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Case Study TambrandsOvercoming Cultural Resistance

Brenda Covarribias Gabriela Garcia Alejandra Garcia Katia Garrido Lidia Escalona Jorge Carlos Hernndez MGMT-4141V-International Marketing.2013 Walden University Jose Lopez 6/October/2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TambrandsOvercoming Cultural Resistance Introduction This document is about the analysis of a case study that refers to a brand that faces cultural resistance within international markets.

Tambrands, overcoming culture resistance case study told us about a market analysis for the future segmentation, they divided the market and then they developed a strategy of marketing for each one because due to the beliefs and habits that is what they need to do to enter and create the image of the product. Tambrands divided the world into three clusters, based not on geography but on how resistant women are to using tampons. The goal is to market to each cluster in a similar way. (Graham, 2007) There are many brands around the world that are specialized on developing just one kind of product, in this case study we are going to analyze Tambrands, a company that was specialized on Tampax, a product that depends totally on the culture of the country or region of the market. Tampax represent a product that which by its nature always has a constant battle with cultural diversity, as we know it is used by female consumers for complementing their hygiene, but because of the body area in which is placed and its function, many cultures reject it. For this reason, Tambrands had a lot of problems talking about global expansion. A few years ago Tambrands was the most important brand of tampons in the world by having the 44 percent of the global market, especially in North America and Europe. Tambrands becoming part of Procter & Gamble Despite the negative environment that Tambrands had, Procter & Gamble decided to take over of this brand, having in mind many strategies to raise the numbers of the company. Every strategy was different around each country in which they want to have participation; some had failed because of the general religious beliefs like in Muslim countries, where the product isnt targeting. Other example is Mexico, a country in which

most of the population is catholic and Tampax represent a problem for young girls because of the virginity issue. Although the outlook was not favorable for P&G, the socially responsible strategy they started to develop began to raise knowledge of the product and its benefits worldwide. Tambrands started to grow up with its principal product: Tampax. This merging reflected the wisdom of Tambrands because P&G is a worldwide known company and it will bring benefits to female personal hygiene products. Clusters identified by Tambrands They divided the world into 3 clusters: US, UK and Australia, where most of the women already use tampax and the

product is known by the female population. France, Israel and South Africa, where the product is known but just around

50% of the female population have use it. Brazil, China and Russia. In these countries, the product has to deal with

virgin issue and it is necessary to educate population on how to use it. On the other hand Procter & Gamble faced that women all around the world do not know certainly how to use the product, so they prefer not to use it or to use other most known product. Because of this, P&G emphasized on socially responsible marketing strategies on the internet, by explaining the use and the benefits of using products created for female intimate hygiene.

Both strategies seemed to bring positive results specifically on tampax product. If an enterprise wants to accomplish a merging with another one, or even if it wants to buy the whole company, it is necessary to take into account the strategies that both companies have in mind to develop a new one by mixing them. In this case P&G educational program is a complement to what was already established by Tambrands. Marketing to each cluster in a similar way The brand tried to build a marketing model to different countries, by studying certain cities in Mexico and around the world; however the religion aspect was kind of difficult to overcome. One of the most important problem that the company realized when they made this studies is that some countries in Latin America have different taboos about the product, for this reason one of the strategies that P&G use it to explain each aspect related to the product was to create a YouTube channel called Tampax LA, when the brand can make different videos in order to communicate important aspects of the product so girls can be informed of how to use the product, the benefits of use it, among other things. Creating successful strategies to communicate the benefits of this product can be difficult to do for a company, because of the different taboos related to the product, but in the case of P&G, the company tries to understand the characteristics of each country in order to adapt and to create each strategy to that specific place, for this reason they created a web page for girls called beinggirl.com in which they can select their country and they can find information related to different topics such as puberty, relationship, among others,

so the girls can be informed and understand some doubts that can have about the adolescence. Western feminine protection and hygiene There is a direct link between P&G socially responsible strategy and the western feminine culture about protection and hygiene. In western countries there is a lot of information about intimate female care, talking about how to prevent infection, discomfort and dirt. The barriers do not come from media or from products themselves; most of the time, cultural resistance is a disadvantage that products and brands have to face around the world. Protecting Futures P&G started to work with HERO by developing this socially responsible strategy or program that brings information to young girls around the world. This program contains information and options to a physical support for that population that needs more help around the world. In this case the merging was now between 3 parties. The primary goal of this program is to create a link between female populations and the products for their intimate hygiene, by knocking taboos and cultural barriers. This is a big effort to prevent all kind of diseases caused by wrong information or ignorance about methods or products to take care of them. Conclusions This case is an example of why international brands and their products need to overcome cultural resistance around the world, we really think that creating a socially

responsible strategy is a good way to get to know new markets and customers around the world and even more so if the product or service is useful for the basic needs of the population in general and is a good example to understand and to analyze the importance of creating messages or campaigns that can satisfy specific markets and adapt to each situation in order to avoid some kind of misunderstanding.

References Cateora, P. R., & Graham, J. L. (2007). TambrandsOvercoming culture resistance. International Marketing (13th ed., p. 656). New York: McGraw-Hill. Tampax LA (2012) Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/user/tampaxLA/videos Being girl (2013) Procter & Gamble. Retrieved from: http://www.beinggirl.com