Case Summary of PSI: Social Marketing Project in Bangladesh 1) Who is right: Ciszewski or Schellstede? Why?

I think both of them are right and have good strategy in trying to improve sales of Maya. Ciszewski isright in the idea of rebranding Maya to improve the poor image as it stands right now, i.e. change nameand increase the price to raise the image of the brand. We have a room for price increasing as it isshown that other OC brands with price 5 -10 times higher can have better sales than Maya. For this re-positioning OC pills, we should target to the urban market. For rural market, I also agree withSchellstede to use RMPs as the linkage (influencer) to the rural area target group because RMPs havegreat influence in providing knowledge of OC pills and ultimately change consumers behavioral intent. 2) Why is this difficult market from a marketing standpoint? I would explain the difficulties of marketing the birth control products in Bangladesh. F irst, it is due tothe simple ignorance of majority of people who have low literacy rate . Second, the family economicsand lack of social security policy push elderly parents to rely on their sons incomes for living . Third, culture, parents could not rely on financial sup port from daughters after they are married and theywould have to pay a dowry to the bridegroom s parents. F ourth, it is high chance in Bangladesh to losetheir offspring in natural disaster. F ifth, Bangladesh geography makes it difficult to reach majority of people (91% lives in villages. Page4). 3) H ow do you understand the relative performances? Why is Raja succeeding, while Maya is not? Relative Performance of Raja and Maya From general performance measures in 1983, Raja is outperforming Maya in terms of % sales growthfrom 1982 to 1983 (41% vs. 5%), the market share of the same product type (59% vs. 8%), the # of Couple Years Protection (504 vs 48 thousands CYP), and the total revenue (4.9 vs. 0.3 million Takka).Detailed calculation is shown in Table 1 Appendix A. The turnover ratio of Raja is higher than Maya (7vs. 3.5), therefore, the average days to sale Raja is only 52 days compared to Maya of 102 days. The

return per inventory of Raja is also as high as 1.22 while Maya is only 0.85. Detailed calculation isshown in Table 2 Appendix A Wh y is Raja succeeding, Maya is not? F irst, the current marketing relied heavily on mass media is better fit with condom (perceive d as over-the-counter consumer product) rather than oral contraceptive pills (OCs are perceived as powerfuldrug), because consumers would need more knowledge and consultation for the perceived powerful drug with side effects.

Second is the low image of Ma ya. The name Maya is in local language anddoes not sounds like medical product, plus Maya is selling at cheap price. Consumers have negativemeans end chain of Maya to the choice of birth control. For Raja, the name associates withmasculinity, the mass me dia, and the available point of sales are all appropriate for the target male group. Third is the point of sales, i.e. Pan stores do not fit with Maya. The Pan stores are regarded asmini place for men to hang out. Maya should instead be recommended from kno wledgeable person.4) What is your plan for improving Maya sales? Devise a specific communications strategy. Rebranding Maya to be in higher positioning for urban users (change name to chemical sound,increase price, new marketing strategies. Use mass media with focus on providing knowledge aboutOC and its temporal side effects that are not harmful and promote couples to ask for moreinformation from professional practitioners or drugstore sellers.Stop the point of sales that are against with the bra nd image, i.e. pan stores as it reduces thecredibility of the drug.Arrange product workshop to provide knowledge about OC pills especially to overcome the bias of side effects of OC pills for professional practitioners, i.e. physicians, RMPs, field workers, drugstoresellers.Engage with physicians, RMPs, field workers to become main distribution channels for people inrural areas. They prefer more personal contact with professionals in decision making using OC pills.

A ppendix A Table 1: Performance Measure Performance Measure Raja Maya Note Market share 59% 8%Data from Page 7 = Maya or Raja sales pertotal sales of the same product type inthe marketGrowth from 1982 to 1983 41% 5%Data from Exhibit 1 = (Sales 83 - Sales 82)/Sales 82Couple Years Protection (CYP) 504,000 47,800 Data from Exhibit 8# of sales unit in 1983 (piece orcycle) 50,400,000 622,000 Data from Exhibit 1SMP selling price (Takka/piece orcycle) Note: Raja pack price is divided by 3 pieces 0.10 0.45 Data from page 8SMP Revenue (Takka) 4,872,000 279,900 = # of unit sales * SMP selling price Table 2: Turnover analysis Turnover analysis Raja Maya Sell price/pack = 0.4 0.7Cost (from semi wholeseller) = 0.33 0.53Margin/pack = 0.07 0.17Avg. retail turnover=Sales/Avg Inventory in 1 year = 7 3.5Days to sale product=365/Turnover= 52 104Avg. Inventory=Sales/Turnover = 0.06 0.2 Return on inventory=Margin/ A vg inventory 1.225 0.85