Cottle Taylor

Key Issues

Based on this case study, there are few key issues which need to be considered. The first is that Cottle-Taylor wants to increase their unit sales growth in India. Secondly, Brinda Patel, the director of oral-care marketing for the India division and Michael Lang, her manager both had separate strategies on how to increase the toothbrush unit sales for Cottle-Taylor. In order to understand further, there are 3 key messages of importance which play a big role in expanding Cottle-Taylor toothbrush sales in India: 1) Persuading consumers to brush for the first time, 2) Increase the incidence of brushing, and 3) Persuading consumers to upgrade to mid-range or premium products.

Patel’s strategy

Patel believed in even distribution among the 3 key messages and wanted to retain expenditure of advertising at 9%. She had doubts on following Lang’s previous strategy used in Thailand for the expansion of Cottle-Taylor in India because of the economic and cultural differences of both countries. Despite India’s recent economic growth, three-quarters of the population still lived on less than two dollars a day while in Thailand, the population there have steadily increasing incomes and are more exposed to western culture. Her strategy for 2010 was to focus more the first and second key messages due to the high amount of rural areas. Patel’s estimated an increase in sales growth by about 20% in India.

Lang’s strategy

Lang had worked in Thailand for Cottle-Taylor back in the year 2006. He wanted to implement a similar strategy in India by eliminating even distribution of key messages, instead focusing more towards the third key message on premium toothbrushes. Lang also suggested an increase in advertising budget to 12%. His strategy for 2010 was to focus on the third key message because of the similar success he had with it in Thailand. Lang estimates an increase in sales growth by about 25-30% in India.

Proposed strategy

[pic 1]Diagram 1: Cottle-Taylor India 2010 unit sales and revenue estimates

As seen in Diagram 1, the difference in revenue gained from both strategies can be seen. After a 20% increase, it can be seen that Lang’s strategy would yield more revenue in comparison with Patel’s strategy. The total revenue for Lang’s strategy would be $117.29 while Patel’s strategy yields a total of $101.01. The diagram also shows the total toothbrush unit sales estimated according to their strategies. Patel’s total units sold would be 412.2 while Lang’s is 444.18. This shows Lang’s strategy may be more suitable to increase number of unit sales growth of toothbrushes in India.

[pic 2]
Diagram 2: Cottle-Taylor India 2010 profitability estimates

However, Patel and Lang’s strategies both earn different profits, with Patel’s having a higher profitability level. With 9% spent on the advertising budget, the total profit from operations using Patel’s strategy would 18.18 while Lang’s profit is merely 17.6 with 12% on advertising expenditures.

Based on the marketing estimates for 2010, I would propose that Cottle-Taylor combine both strategies by selecting different aspects from each. As shown in Diagram 1, Lang’s strategy to focus more on the third key message plays an important role for Cottle-Taylor to increase their toothbrush unit sales growth in India. Besides, the advertising budget used for the expansion in India should remain at 9% as it is more profitable according to Patel’s estimations. For the distribution of advertising budget, uneven distribution should be done based on the areas targeted in India.