Relationship Between Customer Perception and Branding

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This paper will try to establish a relationship between the perception build within the users through the process of the branding irrespective of the core usability, and thus trying to prove the importance of branding which has become the modern tool for doing the business

METHODOLOGY

The basic questionnaire was designed and were distributed to the users who spend atleast the minimum amount on the above three product, the target of 70 was set order to get rid of the errors like miscommunication, unfilled sets etc …and thus of 70, 38 did answer the questionnaire properly which were further tabulated and concluded

FINDINGS

What I was expecting that Nurofen would appear as a most effective in its class of product but, rather Anadin leads in term of effectiveness but still the sales figure shows that Nurofen is market leader. So this might be the sheer effect of the branding which Nurofen has adopted, thus despite a little bit weak in its performance as per the survey its branding is excellent far better than other two products.

LIMITATION

Due to the limitation of the time the primary research was conducted on time scale of around 17 days, so I was able to cover 38 users which is more than half as compared to the 70 which were targeted.

Executive summary

Well the basic aim of the dissertation is to show how the perception is built among the users for a particular brand irrespective of the effectiveness.

Thus also I will try to explain the UK market for the over the counter products and try to analyze the top three brands, where I will be dealing with process of branding in respect to these three brand

The dissertation initially will deal with general introduction where we will be able to understand the what is the over the counter products are, who are brands that leads the market, then I will be dealing with each brand with brief description of their portfolio, this will certainly give the clearer picture of the brands in whole.

Followed by this I will give the brief description of the primary research where in I will investigate the effectiveness of the brand irrespective of the brand position and we expect Neurofen to be the most effective as per the market position, and thus relating the findings to the process of the branding and ultimately to the sales figure

In order to make the data understanding more easy there has been use of graphs and the few of the pie chart which gives the more precise picture of the situation.

Thus dissertation will end up with few of the interesting figures their analysis vs. the actual scenario

INTRODUCTION

Until 1960s and 1970s, painkillers were kept in a glass bottle in the bathroom medicine cabinet. When you had a headache, you would wait until you got home and then open the dusty bottle and shake out two pills: round, powdery discs with bevelled edges and a bisect line – a groove cut into the pill so that you could snap it in half for a reduced dose. You’d swallow the pills, either aspirin or Paracetamol, with a glass of water. They felt uncomfortably large in the throat and had a bitter taste. The bottle, which contained 50 pills, hung around for months, even years.

Now, when we feel a headache coming on, we pat our pockets to see if we have any painkillers with us. The time between pain and treatment has shrunk to almost nothing. These days, the pills do not come in bottles, but in blister-packs in bright, shiny boxes. When I leave the house, I sometimes run through a checklist – keys, wallet, phone& painkillers. The packets, some of which are plastic and shaped like mobile phones, are cheerful and glossy; elegant enough to put on a table in a restaurant, they look like lifestyle accessories. You take them with you when you leave the house, partly for convenience and partly because you know that, if you leave them lying around, someone else will pocket them.

Painkillers are no longer hard to swallow; the pills have smooth edges, and some have a glossy coating of hard sugar, like Smarties or M&M’s. Some of them are mint- or lemon-flavored. If your throat objects to tablets, you can take caplets, which are longer and thinner, or “liquid capsules”, which are soft and gelatinous, like vitamin pills, or powder, which is poured from a sachet into a glass of water. You could conceivably take a painkiller while you were out jogging, or running for the bus.

Painkillers are also more widely available than they used to be. We have been able to buy aspirin and paracetamol over the counter for some time now, but in 1996 restrictions on the sale of ibuprofen – the newest, raciest painkiller – were relaxed, making it available in supermarkets, newsagents and corner shops, as well as from the pharmacist. This was part of an NHS drive to save money by taking pressure off doctors and pharmacists; during my stay in London, we have been taught to be self-medicating when it comes to pain. The change came about after Galpharm, a British pharmaceutical company, made a successful application to the Medicines Control Agency for a license to have ibuprofen moved from the pharmacy to the “general sales list”. After that, painkiller advertising, marketing and packaging moved into a different league.

Inevitably, we are also spending more on painkillers than ever. I’d buy them as a matter of course, with my groceries. We now a day’s found wanting to buy smart painkillers, in the same way that I might buy smart jeans or decent coffee. For me, and for many people I spoke to(co-employee), the temptation is to catch headaches early, nip them in the bud. We have become enthusiastic self-medicators. In 1997, according to the market research firm Euro monitor, the British painkiller market was worth £309m. In 2001, it was worth £398m. In other words, it grew by almost 30% in just four years, probably the biggest hike since the German company Bayer opened the first US aspirin factory in 1903. Euro monitor predicts more growth: by 2006, it estimates that the market will be worth £483m, and by now it has already crossed £600 figure.

Recently, I found myself in someone’s (college friend) house with a slight headache. No problem, he said. He had stocked up on painkillers – he thought he had four packets, a total of 48 pills. But he couldn’t find them; the packets had all gone. Three people (room mates working in Mac Donald) were living in the house. “I just bought them a couple of days ago,” he said. This is what makes me more querious that how this tiny stuff has entrenched in our lives.

As per my finding from the local corner shops

An ordinary shop, you can buy three basic types of painkiller – The one which contains aspirin, which has been around for a century; or either has paracetamol, which emerged as a popular alternative after the war; and from past couple of decades they contain basically ibuprofen, which was invented in the early 1960s and has been a pharmacy medicine since 1983. Ibuprofen is slightly gentler on our stomach than aspirin, but it does not thin our blood to the same extent.

Aspirin and ibuprofen reduce pain, fever and inflammation, while paracetamol reduces only pain and fever. Paracetamol is gentle on the stomach, but can damage the liver if you take too many. Paracetamol is also the suicide drug; you can die a painful death by knocking back as few as 25. (For this reason, the government has taken steps to reduce packet sizes; since 1998, you have been able to buy packets of no more than 16 in supermarkets, or 32 in pharmacies – though there is nothing to stop you from going to more than one shop. The multibillion-dollar paracetamol industry in the US has thus far resisted all attempts by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce packet size.) Aspirin and ibuprofen are potentially less harmful: most people would survive a cry-for-help dose of around 50 aspirins, or even 100 ibuprofen tablets.

When it comes to headaches, ibuprofen is my drug of choice. (I’m not alone: according to Euromonitor, ibuprofen now has 31% of the market, and is growing exponentially. Aspirin has a 7% share, and paracetamol 13%; the rest of the market is made up of combination painkillers.) I also, I have noticed, have strong brand loyalty. When I go to the supermarket, my eye is drawn to the row of shiny silver packs with a chevron and a target design – Nurofen. Nurofen claims to be “targeted pain relief”. I am highly influenced by the advert of the car racing and the way the tablet they have shown as bullet acting on the pain.

Targeting a headache costs me around 20p a shot. On one level, I am aware that the active ingredient in a single Nurofen tablet, 200mg of ibuprofen, is exactly the same as that in a single Anadin ibuprofen tablet, or an Anadin Ultra, a Hedex ibuprofen, a Cuprofen or, for that matter, a generic own-brand ibuprofen tablet from Safeway, Sainsbury’s or Tesco. On another level, Nurofen’s targeting promise appeals to me. It feels hi-tech(Remember about car advert), almost environmentally sound. It makes me think of stealth bombers dropping smart bombs down the chimney of the building they want to destroy, with minimum collateral damage.

Are our headaches getting worse, or do we just think they are? I went to see DrVajpayee My GP, a consultant in pain management, in his office at Brigstock medical service in Thornton heath, to find out what he thought. Dr Vajpayee offers his service through NHS

Dr Vajpayee believes that our society tolerates less pain than ever before. Modern life requires you to be pain-free; there just isn’t time to lie around waiting for a headache to go. Young people are more impatient than older people; when they feel pain, they want something done about it, immediately. Generally speaking, the younger the consumer, the stronger the painkiller they are marketed: Anadin Original is pitched at people over 45, Anadin Extra at people between 25 and 55, and Anadin Ultra at people between 19 and 32. Of course, there is a limit to this sliding scale: Nurofen for Children (six months and over) contains 100mg of Nurofen, half the adult dose.

Is any of this surprising? We live in an age of quick fixes. These days, we expect everything to get faster – cars, lifts, food. When we suffer psychological distress, we take Prozac and Seroxat. More people are having their wisdom teeth extracted under general anesthetic. Caesarean section is on the increase. Half a century of the NHS has softened us up, and the sheer success of modern medicine has made pain something of an anomaly. We work out, we take vitamins: we can’t really be doing with headaches. We see pain not as a symptom – an alarm system to warn us of illness – but more as an illness in itself. When the alarm comes on, we just want it turned off.

Look at the ads on TV, and on buses and trains in any major city: painkillers will get you back to work, help you keep your job, deal with the kids; with painkillers, you can cope.

I had a slight hangover the day I visited Vajpayee, which seemed to be getting worse. I’d nearly missed my train, and found myself repeatedly clenching my jaw in the taxi. I’d planned to buy some Nurofen before I got on the train, but had run out of time.

Dr Vajpayee explained the anatomy of my headache. The alcohol We drink does dehydrates the inside of our skull. Consequently, the Dura, the Cellophane-like membrane that encases our brain, has no longer fully supported. Cells inside our skull were gets traumatized, and had responds by releasing tiny amounts of Arachidonic acid; this acid, having seeped out by our cell after we drink ,later this acid turns into a set of chemical compounds called prostaglandins. And these prostaglandins hurt us; they tell nerve endings in our head to tell our brain that my cells were traumatized. Our brain, in turn, does try to get our attention, and succeeds. And this process of our brain to communicate that there is some defect in our system the process is called pain. It felt as if something inside my head was being gently pulled away from my skull, which it was.

When you take aspirin, or paracetamol, or ibuprofen, the drug works by deactivating a chemical called prostaglandin H synthetase, the catalyst that turns Arachidonic acid into prostaglandins. So even though your cells are still traumatized, your brain is no longer aware of the trauma. Your brain is being fooled. This process was discovered in aspirin in the 1970s by John Vane, a scientist working at the Welcome Foundation, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1982. (Aspirin was first synthesized in Germany in 1899, and so had been on the market for more than 70 years before anybody knew how it worked.)

“Pain,” said Vajpayee, “is what the patient says it is.” All sorts of things can make you feel headachey, including muscle contractions on the scalp or the back of the neck, dehydration from drinking too much alcohol or caffeine, staring at your computer screen for too long, looking at bright lights, colds and flu, grinding your teeth, anxiety at the prospect of getting a headache. Sometimes, prostaglandins are produced when there is no apparent trauma. You might feel pain because something has subtly altered the balance of your brain chemistry, or simply because your mood has changed; you might be producing an uneven amount of serotonin or dopamine.

You might, most worryingly, have a headache because you take too many painkillers, a condition known as “medication overuse headache”. A study published in the British Medical Journal last October found that “daily or near-daily headache is at epidemic levels, affecting up to 5% of some populations, and chronic overuse of headache drugs may account for half of this phenomenon”. Low doses daily appeared to carry greater risks than larger doses weekly.

Of course, most pharmaceutical research is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, which are understandably reluctant to explore the negatives. But what research there is suggests that analgesics, when used frequently, chronically reduce levels of serotonin, and increase levels of pain-signalling molecules. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that a German study had found that even a two-week course of Tylenol (an American brand of paracetamol) “causes a drop in serotonin-receptor density in rat brains”, an effect that is reversed when the rats are taken off the painkillers. If you keep fooling your brain into not feeling pain, your body will eventually fight back and make you feel more pain. And then you’ll want more painkillers; it’s a vicious circle.

Imagine this as a business proposition. You buy a cardboard tub of fluffy white powder for around £100. Then you turn the powder into a quarter of a million pills, which you sell at 10p per pill. Every cardboard tub you buy makes you a profit of £24,900. The powder is pure ibuprofen. The pills are painkillers. The company is Boots, which owns a subsidiary called Crookes Healthcare, which manufactures Nurofen. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Of course, there are overheads – you have to invent the drug, spend years on expensive clinical trials, build a factory, and hire people to make the pills, tell the public about the pills, and design the packs so they look attractive on the shelves.

From the store manager of East Croydon boots pharmacy and article from Google, Boots corporate responsibility.

“It takes 10 years and £200m to get a new drug accepted,” said Dr Jagdish Acharya, a senior medical adviser to Boots(From the store manager of East Croydon.)

Boots’ head office, and the factory that makes many of its painkillers, are on a campus that lies a few miles outside Nottingham. Every day, trucks full of raw ingredients arrive at one end of the factory, and trucks leave the other end with the finished product – tens of thousands of cardboard packs, destined for 90 countries. This is D-95, one of the biggest painkiller factories in Britain, working 24 hours a day. If you’ve ever popped a Nurofen tablet, or a Nurofen tablet, or a Nurofen Plus, or a Nurofen liquid capsule, or a Boots own-brand generic ibuprofen tablet (the active ingredient is the same), or a Boots own-brand aspirin or Paracetamol tablet, the pill you swallowed will have been made here.

“Six hundred people work here,” as per Catherine McGrath, who is working there as “shift manager, analgesics”. She explained that the factory works seasonally, making cold remedies in the autumn to meet winter demand, and hay fever remedies in the spring. Headaches are a year-round phenomenon. “There’s a constant demand for painkillers,” McGrath

Before the fluffy white powder becomes a hard, glossy pill, it must go through many different stages. First, it is mixed with “excipients”, ingredients that have no painkilling role. Each Nurofen pill, for instance, contains 200mg of ibuprofen, but also maize starch, sucrose, calcium Sulphate, Stearic acid and shellac. These things hold it together, bulk it out, make it taste nice and help it disintegrate when it reaches the stomach.

The factory is large and sterile, like a setting in a JG Ballard novel – big, barn-like spaces, dull, neutral colours, large rooms full of vats. The thing that gets you is the scale. This is about making millions and millions of pills – to cure tension headaches in France, migraines in Germany, hangovers in Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Naturally, after a few hours in this environment, a headache started creeping up on me.

Stewart Adams, the inventor of ibuprofen, lives modestly in a compact modern house on the outskirts of Nottingham. On the sideboard in his living room there is a silver Nurofen pack, cast in metal, with the names of the first Nurofen advertisers on the back. He won an OBE for services to science in 1987, and his name is on the ibuprofen patent. But Adams has derived no great material reward from his invention – no house in the country, not even a lifetime supply of painkillers. When he gets a headache, he goes to the corner shop just like the rest of us.

From the article the guardian 2001

A sprightly, talkative 79, Adams came upon ibuprofen when he was working as a research scientist for Boots in the late 1950s, looking for a drug to reduce inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Looking back on his career, he says he was “very disappointed”. He had found a headache remedy that was more potent than aspirin, with fewer side-effects – but he hadn’t found a cure for rheumatoid arthritis.

His operation was very small – “a man and a boy”. Typically, his research budget was between £4,000 and £5,000 a year. Adams discovered that aspirin reduced the swelling caused by ultraviolet light on the skin. Working with an organic chemist called John Nicholson, he began looking for aspirin-like compounds that might have fewer side-effects on arthritic patients. “It was a bit hit and miss,” he told me. (This was long before John Vane had discovered how aspirin worked.)

“We weren’t as clearcut in our thinking as we might have been,” said Adams. He and Nicholson looked at hundreds of chemical compounds. They put several drugs through clinical trials, testing them on arthritic patients. One drug produced a nasty rash in a large percentage of the patients; another produced a rash in a smaller, but still significant, percentage. A third, ibufenac, an acetic acid, caused jaundice. “We had to sit back and have another rethink,” said Adams.

During this long process of trial and error, Adams synthesized a version of ibufenac that was not an acetic acid but a proprionic acid – ie, related to propane rather than vinegar. He assumed it would be toxic but, surprisingly, it wasn’t: it had a short half-life in the tissues. It was like aspirin, only you could take more of it. Adams and his colleagues began taking the compound, ibuprofen, when they got headaches. “We knew it was analgesic, because we were taking it well before it got on the market,” he says. He remembers making a speech at a conference after a few drinks the night before, having dealt with his hangover by taking 600mg of this new drug he had invented.

When Boots patented ibuprofen in 1962, Adams could have had little idea what he had invented – an analgesic that would compete with aspirin; a drug that, once its control had passed into the hands of the marketing men, would change the way we consume painkillers for ever. For the rest of his career, Adams continued with his efforts to find a cure for rheumatoid arthritis, without success (although ibuprofen has important uses in its treatment). Holding the original patent in his hands, Adams said, laughing, “We didn’t get anything. I think, in fact, we were supposed to be given a pound for signing away our signatures, but we didn’t even get that.”

Now that painkillers exist in a no man’s land between medicine and product, they don’t need someone to prescribe them – they need someone to market them. Don Williams, the man currently responsible for the design of the Nurofen pack, works in Notting Hill, west London. His office is just what you’d expect – minimal furnishings, varnished, blond-wood floors. In the upstairs lobby there is a shopping trolley full of products designed by his company, Packaging Innovations Global: Double Velvet loo paper, Head & Shoulders shampoo, Pot Noodle – and Nurofen. A former session guitarist from Middlesbrough, Williams is tall and slim, with wonderfully tasteful casual clothes and a fashionably shaved head. “That’s our philosophy,” Williams said, looking at the trolley. “That’s what we believe in. Getting things in trolleys. At the end of the day, that’s what we’re paid for.”

Packaging Innovations began designing Nurofen packs about five years ago. “There are very few brand icons that visually communicate what they actually do,” Williams said. The target design is “directly related to the brand promise”. Two years ago, the Brand Council, an advertising industry panel, named Nurofen as one of 100 British “superbrands”, one that “offers consumers significant emotional and/or physical advantage over its competitors that (consciously or subconsciously) customers want, recognize and are willing to pay a premium for”.

One of Williams’ innovations was to place the target in the centre of the pack, with a chevron radiating out to the sides. He also wanted more of the silver foil on the packs to be visible. Consumers, he told me, are visually literate – they see the pack design before they read the words. When he took over the design of Benson & Hedges’ cigarette packs, Williams made sure that every pack was gold, even the packs containing low-tar cigarettes, which had previously been silver. “We believe that brand identities should be recognized at a distance,” he said, “even through half-closed eyes, or sub-optimal conditions, or in peripheral vision.” In supermarkets, says Williams, “We want a blocking effect on the shelf. The chevron links all the packs together, so you get a wave effect.” As I left, he said, “I get more kicks out of seeing a pack in a bin than on a shelf.”

This article gives the glimpse of the Neurofen how it is produce? How it was established and how the packing of the brand was designed.

So right from 1960 through the effort from the three colleagues from the boots pharmaceutical while developing the drug to the event of August 1983 where it was launched as OTC medicine under the name of the Neurofen, the process of branding had already began. The brand is owned by Reckitt Benckiser.

Now the company Reckitt Benckiser, creates the question mark specially on most of us specially to common people who has atleast the knowledge about companies like Pfizer and Johnson&Johnson or say Procter and Gamble which are very much well-known for the best corporate practices and are always been active in media .where as in case of this company it is not rather, the brands which they owned has been widely accepted and has been part of our daily lives from decades long

Brand like: Veet, Dettol, Clearasil, Streptsile, Gaviscon

Home care like: Air wick, Mortein

Fabric care: Calgon, Vanish

Surface care: Lysol: Dettol: and Neurofen

Most of these brands like Dettol Airwick and Mortien are well establish brand and are 1st choice of the customers when they buy it, they are whichever brand these company owns has certainly enjoyed the brand loyalty, these are the brands that are emotionally attached to the people.

Now Neurofen is among the other brand which has already achieved a market leader in its segment and it is in the process to get emotionally attached to their lives.

As per the latest figure (0) mentioned the,net sales was 83.5 million which was further boosted to 89.90 million in the year 2008. So there is a clear difference of around 7 and half million growth, specially in such a enviournment where business are not growing, it is very rare, also companies are not investing too much in developing their brand and this might have affected Anadin and Panadol business.

Where as in case of Anadin which is owned by Wyeth the net sales in 2007 was 38.50 which dropped down in 2008 by 2.3% to 37.60 million and similar is the case of Panadol which is owned by Glaxo smith Kline where the net sales which were just 12.8 in 2007 to 13.4 growth of around 4.9 % in all.

Prior to 2007 Anadin was market leader but later on the placed is replaced by the Neurofen and now it has established brand as a with sustainable growth.

So what are the factor that has created this change? Is it totally phenomenal event where 1 brand dies and other replaces it? But how can Neurofen can compete with brand like Anadin who as I mentioned is owned by Wyeth which is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare products companies, which have skilled professional who understand the pharmaceutical business, similar is the case of Panadol whose owner Glaxo Smith Keline which are also involved in the core business of pharmaceuticals from many years.

So a company which is partially related to pharmaceuticals with just few OTC products in its portfolio has become market leader in past couple years is indeed due to the fabulous branding of the product

Thus how the Nurofen is different from the other brands? Is it really more effective towards the pain ?or Is it the components of the branding that is creating the space within the buyers?

To understand this we need to know where the other competitors are were during the 2006 and where are they right now, what were their strategic moves?

STARTING WITH ANADIN

Few interesting facts:

• Anadin was formulated by a US dentist in 1918.
• Nearly 400m Anadin tablets were sold in the last year.

If laid side by side they would reach from London to New York

ACHIEVEMENT

Anadin is the most famous OTC brand in the UK with over 90% consumer awareness (Source: RSGB). It has mass market appeal with users of all ages from sixteen upwards. Changes in legislation in the 1990s enabled the brand to extend its product range while maintaining its position as a leading pain killer brand which delivered a range of long standing values to the consumer. Today Anadin is the second biggest selling branded analgesic in the UK and its product range is worth £45m.

History

Originally launched in the US as Anacin, the brand appeared in the UK in 1932 under the Anadin name. It is owned by Wyeth and has always communicated that its key task is to defeat pain quickly. Widely respected by health care professionals and consumers alike, Anadin has used several different slogans to press home its message over the years. These range from the famous Nothing Acts Faster than Anadin slogan, which was introduced in 1955, to the recent “Headache! What Headache?” and “When only fast will do”.

Anadin has successfully steered its way through the growth of Own Label products during the 1990s – which resulted in many consumers switching from branded goods to retailers own lines, including health care products – by innovating and providing solutions relevant to its target market.

Product

Anadin is one of the UK’s oldest and best known oral analgesics and a firm family favorite. The original aspirin-based formula provides fast, effective relief for a wide range of everyday aches and pains including headaches, period and dental pains, as well as the symptoms of colds and flu. The range has evolved into a portfolio of six UK variants delivering pain relievers in a variety of formats comprising caplets, tablets, liquid capsules and soluble tablets. Anadin Extra, containing aspirin, Paracetamol and caffeine was launched in 1983. Its counterpart, Anadin Extra Soluble, which was unveiled in 1992, is ideal for those finding tablets difficult to swallow. The formula is more readily absorbed into the bloodstream enabling it to act faster. In 1988, Wyeth launched Anadin Paracetamol, a formulation suitable for children from the age of six, which is designed to reduce temperature and is therefore especially beneficial in the treatment of feverish colds and flu. In 1997, Anadin Ibuprofen was introduced. Coated for easy swallowing, it is formulated to relieve rheumatic or muscular pain, backache and period pain whilst actively reducing inflammation.

Recent developments

The last three years have witnessed continuing innovation. As a result of the launch of Anadin Ultra in September 1999, sales grew at a double-digit rate. Anadin Ultra contains an ibuprofen solution in an easy to swallow, soft gelatin capsule allowing it to be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, combating pain more than twice as fast as tablets. In a move to benefit consumers and trade, the entire range received a new look in July 2002. Key features included a new embossed Anadin logo which reflects a more modern and dynamic image. In addition, Anadin Ultra and Extra packs were foiled to differentiate these variants as the most premium within the range. The effect of these changes has added branding consistency across the entire product range, ensuring stronger impact when the variants are grouped together. This improved on-shelf stand-out conveys to consumers that in an increasingly competitive market, Anadin offers a range of premium quality products.

For consumers, the new design aims to take the pain out of choosing a painkiller while communicating the modernity of the brand. Key indicators on the front of packs encourage analgesic users to identify the best product for their specific type of pain. Additionally, the use of consumer friendly language on the back of packs and on information leaflets further simplifies product selection and usage. Careline details are also included on packs, allowing consumers to receive further advice and guidance about the range.

Promotion

Anadin's familiar logo is synonymous with its brief to tackle everyday aches and pains swiftly and effectively since its launch more than 70 years ago. It is important for the brand to be at the forefront of product development and to inform the public about the benefits these products can bring. Therefore, advertising is key to Anadin's promotional strategy. In September 2002 it launched a terrestrial and satellite television campaign for Anadin Ultra. The campaign avoided the scientific angle taken by some other brands and opted for a humorous, slice-of-life approach featuring the Twice as Fast strapline with the consumer message that Anadin Ultras liquid ibuprofen capsules could hit pain more than twice as fast as their tablet equivalent. The Bus Stop creative focuses on a typical British scene ‹ a bus queue. The woman at the front of the queue announces, “It's gone!” leaving everyone to assume she means the bus. Confused they leave. She is in fact showing her surprise at how rapidly her headache has cleared. Submarine features a crew of submariners tracking an enemy vessel. Suddenly the radar technician again says the line “Its gone!” leaving a bewildered captain. He is also referring to the swift departure of his headache.

The commercials formed part of a £6m television push which launched in December 2001 with Locker Room and Detective. Both were shot in black and white to reinforce Anadin Extra's position as a strong, efficacious painkiller. The creative executions clearly struck a chord with consumers, achieving 17th place in the Marketing NOP adwatch survey for best advertising recall and pole position for best OTC advertisement in the TNS Omnimas Survey in July 2002. Following the burst of advertising in June/July, RSGB studies revealed a 40% growth in consumers considering Anadin as a brand I might buy.

In addition to television, Anadin deploys a variety of promotional activities to maintain brand awareness. To underline Anadin Ultra's speed of delivery, it sponsored a car in the prestigious 2002 British Touring Car Championship. The event attracts 200,000 visitors during the season and receives extensive television coverage with average viewing figures of one million per programme. As a result, Anadin's prominently branded car benefited considerably and the driver of the Anadin Ultra Honda Accord secured third place overall in the product category. Further consumer support for the sponsorship included Anadin branded give-away at each event and a series of competitions in consumer and retailer magazines offering the chance to win a VIP trip to the championships.

Public relations are another effective part of the brands communications mix. To coincide with the 2002 pack relaunch, Anadin ran a consumer PR campaign that highlighted how the affects of modern life are causing stress related pain and affecting daily life. Research commissioned by Anadin revealed that the strain of modern living is increasingly detrimental to the sex life of UK males. Three quarters of men in the UK felt life was more stressful than five years ago and 63% said that they were suffering from frequent headaches at bedtime as a direct result. Press coverage was considerable. The story ran with the brand mentioned in five national and 25 regional newspapers. The campaign was supported with nationwide radio interviews and an Anadin leaflet drop in five major cities which gave consumers the opportunity to win a spa weekend break.

As well as offering consumers in-store leaflets about pain relief, Anadin has a website, which offers product information and other details about combating pain.

Brand values

Anadin has a brand heritage which delivers substantial consumer confidence. The Anadin range is regarded as a trustworthy, reliable, safe, no-nonsense method of delivering pain-relief. Its ability to offer effective treatment for all types of pain is reinforced by its status as a big brand because it is one of the most famous OTC brands with over 90% consumer awareness (Source: RSGB). Each sub-brand has its own positioning. Anadin Original is a tried and trusted traditional family product, used to combat milder forms of pain. Anadin Extra, designed for people who haven't the time or inclination to let minor discomfort trouble them, has a dynamic profile delivering a speedy strong remedy for really severe pain such as migraine. Anadin Ultra offers a modern, premium fast acting form of relief and appeals to the consumer who is abreast of the latest developments and trends.

PANADOL

The Market

Panadol is the cornerstone of the Australian analgesics market. AZTEC data shows it makes up 42% of all over the counter (OTC) analgesic sales ( MAT August 1998 value). It is the single biggest OTC brand in Australia, operating in a total market worth more than $162 million.

The analgesics market is segmented into Adult and Children's products, with the vast bulk of the children's range being sold only through pharmacies, where parents can comfortably receive expert advice from trained pharmacists and staff. Panadol for adults is available in both grocery and pharmacy outlets.

Panadol's success stems from its ability to fulfill consumers' expectations with regard to safe and effective pain relief.

Achievements

Panadol has been the market leading over-the-counter analgesic in Australia for twenty years, with over four out of ten analgesic users purchasing Panadol.

According to studies conducted by Foresearch in early 1988, Panadol is the mild analgesic brand most often recommended by doctors and Pharmacists. It has unsurpassed consumer brand recall with spontaneous awareness consistently over 85%, compared to the nearest brand at 39%.

The Nielsen Top 100 Brand Report of 1998, based on sales turnover, ranks Panadol as the number 71 grocery brand in Australian supermarkets, achieving a 54% value share of the grocery analgesic market.

Children's Panadol, with an 82% value share, is the clear market leader within the Children's pain reliever segment.

Panadol is clearly recognized by the Australian consumer as the “gold standard” in pain relief, with consumer research confirming it is Australia's most trusted pain reliever.

History

In the late 1800s the scarcity of quinine sparked a search for less expensive synthetic substitute products for fever relief. These searches led to discoveries including aminophenol derivatives, one of which was N-acetyl-P-aminophenol (now called paracetamol), the active ingredient in Panadol. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, enough clinical work had been done to demonstrate the clinical safety of paracetamol. In 1956 Frederick Stearns & Co, by this time a subsidiary of Sterling Drug Inc., launched Panadol.

Panadol was marketed as a prescription product for the relief of pain and fever. It became the first significant challenge to aspirin and the aspirin/phenacetin combinations and was promoted with the clinically proven “gentle to the stomach” benefit over other pain relievers.

In June 1958, at the request of numerous distinguished clinicians, a Children's dosage form was launched. “Panadol Elixir” was an immediate success. In 1963 the active ingredient in Panadol was added to the British Pharmacopoeia and the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits List. In the early 1970's, for the first time Panadol was marketed directly to consumer, with availability only through Pharmacy retail outlets. In the late 1970s with Panadol now available in supermarkets, came the introduction of the well known television advertising featuring the presenter Dorothy Armstrong. In 1994 through worldwide acquisition, SmithKline Beecham acquired the Consumer Health business of Sterling.

The Panadol brand continues to go from strength to strength, convincing testimony of unwavering, consistent support for the brand by consumers and health professionals alike.

Product

Panadol has led innovation in pain relief. After its introduction in tablet form in 1956, there has been a consistent flow of new presentations and forms introduced to offer the consumer a variety of choice to satisfy their particular preference for pain relief. Under the base Panadol range these include Tablets, Capsules, Caplets* (Capsule shaped Tablets), Gel Caps and Soluble. Panadol Tablets and Caplets are film coated with smooth edges for ease of swallowing with no unpleasant aftertaste.

Line extensions into the cough cold market include Panadol Sinus and Panadol Cold and Flu. Panadol Night, a night time pain reliever with antihistamine to allow rest, was launched in 1997. The range of Children's Panadol presentations includes Drops, Elixir, Colorfree Suspension, Chewable Tablets and Soluble.

All Panadol products are manufactured at the SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare facility in Sydney. Established at Ermington in Sydney's west, the manufacture of Panadol employs the very latest in production and packaging technology under strict Good Manufacturing Practice and Quality Control. There is also dedicated Research and Development on site to ensure Panadol employs the very latest developments in science and technology. SmithKline Beecham, does not manufacture pain relievers for any generic or “ho”

Recent development

Whilst retaining its heritage and trust, Panadol was successfully reinvigorated in 1998 with a range of new initiatives across both the adult and children's brand.

Panadol Adult

The centerpiece of this new activity was the introduction of the Panadol Quality Guarantee. This comprises the Panadol Quality Guarantee Seal as well as the Panadol Quality Guarantee statement:

“Our first responsibility is to you and your family. That's why we only make Panadol products that meet our stringent demands for quality. The Panadol name is a guarantee of our commitment to you. We've worked hard to earn your trust and we will work even harder to keep it.”

The Panadol Quality Guarantee reinforces the trust and heritage of the brand and reflects the brands core values. Both the Quality Guarantee Seal and statement are featured on pack, with the guarantee also heavily featured in all consumer promotional material such as leaflets and point of sale.

New packaging for the entire Panadol adult range, which builds on the trust and quality of the brand was also introduced in early 1998. The pack also features new claims:

• “Suitable for asthmatics who are sensitive to aspirin and NSAIDs”
• “Suitable for breast feeding mothers”
• “Gluten, Lactose and Sugar free”.

Children's Panadol

In 1998 Children's Panadol addressed increased competition by relaunching the brand's overall presentation. The revamped packaging designs incorporated the new Children's Panadol branding, new product descriptors, new colour coded age-breaks and the Panadol Quality Guarantee.

Coinciding with the new packaging was the introduction of a medicine cup on all Children's Panadol liquids products and the introduction of a full bottle sleeve. Featured on all Children's liquids, this is a clear sleeve with the statement “Safety seal for your protection”. This reinforces the brand's core value - trust. As genuine value added benefits, these new initiatives reinforce Children's Panadol's premium and market leading position by offering consumers more than any competitor in the Children's analgesic segment.

PROMOTION

The Panadol brand has been built from a solid platform of successful “spokesperson” advertising since 1979 utilising the character of “Dorothy”. These effectively represented the core Panadol brand values of reassurance, trust and authority. In early 1998 Panadol launched a new strategic advertising campaign built around real life people in positions of responsibility, with the style of the commercials adding realism and interest.

To enhance its promotion, Panadol representatives call direct to many pharmacies and supermarkets across Australia. Trained representatives assist pharmacists and the grocery industry in their category management through annual reviews of performance. SmithKline Beecham also provides a Freecall customer service line for its Children's range.

Promotion to the medical profession plays a key role in Panadol's success. SmithKline Beecham's “GP field force” is one of the largest in Australia and makes samples of Panadol and Children's Panadol available to the medical profession.

Brand value

The brand is constantly supported by research conducted to ensure its continuing value and relevance to consumers.

Panadol's key value is the trust consumers extend to the brand. This has evolved over its 40 years in the pain relief market. In 1994 Panadol was rated as the third most trustworthy brand in Australia in the Young & Rubicam BrandAsset Valuator study.

Supporting this trust is the “gentle to the stomach” safety profile of the paracetamol ingredient, the medical recommendation to which consumers refer when purchasing pain relievers and the film coating on the Tablets and Caplets allowing easier swallowing. Panadol is the most widely available pain reliever in the world, it is marketed in over 80 countries and is the market leader in many.

Some of the interesting facts

The “dol” in Panadol is derived from the Latin word “dolor”, meaning pain.

Panadol was first launched in 1956, and was initially only available on prescription.

In 1994, Panadol was rated the third most trustworthy brand in Australia.

Thus so far this was the brief description regarding the three types of the brand which are sold over the counter within general UK market., Followed by this I would try to find out the relation between actual branding and the effectiveness of the particular brand to its sales figure. As expected the effectiveness of the popular brand should be greater than the other brand, so to find out the real insight, their was need of primary research on the user inorder to understand the effectiveness and the other aspect of the product. So far we have covered the secondary research, that gives us the general and the basic understanding of the over the counter market in the terms of these three brands.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

General definition of the methodology:

Stratified sampling is commonly used probability method that is superior to random sampling because it reduces sampling error. A stratum is a subset of the population that share at least one common characteristic. Examples of stratums might be males and females, or managers and non-managers. The researcher first identifies the relevant stratums and their actual representation in the population. Random sampling is then used to select a sufficient number of subjects from each stratum. “Sufficient” refers to a sample size large enough for us to be reasonably confident that the stratum represents the population. Stratified sampling is often used when one or more of the stratums in the population have a low incidence relative to the other stratums.

The method which I have used is random sampling method in which I will be dealing with the stratified sampling strategy, stratified because I will be targeting only those general people who are the consumers of these painkillers i.e gathering information from those who are the spending atleast minimum amount on the painkillers.

Thus the research will be conducted in following stages

• Selecting the strata {Those who use painkillers}
• Random sampling {selecting randomly from the above strata because counting each individual from such strata is not possible and due to restriction of the time}
• Tabulation {the result of the finding will be tabulated with graphs and pie charts to make it more simpler for analysis}
• Conclusion { the end result of the survey irrespective of the hypothesis in consideration}

The mode for the gathering of information has been kept direct for the better outcome, hence the best option from the telephonic ,letters OR personal interview was distributing questionnaires which has more closed ended question and atleast 2 open ended questions in it.

The questionnaire was targeted to 70 user which is sufficient enough to reach particular conclusion, the reason why I have selected such huge number is because if I target 70 there might be some distortion due to miscommunication, like either understanding the question sets OR either lack of interest to fill etc ....

The time limit for the questionnaire to be filled up was restricted to two and half week in order to meet the deadlines of the research .so if I target 70 I can expect at most 20 to be filled properly.

Following questionnaire was so designed in order to get the glimpse of the branding done by each of the product.

In order to make the questionnaire more hassle free OR hectic free, the pattern was purposely designed in a way that it would appear more interesting, or more fun while answering the question, as a result the best possible way was inclusion of few close ended question with not more than 2 open ended question, the strategy behind keeping just two open ended question was to reduce the time taken from the people who will participate in the survey, also importance on exclusion of the lengthy questionnaire that will definitely create a more questions with voids and people might rush to fill the entire set.

As per the aim of the questionnaire, Q1&Q4 was included in order to understand the OTC market & how much the market worth at present moment of the time, followed by this were few closed ended question that were directly related to my topic, where information regarding the choice of the brand, and many other detail regarding the branding process can be easily gathered {Q2,Q5,Q6,Q7,Q8}, Where as two open ended question in-between and 1 at the end of the questionnaire, in order to understand the image and the perception, so that I can relate the answer from those to the BLUE PRINT model.

The survey was conducted at WhistleStop of East Croydon where each of the above product are up on sell, and the unit is not as busy as other medical store so information could be easily gathered.

The survey which was conducted from 14th August till 31st August had a good response with more than half questionnaires were answered of the 70 distributed 38 were answered within the time spam of the 15 days.

The questionnaires were distributed to the direct user who bought either of these three brands from one of the small shop in East Croydon, Whistlestop.

Following are the few tabulation of the survey through which the analysis can become easier

The total number of people who participated in answering questionnaire were 38 of the total 70, the complete response could not be achieved due restriction of the time.

Total number males participated = 25

Total number of females participated = 13

The idea behind maintaining the record for the number of male and female participant was, to let know that the product under consideration affects both the gender and is not restricted to either females or males as we see in fashion industry.

Thus 65.78% were the amongst the male participant where as 34.21% were female.

In order to understand how much of these products have influenced the people in their daily life survey result for question 1 helps for analysis

The groups were divide into 4 strata followed by which after tally marking the total numbers could be achieved

Thus it is clear from the survey of 38 people more than 50% of people used these OTC product more than twice a week, this is indeed a bigger percentage and do tell us that how much of these product have entrenched in our daily lives, and also it is understandable how the market is growing in an enormous way

Of the few people with whom I was able to speak while answering the questionnaire told me that they have literally addicted, and if they don't have this product during the time of need they do suffer emotionally and feel low in confidance whether its work or examination timings.

Understanding the market position

Neurofen leads the market with 42.10 %.followed by Anadin with 36.84%,Panadol with 13.15% and others with 7.78%

The gap between Neurofen and Anadin is very much close with just 2 users more in case of the Neurofen, thus this gives the clear picture of intense competition between Neurofen and Anadin whereas panadol with in the third competition appears to be bit struggling and might be its due to loyalty of its users because of which it is still surviving in the market.

Conclusion

Using the tally marking the above figures were obtained, people who spends least amount monthly on these product can help us to understand how much these brand contribute yearly to a single shop.

Thus if we consider the group of £6-£10 which showed maximum number of people, i.e. 17

From this group if we take the least amount of £6 /month, the yearly income would be around £72 per year

Thus for this 17 people the yearly income would be around £1224, this is the figure that represent the amount from that particular group,

Now if consider atleast 1000 people from a big store say boots or Superdrug, the yearly least income from this product is around £72000.

This is the rough estimate and the figure obtain is based on analysis done on just 17 people but still this gives the rough estimate about the importance of these product, both demand wise and income wise, this is just analysis done for the three OTC product, but beside these three products there are many other different products for different use these are the condoms, any antiseptics, pain relief spray and even in some stores the perfumes, all of those which have different brands which are competing against t each other with somewhat similar least turnover.

Lets have the look at the few factors of these product which supports or help in building the perception of the products around its core activity.

First we will look at the TV advert

Now the reason to include this and the below questions was just to know how the company is building the perception within the users as well as non users, thus by knowing which of the three brand TV adverts appeals more to these people, the relation can be built among the number of users to that Particular product to number of the people who think that the products TV advert is best.

Even after watching all the three product TV advert, I would prefer myself to rate 9 of 10 to Neurofen, followed by Anadin with 7of 10, where as 6 of 10 for Panadol.

The reason for my rating is simple as I noticed all the three brand s advert and found myself in a perfect synergy with those other in my survey.

I noticed 2 TV advert of Neurofen one which shows a highly stressed professional working as team member of the formula 1 race, where it is bound to high a high stress level at the job, thus during the job when such professional gets strike with headache this beautiful lad takes the pack of Neurofen which she always carry and consumes it, during her job, and within the fraction of seconds the tablets shows the magic the stressed out face of that lady turns into full of energy and confidence and she gets ready to continue her job in this case the Neurofen has given the image of bullet that strikes the pain very smartly

The second TV advert which appears nowadays shows lady on top of green mountain with pain that takes the precious moment while she enjoys the nature, but as soon as she takes the tablet her joy is regained.

Thus from both this add does appeal me because if I am working in very stressful enviournment It will be nightmare for any person like me to have health issue during the job, this would certainly maintain the stress and if such things continue on the daily basis the result would be on my profession and ultimately replacement with other guys, all this thought rushed into my mind when I associated myself with that lady's situation, so why not Neurofen I given a thought

The second advert also strikes similar effect within me, I imagined myself with my mother father and girlfriend at serene place like that showed in advert and all sudden I get a headache, and there is none nearby to help me so we had to return back to town thus spoiling my holidays, such imagination could be the common part of the imagination for most of the people and hence buys such OTC product as part of the precaution is better than prevention.

Followed by this is the TV advert of Anadin comes which shows a lady walking in the commercial area with full confidence with playing small dolls representing her kids and husband as she walks with highly professional people from all the world, and all of sudden she gets strikes with the pain, and hence ahe cannot handle this dolls very efficiently, now this lady takes the tablet of Anadin and as usual the tablet creates the magic, she is able to handle all those dolls and even work with full on confidence with other people, thus what images is Anadin creating is that the if they use the Anadin they can easily handle the professional and personal life.

After watching this particular advert what rushed In my mind is what if I had headache on any particular day at most I will loose my college or examination and even have possibility to have leave for my job for two days which can be nightmare for me at this particular situation, similarly women who work as well as manage their house may be associating themselves very closely to this particular advert.

In case of Panadol I was unable to find the advert on TV with great frequency when I YouTube the Panadol just few popped in 1 which showed that a women in fashion industry with lot of stress and always she gets strike with headache so, creates concern over her performance, as a result she takes the panadol and then everything gets settled properly

The images that are created by watching this entire advert are relatively same but still the effect and the way I put myself in case of Neurofen was bit intensified.

This might be the reason why people prefer the Neurofen advert because one can easily get associated with it.

The packaging of the product is equally important as the TV advert? the way the product are packed the information they provide, to what extent they provide information within a small space, how they highlight the core functionality and the brand image and ultimately what it creates the image.

From the survey result it is understood that people prefer Neurofen more packaging vise, in order to get answer for this why? I took the careful analysis of each of the products package

I myself considered as a regular user and started looking at each of the brand, when placed all the three brands together the silver coating of the Neurofen pack makes it totally different from that the yellow and the blue package of the Panadol, when first viewed the Neurofen appeared to me as solid metallic and strong but also strikes me about the side effect, similarly when I saw Anadin it gave me image of pain, and this is due to the excess use of the yellow and red the symbol for the pain, where as panadol appears to be less harmful very similar to the o2 products.

All the packaging was carefully labeled as per the PAGB association norms.

The reason the people might have chosen the Neurofen is due to the luxury look which it has got, also there is less useful of the colour like red or yellow so no negative thought at instant which Neurofen doesn't creates

So far we have analyzed the closed question where we get the idea of their strategies directly but we can further analyze this brand separately when we take the answers for Q no.3 and Q no.9 Where I asked the users what's strikes first when they think of the brand, further which I asked why do they use the particular brand.

Analyzing Nurofen

CASE 1

When asked to Mr. Lawrence for Q3 the answer for straightforward

“Best one”

MR Lawrence (MIT) of the whistle stop at London Bridge Whistle stop is one of the regular user of the Neurofen the best one refers to two things

• Effectiveness and
• Costwise

And as per to the users he is very much satisfied with Neurofen for above two criteria, but also when I analyze Q NO 10 the answer was

“What they tell is they do”

Now this is bit an affirmative sentence for the product which he use but also it implies that other product which he used previously are not effective at a satisfactory level or the other brands he has used either don't produce physically what they are suppose to do, and this deviates from what is actually experience,thus Neurofen is far much better customer service wise where as others are not

If discussing “bestone” first thing needs to be mention is does the brand is effective and satisfy the core activity that it should be, and the answer is yes, the image of the brand is very positive in case of this person.

Mr. Lawrence has used the Anadin previously and thinks that whatever the Anadin brand has mention so if it is the advert or the information on the packaging is either incorrect or false

This might be the reason why Anadin has started loosing the market.

As for the same person prefer Neurofen for packaging and advert wise

From the profile of this individual it is seen that Neurofen has successfully able to create brand loyal individual

CASE 2

Is of the MR Roston Colaco

MR Roston is student of MCA London and my class mate is also a regular user of Neurofen being the student of the brand management he is completely aware of the brand he use and hence he answer for th the question was

“Good brand”

Further asked him why does he use that brand the answer he gave was

“My friends use it”

This implies us that the somewhere he uses the brand as a status symbol, where his friend average of his age uses same brand so he could possibly associate with it.

When asked for which brands he used previously he simply ticked to Neurofen, even the TV advert and the packaging of the Neurofen he like the most.

Now the 9th question answer what he has given Is irrespective of the effectiveness this totally states that what he is using is because his friends think is better and on top of it the TV advert and the way he is influenced by packaging is enough for people like him to use such brand. This guy whatever he uses might not be of his choice it is totally based on the perception of the brands.

​​​​​​​CASE 3

Another one of my friend MR Sudhir Katara age 21 student of MCA in Global marketing uses Neurofen fortnightly when asked him what strikes first when he thinks for the above mentioned brand

He wrote

“Doctor Doctor”

The above two word s refers to the effectiveness and here we can rate the core activity of Neurofen 10 of 10

When further asked why he uses this brand the answer was very simple

“Because it's the no 1”

Thus the loyalty of this individual is restricted to those brands who are the market leader irrespective of the knowledge regarding the core functionality satisfactory level for that brand.

So even if the market leader would had been Anadin or the Panadol we could have expected different answer.

Also further studies show that there is no synergy or relation between Q6 and Q 7, where he prefers Anadin for his TV advert and thinks that he likes the concept of the Anadin the way they show the women handling the professional and personal life.

Where as in case of packaging is concern Neurofen takes lead of Anadin, this might be the luxury look of the pack.

Such mixed reaction was expected from a marketing guy.

CASE 4

When asked to smith who works as a sales assistant and mainly for the ordering the products is also the regular user of the Neurofen

The answer for Q3 by him was just single word that was “freedom”.. the person gave the answer without the brief description thus this implies that he is very satisfied with the core usability of the product here also Neurofen score 10 of 10 when further asked why does he uses this brand the answer he gave me was

“It is smart medicine”

The answer itself implies many things it states that there are very few side effect and medicine is quick in relief and action .Both freedom and smart medicine satisfy this criteria.

The sales assistance also thinks that packing and the TV advert is much better than other two brands

CASE 5

Similar is the case of I find for Dennel Kerry age 24

Who uses painkiller twice a week “Neurofen” is the brand of his choice when asked regarding Q3 the answer he gave me seems to match one of the TV advert of the Neurofen where it has shown Neurofen as “bullet”. Also when asked why he uses the product then he writes that he is completely aware of the product owner Reckitt Benckiser.

When I studied about the company and the brand s they sell in the market, it was very obvious why brand Neurofen is doing good, the products these company sells in the market are those to whom we are use to in our daily life this include our very own Dettol to Sanitizer like vanish to pest killer Mortien. Thus any new brand which has launched gets the trust of this company, and this is mainly seems to have effect during the distribution and promotion of the product, where company like SSP or M&S blindly accept the product under their roof.

Cases for ANADIN

Considering the time limit and to avoid more complexity I have choose 5 of the questionnaire

CASE 1

To start with one of my co employee Miss Mabel who originally is from Ghana and mother of two kids working as a sales assistant for her stress has become regular part of the life and I notice from her words which she use regularly “If u are in this country there is too much stress”

While filling the questionnaire she constantly was speaking why does she needs product like Anadin.

When studied her answer for Q9 and Q3 there was no synergy at all.

The answer for Q3 was simple and she wrote

“Must be in my purse”

This tells us that her need was converted into basic demand she always feel confidant when she carries Anadin with her, might be the effect of the TV advert, but when observed her questionnaire she ticked for Neurofen.

One thing which I noticed Is that it is the only profile where she has used all the three brands but still prefer Anadin. The answer for this was revealed in Q9 where I asked her why she uses the brand

The answer she gave me was

“Because my husband uses it”

Thus the brand loyalty of that women is restricted to the loyalty of her husband, might be this brand he think is more satisfactory as per his savings budget is concerned thus here Anadin has managed to keep this person loyal is due to its price which is bit low in many retail shops.

CASE 2

Student of Croydon college is regular user of the Anadin.when asked to him what he thinks when he first observes the brand the answer was “Strauss” of this ashes.

Thus comparing the Anadin with Strauss is comparison done something to genius thus user is pretty satisfied with the effect of the Anadin. Anadin must be making him proud irrespective of the pain he is suffering, thus it is understandable that the effectiveness is far better than the other aspect of the brand, because both packaging vise and advert vise Neurofen is better, thus if not effectiveness brand Neurofen is bit ahead.

CASE 3

Another student from the same college who often buys cigarettes also regular user of the Anadin and he needs painkiller after he smokes only after few incidence of smoking.

While studying his profile there was synergy between Q3and Q8 where 8 was regarding the effectiveness, where he previously used Neurofen he thinks that Anadin is better than Neurofen for this

Also when asked why he use Anadin the answer was

“Effectiveness was better”

This statement did not surprised me, but further when asked for TV advert and packaging Neurofen lagged behind.

This gives the picture of the total loyalty of the user towards the brand he use.

CASE 4

Another is the case of Mr. Alex Brown who works at AIG easily identifiable from the ID hanging round his neck AIG (American insurance group)is one of the biggest financial institute, where most of its employee are dealing with infinite graphs and statistical data. Thus stress level in such business institution is subjective to give headache and many other symptoms around the minute changes in the share market.

Mr. Alex is the regular user of Anadin and thinks that Anadin is a thing which he needs to be next to his pillow while answering question no 3 also from answer to Q9 where he mentions Anadin as

“Always of my choice”

Even further he thinks that the TV advert of the Anadin and the packaging vise Anadin is far much better, thus from all above question s it seems that brand Anadin has atleast 1 person who is well targeted.

CASE 5

Digio Ferreo

Student age just 19 is a player of the local football team when asked what he thinks about Anadin tells

He is like

“Christiano Ronaldo”

Now as we all aware of this genius striker for his tricks the way he defends his game comparing with such figure makes Anadin a better product which act effectively against the pain when further studied his profile has written about Anadin as

“Appearing harmless”

The gentle man has used Neurofen, so in this context it appears that Neurofen produces the side effect which add negativity, and the person appears more brand conscious because he rates Anadin better than Neurofen or panadol for its commercial and packaging

PANADOL

CASE 1

MISS JENNY

One of our regular customer who often buys wine and sometimes Panadol, with age of 40 thinks that Panadol is best for her when asked what is the first thing which strikes in your mind when she see the brand she told

“Good medicine”

This words indicate that the brand is better so far the effectiveness is concern and the user is well satisfied with the effect of the brand on her pain is concern but later when I studied the answer for Q 9 she wrote “don't give to your kids”. the statement forced, me to search the review for Panadol via web, when Google I came across similar case where the mother thinks that Panadol has got the bitter taste and children's avoid to take such medicine, and also when the same person used the flavored variety of Neurofen kids love them

So this might be the reason why miss jenny has written the above statement.

Thus the Panadol though effective also needs consideration for those users whose age group fall below 12, making product more sweet instead bitter.

When observed for the TV advert and packaging miss jenny preferred to select Panadol, so even though the user is well satisfied with the effectiveness but complains indirectly for the friendliness restricted to only to mature individual.

CASE 2

Amy Wright

Nurse by profession she is the regular user of the Panadol. Thinks that this is the perfect for me

Now this statement it is understood that whatever is the composition of the Panadol has, matches perfectly to the system of miss Amy, also further when studied her Q 9 there was perfect relation that can be established, where she mentions that Panadol is the harmless for her tummy and this is the reason why she consumes it.

The above statement gives clear picture of the Panadol and Neurofen, since miss ammy has used Neurofen before she switched to Panadol, the statement implies that Panadol doesn't have any side effect like acidity, or burning sensation as it is seen in case of Neurofen as per her experience when further studied her profile she preferred the advert of Panadol and when surprisingly I asked why??? The answer was typical there is no nonsense that they show, and even the packaging wise she preferred Panadol which doesn't uses bright colours like red or white.

Understanding the concept of branding

At present where predicting future so far the market is concern has become very difficult, many new brands come and go daily, few establish themselves while few loose the long run, while few progress others are in process of dying this nature can be studied from the above three brands which we have studied in detail

Looking at the present scenario where as per the sales is concern the following are the ranks of the above brand

• Neurofen
• Anadin
• Panadol

From the sales figure anyone can conclude the effectiveness of the Neurofen can be far much better than the other two brands, but if we look the inside of the scenario the different pictures appears where in, from the survey of the 37 people Panadol appears to me as a diminishing product, and needs few factors of the branding which it uses in Australia and in Thailand for to gain the market position sufficient enough to compete within the top three of its segment.

Also one of the factor which I would like to mention is we can establish relation between the effectiveness and the frequency with which they use the brand. in order to prove this statement lets tabulate the frequency of the usage of this brand by these 37 individual against the brand which they consumes.

Thus if we compared to the consuming pattern of the buyers, we find that people which consumes the brand of their choice more than twice a week is around 20, of the 20, 11 falls in the category of the Neurofen, followed by the 5 of the Anadin and the rest falls in others brand which I think is not necessary to mention

The reason to mention this is very simple, as we can relate this figure to the effectiveness of the brand, in a way the more is the frequency of the brand under the lesser is the effectiveness, to be more simple, people will use more Neurofen because they need more, they need more because the effect of the medicine is restricted for not more than two days, thus it has temporary effect but not the long lasting, and for Anadin this figure is bit small with just 5 of them who use them twice a week, thus there are in total 6 users more who consumes Neurofen more than twice, which we can manipulate a correction figure for the Q 8. Where I asked people which brand they think is effective.

Thus from the finding it is clear that Anadin has advantage of one user who thinks it is better than Neurofen for its effectiveness, now further we subtract 6 from the Neurofen the figure further drops to 8 and if we further add 6 to this what we get is 21 users for the effectiveness for the Anadin, this was just a general correction, but even though if we consider the above table without the correction factor of 6 Anadin still lead Neurofen by 1 user, this proves Neurofen is not as effective as Anadin

So what makes Neurofen still a better brand than other? Why the sales of Neurofen has growth of around 7 mil this year?

The answer lies between the answer for Question related to packaging and TV advert where we get the idea how people start communicating the brand and start associating with the brands when they see the advert of the brand or the packaging.

Where it has observed that Neurofen leads on the above criteria far ahead

Thus it can be easily recognized that the sales, the loyalty, the brand life time is not restricted to the core usability but rather other elements of the Blue print model should be surrounded in order to compete with the top three of its class the image of the brand depends upon this supporting elements that force people to think, to remember and to be loyal which Neurofen does well in this aspect.

All the three brand which falls under the safety zone of the Maslow hierarchy but satisfy and appears to people in bit different way, this bit is created in a way they stimulate the market and the way they appear to people through the 7ps

Studying the 7ps of each of the brand

Neurofen

PRODUCT: Analgesic medicine, available in different flavor in few region.

PRICE: Falls within the range of 3 to 5 GBP

PROMOTION: Good packaging, similar to the Benson hedges silver which is popular in its segment. Brilliant use of the web with small videos highlighting the new advert.

PEOPLE: This may be divided into users and non users (employee), the site gives the information regarding what people say about them, whereas the nonusers the professional the snap of the team behind the work of the Neurofen.

PHYSICAL EVIDANCE: History of the company, the product range they have, testimonials, achievement (adult health of the year 2009)

PLACE: Though they don't mention about the place where it is packed and distributed from but as per my findings the brand is prepared and packed within UK for its distribution within UK only.

PROCESS: Cant be included as might be considered as part of secret of the company, but this can include the way they provide customer service through their website where you can have your own profile and then the company suggest you the proper guidance via mail.

Anadin

PRODUCT: (OTC) Used against headache and other symptoms of the stress.

PLACE: The use of the snaps to show the actual place of the business, where the WEYTH LAB. Describes the four places brilliantly

TAPLOW: Headquarter for the prescription and consumer product.

MAIDENHEAD: Headquarter of the company for the business done in Europe and Africa

PROMOTION: The TV advert they use, interactive surveys, TV commercial, website

PRICE: which falls within the same range of 3 to 5 GBP?

PEOPLE: Brilliant use of the team behind the product on their website

PHYSICAL EVIDANCE: Showing achievement, history of the company, testimonials, site map and the contact details, and word of mouth from the famous personality.

PROCESS: The way does the business this include efficient customer service by providing the consultancy via internet, which tells us that they are better people to trust.

Thus this was the 7ps which the top two brands use to stimulate the market in case of the Panadol it lacks the proper site the product is totally depended upon the website its owner and we still need to find the product after we enter the main web page, though having the website is not important but in changing environment where people take longer time to make the decision, there is possibility that they can switch to internet to seek the information which Panadol doesn't satisfy.

If we consider the above brands and compare them with the brand blue print model the way they have used the elements of this model to create the perception is very different from one another.

Let's consider the inner-directed values

Which states how does the brand make me feel, in this context it is related to the core usability and Neurofen though as not effective but stills leads other product In a way it has received the positive comment for Question number three where I asked the users regarding the image ,and the user wrote about Neurofen as best one, freedom, doctor etc .. Followed by Anadin which got comparison with christiano ronaldo, no more doctor etc......many agreed that the brand shave become part of the status and symbol of their daily life where people mentioned it as should be in my purse or stating it should be next to pillow.

The inner directed value solely depends upon the effectiveness of the brand which in this case Anadin has but lags somewhere behind the other elements absentees which I will discuss shortly ahead.

Followed by this are the other directed value:

This means whet the brands tell about me, so not surprised if you roll out of Bentley and you win attention of the people, thus Bentley here tells about the wealth of the individual.

Here in case of these brand s Neurofen appears to be the representative for the youngsters and this can be recognized the number of its users and the age group they fall in.

Even on the website they have mentioned regarding the award they receive for the youth health product of the year.

So even if I grow 30 I will still prefer to buy the product that tells people that I am still bit younger why not??

Next comes the absentees:

This refers to the features or the services that have scope to improve and develop further, incase of Neurofen it may be the developing the range for the age group above 40, which are mild and doesn't produces any side effect.

In case of Anadin the absentees may include the way they convince to people this can be through brand identity or modifying the USP. Making people understand and win the confidence that it is the most effective of its class.

Where as in case of Panadol to consider the UK market as important as the way they consider for Australia and Thailand and then investing in the TV commercial and little bit on the web, so that they don't appear disappeared product on the net.

Even if speak about the USP the one which Neurofen has used amply suits the current environment where people want quick result “nothing acts faster than the Neurofen”.

Thus all this factors are the main contributors for making Neurofen market leader, what I understood from the above research is a product is complete brand when it uses all the element of branding in a proper balance, which Neurofen does in a proper way

This can be due to the owner of the brand which is specialized in selling the daily life product, so the advantage of the network helps the company to have enormous information which is adequate for them to fill their knowledge pool, so that they can understand the customer insight and predict the future and accordingly invest in branding that will create proper response.

Even what I understand from the above scenario is that whenever any product or any service when falls in the either extreme zone of the Maslow's hierarchy, it is sheer an opportunity for the brands where people consider them either their basic need without which it becomes for them to live or the self actualization where associating with that brand becomes as if an achievement for something. Now the three brand discussed falls in the general category of safety level, but as the external environment changes what we expect is that this products are shifting from the safety zone to the basic need zone and people cannot live without them or they find it difficult while associating with those product, thus this is an apportunity for the analgesic product and hence branding to compete within the top three within this zone requires perfect knowledge of the customer insight and complete understanding of the SWOT in respect to external environment through PESTEL. The way Neurofen has done so far fits in all the category that is necessary for branding.

Thus branding has become one of the major strategies where business can maintain their position even in uncertain environment.

Recommendation

Though each brand perfect some strong in some other region of the world but equally weak in other parts of the world, might be the insufficient knowledge of the external enviournment, this why Panadol is doing good in Australia and far not good in UK.

Similarly for the Neurofen where to make the image for “everyone” by including more product in its portfolio for the elderly people.

Where as in case of Anadin including more PR event and investing more on the packaging and other aspect of the communication like TV advert or flyers etc.....