This report consists of two sections. It starts defining market ideas and structures then proceeds with assignment task and analyses marketing strategies being used by Sensodyne,

there is no marketing was done in that part of the world. United Parcel Service and

Federal Express are the best in the United States logistic market because of their

focus on this respective market. Kotler simply explain the importance of marketing as

“Financial success depends on marketing ability”. (2009:4)

Market Segmentation

In a brief, Customers have different types of common requirement depending on:

Where they are? (Geographic Segment)

What situation they have? (Demographic Segment)

How they live ?(Psychological Segment)

And how they respond towards a product (?Behavioural Segment)

 Segmentation is to identify these common different requirements in a market and

specify them. Walley refers to segmentation as break down of the whole market into

individual and specified group of customers who share similar demands. (2010:73)

Source :(Walley., 2010:74)

Market Targeting

Considering which product or service organisation has to offer and identifying which

segment is profitable for the organisation, the next step would be how to target this

chosen segment. University of southern California defines targeting as selecting

which particular segment to serve.

Five basis of marketing target selections are:

Single segment concentration

Multi segment coverage

Market specialisation

Product specialisation

Full market coverage (Mass marketing) (Kotler et al., 2009:220)

Below image discribes market targeting selections:

Source :(Kotler et al., 2009:220)

Market Positioning

Positioning can be referred to as an art of distinguishing organisation differentiation

from its competitors in customers mind. It is about how an organisation wants to be

seen in a market by its customers. Market share of a product (a brand) is in direct

relation of how successful its organisation (or who is marketing it) is to build up a

unique image in public’s mind. Good positioning techniques like a carving knife,

carves the name of a brand in customers mind. Most of the people have adopted

 certain well positioned brands into their everyday life without even realizing it. The

 below are examples of brand names that adopted by public as common words and

the product they present:

Pampers (adopted as diapers)              

Kleenex (Adopted as tissue)

Tide (adopted as detergent)

Surf (adopted as detergent)

Nescafe (adopted as coffee with sugar and milk)

Coke (Adopted as Soda)

Aspirin (adopted as pain killer)

Xerox (adopted as photocopy)

The below image details positioning syllabuses:

Source: ()

There are different positioning strategies for an organisation to chose:

Positioning by product features / unique attributes

Positioning by benefits

Positioning by usage and use time

Positioning by users

Positioning by competitors/ against competition

Positioning by corporate identity

Positioning by brand endorsement

Product class positioning

Price quality positioning

Points of Differences

Brand word began as a way to differentiate a person’s cattle from another using hot

iron stamp. Basically point of difference is about pointing out the primary benefits of

a brand that totally fulfils consumer’s wants and needs which competitors do not

have.

Examples are:

IKEA (affordable design)

Michelin (performance)

Nike (performance)

Federal Express (guaranteed overnight delivery)

Lexus (quality)

Bosch (quality)

Points of Parity (POP)

Being unique is not a must to compete in a market. If brand (product) doesn’t have

any uniqueness to offer, it may point out its similarity or to other brands. There are  

two basic form of parity points:

Category points of parity

Competitive points of parity(Kotler 2009:285)

Points of parity versus points of difference:

Points of parity on particular attribute or benefit requires positive feedback from

customers believing that, the brand is good enough on that attribute or benefit.

A brand does not necessary have to be positioned as equal to competitor therefore

there would be an acceptable tolerance on point or parity. In terms of point of

difference, consumers should be convinced of the uniqueness attributes of a brand.

(Kotler 2009:285)

Differentiation

Differentiation is a process in which company tries to gain differences between their

products and those offered by competitors. Differentiation can be made based on:

Form

Customization

Futures (Kotler et al., 2009:313)

   There are three ways to gain competitor advantage:

Cost leader ship: gaining advantage on competitors by offering lowest

possible price available in the market.

Superior quality: attracting customers to buy company products because if

it’s high quality regardless of the higher price comparing to its competitors.

Product or service differences: customer needs or wants are subject to

change. Companies offering a product or service might be losing their

customers if there won’t be any changes over years on their product.

Category Membership

Practically customers are looking for a product based on two aspects. High quality

products which are usually expensive, or products with standard quality but

reasonable price. When customers see a new brand, they try to compare this new

 brand with a brand they already know . Taking Lenova Net book as an example,

customers are comparing this brand with Dell, LG or Samsung to see if it is belong to

the same class or level. Lenova marketing team needs to concentrate working on

strengthen of its category membership before stating its point of difference.

Part B

Executive summery

This report is a critical analysis of the differentiation and strategic positioning of

Sensodyne, product of the Glaxo Smith Kline, the 3rd largest pharmaceutical

company in the world. The findings mentioned in this report are based on the

research carried out on Glaxo Smith Kline and mainly focuses on Sensodyne

department. All the data is taken from the company’s respective sites.

Intruduction on Sensodyne                        

30 percent of the population suffers from tooth pain while having hot or cold things.

Causes of the pain is mainly gum recession which leads to exposition of the tooth

root. Sensodyne is enriched with ions and fluoride which builds a barrier blocking the

pain transmission to the nerves and marketed for people with sensitive teeth.

Sensodyne was introduced to the market in 1969 by Block Drug Company which

was sold to Glaxo Smith Kline in 2001 for 1.4 billion dollars. Glaxo Smith Kline is a

global healthcare company in London and considered to be the world 3rd largest

pharmaceutical company. Some of its successful products are Panadol, Aquafresh

and Nicorette/Niqutin.

Sensodyne positioning

Sensodyne is not only targeting people suffering from sensitive teeth, also tries to

attract those segments having healthy teeth to its product. To do so, Sensodyne

uses the below positioning advertisement:

“Teeth sensitivity prevention” Sensodyne is targeting toothpaste users which

 are not suffering from the teeth sensitivity but they fear having this problem in

 future.

“Plaque build-up prevention”

This attracts those users with healthy teeth to use the product as

anti Plaque build up.

Sensodyne is targeting those segment of toothpaste users which

suffering from the teeth sensitivity. They would like to use this product

but they are reluctant to use it because Sensodyne was claiming

building up a layer preventing the hotness and coldness sensation to

reach to the nerves. Consumer interprets this layer as plaque producer.

Sensodyne cleared it out by advertising as Plaque build up prevention

The below shows some advertisement done for Sensodyne tooth anti sensitivity:

Sensodyne is using different positioning strategies such as:

Positioning by product features / unique attributes

Tooth sensitivity prevention

Plaque build up prevention

Positioning by benefits:

Reduce painful teeth sensitivity

Cavity protection

Freshness breath

Plaque build up prevention

Provide fast sensitivity reduction

Positioning by usage and use time

Sensodyne suggesting its consumers to use the product on everyday basis to relive

the sensitivity of the teeth by building up a protective layer to block the pain

transmition through the nerve and preventing plaque build up and keeping it from

coming back.

Positioning by corporate identity

Sensodyne is a product of Glaxo Smith Kline which is the 3rd largest pharmaceutical

company in the world. It draws consumers’ attention to Sensodyne to be seen as

premier brand in toothpastes market.

Price quality positioning

Sensodyne gained consumers satisfaction because of its unique benefit. Users are

willing to pay its expensive value to use the product because they are convinced its  

toothpaste pretty much worth the price.

Sensodyne point of difference

Tooth root is made up of Tubule which is a very small tube. Recession of the gum

makes the root to be vulnerable. Via tubules hot or cold sensation leads to the nerve

and causes pain. Sensodyne is positioned as “tooth sensitivity prevention “by

building up a protection barrier blocking the pain transition to the nerves. Sensodyne

was the first company offering this unique benefit. Crest, signal and some other

toothpaste producers followed Sensodyne steps with noticeable gap which helped

Sensodyne to be a market leader relaying on this unique attribute. Many dentists

worldwide recommend Sensodyne to their patients suffering from tooth sensitivity as

full treatment.  

Sensodyne category points of parity

Sensodyne could gain its position in the market as tooth sensitivity prevention but

those segments of toothpastes users which are not suffering from tooth sensitivity

might not be interested in Sensodyne toothpaste. Sensodyne added a new future to

its product which is plaque build up prevention.

Category membership of Sensodyne

Being advised by dental professional, Sensodyne is the only efficient product for

tooth anti sensitivity. It classified as premium brand and could fit into the health care

market despite being costlier than other similar product. Word of mouth and

customer satisfaction is the major reason for keeping its users brand loyal.

Repositioning

World is heading forward. Technology and knowledge is leading the world. Being

able to compete is the only matter of existence. Technology and knowledge are tools

of this competition. If an organisation is the best in this market, there is no guarantee

to be leading the market forever. Customer’s needs and wants are not always

remaining the same. Organisation should enhance its product with help of

technology and or market demand situation. Sensodyne was leading health care

market once it offered teeth anti sensitivity but it didn’t last long and other

brands came along offering the similar product with lower price. This forced

Sensodyne to work on add some other attributes and benefits. Plaque build up

prevention is one of this attributes added and some other feature to strengthen  its

 product differentiation to keep leading the market

Sensodyne differentiation

Besides leading tooth sensitivity and plaque build up prevention toothpaste which is

the uniqueness of Sensodyne, it offers a range of toothpaste with different attributes

as well:

Sensodyne Original

Sensodyne extra whitening

Sensodyne fresh impact

Sensodyne fresh mint

Sensodyne full protection

Sensodyne cool gel

Sensodyne tartar control

Sensodyne iso active multi action

Sensodyne iso active whitening

Conclusion

Glaxo Smith Kline is known for expertise in dental care product. With having a good

knowledge of health care market and understanding what customers really need

and want from a health care product and after over 45 years, Sensodyne could

successfully establish its name as number one dentists recommendation brand

worldwide. Sensodyne being a leader in worldwide health care market, to keep its

 position and to gain the most benefit of the fact that over 30 percent of the

population suffers from tooth sensitivity, Sensodyne is continually looking for new

ways of improvement and enhancement of its products to meet the needs of its

users (dental professionals and consumers) by keep deeply studying in major

 causes of tooth sensitivity conditions.

Sensodyne used a new way of advertising. From the beginning it targeted only one

segment, dental professionals. Sensodyne ran different educational campaign for

dental professionals about its product point of difference. In a very short period of

time it convinced its targeted segment that Sensodyne is the best toothpaste with a

uniqueness of anti teeth sensitivity. It relied on word of mouth but the difference was,  

these words were coming from dental professionals which have noticeable influence

 in public minds. These professionals are prescribing Sensodyne as a treatment to

their patient and those patients were passing the message to the others.

Since 1961 which Sensodyne was firstly launched, it was the fastest growing

 toothpaste brand in the oral care market. In 2006 global sales of 500 million dollars

which was over the 90 percent of the total global sales of the Sensodyne shows the

fact that it’s positioning strategies were successful despite of its high price. All above

studies can be an example of importance of marketing, well studied strategic

positioning, looking out for customer satisfaction, reaching out the consumers needs

and reputable  branding.

Reference

Books:

Andrew, W. 2010, Marketing Strategy, APS, London. 

Philip, K., & Gray, A., 2008, Principles of Marketing, Dorling Kindersley, India.

Philip, K.,Kevin, L. Abraham, K & Mithileshwar , J.2009, Marketing Management,

Dorling Kindersley, India. 

Graeme,D & John. 2005 Marketing concepts, Dorling Kindersley, India.

Russell, S. W. 2007, Marketing Management, Dorling Kindersley, India. 

Sally, D and Lyndon, S. 2005 Marketing Essentials, Houghton Mifflin, London

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