Promotion is the coordination of all seller-initiated efforts to set up channels of

information and persuasion to sell goods and services or to promote an idea.

The function of promotion is to send out consistent positive messages to

existing and potential customers

Promotion is not just advertising – it is a planned series of activities. These must

relate to the business’s objectives. It includes several communications activities
that attempt to provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers,
retailers or other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales.

Promotion refers to many kinds of incentives and techniques directed towards

consumers and traders with the intention to produce immediate or short term
sales effects

For example, a business might want to increase its market share, it might want
to widen its customer base or increase the number of repeat purchases. Before
starting a promotional campaign, there will be:

• a set of clear objectives

• an intended target audience
• staff to work on the campaign
• a budget, based on costs for the work identified

Example: Brand positioning, Advertising spending level, Chosen media,

Schedules, Creative thinking, Sales promotion, Publicity

The purpose of this research is to stabilize themselves in the market as well as

to retain its identity to find out sales promotional activities in the context of
Colgate Sensitive Tooth paste &Tooth brush at Nagpur.
Above-the-line promotion
Above-the-line promotion involves the use of advertising to reach a mass audience.

It is mainly used to reach consumers but it can be used in B2B markets. Advertising creates
general brand awareness. Various media can carry the advertising message. These have
different strengths and weaknesses:
Overview of the Company/Company profile
2.1. Back ground:
Toothpaste has a history that stretches back nearly 4,000 years. Until
the mid-nineteenth century, abrasives used to clean teeth did not resemble
modern toothpastes. People were primarily concerned with cleaning stains from
their teeth and used harsh, sometimes toxic ingredients to meet that goal.
Ancient Egyptians used a mixture of green lead, verdigris (the green crust that
forms on certain metals like copper or brass when exposed to salt water or air),
and incense. Ground fish bones were used by the early Chinese.

In the middle Ages, fine sand and pumice were the primary ingredients in
teeth-cleaning formulas used by Arabs. Arabs realized that using such harsh
abrasives harmed the enamel of the teeth. Concurrently, however, Europeans
used strong acids to lift stains. In western cultures, similarly corrosive mixtures
were widely used until the twentieth century. Table salt was also used to clean
teeth.

In 1850, Dr. Washington Wentworth Sheffield, a dental surgeon and chemist,

invented the first toothpaste. He was 23 years old and lived in New London,
Connecticut. Dr. Sheffield had been using his invention, which he called Crème
Dentifrice, in his private practice. The positive response of his patients
encouraged him to market the paste. He constructed a laboratory to improve his
invention and a small factory to manufacture it.
Modern toothpaste was invented to aid in the removal foreign particles and food
substances, as well as cleans the teeth. When originally marketed to consumers,
toothpaste was packaged in jars. Chalk was commonly used as the abrasive in
the early part of the twentieth century.

Sheffield Labs claims it was the first company to put toothpaste in tubes.
Washington Wentworth Sheffield's son, Lucius, studied in Paris, France, in the
late nineteenth century. Lucius noticed the collapsible metal tubes being used
for paints. He thought putting the jar- packaged dentifrice in these tubes would
be a good idea. Needless to say, it was adopted for toothpaste, as well as other
pharmaceutical uses. The Colgate-Palmolive Company also asserts that it sold
the first toothpaste in a collapsible tube in 1896. The product was called Colgate
Ribbon Dental Crème. In 1934, in the United States, toothpaste standards were
developed by the American Dental Association's Council on Dental
Therapeutics. They rated products on the following scale: Accepted,
Unaccepted, or Provisionally Accepted.

The next big milestone in toothpaste development happened in the mid-

twentieth century (1940-60, depending on source). After studies proving
fluoride aided in protection from tooth decay, many toothpastes were
reformulated to include sodium fluoride. Fluoride's effectiveness was not
universally accepted. Some consumers wanted fluoride-free toothpaste, as well
as artificial sweetener-free toothpaste. The most commonly used artificial
sweetener is saccharin. The amount of saccharin used in toothpaste is
minuscule. Companies like Tom's of Maine responded to this demand by
manufacturing both fluoridated and non-fluoridated toothpastes, and toothpastes
without artificial sweetening.

2. 2 Vision:
To strive towards excellence and leadership in manufacturing of quality
toothpaste affordable to all to continue to unfold products on the threshold of
latest technology and to satisfy customers need at all time with impeccable
quality service through optimizing its resources in order to achieve high
productivity and quality.
“To continue in our ongoing quest to understand the continuously evolving
needs and expectations of consumers and exceed these expectations by offering
products that provide unique functional benefits, quality and value.”

Colgate Palmolive provides four generic categories of products, namely in

the fabric care, surface care, personal care and oral care.

These four categories allow the company to keep the scope of its business
broad enough for future expansion.

The company aims to provide its customers with products that provide

quality, functionality and value to their life.

2.3. Mission:

Improve the quality of life by bringing essential products within the reach of the
common people. To continuously develop and market high technology
products, which offer value and bring delight to our esteemed customers by
creating a competitive advantage through innovation, cost structure and
customer relationships. Skilled professionals, prudent human resource
management and excellent service and delivery systems will adequately support
these initiatives.
We offer complete oral care to our consumers, specializing in the areas of
damage prevention, cavity protection, teeth whitening, fresh breath and herbal
dental treatment incorporated in a modern dentifice.

We seek to satisfy consumers in the upper, middle and lower middle

income groups. Hence, our target customers (outlets) are retailers in the A, B
and C class. Our product is primarily positioned towards children and their
mothers.
 We aim to provide a cavity-free generation; for Colgate to become an
institution and hence, a household name, rather than just a brand.

Our aim towards a cavity-free generation instigates our efforts in trying to

circumscribe the tooth care market at the national level.

Our brands will be a symbol of quality in their respective segments,

providing consumers with superior and consistent product performance.

We make every reasonable effort to develop formulations, which are

designed to appeal to the tastes of consumers, and also satisfy their dental care
demands.

We are commendable in our effort to promote increased awareness about oral

hygiene through our school programs, and publicity events.

2.4. Goal:

Its goal is to--

•
Continually set the highest standards of customer satisfaction in our country
•
Secure the strongest competitive position in our markets
•
Be recognized as an employer of first choice.

The goal of the company is to keep continuous tabs on the heartbeat of

consumer preferences, needs and wants, and to satisfy these wants even before
the customer is fully aware of them himself/herself.

2.7. Company SWOT analysis

A name synonymous with the Indian oral care industry, Colgate, is the
undisputed market leader in toothpastes with over 45% share in the Rs 21 bn
(90,000 TPA) oral care segment.
The company’s parent has a presence in over 200 countries worldwide. In India,
Colgate ranks No.1 in top of the mind recall in many consumer surveys.
Background

Promoted by Colgate-Palmolive USA, the parent operates through its 51%

subsidiary and has a presence in India since last 50 years. The company’s
flagship product, Colgate Dental Cream is the largest selling toothpaste in India,
with an estimated market share of over 30%. The company acquired Hindustan
Ciba Geigy (Cibaca) in the year 1994, which helped it increase its market share.
The company also has a significant marketshare in the toothbrush category. This
and shaving brushes accounted for 10% of its FY04 revenues. The toothpaste
segment can be divided into two broad categories: White’s, which accounts for
a dominant share of the Indian oral care market. Gels are estimated to be only
about 15% plus of the market. Colgate is considerably backward integrated. It
has captive manufacturing facilities for flavor and other ingredients, which yield
significant cost savings. It has also set up a world-class facility for manufacture
of Di-calcium Phosphate, a key ingredient in toothpaste.
The Potential As per our estimates, 12.2% of the total world population lives in
rural India. Currently, only a small portion (about 15%-20%) of region has been
tapped. Although, expansion in rural areas requires huge investments, it is a
market that cannot be overlooked and has huge potential. To put things in
perspective, the per capita consumption of toothpaste in India is only 82 gms, as
compared to 262 gms for Thailand, 376 gms for Mexico and 518
gms for USA (Source: Colgate, Equitymaster Research). In India, urban per
capita consumption is 153 gms whereas rural consumption is a mere 38 gms.
Competition The Company has been facing immense competition from
organised as well as unorganised players. HLL is the closet rival of Colgate
with a share of 34% with its Pepsodent and Close- up (gel where it has a lion’s
share) brands. The latest entrant in the organised sector is LG that has ventured
into the FMCG market and launched premium consumer products across 8
categories including toothpastes, shampoos, soaps, detergents, etc. Also, there
has been speculation from sometime now that P&G (its worldwide rival) would
debut its billion-dollar- plus toothpaste brand Crest in India. This could
intensify competition in the segment.
Concerns The Company has high reliance on a single category (Oral Care),
which accounts for 94% of its sales and 98% of its profits (FY04). A large part
of the company’s product folio consists of premium products, which do not
have a large potential market in India. This is evident as new launches by the
parent in India have been much lower than other markets. In the last couple of
years, the company’s top line has stopped growing and in order to achieve
growth, Colgate cut prices of its products by an average 17% in April 2003
(Source: Company Annual Report). The company has been able to increase its
margins by continuously cutting advertising expenses, which cannot go below a
certain point, owing to its single product dependence.

STRENGTHS
Strong financial performance Focus on innovation and new product launches
Colgate business planning initiative

WEAKNESSES
Product recalls Highly leveraged

OPPORTUNITIES
Emerging markets growth Deploying advance technologies Growing Hispanic
population in the US Specialty pet nutrition growth

THREATS
Competitive landscape from other CPGs Private label growth Increasing
commodity prices
Falling consumer confidence in the US
Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by or there are four factors.
01. Cultural Factor
02. Social Factor,
03. Personal Factor,
04. Psychological Factor

01. Cultural Factor:-

Cultural factor divided into three sub factors (i) Culture (ii) Sub Culture (iii)
Social
Class
C u ltu re:- Culture has a great influence on the behavior of a consumer.
Because people learn from the society. If the culture of a country can not
suggest to use toothpaste or Colgate is a good quality toothpaste then people
will not buy this.

Sub Culture:-
If the experiences of the group says that Colgate is a bad toothpaste then people
will not buy this product..

Social Class:-
If the social class of people is low or much high then people do not buy Colgate
toothpaste.

02. Social Factors:-

A consumer's behavior also is influenced by social factors, such as the
 (i) Groups
(ii) Family
(iii) Roles and status
Groups:-
Sometimes groups make the choices of an individual.
Family:-
In context of Bangladesh if the head of family choice Pepsodent rather than
Colgate, so the family can not use other paste. So we can say that family has a
influence on the consumer behavior.
Roles and Status:-
Lower-lower and Upper-Upper people will not buy same product. Because they
have different roles and status in the society.

03. Personal Factors:-

It includes
i. Age and life cycle stage
ii. Occupation
iii. Economic situation,
iv. Life style,

(v) Personality and self concept.

Age and Life cycle Stage:-
Children and old do not want to use toothpaste where the very older has no
teeth and children likes taste. So age has the influence on consumer behavior.
Occupation A doctor is always conscious about their health where a student has
not same consciousness. And also the choice and buying capacity of a product is
depends on their occupation. It varies according to their jobs category

Economic situation:-
A person's economic situation will affect product choice
Life Style:-
Life Style is a person's Pattern of living, understanding these forces involves
measuring consumer's major AIO dimensions. i.e. activities (Work, hobbies,
shopping, support etc) interest (Food, fashion, family recreation) and opinions
(about themselves, Business, Products)
Personality and Self concept:-
Choice of a product depends on the personality and the self concept of an
individual. Personality depends on the status and self concept depends on the
perception.
04. Psychological Factors:-
It includes these Factors.
i) Motivation
ii) Perception
 iii) Learning
iv) Beliefs and attitudes

Motivation:-
Company must take some motivated activities to persuade the customer. Ex-
Advertising, give some free etc.

Perception:-

The process by which people select, Organize, and interpret information to

form a meaningful picture of the world. The company must try to create the
positive perception on the mind of individual.

Learning:-
Perception filters a thing and then take decision it should be taken or not. It
means perception fiter the knowledge and give the shape of learning.
·
Beliefs and attitudes:-
Belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. So
company always try to make belief through making reliability.
Attitude, a Person's consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings,
and tendencies towards an object or idea
Analysis

Every toothpaste contains the following ingredients: binders, abrasives, sudsers,

humectants, flavors (unique additives), sweeteners, fluorides, tooth whiteners, a
preservative, and water. Binders thicken toothpastes. They prevent separation of
the solid and liquid components, especially during storage. They also affect the
speed and volume of foam production, the rate of flavor release and product
dispersal, the appearance of the toothpaste ribbon on the toothbrush, and the
rinsibility from the toothbrush. Some binders are karaya gum, bentonite, sodium
alginate, methylcellulose, carrageenan, and magnesium aluminum silicate.

Abrasives scrub the outside of the teeth to get rid of plaque and loosen particles
on teeth. Abrasives also contribute to the degree of opacity of the paste or gel.
Abrasives may affect the paste's consistency, cost, and taste. Some abrasives are
more harsh than others, sometimes resulting in unnecessary damage to the tooth
enamel.The most commonly used abrasives are hydrated silica (softened silica),
calcium carbonate (also known as chalk), and sodium bicarbonate (baking
soda). Other abrasives include dibasic calcium phosphate, calcium sulfate,
tricalcium phosphate, and sodium metaphosphate hydrated alumina. Each
abrasive also has slightly different cleaning properties, and a combination of
them might be used in the final product.

Sudsers, also known as foaming agents, are surfactants. They lower the surface
tension of water so that bubbles are formed. Multiple bubbles together make
foam. Sudsers help in removing particles from teeth. Sudsers are usually a
combination of an organic alcohol or a fatty acid with an alkali metal. Common
sudsers are sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfoacetate, dioctyl sodium
sulfosuccinate, sulfolaurate,sodium lauryl sarcosinate, sodium stearyl fumarate,
and sodium stearyl lactate.

Humectants retain water to maintain the paste in toothpaste. Humectants keep

the solid and liquid phases of toothpaste together. They also can add a coolness
and/or sweetness to the toothpaste; this makes toothpaste feel pleasant in the
mouth when used. Most toothpastes use sorbitol or glycerin as humectants.
Propylene glycol can also be used as a humecant.

Toothpastes have flavors to make them more palatable. Mint is the most
common flavor used because it imparts a feeling of freshness. This feeling of
freshness is the result of long term conditioning by the toothpaste industry. The
American public associates mint with freshness. There may be a basis for this in
fact; mint flavors contain oils that volatize in the mouth's warm environment.
This volatizing action imparts a cooling sensation in the mouth. The most
common toothpaste flavors are spearmint, peppermint, wintergreen, and
cinnamon. Some of the more exotic toothpaste flavors include bourbon, rye,
anise, clove, caraway, coriander, eucalyptus, nutmeg, and thyme. In addition to
flavors, toothpastes contain sweeteners to make it pleasant to the palate because
of humecants. The most commonly used humectants (sorbitol and glycerin)
have a sweetness level about 60% of table sugar. They require an artificial
flavor to make the toothpaste palatable. Saccharin is the most common
sweetener used, though some toothpastes contain ammoniated diglyzzherizins
and/or aspartame. Fluorides reduce decay by increasing the strength of teeth.
Sodium fluoride is the most commonly used fluoride. Sodium perborate is used
as a tooth whitening ingredient. Most toothpastes contain the preservative p-
hydrozybenzoate. Water is also used for dilution purposes.

Thermoseal

As a dentist i would say thermoseal is a good paste as a desensitizer. in fact it is

available over the counter also in grocery shops. initially when the sensitivity is
more u could use thermoseal ra
i.e. rapid acting, later switch on to the ordinary one. but do not substitute for
your children or others who are not indicated this unnecessarily and make it a
family paste. generally a good paste for removing tartar and calculus is needed
like COlgate total , pepsodent G etc preferably approved by IDA AND use this
when dictated by the dentist. this has helped so many patients. again sensitivity
need not be only in older patients above 40, could also be in younger patients
with acidity and regurgitation or reflux problems more prominent in patients
who take lot of painkillers, also, who consume lot of acidic and spicy foods
which erode their teeth earlier, still people who brush their teeth so hard that the
enamel wears off. and in anxiety persons where the wear rate is more. also in
the market are available many more brands which are equally good. it would be
always advisable to take under the guidance of a doctor/dentist.

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