INTRODUCING THE ZEST BRAND IN PAKISTAN

Zest is a global soap brand made by P&G, and created in 1958 with the debut of Aqua Pure bar. The overall brand portfolio includes bar soaps, liquid soap, body wash, liquid hair wash & shower gels in more than five variants with winning innovation being their exotic scent. Your task is to launch Zest bar soaps in Pakistan. Your plan needs to be holistic, and should cover all areas of marketing strategy. For each of these you have been provided a set of assumptions and a list of expectations. Good Luck! Key Assumptions Assumptions Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

$/PKR Exchange Rate 80 85 90 95 100 Inflation (YOY) 5% 10% 5% 5% 5% Sales Tax** 17% 17% 17% 17% 17% Distributor Margin*** 12% 12% 12% 12% 12% Corporate Tax Rate 35% 35% 35% 35% 35% *Inflation has already been applied to all year 1 Costs **Sales Tax: is applied on your consumer price ***Distributor Margin: is the incentive/payment made for your distributor. This amount applies on your total revenue Key Expectations You are required to act as the brand manager keeping into consideration both short term & long term impact of your decisions. Evaluation will be made on the basis of how you deliver value by incorporating a sustainable strategy.

Marketing Plan
The task at hand is to come up with a marketing plan for Zest in Pakistan. The key questions that need to be answers in your plan are: Product positioning (Where to play), and Marketing Strategy (How to win with Consumers)

Background
In Pakistan, the soap market is 300,000 tones per annum business churning 125 million dollars a year. Soap is a major consumer item particularly the anti- bacterial segment. The overall soap market is growing by 10% per year with anti bacterial market segment growing at 7% due to increased consumer awareness and education on the benefits of antibacterial soaps. Soap brands are now focusing on increasing their presence & penetration, promising health & hygiene at an affordable price model. Key is to build distribution and help drive trial in rural areas to source untapped volume from this whitespace market. Increasing penetration will lead to greater market size for the category.

The table below summarizes the size and scale of Zest business in a variety of developed and developing markets:

Market Size
(Million Units)

Price (PKR) 15 30 20 19

Market Size
(in Million PKR)

P & G Share 12% 31% 23% 10%

KSA Russia India Egypt

150,000 600,000 750,000 200,000

22,500,000 18,000,000 15,000,000 3,800,000

The Pakistan soap market represents one of the largest whitespace opportunities for P&G to explore due to its size and scale. The average price of a soap bar is comparable to detergent and skin care products of the market.

Market Review
The market is divided into three main segments: premium tier, mid tier, and low tier. Consumers from each tier are looking for a different offering in the market place making it very competitive. Our key competitors, Lux, Dettol, & Lifebuoy have a much stronger foothold in the market driven by local production & pricing flexibility, dominating both premium and mid tier segment in Pakistan.

Consumer
Historically, Zest has been a premium tier brand, with strong potential for success in the soap anti bacterial segment. The table captures the major segments of the soap market in Pakistan and their urban & rural break-up: Soap Market Segment Skin care & moisturizing Health &Hygiene Sweat Odor Urban 90% 45% 22% Rural 10% 55% 78%

The following table illustrates relevant attributes for premium & mid tier consumers: Premium Tier Consumer Attributes High Category involvement (Regular user) Equates high price with superior quality Looks for germ protection and healthy skin benefit Believes in third party endorsement by renowned medical bodies Mid Tier Consumer Attributes Buying soap to fulfill an everyday need (primarily bathing) Affordability is a key concern in purchase decision making Dissolvability and scent are key signs of quality & performance

Competition
Safeguard is a clear market leader in the anti bacterial segment of the market whereas Lux is the overall market leader in soaps category. Both of them are premium tier brands. Recently Dettol has re-launched itself and has started gaining market share from other competitors. It will be one of your key competitors. The table below indicates market share for leading soap brands in Pakistan. Lux 29.7% Capri 9.8% Lifebuoy 13.5% Dettol 12.9% Safeguard 20.4% Others 13.7%

Expectations
Within your marketing plan, the following four expectations need to be met:
1. Market strategy (Product positioning and how to win with consumers)

2. Communication idea/Unique Selling Preposition 3. Marketing Plan 4. Key visual (Print Ad Poster)

Sales
The task at hand is to create the sales strategy for introducing Zest in Pakistan. The key questions that need to be answered are:

Where to Play
We expect you to define the trade channels you will prioritize in order to capture share. You may also need to define which variants will work best in certain stores and trade channels.

How to Win
Once you define the trade channels in which you will play, you are expected to outline the strategy of how to stand out in the store, leverage your relationship with the customer, and catch the eye of the consumer. This has all to do with your pricing strategy, the packing and shelf placement of your product. A sales pitch can also make or break your strategy, so come prepared when you present your plan in the class!

Trade Channels
The following channels of trade are available to you:

Store Type

Size of Trade

No. of Stores

30% 35% 20% 15%

500 15,000 10,000 100,00 0

Sales Representatives- Constraint

You have a dedicated sales force of 100 sales reps who are also selling other P&G brands. Each sales representative covers 50 stores per day and has a total of 600 stores to cover over a period of two weeks. A sales rep has roughly 5 minutes per sales call. He typically has around 30 seconds to sell a concept to a customer.

Expectations
The following elements need to be addressed in your sales strategy: Distribution: How will the sales reps approach their customers? What will be their sales pitch to their customers? Right Pricing: What price should we introduce this product at? How will we ensure the correct pricing is reflected in the store? What should the customer margin be (the market gives an average 10% retailing margin)? Shelving/Placement: How will the product be placed in the store (for each size )? What location in the store will be suitable for an ideal placement? Support with Reasoning.

Find out the different sizes of SKUs which are being marketed for soap bars and decide which size(s) you want to introduce.

 Merchandising/Positioning: How will the product stand out in the store? What can we do to ensure it goes in-line with the overall positioning of the brand?