FINAL PROJECT REPORT

 SUBMITED BY
 Syed Shabib Zaidi

 Mujtaba Khalid

 Yousaf Shah

 Sohail Nazir

 Ali Jaan khan

 Ch. Hammad Ali

 Mahnoor Javed

 SUBMITTED TO
 SIR SYED AHMED HASHMI

 CLASS
 PRINCIPLE OF MARKETING

 SECTION
 BBA 1 D
Contents
Company Background ......................................................................................................................6

Company Vision:..............................................................................................................................6

Company Mission: ...........................................................................................................................6

Introduction to Dentonic Powder .....................................................................................................7

Dentonic – A Pakistani Toothpaste Adventure ................................................................................8

1. Why Dentonic failed to successfully introduce toothpaste? – A Causal Analysis .............. 8

The potential for growth ............................................................................................................ 9

Macro environment: A cultural shift and a large latent market ......................................... 9

SWOT ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................10

From product driven to market driven: ..................................................................................... 10

Rebranding of Dentonic Tooth Powder..........................................................................................11

Creating Growth Strategy ......................................................................................................... 11

Understanding the Product and Related Consumer Behaviour ................................................. 11

Product Mix ....................................................................................................................................12

Micro Environment ........................................................................................................................13

 The Company .................................................................................................................... 13

 Suppliers ............................................................................................................................ 13

 Marketing Intermediaries .................................................................................................. 13

 Customers .......................................................................................................................... 13

 Competitors ....................................................................................................................... 14

 Publics ............................................................................................................................... 14
Macro Environment........................................................................................................................15

 Demographic Forces .......................................................................................................... 15

 Economic Forces ............................................................................................................... 15

 Natural Forces ................................................................................................................... 15

 Technological Forces......................................................................................................... 15

 Political Forces .................................................................................................................. 15

 Cultural Forces .................................................................................................................. 16

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning: .....................................................................................16

An integrated marketing mix ..........................................................................................................18

 Product: ............................................................................................................................. 18

 Place: ................................................................................................................................. 18

 Promotion: ......................................................................................................................... 19

 Price:.................................................................................................................................. 19

Product Life-Cycle Strategies ........................................................................................................20

 The Product Life-Cycle (PLC) .......................................................................................... 20

 Product Development Stage: ............................................................................................. 20

 Introduction Stage: ............................................................................................................ 20

 Growth Stage: .................................................................................................................... 21

 Maturity Stage: .................................................................................................................. 21

Recommendations ..........................................................................................................................22

References ......................................................................................................................................22
5
 Company Background

The Dentonic story, quoted by Mr. Saghir Alvi, director of ALA chemicals:

My father at the age of 25 was suffering from a severe dental disease of plague
accumulation, gingivitis. He had tried all remedies available, went to some qualified
dentists, but to no avail. He was left with sleepless nights due to severe pain and bloody
gums. It was then that he encountered a dentist, while working at a sugar mill, who gave
him a powder to be used for dental care and protection. With usage of the powder 5-8
times, there seemed to have a significant difference made. The disease was later with
constant consumption completely cured. The dentist gave my father the formula on
insistence by him. This was back in 1958, in Bangladesh that it occurred to my father to
market the powder that so efficiently not only cured his gums, but is good for daily usage
as well. ‘

Company Vision:

 Dentonic vision is to become the truly global products company. Our vision is to
satisfy customer by fulfilling their needs.

Company Mission:

 To bring back Dentonic into the Pakistani market as new better and improved
product for consumers all over Pakistan.

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 Introduction to Dentonic Powder

Oral hygiene seeking measures vary across the world owing to socioeconomic, traditional
and religious backgrounds. Although toothpaste-toothbrush method is the most common
hygiene regime, miswaks are also used due to their low cost. Toothpowders are
essentially toothpastes without a liquid humectants system.

Dentonic is the most widely used toothpowder by a fairly large section of the population
in Pakistan. Its main ingredients are calcium carbonate, essential oils and sodium
saccharin. It is one of the safest products to be used for oral hygiene and contains an
optimal level of supra-gingival plague control. A research conducted in November 2003
by renowned dentists of Pakistan belonging to prestigious dental hygiene institutions like
Hamdard Dental College and Altamash Institute of dental medicine, reported that
dentonic is still in fact the largest selling oral health product in Pakistan. The preliminary
findings of the study were positive for Dentonic Toothpowder. It showed a significant
reduction in plague accumulation and gingivitis.

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 Dentonic – A Pakistani Toothpaste Adventure
1. Why Dentonic failed to successfully introduce toothpaste? –
A Causal Analysis
Dentonic, a half century old brand, owned by the Pakistani company ALA Chemicals, has
had a history of catering for the need for tooth care in Pakistan by offering a well-known
tooth powder brand. Recently, however, the company has faced changes in the market
structure and demand giving rise to a set of challenges. A shift in consumer taste from
toothpowder to toothpaste and new competitors incentivized ALA to move the Dentonic
brand into the toothpaste market. ALA did this by applying a product-development
strategy resulting in an upward line extension of its brand making the product line wider.
The company did not utilize a multi-brand strategy expecting the brand equity of
Dentonic to spillover to the toothpaste.

This strategy proved ineffective due to a number of factors including 1) marketing

myopia and a mere product and thus a product concept inspired strategy, leading to 2)
poor segmentation and a relatively undifferentiated targeting disregarding market
segment differences, 3) over-positioning of the brand (a well-known, low-end brand
used to target the premium segment) efficiently decaying the otherwise solid brand equity
and 4) a middle-of-the-road competitive strategy (neither did Dentonic became a cost
leader, nor was the brand perceived to offer the most value to its target customers). All of
the above in sum led to a vague value proposition as perceived by customers, who saw
Dentonic as offering the "same for more" compared to low-end brands, while ALA itself
perceived Dentonic to offer the "same for less" compared to high-end brands.
Furthermore, ALA arguably could have been more anticipating in acknowledging the
decline of toothpowder and the growth of toothpaste, had they more closely monitored
the marketing environment.

Dentonic brand entered the toothpaste market late enough to encounter second-mover
disadvantages in terms of competitors already being well established and positioned in

8
both ends of market (e.g. Colgate and English), which caused high entry barriers in the
targeted segments.

Finally, ALA found itself in trouble due to an inappropriate distribution strategy

company relied on a pull-effect, which was to be created through aggressive advertising.
Yet, advertising alone cannot sustain a pull-effect, which ALA needed to increase its
bargaining power in the marketing channel. Hence, the Dentonic toothpaste was not
provided with favorable shelf space, which is particularly important for FMCGs with low
buyer involvement.

The potential for growth

Prior to proposing an actual growth strategy, an analysis of the marketing
environment will serve to explore the potential for growth in the Pakistani toothpastes
market. However, due to the limited scope of this report, only the factors deemed
most relevant will be included. This analysis will serve to outline a selected set of
opportunities and threats that ALA is facing and can exploit looking forward taking
into account the company's strength and weaknesses.

Macro environment: A cultural shift and a large latent market

The toothpaste market in Pakistan has been growing as a consequence of a cultural shift
in the 1990s, where an increasing number of Pakistanis went from tooth powder to
toothpaste. Although, the Pakistani toothpaste market arguably has now hit the maturity
phase with many aggressive players, it is still experiencing annual growth of 3.1%.
Furthermore, the penetration rate of toothpaste is 60% in urban parts of Pakistan. Almost
half of the non-users are using tooth powder; a market in which Dentonic has 80% market
share.

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 SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT analysis is a study undertaken by an organization to identify its internal strengths

and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.

Market leader in the tooth powder category

StFO • 9 brand equity with current low-middle class
segments
Awareness of cultural shifts in consumer demand

Fierce, red-ocean competition with a few large

comeptitors
Aggresive promotion by competitors
Strong barriers to entry the initial target market
(the premium segment)

From product driven to market driven:

 Market driven approach: That will make the company aware of consumer
behavior allowing a strategy to be built upon the marketing concept rather than
the product concept. This Approach will ensure that the brand is not positioned
out of sync with its customer’s perception. In the future, this approach will ensure
that AC takes into account both the tangible product and, as important, the core
customer vale and the augmented product that forms the total customer
perception. In that way AC can develop the Dentonic toothpaste that consumers
actually want, instead of the toothpaste.

10
 Rebranding of Dentonic Tooth Powder.

Creating Growth Strategy

Ala Chemicals needs to start from the very beginning analysing the current micro and
macro environment in relation to the oral hygiene industry in Pakistan health and
wellness is not uniform in this developing country, more and more people receive better
quality healthcare each year. Currently, more and more children brush their teeth every
day, meanwhile in past only some kids did so. These factors show that the market for oral
hygiene is still growing and can prove profitable for Dentonic.

Understanding the Product and Related Consumer Behaviour

Toothpaste is not a shopping product either due to its low price, and relative abundance
of choice even in the developing markets. Thus, toothpaste is classified as an
undifferentiated product that can be easily substituted if not available.

Consumers tend to spend little time when deciding which undifferentiated product to buy
at the store. They are not heavily involved in the decision process.

ALA Chemicals used demographic segmentation based on social status and income. As
toothpaste has limited differentiability, following a simple demographic segmentation is
reasonable. However, the firm should look into segmenting not only by income, but also
by age, as there is a big youth population who are interested in new oral hygiene
products. Moreover, Dentonic can segment the market geographically, based on the
macro factors like urban population and rural population. Pakistan has a high rate of
migration from rural areas to cities. The firm can take advantage of this trend.

the targeting of the product was almost undifferentiated, as the company tried to pursue
more than one segment with the same value proposition

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The new target segments for the company should be clearly defined in order for it to be
able to deliver an attractive value proposition. Instead of targeting the upper class, which
already has a vast variety of toothpaste options from more established competitors

Product Mix

Product Mix Width

Product Mix
Toothpowder Toothpaste Depth
Dentonic Dentonic Toothpaste
Product Mix Length

Mint
Dentonic Plus Dentonic Ultrawhitening Lemon Mint
Gel
Refreshing
Dentonic Sensitive Teeth Cinnamon
Refreshing
Peppermint

AC Chemicals product mix width consists of Toothpowder and Toothpaste as seen in the
figure. The product mix length in toothpowder is Dentonic and Dentonic Plus, whereas
in Toothpaste we have Dentonic Toothpaste, Dentonic Ultrawhitening Gel and Dentonic
Sensitive teeth. The product mix Depth is only seen in one product which is Dentonic
Ultrawhitening Gel as it is available in different flavors. There can be debate whether
Dentonic Plus is depth of Dentonic Regular, but as it is a completely new product,

12
 developed after extensive research, it has different features from the regular toothpowder;
hence we consider it a length rather than a depth.

Micro Environment

 The Company
Dentonic’s owners work in a very coordinated way. Currently two brothers are running
the company with their father as the chairperson. Mr. Saghir Alvi handles the marketing
and sales while Mr. Zaheer Alvi handles the production. Managers are hired for
departments such as finance and human resource etc who are supervised by the owners.

 Suppliers
ALA Chemicals has to deal with many different suppliers. They acquire their raw
materials from Standard Chemicals ltd, packing labels are supplied by Tariq Process and
Cartons are purchased from Islamia Packages. Essential oils and flavors are imported
from England and China.

 Marketing Intermediaries
ALA Chemicals have a fleet of distribution vehicles within Karachi. Apart from that they
have 250 distributors within Pakistan to sell their product. They have also hired 20 people
to work with the distributors and go shop to shop in looking for new opportunities or to
inform if stocks are running out.

 Customers
Dentonic Toothpowder is a personal consumption product and is sold to households.
Dentonic is basically used by the lower income class people. The consumers in Pakistan
are very loyal and do not like changes. This is one of the reasons why Dentonic’s
packaging and appearance has been the same over so many years. On the contrary,

13
 Dentonic’s packing is totally different abroad, and the powder is packed in a different
designed bottle which is suitable to and accepted by those consumers.

 Competitors
ALA Chemicals has a toothpowder monopoly in Pakistan. Many companies tried
launching toothpowder, but failed. For example, Colgate launched a toothpowder by the
name of Trident, Khass powder was launched by Medicam group in 1989 and even
Unilever almost launched a toothpowder under the banner of Pepsodent which they later
launched in India as they could not compete with the low margins of Dentonic.
Dentonic’s international competitor in the U.A.E is Ukril.

 Publics
ALA Chemicals works a lot with Dental associations and consult dentists, as they are an
importance to the toothpowder. ALA Chemicals invites dental universities to bring their
students to visit the factory and see the level of quality and learn about the product, so
that they could recommend it when they start their practice. ALA Chemicals is the only
Pakistani Company approved by Pakistan Dental Association.

14
 Macro Environment

 Demographic Forces
Dentonic caters to all segments whether it is of age, gender or race. The problem it faces
is that as due to increasing diversity and a better-educated population, Dentonic
Toothpowder is losing its sales in the younger generation.

 Economic Forces
The regular Dentonic Toothpowder does not target any specific income group but due to
its low price 90% of its users are those who earn less than Rs.7000 per month.

 Natural Forces
As Dentonic Toothpowder is 98% limestone, there are as such no natural factors that
affect its production. But the water used in its production was once found to be
unhygienic which made them install their own water distillation plant.

 Technological Forces
Technological changes have affected Dentonic’s sales over a period of time. The increase
in sales of new toothpaste has hurt the sales of Dentonic Toothpowder. To keep them in
the future market.

 Political Forces
As such Dentonic is not really affected by government agencies and pressure groups, but
Dentonic is approved by Pakistan Dental Association (PDA) and is also ISO 9001-2000
certified. These certifications are helpful in the international market.

AC Chemicals does not have any labor union, so is does not face problems concerning
labor strikes etc. The only thing that affects the production level is political strikes.

15
 Cultural Forces
Some people have status issues so majority of the people do not use Dentonic as they
regard it as an old formula. Most users are old age people who are using Dentonic for
more than 15years and they are loyal towards this product.

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning:

In previous years, ALA Chemicals used demographic segmentation based on social status
and income. As toothpaste has limited differentiability, following a simple demographic
segmentation is reasonable. However, the firm should look into segmenting not only by
income, but also by age, as there is a big youth population who are interested in new oral
hygiene products. Moreover, Dentonic can segment the market geographically, based on
the macro factors like urban population and rural population. Pakistan has a high rate of
migration from rural areas to cities. The firm can take advantage of this trend.
Previously, the targeting of the product was almost undifferentiated, as the company tried
to pursue more than one segment with the same value proposition. Such strategy is
dangerous when competitors, like Colgate, use concentrated marketing, because it allows
the competition to create more personalized messages to each of the segments the firm
operates in.
The new target segments for the company should be clearly defined in order for it to be
able to deliver an attractive value proposition. Instead of targeting the upper class, which
already has a vast variety of toothpaste options from more established competitors,
Dentonic should look towards its original (toothpowder) segments: lower and middle
classes. Moreover, the firm should consider concentrating on the younger generation in
urban areas, as they pay closer attention to their hygiene. This segmentation provides
Dentonic with a measurable, substantial, actionable, and arguably accessible target
segment.

16
ALA Chemical should targeted all the marketed not in a specific. A very good
ingredients target market is strong. A cheap price product used middle and lower class
category so ALA chemical should focus on strategic group also.
As concern to the advertisement, there is a focus on family group. ALA chemicals should
target the children also because as growth phase, parents are very conscious about their
health.
In order to find a good, differentiated positioning strategy, the company can use
perception maps. The perceived quality is based on the way the case splits the market into
three categories: premium, middle, and lower class toothpastes. The perceptual map
shows that there is untapped market space for Dentonic. There are currently no premium
quality toothpastes for prices under Rs.40 per 100 grams. Dentonic, on the other hand,
already carries some configurations that cost Rs.40 and Rs.44 for 100g. This means that
the firm has the potential to sell their premium products for a desirable price. Similar
proposition of affordable, yet high quality product was the success factor in Dentonic's
30-year domination of the toothpowder market from 1963 to 1996.
Another targeting strategy that Dentonic can certainly look into is to target certain niches
in the toothpaste markets. For example, according to different research studies, anywhere
between 20 and 40 percent of Pakistani population are considered a current smoker.
Many of Dentonic's competitors have a very distinct core product, and producing
toothpaste designed especially for smokers is a possibility that the company can look
into. Currently, none of the other major companies in the market cater to this niche
segment, providing a certain opportunity for Ala Chemicals.
All in all, Dentonic’s overall positioning strategy and value proposition should
concentrate on providing the same value as premium brands for the customers at a lower
price. It is hard to significantly differentiate a product in the toothpaste market, thus
providing more is not to be expected. Based on the perception map demonstrated earlier,
it would however, make sense for Dentonic to offer their product for significantly
cheaper than other premium brands.

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 An integrated marketing mix

AC must build an integrated marketing mix that supports the desired positioning and
competitive advantages taking into account the characteristics of consumer behavior. The
suggested adjustments to the current marketing mix is outlined below using the
framework of the 4P’s

 Product:
By introducing so many choices for the customers, Dentonic failed to identify and
promote its core product,

In order to create a sustainable strategy, Dentonic needs to specialize on one core product
line, which will have a limited amount of configurations. In order to initiate repeat
purchases and develop repeat customers, the firm should look into producing smaller
tubes, such as 35, 40, or 50ml. Consumers will be more compelled to buy smaller tubes
due to lower prices. Once the core product, for example, teeth- strengthening paste, is
developed, Dentonic could extend the line by introducing gel or other forms of oral
hygiene product like mouth wash that are widely accepted by the market

Having one core product line should help the company save costs of producing many
lines at the same time Moreover, reducing costs may greatly help reduce the price of their
product.

 Place:
Dentonic’s first entry to the market was characterised by using both BIG MALLS and
upscale stores to build the new image of the brand

The firm needs to heavily invest money, time, and effort in order to regain the trust of
retailers and win back premium shelf space. A more concentrated strategy as the one
proposed here will help generate interest from both retailers and consumers.

18
 The marketing channel design should be focused at distributing Dentonic through small
merchants and grocery stores, not premium stores

 Promotion:
However, Dentonic needs to alter its promotion strategy as well, in order to avoid the
mistakes made in earlier market entries and attract final customers and retailers. To do so,
the firm needs to understand the kinds of promotions that can be used for an
undifferentiated convenience product.

The firm can also use below-the-line consumer promotions like free samples or free
dental checkup for the customers, thus recreating the brand’s positive image among
customers Dentonic can use this to their advantage and associate their brand with
providing good oral care in to lower- and middle-class customers. This kind of more
personal promotion will involve the customer with the firm and create a good basis for
repeat purchasing.

 Price:
The pricing strategy used in Dentonic’s previous market entries was to be cheaper than
Colgate’s product, Dentonic should consider using good-value pricing instead of
competitor-based pricing. By doing so, the firm will become more market-oriented than
competition-oriented

Before finalising the pricing strategy, Dentonic needs to get insight on how different
prices will affect the sales of the product. It already showed in the previous market entry
— a high price will lead to consumers switching to other brands.

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 Product Life-Cycle Strategies

 The Product Life-Cycle (PLC)

Dentonic Toothpowder (Regular) PLC

Sales and profits/ Losses
and investment

P. D Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

Time

Sales Profit

 Product Development Stage:

The product development stage of Dentonic Toothpowder lasted for a very short while as
there was no research done regarding the formula. As it was the dentist’s formula and
handed over, the founder of Dentonic just had to make it and market it.

 Introduction Stage:
After developing the product, it was introduced in the market. Initially it was hard to sell
the product, and that is the reason why the introduction stage is so long. After
discouragement from family and retailers, the founder started selling Dentonic in small
sachets at ‘pan’ shops after which, sales started picking up.

Success was noted and the founder came to Pakistan and started marketing the product,
which again ended up getting great response. Dentonic became a hit. Sales rose and
Dentionic was in business. This is the time when advertising campaigns were started,
hence profit levels were low.

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 Growth Stage:
During this time Dentonic started establishing itself in the market, and its profits had
started increasing as well. ALA Chemicals launched a few more advertising campaigns
during this time.

 Maturity Stage:
At its maturity, Dentonic became stagnant. It had removed all competing toothpowders
from the market and began to enjoy its monopoly. Sales and profits were both high at this
stage. The need to advertise was not felt hence, the gap in advertising campaign is seen
quite distinctively.

21
 Recommendations

Toothpowder in our society is considered to be less effective than toothpaste-toothbrush

usage, which is essentially untrue. This misconception originates from lack of knowledge
on the customers part. Dentonic has been unsuccessful in communicating its effectiveness
to the wider audience.

Another complaint that we received after conducting our survey was that a few parents
complaint that the kids eat it thinking it is candy and that should be harmful to their
health. Studies have shown that it’s not, yes children should rather not eat it, but if they
happen to swallow some, it is not hazardous to their health.

Some parents complained that their children do not like the taste very much, to cure that
we suggested to the management that flavors be introduced to give it variety and better
taste.

Thirdly, ALA chemicals has pulled off all advertisements for the moment, for they have ,
for they have allocated large budgets on research and since it sells on very slim margins,
it will be coming up with active promotional campaigns very soon.

References
 http://www.alachemicals.pk/products.html
 https://tribune.com.pk/story/629828/titans-still-the-story-of-dentonic/
 https://prezi.com/nzvratxuwqmv/rise-from-the-grave-dentonic/
 https://www.thenews.com.pk/archive/print/161617-the-ala-man-who-gave-us-
dentonic-tooth-powder
 https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EEMCS-08-2013-0172
 https://prezi.com/s47psus1jdo8/dentonic/
 http://www.alachemicals.pk/
 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/344736546451270594/
 https://www.coursehero.com/file/11688913/DENTONIC/
 https://www.coursehero.com/file/23962049/dentonic-case-studypdf/
 https://www.scribd.com/document/362504422/Dentonic-Case-ID-88
 https://www.reviewessays.com/Business/Dentonic-Case-Study/74090.html
 https://en.essays.club/Business/Management/Dentonic-Case-Study-1336.html