Cp China\'s Changes to the Cmf Marketing

¶ … CP China's changes to the CMF marketing launch program justifiable?

Burton's objective was to market Colgate Max Fresh (CMF) as global venture. Each country had its own assumptions and trends that would make certain products popular. For CMF to appeal to a Chinese market it had to investigate and target those specific selling appeals.

Del Levin, who was in charge of conducting R&D for Colgate in Asia, discovered that that whilst a potentially huge market existed for the product -- it being that Asia had a large freshness segment -- it had to be marketed in a particular way in order to best appeal to the Asian consumer. Firstly, the name itself - Colgate Max Fresh -- did not appeal as well as other names in China would; the name was therefore changed to "Icy Fresh." Secondly, original marketing that used 'breath strips' was meaningless to an Asian market and would have been better modified to "cooling crystals' which was more relevant and meaningful to Chinese consumers

Consumer surveys targeted to the Asian public carefully investigated the various nuances that would make the product successful in China and, to that end, discovered that freshness was still a relatively new concept to this particular market and that, therefore, careful research would have to be done in order to precisely assess potential selling points. It would have to be the youth who would be targeted and they would be targeted at an emotional level. Emily Proctor and her role were unknown in China, and, therefore, more expense would have to be absorbed in creating publicity, from the start, for the Colgate product. It would have to be centered around an Asian celebrity rather than the U.S. "Emily Proctor" approach, even thoguh greater expense and sacrifice to brand reputations would be involved.

More drastic changes were also made to CMF that involved modifying its flavor, graphics, and packaging too in order to appeal to the Asian market. The product, despite difficulties which included extension of time and expense, slanted itself as a "stand-up tube" toothpaste, packaged in a lighter shade of green, consisting of three flavors, Tea, Citrus, and Mint.

Consumer research showed potential success from these intended changes, so, therefore, despite far more expense that Levin absorbed in the product, his modifications were rational and wise. If CP wanted its product to sell in China and to make profit, they were compelled to make these changes since; otherwise, they would most likely sell at a loss.

2- Did CP Mexico manage its CMF launch better than CP China?

It seems as though CP China managed its job better than CP Mexico did, but then Colgate faced more severe competition in Mexico than it did in China. In China, its greatest challenges were price and appealing to the concept of freshness. In Mexico they had the difficulty of securing interest in a new product altogether. Demand was also slow, with most Mexican consumers disinterested in superfluous oral care and growth in the toothpaste market was altogether dragging.

Consumer testing for the product -- based on purchase intent, value, liking, and uniqueness - demonstrated that, unlike CNF's outcome with the Asian market -- expected profits would be only moderate at best and that stable distribution could be achieved two years after the launch.

The project was also complicated by in-team disagreement of various key factors. Some argued that the CMF launch should have been accelerated whilst others argued that adapting it to the Mexican market was more important than accelerating it. This was the first sticking point that reduced its eventual outcome when compared to its launch in China where all collaborated on how to launch it. The team members were also divided on how to improve the product in order to strengthen its appeal to a Mexican market. In short, the CMF launch in China succeeded in an assembling a more cohesive team effort and R & D. project than the Mexican team did. Outcome may therefore have been less polarized than it was in Mexico.

3- Evaluate the global roll-out of CMF.

On December 2004, CP planned to enhance its global leadership by closing one-third of its manufacturing facilities. CP also planned to develop its centralize purchasing and other business support functions and to better concentrate its marketing resources whilst consolidating its organization structure in certain mature markets.

CP determined its success of a rollout of a product according to total franchise growth and net of "cannibalization" -- in other words, how many other products the new product consumed or displaced in its consumption, as well as the product's volume and profit potential.

CMF seemed to incur least expense in America compared to China and Mexico since it could stay with the original Emily Proctor brand and although it had less success than expected (cannibalizing, for instance, less CP toothpaste brands than predicted), it nonetheless seemed to promise a profit and, therefore, the team was unanimous in launching it in the U.S. faster than they did in China and Mexico (in Mexico the team was divided about the opportune team of launching). Advertising was also targeted at a larger market sample then it was in China, and altogether, in all ways, product launch in the U.S. was not only cheaper but also less time-consuming and accompanied by less conflict and challenge than it was in China and Mexico where, in China, the market was still new and therefore greater challenge was involved in digging out and precisely evaluating consumer preferences. In Mexico, the team was divided regarding optimal procedures of launching and marketing product.

4- What are the costs and benefits of adaptation?

The benefits of adaptation are obvious -- Colgate can sell its products in countries where they would otherwise make a loss. On the toehr hand, you have the expense too and Colgate, as in this case, can least afford it and may be unwilling to exert so much expense on peripherals.

Giving two different examples, I can illustrate how products and services marketed to the customs and lifestyle trends of a specific country and people can appeal to one but lose business in the other.

Israel, for instance, thrives on social life. There is the interesting instance of the cafe keilu in Israel where the entrepreneur realizing the attraction of social life to an Israeli, charges consumer for empty plates and mugs on the provision that they are receiving social life (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). The manager, an Israeli, is compelled by the spirit of the place to create strategies that would attract the people of that specific culture. His project succeeds -- and profitably so -- in Israel. It would, no way, succeed in a country such as the States.

Similarly, the Grand Melia Hotel in Indonesia goes out of its way to provide a cultural experience over Ramadan. Preparing over 4 different cultural cuisines, with over 50 different menus, dishes represent a vast array of Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the Middle East. For the Egyptian festival, for instance, guests are treated to authentic Egyptian meal prepared by an Egyptian chef who is flown directly from his hotel Melia Sinai, in Egypt (Indonesia travel online.com). Consumer research showed that these specific dishes prepared at this specific time, despite considerable expense, would create profit and be worth the enormous cost. For these countries and populations, the cost paid off.