Introduction

Cottle-Taylor is a multinational company based in Philadelphia. It broadly deals in products

related to oral care, personal care and home care. The company produces about 200 different
products. Following its policy of global expansion, it had targeted four divisions: North America,
Latin America, Greater Asia and Africa. The policy also emphasized on providing quality
products around the globe. Cottle-Taylor’s Indian business operations was conducted through its
subsidiary Cottle India. Brinda Patel is the director of marketing operations in India, who is
working under Michael Lang, her manager. The current case involves the Indian toothbrush
market and a decision is to be taken regarding the same.
In the current scenario, Lang is unsatisfied with Brinda’s projection of 20% increase in unit sales,
and he suggests the Thailand model (2007) to be followed. As per the Thailand model, Mr. Lang
believed that by increasing advertising and promotions spending beyond 12% of sales, a growth
rate of around 25-30% on unit sales can be achieved in India. However, Mr. Lang had
overlooked certain factors while making such a suggestion.
There are several factors that are needed to be considered before finalizing their strategy:
 Many Indians still used traditional products like Neem twigs, black salt, tobacco,
charcoal and ash to clean teeth
 Many Indians did not associate dental problems with proper oral care, instead attributed
them to bad eating habits and genetics
 As per a study in 2007, 50% Indians are not concerned with preventing or curing Dental
problems
 There were just one dentistry personnel for every 10000 people
 Only 2% of the people in India visited a dentist regularly
 80% of the toothbrush consumers used the toothbrush beyond the prescribed time of three
months
So, the potential for Cottle-Taylor was huge but they had to create a market first and educate the
consumers about the importance of oral hygiene.

Problem Statement
In what ways can Brinda Patel develop a marketing strategy for Cottle-Taylor that would
increase the unit sales of toothbrush by 30%
Brinda also had to decide on how much advertising dollars needs to be allocated to each of the
three key messages that factored into brushing: 1. Persuading consumers to brush for the first
time, 2. Increasing the incidence of brushing, and 3. Persuading consumers to upgrade to mid-
range or premium products

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 Manufacturer
Manufacturer

Unit Sales (millions) Selling Selling Revenue Revenu

2008 2009 2010E (Patel)

2010E (Lang)
Price/UnitPrice/Unit

20% increase
P atel Lang

Toothbrush Products

Low-end Manual

Complete 197.6 230.6 276.7 267.5

$ 0.15$ 0.18$ 48.81$ 47.

Analysis
Sensitooth 25.7 29.9 35.9 34.7$ 0.18$ 0.22$ 7.76$ 7.5

Fresh Gum 12.8 15.0 18.0 17.4$ 0.18$ 0.21$ 3.83$ 3.7

Surround 7.7 9.0 9.7 10.4$ 0.19$ 0.23$ 2.22$ 2.3

Kidsie 12.8 15.0 16.2 17.4$ 0.12$ 0.14$ 2.30$ 2.4

Total 256.6 299.5 356.5 347.4 64.9 63.

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Mid-Range Manual

Zagger 27.2 34.4 43.0 75.7$ 0.29$ 0.35$ 15.18$ 26.

Directionflex 6.8 8.6 10.8 18.9$ 0.53$ 0.64$ 6.87$ 12.

Total 34.0 43.0 53.8 94.7 22.0 38.

Battery Operated

Swirl Brush 1.30 1.5 1.7 1.9$ 6.40$ 7.68$ 13.08$ 14.

Refills 0.16 0.2 0.2 0.2$ 0.56$ 0.67$ 0.13$ 0.0

Total 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.2 13.2 14.

Total Toothbrush Unit Sales

292.1 344.2 412.2 444.2 100.2 116

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low, mid and battery operated toothbrush is higher than Patel’s Projections.
Revenue after considering Lang’s Projections of 16%, 120% and 25% increase in unit sales of
 But the Profit from Patel’s Estimate is greater than the Lang’s Estimate due to the effect of
increased spending in advertisement in Lang’s Projection to 12% from current 9%.

Recommendation
For Advertising Marketing Plan, we recommend an unequal distribution of the advertising
budget on the 3 key messages that factored into brushing, both for rural and urban population.
The recommended distribution is as follows:
For Urban:
 Message 1 – 10%
 Message 2 – 40%
 Message 3 – 50%

For Rural:
 Message 1 – 60%
 Message 2 – 35%
 Message 3 – 5%

Apart from this we also recommend Cottle to take initiatives to increase awareness of oral
healthcare among the rural class through educational programs by partnering with IDA, sampling
toothbrushes and conducting free health checkups, etc. All these are Below the line marketing
strategies. They should also advertise extensively through mass media ad follow Above the line

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 marketing strategy to promote their products. They should support the rural distribution channels
and motivate to sell their products by taking initiatives such as rewarding campaigns like bonus,
discounts, etc. to sales force, distributors, small rural retailers.

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