the tagline Best source of natural nutrition.

The IMC approach of PRAN

a) Media

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Radio
Television
Billboard
Newspaper
Internet

Among these mediums to reach the customers, PRAN focuses the most on billboards
and Television advertisement. Throughout the whole year of 2015, PRAN used a
number of television advertisements to create more awareness for their UHT milk
product. Constant billboard presence in a few populated areas has been part of their
strategy for a long time.

PRAN sometimes use newspapers in their IMC approach, but this is usually reserved
for special occasions.
Radio and internet are not the focus of PRANs marketing efforts in a big way.

b) Product marketing strategy

i.

Time Management & General Approach:

PRAN usually works with a single medium for a period of 3 months.
Then they change the medium of choice for another 3 month period.
The speed of their workforce is a bit slower compared to a more
efficient company (Ex- GrameenPhone).

Any changes in PRANs strategy require countrywide changes in their

whole approach. So, the changes are infrequent but massive.
ii.

Advertisement Team Selection:

PRAN has their in house advertisement department. But the huge
amount of products at PRAN creates a huge responsibility for the
department and thats why PRAN often has to take the help of external
firms.

iii.

Creating Appropriate Slogans & Logos:

Each product at PRAN has their own unique slogan. Currently, UHT milk
is using the Best source of natural nutrition slogan.
On the other hand, logos somewhat generalized. The products uses the
PRAN logo and then add their name with it.

iv.

Segmentation:
Segmentation of the market is done in house. Currently, PRAN has
started reaching for the premium segment with the release of
Milkman dairy products.
There are quite a few companies under the PRAN brand and each of
them have their own CEO. All of them go after the market
independently following their own segmentation.

Analysis of the IMC of PRAN UHT Milk

As we see here from the PRANs IMC approach towards UHT milk, they use a 360
communication approach to get their UHT milk product known among people. They
use every single possible media to carry the promotional activities for PRAN UHT
Milk. They have created a nice synchronization among the different media they use
for the promotion of this particular product. To about whether their IMC worked well
or not, we need to see the present and past situation in the market, their
competitors IMC practice and market position. Back in 2003 when PRAN introduced
the UHT milk it a totally new concept in Bangladesh. Since then UHT milk has
always experienced a growth in its sales. But the situation was that smooth as it
seems to be. It needed a coordinated effort from all sorts of marketing channels to
get the market position that they are enjoying today. They observed that although
they were experiencing a positive growth, but the growth was not as they were
expecting. Back in 2013 they came up with a well coordinated all inclusive IMC
approach. They created a harmony among the different marketing tools to reach
their target segments who once are not well acquainted with UHT milk. As a part of

of this IMC plan they devised the , , slogan. They planned and
executed one of the most well coordinated and successful marketing promotion of
the history of PRAN. The dairy business MILK VITA, and ARONG are the biggest two
rivals of PRAN. Although in the pasteurized milk section PRAN is still facing
competition from ARONG and MILK VITA, PRAN UHT has eliminated all its
competitors through its well executed IMC approach. In the UHT milk market PRAN
has become the market leader with a staggering 83% market share. The ultimate
question that comes here is what made the difference. To understand the
differentiating point lets look at the marketing communication of PRANs major two
competitors, ARONG and MILK VITA. MILK VITAs presence in the popular media is
very scarce. Instead of investing in the promotional activities, rather they depend
more on word of mouth. They have long standing reputation of maintaining the
highest level of quality and providing its customers the taste of pure milk. In the
case of ARONG, they failed to come out of a somewhat generic marketing
promotion. In an era of promotion and marketing, you cant solely depend on your
previous reputation and good quality. And is where PRAN made the difference. They
reached to their customers through a well coordinated attempt using all prospective
marketing options. And most importantly they didnt apply all the marketing
channels randomly and desultorily. They integrated synchronized all forms of
marketing communications as per demand of time. Sill now they are continuing to
pursue this integrated form of marketing communication and reaping the benefit of
their IMC practice.

Recommendations
Although PRAN UHT Milk is the market leader in its category, there is still now
broad segment that can be included in its target customer list. For example,
there is a segment that opts for other premium foreign brands like Horizon,
Oasis. PRAN need to adapt its communication strategy to include this
unachieved segment to expand its customer base.
At present before the launching of any particular promotional activities for
PRAN activities, marketing team is largely dependent on in-house discussion
that some time lead to wrong selection or omission of vital customer
segment. They need to prioritize market research more to increase the
efficacy of their promotional activities.

One of the major customer segments of UHT milk is Generation Y who very
rarely watches Bangladeshi TV channels. Thus their most important
promotional tools remain unwatched to this generation which is very much

attached with social media. So PRAN can think of increasing their social
media presence.
They need to engage themselves to different thinks that can substantiate
their image to their customers. For example, they can associate this PRAN
UHT MILK name to different health related issues to make their position as a
provider of nutritious pure milk more trustworthy.
They should be more specific for delivering their marketing message. For
example, as they are targeting mostly health cautious young generation,
then there is no point of sponsoring such programs, or using such media
whose viewer are beyond their targeted customers base.
Most part of the rural market is still unaware of UHT milk. But the cost of
providing and preserving UHT milk is much less than that of pasteurized milk,
because UHT milk doesnt need refrigeration. So if they can popularize the
UHT milk in rural market by devising proper marketing communication, they
will gain a large market share as well as, their distribution cost will be
lowered.

Conclusion
PRAN UHT Milk has an advantageous position rather than other pasteurized milks
due to the quality of UHT milk. So, its marketing team always tries to capitalize on
their strength to utilize full advantage of it. PRAN use a 360 degree communication
approach to get their UHT milk product known among people. They use radio,
television, billboard, newspaper, and Social media to carry out the promotional
activities for PRAN UHT Milk. For making marketing communication more effective
they go for creating appropriate slogans and logos and segmenting the market
more precisely. Though PRAN UHT MILK is the market leader, its marketing team
members always focus on the continuous improvement in its continuous
improvement and also hold its position as market leader more firmly.