Paper About New Product, Bounty Toilet Paper Essay, Research Paper

Executive Summary

Proctor & Gamble will introduce the new Bounty Toilet Paper during the first week of December 1999. This brand of toilet paper will take the already established idea used with Bounty Paper Towels, and modify to the toilet paper world. Bounty has always stressed the idea of taking the least amount of the product, but still getting the job done while at same time consisting of a strong durability. Never before has such attributes of durability and effectiveness been used in a toilet paper brand, therefore P&G hopes to establish Bounty Toilet Paper as a leader in the industry.

Proctor & Gamble understands the high competition that already exists in the toilet paper industry, but feel that new Bounty Toilet Paper will change how this industry is geared. In recent times, toilet paper producers have stressed comfort and style in the production of their products, but as the times have changed, the American public is now more interested in getting the job done in the shortest amount of time with the smallest amount of the product. P&G have produced Bounty Toilet Paper because of this change in the lifestyle of Americans. With this focus on effectiveness and durability, Bounty will go into the new Millennium leading the toilet paper world.

Company Background

Proctor and Gamble was founded in Cincinnati, OH, by William Proctor and James Gamble in 1837. Initially the company was started to compete with the 14 other soap and candle makers already established in Cincinnati, but around the end of the century, Proctor and Gamble dropped candle manufacturing altogether to focus on soap production. By 1890, Proctor and Gamble had increased their production to over 30 different types of soap.

During 1911, Proctor and Gamble introduced Crisco, the first all-vegetable shortening, beginning what would be the first in a long line of different unrelated products the company would develop in the future. Such products include Tide washing detergent, Crest toothpaste, Charmin toilet paper, Pampers baby diapers, Folgers coffee, Bounce fabric softener, Pert Plus shampoo, and Bounty paper towels, just to name a few. With these products, and the more than thousand others, Proctor and Gamble leads the world in sales in almost all categories of household products. Sales hit the one million mark by 1859, roughly 22 years after the company was formed. Today, the company has reached sales in excess of over 30 billion, with this figure continuing to grow each and every year.

Today, Proctor and Gamble is a truly global corporation. Since 1980, the company has quadrupled the number of consumers it can serve with its brands, which totals close to 5 billion people around the world. Proctor and Gamble now has operations in more than 70 countries and its products are sold in over 140 countries, making Proctor and Gamble one of the biggest and most successful consumer goods companies in the world.

Product Description and Key Benefits

Bounty Toilet Paper is the newest name in bathroom tissue. Made with the same quality as the original paper towels, Bounty Toilet Paper emphasizes practicality rather than prettiness. It is made with an unscented, three-ply, deeply corrugated tissue and does not depend on any flower or butterfly to attract potential consumers. This new design is made for people who are tired of constantly running out of toilet paper due to either poor quality tissue or small amount found on rolls.

Bounty Toilet Paper is made with a patented design from years of research. This product boasts the same maximum absorbency that is found in Bounty Paper Towels because of its unheard of three-ply thickness. Each ply is twice as thick as the standard bathroom tissue ply. Because Bounty paper is so thick, a special plastic dispenser that hangs from any standard toilet paper roll holder is needed. These refillable dispensers are free with an initial purchase of the product. Another feature is the deep, lateral grooves in the tissue that provide maximum cleaning with minimal wiping. Since Bounty Toilet Paper is made with such tough cleansing power, an aloe vera lotion has been added to the paper to prevent possible chaffing.

This revolutionary design in bathroom tissue is meant for anyone that stresses efficiency. It is perfect for outdoorsman, fast-paced careers, or anyone that needs the power of a lot of toilet paper, not a lot of toilet paper. Because of the already established name of Bounty in the paper towel world, the expectations of Bounty Toilet Paper will be high, with the product delivering satisfaction to all consumers. This is due in part to the success built into construction and usage of Bounty Paper Towels that will easily be catered into the toilet paper industry with our product.

Description of Target Market

The research team from Proctor & Gamble that were used to develop Bounty Toilet Paper referred to the Simmons Market Research on Products and Users to pinpoint the target market for this product. After reviewing the figures found in the report, it was discovered that the target market for potential buyers is women between the ages of 18 and 49. Although this will serve as the target market, Bounty will not be limited to this small segmentation of the general public. Instead, Bounty Toilet Paper will be marketed to these women heavily, but at the same time it will also be marketed to many other demographics in an effort to meet the needs of more potential consumers.

Our advertising strategy is to advertise using mediums that will reach our target market with the greatest reach, but more importantly with the highest frequency. According to Simmons Market Research, it will be to our advantage to use public television stations, along with cable television stations for advertising with our product with the greatest reach to the target market. This decision was made to advertise on the public stations of NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox; while at the same time using the cable stations of USA, CNN, Lifetime, The Discovery Channel, and ESPN. We will advertise on these stations during the peak time for our target market, which was discovered to be early morning to mid afternoon. By targeting these stations at the particular times noted, we will have reached a variety of men, not only women.

Another means we will use to reach our target audience will be the medium of magazines. Simmons Market Research shows that toilet paper buyers are heavy readers or many national magazines. The magazines that we will use to reach our target audience the most will be Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Reader s Digest, and Seventeen. We will also advertise in Men s Health, GQ, Outdoor Life, and Field and Stream, in efforts to reach a more broad audience outside of our target market. These are the different target groups and markets Bounty Toilet Paper plans on using in our pursuit to take over the toilet paper world.

Buyer Behavior

Consumers will experience a low level of involvement in their decision to purchase Bounty Toilet Paper. We know as marketers that the price of a product relative to quality is extremely important in retaining customers and hopefully getting referred for such a high quality product. We know the price of an item has a direct correlation with the level of involvement or importance that a consumer will experience upon their decision to buy. We plan to offer hefty three ply toilet paper equal to two ply for the price of $0.99. The packaging of two rolls instead of four will be in order to gather consumers in a hurry and ones that want a quality product relative to their finances. This is extremely important for college students or newlyweds with tight budgets, both of which fall into our target market. Because of the low level of involvement and interest in our attempt to break through the clutter is the packaging of two rolls. This type of packaging will hopefully come off to the consumer as different from the rest and better suited to their needs. In this day and age people do not have the time to spend comparing different products, leading to consumers usually grabbing the first item that catches their attention. Our product will be accepted by various groups of consumers ranging from college kids, impulse buyers, impatient customers, and hopefully even families. Once our initial entrance into the toilet paper industry breaks through, we plan to offer larger quantities geared more toward families, but this will happen once word of mouth and trial show that we offer a high quality product at a low price.

Competitive Analysis

Competition plays a key role in the success or demise of most products that fit the low involvement category. The toilet paper industry is a constant battle for dominance with the vast number of products competing for the highest sales. Proctor & Gamble is not new to this highly competitive market, nor or they new to the toilet paper industry. Currently P&G is atop the sales list of toilet paper brands with their Charmin brand of toilet paper, but this may soon change.

Proctor & Gamble are adhering to the new lifestyles of Americans with the new Millennium approaching. Today everyone seems to be on a constant move, with little or no time for most ordinary everyday ways of life. With this new fast paced lifestyle, P&G hopes to market the new Bounty Toilet Paper to this generation of Americans. P&G will attempt to phase out the Charmin brand of toilet paper in order to be centered around the new Bounty Toilet Paper. This is because Charmin has been marketed as being a more delicate toilet paper for the person out seeking style in the toilet paper they buy. This is changing, and with this change, P&G plans to fit the Bounty Toilet Paper as a more ideal brand for the new ways of life Americans are leading.

Other larger competitors that will be facing the introduction of new Bounty Toilet Paper include Cottonelle, Northern Tissue, and Scott Tissue. All of these brands have been stressing the attribute of style over any other feature, just as Charmin. During the late 1980 s and early 1990 s this was the more predominant feature the American public was looking for, but now with the fast paced way of living, this feature seems less and less important to the consumer. With that being known, Proctor & Gamble want to feature a toilet paper that is in tune with this fast paced lifestyle, therefore introducing the new Bounty Toilet Paper that requires less paper to do the job because of its new three ply thickness. P&G feels that the competition will raise no threat due to the lack of any other brand using the three ply method, but at the same time, P&G is considering the possibility of new brands hitting the market with this three ply attribute. By the time these new products hit the shelves, P&G feels that Bounty Toilet Paper will be established as the top selling and most preferred toilet paper in America.

Positioning Strategy and Perceptual Map

Proctor & Gamble is introducing the new Bounty Toilet Paper to the world by stressing two key attributes. These attributes are the durability of the paper and the effectiveness this new paper has for the consumer. Both attributes arise from the new three ply thickness that will be first used with Bounty Toilet Paper. P&G will position Bounty Toilet Paper according to this new three ply thickness and the attributes of durability and effectiveness. This will place Bounty Toilet Paper in a different category compared to existing toilet paper brands, due to the other brands placing most emphasis on style rather than anything else. P&G feels this is to their advantage considering how Americans today place less concern with style, and more attention to how they can get more for their money. Because of the great effectiveness and durability of this product, consumers will be introduced to the fact that less paper will be needed to get the job done with Bounty. This will be key in breaking many consumers from their existing brand loyalty to other brands, and hopefully change the face of how toilet paper is made in the future. P&G feels that with this new breakthrough technology allowing the three ply thickness that nothing less than great sales will be achieved with new Bounty Toilet Paper.

The following page contains a perceptual map of where P&G will place new Bounty Toilet Paper into the market, and at the same time where all top potential competitors currently target their products according to the aspect of durability and effectiveness.

Description and Justification for IMC Tools

Bounty Toilet Paper will be introduced to the world through the use of a large Integrated Marketing Communications Program. We fill this is necessary in order to not only get our product into the minds of potential consumers but also to separate consumers from their brand loyalty to competitors. To achieve these goals the IMC Program Proctor & Gamble uses with this product will require a large budget due to the costs of direct marketing, advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations. In the end, P & G wishes to reach a large audience with the potential to stand firm in its position as leader in the toilet paper industry.

Direct marketing will play a vital role in getting Bounty Toilet Paper into the view of the general public. P&G plans to use new and different approaches to direct marketing with this product. The product will be placed in many public restrooms around the nation in an effort to use direct marketing. This will be a new way of reaching the target audience, but P&G feel it will be a great means of getting consumers to try Bounty Toilet Paper. The product will be accompanied by a small sign above each dispenser that will have the brand name and image. With the lack of alternatives, the consumer will no other choice but to use our product. Because of this, the first trial is already set in motion. The consumer will then form an opinion about Bounty Toilet Paper, and either purchase the product or not according to their initial satisfaction. Among the locations for this direct marketing tactic will be large shopping malls in all major cities across the United States, and sports facilities such as stadiums and arenas that house national and regional professional sports teams. We will also place our product in the restrooms of the Georgia Dome, found in Atlanta, GA, which will house the Superbowl in January of 2000. Another direct marketing tactic to be used will be the placement of small booths at the entrances of all supercenters, such as Wal-Mart Supercenter and Big K-Mart, across the country. Free samples of the product will be handed out at these booths, in even more efforts to gain trail use from all potential consumers.

The Advertising program that Proctor & Gamble will implement for Bounty Toilet Paper will be extensive, covering many different mediums, as noted earlier. Television, magazines, newspapers, and radio will all be used in conjunction to gain the highest reach and greatest frequency of potential consumers. P&G will broadcast commercials on various network stations, such as NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, during early morning to mid-afternoon programming. This time period was discovered to be the best highest television viewing time from our target audience. The cable stations of Lifetime, The Discovery Channel, ESPN, CNN, and USA will also be used to broadcast our commercials. Programs that were determined as the best possible means to reach our target audience include soap operas, news programs, game shows, cartoon programs, sporting events, and fitness programs. Magazines will also play a key role in reaching all of our distinguished target audience. Different magazine ads will be placed in a wide variety of magazines that will include Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Reader s Digest, Seventeen, Men s Health, GQ, Outdoor Life, and Field and Stream. With this wide variation of magazines, P&G hopes to reach a more broad audience thus creating the largest possible trial of Bounty Toilet Paper. P&G will run a full page ad in the national newspaper, USA Today, on the day the product reaches all retailers store shelves. This method of using newspapers was chosen over the method of advertising in many local newspapers due to the vast audience the USA Today reaches along with a lower cost compared to advertising in many papers. Lastly, P&G will use radio ads as means of advertising this new product. The radio ads will run during the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and also 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., both time periods that were evaluated as the greatest reach for potential consumers. P&G will conduct a national survey of radio stations in all major markets to determine the top three stations according to listening audience per market area. These top three stations will be used to carry the radio ads for Bounty Toilet Paper. With all of the mentioned advertising mediums working together, P&G hopes to place the Bounty Toilet Paper brand name and image into the view of the American general public.

Sales Promotions will play a small role in the introduction of Bounty Toilet Paper. The only Sales Promotion that will market this product will be a bonus pack deal. Proctor and Gamble researched and discovered that by using many Sales Promotions the product would be viewed in a poor light by consumers rather than sticking to one Sales Promotion. For the first month that the product hits the shelf, P&G will offer the deal of buy one pack, receive one pack free. This deal will be limited to one per customer per visit to the retail outlet. This will serve as a way draw in the consumers that are out to get the best possible deal for their money.

Proctor & Gamble will limit the use of Personal Selling that it uses to promote Bounty Toilet Paper. Memos will be sent to all regional managers of the retail stores in which Bounty Toilet Paper will be sold. The memo will inform the regional managers about the new product. These regional managers will then be instructed to discuss this product with all the store managers for the stores found in their area. Overall, the memo will serve the purpose of getting product awareness into the minds of all retailers.

Proctor & Gamble plans to use an extensive Public Relations strategy in order to get the new Bounty Toilet Paper in the public s viewpoint. P&G will sponsor a week of programming for the late night talk shows The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O Brien. These shows were chosen based on their large television audience and also because of past affiliations the shows have shared with consumer products. During this week of programming, the shows will feature a variety of comedy sketches with Bounty Toilet Paper involved heavily in the story line. Also, the hosts, David Letterman and Conan O Brien, respectively, will throw out packages of the product, which will serve not only as attention to the product, but also stressing our key attribute of durability of the product. P&G feels that by using this television media with Bounty Toilet Paper, many potential consumers will be pushed more towards the trial of the product, therefore producing a Public Relations success story.

Finally, Proctor & Gamble will also incorporate various other support media in the process of getting the Bounty Toilet Paper brand image out to the public. These support media include billboards, inflatables, shopping carts, and transit advertising, to name a few. The billboards will use the same ads that will be featured in magazines, and will be located in all major markets. Large inflatables will accompany many of the booths placed in the front of retail stores. The inflatables will consist of a large package of Bounty Toilet Paper, with someone passing out free samples beside the inflatable. In all retail stores which carry the product, there will be small advertisements placed on the shopping carts, another means of reaching the potential consumers. Lastly, P&G will place large posters advertising the product in subways, along buses, and on bus stops in most major markets found across the United States.

Objectives of IMC Tools

There are five Integrated Marketing Techniques that are used for introducing a new product, or product extension. The use of each technique is critical to the success achieved by introducing a new product. Proctor & Gamble has used many extensive approaches to introducing new products in the past, and they will continue to do so for future products. The following are the main objectives that are going to be utilized in promoting and introducing Bounty Toilet Paper to the public.

The first IMC Tool that will be implemented for Bounty Toilet Paper will be Direct Marketing. Proctor & Gamble plans to use a new way of Direct Marketing in bringing this new product to the American public. P&G will place the new Bounty Toilet Paper in many restrooms around the nation in order to get all potential consumers to try this product. This will be a strong effort to get the trial of the product out of the way with the consumer never having to purchase the product in doing so.

The most important IMC Tool that can be utilized in order to gain a successful market share is the use of Advertising. Advertising can be used to promote the consumer awareness of Proctor & Gamble s product extension from paper towels to the toilet paper market with this new product. Methods used for gaining attention include television commercials, magazine ads, radio commercials, and newspaper ads.

The next IMC Tool Proctor & Gamble will use to introduce new Bounty Toilet Paper is the use of Sales Promotion. With a product line extension, Sales Promotions are needed a smaller role as compared to the introduction of a completely different product. Therefore, P&G will take a small approach in the area of Sales Promotion with new Bounty Toilet Paper. The use of a bonus pack deal will be the single act of Sales Promotion used to introduce this product.

Personal Selling is another IMC Tool that will be used for the introduction of this new product. With the large size of Proctor & Gamble, Personal Selling seems almost obsolete, but there are still methods in which they must be done. P&G plans to send memos to all regional managers for retailers carrying the new Bounty Toilet Paper. By doing this, P&G hopes to place the product into the minds of all retailers so that they will know more about the product and its attributes.

Publicity and Public Relations, the last of the five IMC Tools, run a linear path of similarity that will be used in the introduction of Bounty Toilet Paper. The main objective is to gain good recognition and reputation for producing a good product. This is very important since toilet paper is a love involvement item and the ultimate goal of any company is to establish widespread consumer loyalty.

Synergy Among IMC Tools

In order to achieve great success with the introduction of new Bounty Toilet Paper, Proctor & Gamble must reach a synergy among the five Integrated Marketing Communication Tools. P&G will initiate these tools first by placing several advertising ads a few weeks before the product hits the shelf of retail stores. Television and radio ads, along with magazine ads will be seen by potential consumers before they actually have the opportunity to buy the product. What this accomplishes is getting new Bounty Toilet Paper into the minds of potential consumers, thus creating the awareness that was intended from the ads. At the same time, memos will be sent out to all regional managers of the retail stores planning to carry the product. These memos will instruct the managers to inform all retail stores of the upcoming Bounty Toilet Paper. The day the product hits the shelf, P&G will place a full page ad in the USA Today national newspaper, that will inform all consumers of the arrival of the product. At the same time, during this first week of introduction, the late night talk shows, The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O Brien, will be sponsored by Bounty Toilet Paper, with the product being used in various methods on the show. This will create even more awareness for all potential consumers to purchase the product. When consumers go out to purchase the product for themselves, they will find many booths located at the entrance of retail stores where Bounty Toilet Paper will be handed out as free samples. Also, upon entering the retail store and locating Bounty Toilet Paper on the store shelf, the consumer will find a bonus pack offer that consists of buy one pack, receive one free. Finally when the product is launched, P&G will place rolls of Bounty Toilet Paper in restrooms found in shopping malls and sports facilities across the country. Consumers will be presented with the opportunity to try the product for free and make their own evaluation of it using this Direct Marketing tactic. Overall, all IMC Tools should come together, placing the product into the view of all possible consumers.

Budget Allocation

Promotional expenditures for the product line extension of Bounty Toilet Paper is going to be very expensive. With Proctor & Gamble already being a very well established company, executives are willing to put forth the money necessary to heavily promote this new product into the consumer market. P&G will promote Bounty Toilet Paper using all the tools in the Promotional Mix. The company will put 45% of its promotional budget toward an Advertising plan. Direct Marketing will be allowed 20% of the budget, considering that less money is needed for this tool than Advertising. Sales Promotions and Public Relations will both consist of 15% of the budget, for they are both equally important in the process of introducing this product. Finally, P&G will allocate the remaining 5% of the budget to Personal Selling, which may seem to be a small amount but will prove more than enough for this product.

Conclusion

Proctor & Gamble is confident that with the introduction of Bounty Toilet Paper they will continue to lead the toilet paper industry. At the same time, they feel that with this product, the way toilet paper is made in the future will be drastically changed. Because of the new approach P&G is taking with this product according to its durability and effectiveness, Bounty Toilet Paper will go on to be the leader in the toilet paper industry. With all the IMC Tools working together coherently, P&G plans to have new Bounty Toilet Paper as a household name within months. During this time, the wheels will be in motion for Bounty to take the toilet paper world by storm and just keep going and going and going.. and going