1.0 SYNOPSIS

1.1 Background of Partex Group Ltd.:

1.1.1 History:

Partex Group is among the large Bangladesh private sector manufacturing and service-based

enterprises, owning and operating over twenty units giving value for money to all customers. The

group started modestly in 1959 in tobacco trading and with prudent entrepreneurship of the

Founder Chairman Mr. M.A. Hashem. Today they have a stake in tobacco, food, water, soft

drinks, steel container, edible oil, wooden board, furniture, cotton yarn and the IT sector. After

Bangladesh was established their Chairman set up M/S Hashem Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd. in

Chittagong city meeting the large demand of food and materials needed for sustaining the needs

of a new nation through imports. From importing to import substitution was the next logical step

and the stepping-stone into the manufacturing sector, which has matured to the multi-million

dollar diverse investment of the Partex Group today. A dedicated work force and committed

board members led by the Chairman and backed by a market oriented corporate strategy has

been the cornerstone of their success. Today the group has over twenty family-owned private

limited companies with a sizable turnover. Partex is a dynamic organization always exploring

new ideas and avenues to expand and grow further. (Official website of Partex Group)

1.1.2 Mission Statement

“Our mission is to provide value at an economic cost, progress in diversity, and continue

to contribute to the growth of industrialization in Bangladesh by being the market challenger”

(Official website of Partex Group)

1.1.3 Financial summary

According to the firm, RC cola is a profitable brand. Its growth is also satisfactory. The sales of

RC Cola in 2005 was about 240 crore, in 2006 it reduced to 150 crore and again increased to 180

crore in 2007. After that, last year’s RC cola sales increased rapidly to 230 crores. From the sales

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data it can be said that RC cola has become a huge source of revenue generation for Partex

Beverage, which it can use to support other marginally profitable or unprofitable products like

MUM drinking water. In 2000-2001 its targeting turnover was Tk. 8,000 million and estimated

growth rate 15% per annum. Net worth at current market price is Tk. 7,500 Million. The

interviewee claims that the main reason behind their huge profit is their strong distribution. Other

than that, low marketing expenditures are also a key to their success. They mainly focus on

creating catchy advertisements at lower costs. This strategy helps them to save a significant

portion of their revenue. (Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

1.2 Background of RC Cola:

1.2.1 Introduction of the product

Royal Crown Company Inc., originally called the Union Bottling Works, was born in Columbus,

Ga. in 1905. A young graduate pharmacist, Claud A. Hatcher, began creating his own soft drinks

in the basement of his family's wholesale grocery business. From these humble beginnings,

Royal Crown Cola Co. grew to be the third largest soft drink company in America. In 1994, Mr.

M. A. Hashem, Chairman of Partex Group visited an International Trade Exhibition in the US,

where he happened to meet the executives of Royal Crown Cola Co. International. From then on

he started conceptualizing the idea of “RC” beverage brand in Bangladesh. With international

brand name recognition and quality he expected that it would gain acceptability in the

Bangladesh market. When he returned, Partex as well as RC International carried out a wide

range of marketing research. After positive results, in 1996, the Corporate Head and the

Directors formed Partex Beverage Ltd. Mr. Rubel Aziz, one of the pioneers of the concept of

RC, was given the position of Managing Director. Funds worth Tk. 10 Crore were raised as part

of Equity from the Group. Although registered as a Public Limited Company, no public offerings

have been made as yet. The factory was setup in Rajendrapur, 40km away from Dhaka city. The

company commenced commercial production on 6th October 1997, and RC was launched in

Dhaka on 20th October 1997. This is the story of how Partex Beverage Limited became the sole

official bottler of Royal Crown Cola Co. International. (Official website of Partex Group)

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1.2.2 Its Purpose

RC cola was launched in the market for financial profit, but the main reason for Partex to launch

RC cola was to use its unused beverage capacity. (Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

1.2.3 Other items in the product line

The project we are doing is for RC cola and it has many products in its product line. RC orange,

RC lemon, Upper 10 and the best pure drinking water- Mum.

RC and other drinks in the product line are carbonated drinks except Mum, which is a drinking

water. RC is the most profitable product brand in the product line. (Official website of Partex

Group)

1.2.4 Substitutes of the product

The substitutes of soft drinks can be:

Water

Fruit Juices

Coffee

Tea

Energy Drinks

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2.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS

Situation analysis is the diagnostic activity of intercepting environmental conditions and changes

in light of the organization’s ability to capitalize potential opportunities and problems.

(Advertising and promotion, George & Michael)

2.1 Internal Situation:

The internal analysis assesses relevant areas involving the product/service offering and the firm

itself. The capabilities of the firm and its ability to develop and implement a successful

promotional program, the organization of the promotional department, and the ótccesses and

failures of past programs should be reviewed. The analysis should study the relative advantage

and disadvantage of performing the promotional functions in-house as opposed to hiring an

external agency. (Advertising and promotion, George & Michael)

2.1.1 Firm’s product

Partex group has different and diversified business in the country. Partex is a dynamic

organization always exploring new ideas and avenues to expand and grow further. Today they

have a stake in tobacco, food, water, soft, drinks, steel container, edible oil, wooden board,

furniture, cotton yarn and IT sector. Firm’s product and services are given below:

Danish condensed milk Rubel steel drum

Partex real estate Danish milk powder

Danish fruit juice Partex beverage & MUM

Amber cotton yarn Star particles board

Partex furniture Corvee maritime

Dhaka.com (ISP) Web paramedics

Fotoroma Partex Plastic

(Official website of Partex Group)

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2.1.2 Capabilities of the firm

Financial: Partex group finance is the nerve system centre of the corporation. It handles all kinds

of financial and accounting services. It has a strong financial position in the country with

different kinds of businesses. In 2000-2001 its targeting turnover is Tk. 8,000 million and

estimated growth rate 15% per annum. Net worth at current market price is Tk. 7,500 Million.

Machines and Technology: Partex Beverage has its own CO2 plant for producing all its

beverages unlike other competitors. It also has a one stop manufacturing technology. It uses the

same purification process for the water used in both MUM mineral water and other beverages.

So, RC Cola is ahead in quality in this perspective than other competitors.

Research and development: Partex group has a well-organized R&D department where they

are continuously trying to develop their product as per customer preference. As we all know that

their innovation of RC cola taste was a proven test for all of us. For this research development of

taste they started to compete with Coca cola with their unique brand. Partex group has spent lots

of money in their R&D not only for beverage but also for Partex Plastic, Partex furniture design,

office furniture design and so on. Their R&D department best work was to introduce the plastic

bottle for the first time in Bangladesh, keeping concern on the health side they were able to

convince customer that their plastic bottle materials is made up with food grade plastic and

approved by the FDA. The process used to manufacture this product is called Injection Molding.

It is a single stage transformation process. The manufacturing process is simple yet needs the

highest precision.

Marketing: Partex has a very strong distribution system. It has 9 depots including its main

factory in Dhaka in various regions of Bangladesh (Bogura, Sylhet, Khulna, Noakhali, Barishal,

Chittagong and 2 depots in Dhaka District.) From these dipos RC Cola and other beverages are

supplied within the desired time, anywhere in Bangladesh. This is a competitive edge that Partex

has because other competitors don’t have this facility. Over 350 distributors around the nation

are engaged in distributing the products and services. There are over 45,000 outlets where

products are marketed.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

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Human resource: Partex group consists of 17 concerns. Over 7,000 employees are working in

this commercial group. Their group work is the desired because new organizational trend are

implemented with the change of time. And it creates interdisciplinary capabilities that can speed

up work, trouble shooting and improve management quality is desired. It is an extension of the

staff type management model where multiple specialties are synthesized to achieve a simple

efficient and functional capability. As partex group have 17 different businesses and human

interaction between different sectors that will increase their efficiency as well as coordination

among themselves. That’s type of capabilities has been created by human resource department of

partex group. It is strongly supported by motivating and managing men and women so that they

can readily involve into complex work situations as needed. This matrix of people having

different knowledge and skills provides optimal solutions to work situations by having

multifunctional skilled people in the organization. Needless to say it saves time and cost, short-

circuiting the usual red tape. (New Age, M A Monsoor)

2.1.3 Study of the firm’s past success and failure

Success: In 2002 Partex beverage introduced plastic bottles cola and mum water for the first

time in Bangladesh. They have convinced the consumer that their plastic bottles where made of

food grade plastic and by that time all other beverages has started to produce their cola in plastic

bottles, which was a big success for partex group. In 2002 they introduce the new PET pack size

called RC mobile with a very organized marketing campaign.

Failure: Partex Beverage’s failure is that they were not able to promote MANGOLA juice and

RC ORANGE because of their marketing failure. It happened because of weak ad theme, which

didn’t attract the consumers that much as like RC Cola. Again in case of RC ORANGE they had

some coordination problem with the distribution process and climate change. For that, what

happens is that, at summer when customers look out for RC ORANGE, it is still in production

and when winter comes then it is distributed in the market but that time the demand is low.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

2.2 External Situation:

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External situation focuses on factors such as characteristics of the firm’s customers, market

segments, positioning strategies, and competitors. (Advertising and promotion, George &

Michael)

2.2.1 Customers

2.2.1.1Characteristics

As the Cola flavor is usually liked by youngsters, so RC Cola has been able to differentiate its

potential customers quite successfully. Its customers are University going students at their initial

stage of entering the “Youth” tagged life. They fall in the age range of 19-22. At this age they get

the taste of freedom and intend to come out from their traditional boundaries of home and known

surroundings, which they used to aspire in their previous ages. Youngsters at this age are in

midway between seriousness and vacillating decision making process or in other words a bit

confused. The important needs are love, fun and to get importance from the opposite gender.

They pass a very significant part of their daily life by hanging around here and there with friends

and group influence is very high at this age. Sense of freedom grows inside them and that leads

to building individual choice patterns, preferences and opinions. These people are window-

shoppers, fashion conscious and are attracted by product packages. RC Cola also gives them the

freedom to choose one of the best tasting cola at reasonable prices. Their tagline (Freedom of

Choice) is also catchy to this group. Partex intends to dominate the evoke set of this group

through its promotional activities, tagline, etc. (Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

2.2.1.2 Buying Pattern

Since RC cola is a beverage it is not a necessity and is not purchased by the buyers on a daily

basis. The purchase of RC cola is situational. Though it is considered that people buy RC lemon

after lunch and RC cola after dinner. It might also be purchased on different occasions like

parties, media events etc or for formal occasions like press conference, board meetings etc. So

taking these facts into account it can be concluded that there is no fixed buying pattern of RC

cola.

2.2.1.3 Factors influencing purchase decision

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The major factors that provoke buyers to purchase RC cola are as follows:

RC Cola has established itself well as a brand, and customers are always inclined towards

buying a brand.

RC Cola offers their consumers the best tasting cola at a reasonable price that influences

a lot of people towards the product.

As RC cola is a product of impulse purchase, its extensive marketing activities at various

Medias always keeps the consumers aware of the product that eventually enhances the

purchase intention.

2.2.2 Market Segmentation

Process of dividing the total market into several relatively homogenous groups with similar

product or service interest based on factors as demographic, psychographic characteristic,

geographic location or perceived product benefits. Marketers segment their markets in an attempt

to better satisfy customers’ needs and adapt their marketing activities to meet the needs of the

specific segment. (Contemporary marketing, Louis and David)

Partex has segmented RC Cola’s market in the following ways:

Demographic segmentation: It has segmented the market based on age and income range of

customers. They have segmented the market on the basis of age as Child (5-15), Teenagers (16-

18), Youth (19-22), Matured (23-30) and Adults (30-50). And on the basis of Income class they

have segmented the market as Upper class, Upper Middle class, Middle class, Lower middle

class, Lower class.

Geographic segmentation: It has segmented the market on the basis of geographic region of

customers. They have segmented the market as urban group, Sub-Urban group and rural group.

Psychographics segmentation:

It has divided the market on the basis of personality or lifestyles. They have carefully determined

the lifestyles and analyzed the activities, interests, and opinions of the segments mentioned

above and then they have correlated the lifestyles with the consumer’s product, brand and media

usage.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf, Advertising and promotion, George & Michael)

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2.2.3 Target Market

Group of people towards whom a firm markets its goods, services or ideas with a strategy

designed to satisfy their specific needs and preference. (Contemporary marketing, Louis and

David)

Age: They are considering people from age 10 to 50 years as their potential customers because

RC is a not a much differentiated product for any specific customer group. But among all the

groups they are mainly targeting people of Youth (19-22) age group.

Income class: Those who belong to upper class or upper middle class or middle class families.

Geographic region: People who live in urban areas.

Psychographics characteristic: They are targeting people who are freedom and fun loving,

smart, care-free, fashion conscious, not so confident rather a bit confused about life, window-

shoppers, high interest in opposite sex and high involvement in extracurricular activities.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

2.2.4 Positioning strategies

Developing a marketing strategy aimed at a particular market segment and designed to achieve a

desire position in the prospective buyers mind. (Contemporary marketing, Louis and David)

Positioning is the most important factor in establishing a brand in the marketplace. The position

indicates the brand or product image relative to the competing brands in the marketplace. RC

Cola is mainly positioned in two ways. They are:

Positioning by product user: This means positioning a product by associating it with a

particular user or group of users. Partex tries to position RC Cola in consumers mind in such a

way that they can associate RC Cola with their own characteristics and image. Since the main

target market of RC Cola is youth, so they have chosen tagline like “Freedom of choice” to

attract this group. The marketers focused on relating the marketing messages with the lifestyle

and emotions of the target market. The advertisements were prepared considering the smart, fun

loving, carefree, fashion conscious students. The marketers identified the students’ dream and

desire for fun and freedom and implemented their marketing communication accordingly.

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Positioning by price or quality: In their campaigns they claim that RC cola offers the

customers ‘value for money’, which means customers can get one of the best tasting cola in the

world at a reasonable price. This suggests that RC cola has used price/quality characteristics to

position the brand. The company has focused on the quality or value offered at a very

competitive price.

(Advertising and promotion, George & Michael; Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

2.2.5 Competitors Information

RC Cola has many competitors in the market. They consider two companies as their main

competitors. They are:

Pepsi (Transcom Beverage): Pepsi is a franchisee company like RC Cola that entered the local

markets much before RC Cola. The total market share of Pepsi in Bangladesh beverage market is

20%. (Government Policy and Competitive Business Environment in Bangladesh, Mondal

and Ahmad)

Mojo (Akij Beverage): Akij beverage is a local company and Mojo is the cola flavor soft drink

that they offer. Partex thinks that Mojo is growing very quickly and is a profitable product too.

The market share of Mojo is still under 5%, but it is increasing fast. (Interviewee, Md. Nahid

Yousuf)

Other competitors of RC Cola are: Coca-cola, Uro Cola, Pran Cola, Virgin Cola, etc.

3.0 SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying

the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors

that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective.

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The SWOT Analysis of RC cola is described here below:

3.1 Strengths

Strengths are attributes of the organization that are helpful to achieving the objective. RC Cola’s

major strengths are the followings:

Strong financial support:

Partex is the franchisor of RC cola. Other than RC Cola Partex has many other beverage brands

like MUM mineral water, Upper10, RC lemon etc. It also has some big profitable units like

Partex board, Partex furniture, etc. These entities have funded RC Cola at initial stage and can

also provide financial support at present.

Strong distribution system:

Another important strength that RC Cola has is its strong distribution system. Skilled, well-

trained, motivated sales personnel make the distribution strong. RC Cola has its distribution

channel all over Bangladesh. As a result, supply doesn’t fall down compared to demand.

Convenient package size:

RC Cola has different types of package size like 250ml, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L etc. This variation of

package size eases consumers to make purchase decision.

Package design:

It's a competitive marketplace out there, and when it comes to the "cola wars," strong brand

identification is critical in building brand share. Making sure consumers quickly and clearly

recognize a product brand comes down to one thing – packaging. The RC Cola logo is one of the

most distinctive in the industry, allowing for a contemporary package design.

Personal technical support:

RC Cola has its own technical support in every step of the production process. It’s like a one stop

service. For example, it has its own Carbon-di-oxide (CO2) plant, bottling plant etc. So, they

have full control over their whole manufacturing process, they are not dependent on outside

suppliers in this case.

Brand image: RC Cola is a well-reputed brand. It was the pioneer to introduce plastic

bottles as the container of soft drinks in the market. It also introduced cloudy lemon type soft

drinks in the market. These have an impact in consumers mind. So, the brand image is one of

its strength.

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3.2 Weakness

Weaknesses are attributes of the organization that are harmful to achieving the objective.

Weaknesses that RC Cola has are:

Lack of strong Marketing support:

The marketing department of RC cola wants the promotion to be image based. They want to

attract consumer attention by making ads using the Emotional approach. Whereas the

management wants the ads to be more product based using the Rational approach. So, the

marketing team doesn’t get strong marketing support from the management. As a result, RC has

less marketing activity and low brand value than its competitors. RC Cola also doesn’t get any

support from the international franchiser. It just uses the name and logo of International RC

Cola.

Product quality:

RC cola loses CO2 quickly after opening the bottle. So, the quantity of CO2 in RC cola is less

compared to other soft drinks. Consumers might not find the essence of soft drinks if it lacks

CO2 in it.

Absence of GRB (Glass Returnable Bottle):

Other soft drinks like Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, 7up etc have Glass Returnable Bottle (GRB), which

has a demand in the restaurants. Consumers are served drinks in glasses in the restaurants. So,

restaurant owners prefer to buy and serve the customers soft drinks contained in GRB, which is

also cost saving for them. RC cola lack in this sector as it doesn’t have GRB now. They also

can’t bring back the GRB because they have damaged all bottles they had and changed the

machines too. Starting it newly will be much costly.

Gas machines:

Most of the machines used for the production of RC cola are run by natural gas. Problem arises

when the pressure or supply of gas is less. Production as well as supply of RC cola might get

hampered because of less pressure of gas.

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Less consumer promotion and public awareness activities:

RC cola sponsors very few consumer events. Whereas competitors like Coke, Pepsi do it heavily

and frequently. For example, Pepsi is sponsoring the IPL. Also, it works very little in various

public awareness issues. This hampers the brand image of RC.

3.3 Opportunity

Opportunities are external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective. Following are

the opportunities that RC Cola has.

New product line:

RC has opportunity to introduce new product line like RC juice. This variation of product line

will help RC to compete not only in the cola market but also in the juice market with Pran juice,

Shezan juice etc. This can help RC to have a better brand image.

Package size:

RC cola has the opportunity to introduce new package size. For example, RC is planning to re-

lounge the 330 ml package size, which was promoted as ‘pocket’ RC.

Fountain machine:

Like Coke, Pepsi, Sprite etc, RC is also planning to introduce its Fountain machine. These

fountain machines can be seen in fast food restaurants, university canteens and also in vans in the

roads. This introduction of Fountain machine will help RC in its promotion.

Competitors life cycle in decline stage:

The life cycle of the main competitors of RC Cola like Pepsi and Coke are in decline stage. They

are in the beverage market for a long period of time and their market is almost saturated, they

have few new markets to explore and thus have less chance of growing further. Coke has seen its

market share eroded by nearly 25 per cent between 2000 and 2005. (New Age, Zahedul Islam)

So, This can be an opportunity for RC Cola.

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3.4 Threat

Threats are external conditions which could do damage to the business's performance. Threats

that RC Cola faces are:

Marketing budget of competitors:

Marketing budget of other cola brands like Coke, Pepsi etc are more than that of RC. As a result,

the marketing activity and brand value of competitors are more than RC cola. So, this is the

threat that RC is facing from its competitors.

Uneven trade offers by competitors:

Sometimes competitors provide uneven trade offers to consumers. For example, Virgin offers a

1L bottle free with a 1L bottle buy. As it is not possible for RC cola to provide this type of trade

offers, consumers might not find RC cola a better option. This can decrease its sales.

Brand image of competitors:

Coca Cola, Pepsi, Sprite etc are the pioneers of the soft drinks industry. Compared to those, RC

cola joined the industry a bit later. That’s why, many consumers have soft corner to those brands.

So, this is another threat that RC faces from its competitors.

No subsidies from government:

Partex is a private, family owned company. It doesn’t get any subsidies from the government.

Whereas other public owned companies receives government subsidies. So, those companies

have an advantage over RC cola, which is a beverage of Partex.

Recent world economic recession:

Because of the recent world economic recession, the prices of raw materials (such as

pharmaceuticals) used for the production of RC cola like sugar, artificial flavor, fuel to run

machineries etc are rising. This increases the production cost and RC can encounter budget

deficit, as a result.

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Unstable political situation and terror attacks in Bangladesh:

The unstable political situation in Bangladesh can increase the price of raw materials used by RC

cola. Terror attacks can hamper the marketing activity. So, as a result of these unstable political

situation and terror attacks in Bangladesh sales of RC cola can decrease. (Interviewee, Md.

Nahid Yousuf, Wikipedia)

4.0 ANALYSIS OF THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF

MAINTAINING THE PROGRAM IN HOUSE OR USING AGENCY:

In house ad agency is an agency that is set up, owned and operated by the firm. And outside ad

agency is a firm that is specialized in planning and executing the ad campaign for its clients.

The Partex group uses an outside ad agency named EXPRESSION LTD for their advertising and

campaign. Along with the total bill they pay Expression ltd 5% of the total bill as service charge.

4.1 The advantages of using outside agency are:

Availability of highly skilled expertise and creativity: - The ad agencies have better man power

and they provide the client with services from highly skilled expertise in their chosen field.

These agencies have already well-organized HR department (includes portfolio of artists, writers,

media researchers, etc) and R&D department which helps the company to be more precise with

their marketing strategy. Again the outside agencies sometimes have extraordinary expertise and

experience in some specific product or service.

Better knowledge about market: - They can educate the clients about the viewpoint of the

market, which is unknown to the firm. That’s why it becomes sometimes easy for firms to

identify the correct segment of the market.

Flexibility and customized service: - Outside agencies have more flexibility in terms of any

change and time. They can also offer customized services to their clients.

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4.2 Some disadvantages of the outside ad agency are:

Poor performance or services from ad agency: - This makes the client dissatisfied with the

quality of the advertising provide by the agency and may affect the firm’s image and reputation

for a long run. For these reason sometimes firms change their ad agencies frequently to change

the view of the customer.

Problem regarding poor communication: - If there is poor communication between agency and

firm then that makes the client and agency personnel fail to sustain a favorable working relation.

Conflict of interest: - Conflict of interest may develop when an agency merges with another

agency or when a client is part of an acquisition or merger. The client may outgrow the agency

or decide it needs a larger agency to handle its business. If the agency gets too larger the client

may represent too small percentage of its business to command attention.

High cost and low control: - Working with an outside ad agency is very costly in terms of bills

paid to the agency and other related costs. The firm also has less control over all the activities if

it hires an outside agency because it is required to give the agency much freedom to exhibit

highest performance and creativity.

(Advertising and promotion, George & Michael)

Considering all these related factors Partex group has chosen outside agency for their ads and

campaign. And it shows in their work that how well the ad agencies have work for their ads. So,

it can be said that choosing an outside agency is a good decision for Partex.

5. IMC OBJECTIVES

5.1 Objective 1:

Aware consumers about various newly introduced package size of RC cola in 2009.

Strategy to accomplish the objective:

At the initial stage RC Cola used GRB (Glass Returnable Bottles) but GRB used to break easily

and was not cost effective. So, Partex stopped producing RC Cola in GRB in 2001 and in 2002

they introduced RC Cola in plastic bottles. Virgin was the first in Bangladesh market to

introduce plastic PET bottles for soft drinks. But Virgin was not making profits because of its

distribution problem. RC cola is the first profitable beverage company in Bangladesh that

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introduced and maintained successfully the plastic bottle package (PET Bottle). They were the

first to name the 500ml bottle “Mobile” pack and that was a huge hit. But in 2001 they

introduced the plastic bottles. They also had bottles of 1 liter, 1.5 liter and 2 liter. But they found

out that in market there is demand for different sizes of packages. So, in 2008 they introduced

mini RC of 330 ml. At the last of 2008 they introduced another pack of 250 ml named “Tuny”

first, but changed to “Pocket RC” in 2009.

To create awareness about the newly introduced pack sizes they will: -

Continue broadcasting the new “Pocket RC” ad in Television and radio.

Will also start advertising the pocket RC in newspaper very soon.

Continue the ad campaigns at regular basis to always recall the consumers about

the products because they believe that due to lack of continuous recalls an initially

profitable product can lose its appeal and can become unprofitable.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

5.2 Objective 2:

Redesign the Bangla Label in the RC cola bottles inside the country and Arabic Labels for export

purpose to middle-east countries by 2009.

Strategy to accomplish the objective:

RC cola truly believes in cultural bonding. They believe in blending business with local cultures

to get emotionally attached with the local consumers and customers. So, they are planning to

redesign their Bangla label in RC cola bottles, which they have introduced few months ago. They

are planning to focus more on the use of Bangla and highlighting it more on the labels. By doing

this they believe that they can create an emotional bond with the consumers, which is going to

bring long-term benefit. They are also planning to expand their business to Middle East countries

like Saudi Arabia and especially cities like Dubai. And to do that they are going to introduce

Arabic labels in the RC bottles exported outside. To support these activities, they have some

communication plans. Such as-

Within two months they are going to start an advertising campaign, which is going to

comprise the main theme of International Mother Language Day and Independence Day

together to showcase the language diversification in RC cola labels.

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They have a plan to be a sponsor of the ‘Bhasha Protijogita’, which is mainly arranged by

Prothom Alo. They are taking these campaigns very seriously because they believe that

these will significantly add dimensions to their positioning strategies and image

development.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

5.3 Objective 3:

Increase visibility of RC cola in retail outlets within 2009.

Strategy to accomplish the objective:

RC Cola is a regular product and we know that most of the times people make decisions about

buying these products inside the store, not before coming to the store. For this reason it is very

important for a regular product brand like RC to plan some in-store advertising to attract the

consumers and make them buy the product. They have also found from research that their

competitor like Pepsi has these kinds of strategies and their visibility in various retail outlets is

much more than RC cola. So they are focusing very seriously in this matter. Up till now, though

RC is a well-known brand, it hasn’t focused on these types of advertising or promotional actions.

To increase their visibility they are planning to do the following things-

Provide RC cola racks to the retailers which will be designed in flashy colors, RC Cola logo

and slogans. They believe this will attract the attention of window-shoppers.

Make some sort of easy condition deal with the retailers to keep their products in a suitable

and visible place in the shop. They will also provide RC cola stickers and posters to display in

the outlets.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

5.4 Objective 4:

Increase 30% growth of RC Cola by 2009.

Strategy to accomplish the objective:

A few large firms dominate the market for soft drinks. Coca-cola, Pepsi, RC Cola, Virgin, Uro

Cola and Pran Cola, Mojo are the major producers of soft drinks in Bangladesh. The market

shares of Coca Cola, Virgin, Pepsi and RC Cola are 40%, 25%, 20% and 10% respectively.

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However, the company is claiming that at present RC has 50% of the Cola market share. Use of

PET bottles instead of glass-made ones, wider distribution network and competitive pricing

strategy have boosted the market share of RC Cola of Partex Beverage, which is the second

largest local soft drink company.   RC is also the market leader in rural areas commanding

around 45 per cent share. The country's soft drinks market started to pick up since 2003 and hit a

record high of over Tk 1000 crore in 2005-06 fiscal year. The market, comprising categories

such as cola, clear, cloudy lemon and orange, reached about Tk 900 crore in the fiscal year 2007-

08 from Tk 800 crore a year ago. The marketing manager (Md. Akhtaruzzaman) of RC, brand

marketer Partex Beverage, whose RC lemon leads the market in cloudy lemon segment, claimed

that his company secured about 15 % growth in sales in January-June period of 2008. So, RC

believes that it still has tremendous potential in terms of growth and opportunity to increase the

market share and wants to increase the growth by 30% within this year. They believe that they

can achieve this objective by implementing the following plans-

Increasing support from management in terms of advertising budget and other technical

supports.

Introducing new products in the market such as fruit juices.

Introducing new pack sizes. They believe package is gradually becoming a very

important part of communication tool.

They are going to offer sales discount, coupons and premiums to their consumers through

the retailers.

(New Age, Zahedul Islam; Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf; Government Policy and

Competitive Business Environment in Bangladesh, Mondal and Ahmad; The Daily star,

Sohel Parvez)

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5.5 Objective 5:

Continuously reinforce the brand image in consumers mind and increase it more within 2009.

Strategy to accomplish the objective:

RC Cola believes in continuous focus and actions. They believe that no matter how big a firm is

and how popular a brand is, the popularity and attractiveness may fade out with time. So, to

continuously attract and retain customers, RC Cola does continuous promotions in regular basis.

They also accept that they are lacking behind than other big competitors like Pepsi (Transcom

Beverage) and Mojo (Akij Beverage) in creating a brand image in customers mind. A major

reason behind this is their management’s reluctance in doing “Image based” advertising. RC

cola’s management mainly relies on traditional “Product based” advertising. In the changing

world environment, RC cola’s marketing department takes this as a major drawback of their

company. So in 2009, they are planning to make some actions in changing this traditional

approach and switch to “Image Based” advertising to increase their brand image in the local

market.

In the course of action they are planning to do the following things-

Increase management support

Sponsor and take part in various social and public service activities

Sponsor and organize various youth based concerts and various cultural activities more

than before.

(Interviewee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

6.0 Media Mix:

Media mix is the combination of all the medias used by a firm to promote a product or service.

The objectives sought, the characteristics of the product or service, the size of the budget, an

individual preferences are some factors that determine what combination of media will be used.

Partex promotes RC cola heavily. At the initial stage the promotional campaigns of RC cola were

very successful in attracting new customers. And with the help of strategic marketing efforts it

succeeded in acquiring significant share of Beverage market in Bangladesh. Partex uses variety

of media and media vehicles to promote RC Cola. The medias they use are- Television,

Newspaper, Radio, Billboard, etc. A media portfolio and advantages and disadvantages of the

medias they use are given below:

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6.1 Television

Television is the ideal advertising medium. Its ability to combine visual images, sound, motion

and color presents the advertiser with the opportunity to develop the most creative and

imaginative appeals of any medium. However TV does have certain limitations.

Partex mainly uses TV as the primary media. Most of its promotional campaigns are based on

TV ads. They have a large number of TV ads among which some are huge hits. They broadcast

their ads mainly in private channels such as Channel I, NTV, ATN etc. They almost use 10 crore

Tk yearly on TV advertising.

6.1.1 Advantages of Television:

Creativity and Impact: - Perhaps the greatest advantage of TV is the opportunity it provides for

presenting the advertising message. The interaction of sight and sound offers tremendous

creative flexibility and makes possible lively and attractive representation of products and

services.

Coverage and cost effectiveness: - Television advertising makes it possible to reach large

audiences nearly everyone, regardless of age, sex, income, or educational level, watches at least

some TV. Most people do so one a regular basis. Marketers rely on TV advertising a lot because

most of them believe that TV advertising has the best coverage at a reasonable cost.

TV also has other advantages like creativity and attention, selectivity and flexibility, etc.

6.1.2 Disadvantages of Television:

High cost association: - Despite the efficiency of TV in reaching large audiences, it is an

expensive medium in which to advertise. The high cost of TV stems not only from the expense

of buying airtime but also from the costs of producing a quality commercial.

Lack of selectivity: - Some selectivity is available in the television through variations in program

content, geographic area or time and cable TV. But advertisers who are seeking a very specific,

often small, target audience find the coverage of TV often extends beyond their market or in a

word wastage occurs, reducing its cost effectiveness.

Other disadvantages of TV include fleeting message, clutter, etc. problems.

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6.2 Print Media

Print Media is also a very useful media to use in promotional purpose. It includes newspapers

and magazines. The traditional role of newspapers has been to deliver prompt, detailed coverage

of news as well as to supply other information and features that appeal to readers. But most

newspapers rely heavily on earnings from advertising to run smoothly. Newspaper generally

includes the daily publications.

Partex spends a lot on Print Media advertising. It mainly uses Prothom Alo and Jugantor to

promote RC Cola. Partex generally don’t uses magazine to advertise RC Cola, but in case of

campaigns they sometimes use it.

6.2.1 Advantages of Print Media

High coverage: - One of the primary advantages of print media is the high degree of market

coverage or penetration that they offer an advertiser. It makes them a truly mass medium and

provides advertisers with an excellent opportunity for reaching all segments of the populations

with their message.

Time flexibility: - The daily newspapers offer the flexibility of changing the ad contents,

placement of ads, etc. decisions on daily basis.

6.2.2 Disadvantages of Print Media

Limited reach and frequency: - Daily newspapers and magazines have limited reach and

frequency because people generally keep a copy of these with them for short period. And very

few people focus on the advertisements in a publication rather than the main items. The same ads

also don’t repeat frequently.

Cost: - In comparison with the reach and frequency measure, the cost that is incurred to advertise

one product in a reputed print media is much high.

6.3 Radio

Radio has been called the Rodney Dangerfield of media because it gets no respect from many

advertisers. Dominated by other mediums, radio has evolved into a primary local advertising

medium. Radio has also become a medium characterized by highly specialized programming

appeal to very narrow segments of population.

Partex uses private radio stations such as Radio Today and Radio Foorti to broadcast its ads.

Like magazines, radio is used by Partex exclusively at the time of introducing a campaign.

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6.3.1 Advantages of Radio

Cost and Efficiency: - One of the main strengths of radio as an advertising medium is its low

cost. Radio commercials are very inexpensive to produce. They require only a script of the

commercial to be read by the radio announcer or a copy of a pre-recorded message that can be

broadcasted by the station.

Mental Imagery: - A potential advantage of radio that is often overlooked is that it encourages

listeners to use their imagination when processing a commercial message. While the creative

options are limited, many advertisers take advantage of the absence of a visual element to let

consumers create their own picture of what is happening in a radio message.

6.3.2 Disadvantages of radio

Creative limitations: - A major drawback of radio is the absence of a visual image. The radio

advertisers cannot show the product, demonstrate it or use any type of visual appeal or

information.

Fragmentation: - Another problem with radio is the high level of audience fragmentation due to

the large number of stations. The percentage of the market turned to any particular station is

usually very small.

6.4 Billboard

Billboards are types of outdoor advertising. Partex has in total 18 billboards in the country.

Among these 18 billboards, 3 are in Chittagong and rests are placed in various strategic points of

Dhaka City like beside Mohakhali Flyover.

6.4.1 Advantages of Billboard

Wide Coverage of local markets: - With proper placement, a broad base of exposure is possible

in local markets, with both day and night presence.

Geographic flexibility: - Billboards can be placed along highways, near stores, or on mobile

billboards, almost anywhere that laws permit. Local, regional, or even national markets may be

covered.

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6.4.2 Disadvantages of Billboards

Waste Coverage: - While it is possible to reach very specific audience, in many cases the

purchase of outdoor results in a high degree of waste coverage. It is not likely that everyone

driving past a billboard is part of the target market.

Limited message capabilities: - Because of the speed with which most people pass the billboard

ads, exposure time is short, so messages are limited to a few words and/ or an illustration.

Lengthy appeals are not likely to be effective.

6.5 Others

Other than these major medias, partex uses some other medias too to promote RC Cola. They

are-

Sponsorship of sport events: - RC Cola sponsors many sport events especially cricket matches to

increase its brand image and promote RC cola through the process.

Transit ads: - Sometimes Partex uses transit ads like ads on the outside walls of vehicles to

promote RC Cola.

Iftar schedule: - At the time of Ramadan, RC cola distributes Iftar schedule to its consumers in

collaboration with print media partners.

Sponsoring TV Show: RC Cola also sponsors various TV shows like RC Travel On.

6.6 Special promotional campaigns:

At the time of various occasions like EID, PUJA, NEW YEAR, PAHELA BAISHAKH,

RAMADAN, etc, Partex makes special ads to attract consumers. They broadcast these ads in TV,

newspapers and radio.

(Advertising and promotion, George & Michael; Interviwee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

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7.0 BUDGET DETERMINATION

Partex is mainly following Top- down approach in determining the annual budget of RC Cola.

Under the top-down approach they are again following two processes, Percentage of sales

approach and Arbitrary allocation approach.

The total amount of money to be spent on promotional campaigns of RC cola depends on the

previous year’s annual sales. Partex allocates 10% of previous year’s sales on all kinds of

marketing activities. From this 10% total budget, 6% is spent on consumers (general people), and

4% is allocated for customers (business customers such as retailers). Again whether this

allocated budget will be spent or not depends on the feeling of top management.

Last year, about Tk 18 crore was budgeted for all marketing activities and of that Tk 12 crore

was spent on advertising purpose.

The allocation of the total amount spent on advertising in various medias is shown below:

Medias Budget (2008) Percentage (approximate)

Television 10 crore 82%

Print Media 70 lacs 6%

Radio 20 lacs 2%

Billboard 30 lacs 3%

Others 80 lacs 7%

Total 12 crore 100%

(Advertising and promotion, George & Michael; Interviwee, Md. Nahid Yousuf)

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8.0 EVALUATING AND CONTROLLING

RC cola was launched with a vision to deliver the consumers the finest quality of product.

Subsequently it has been highly accepted and appreciated by the consumers of the country. Such

acceptance has made the brand a market leader within a very short time. To the target customers,

RC cola now stands as a symbol of freedom of choice.

8.1 Recommendation

The Partex group management uses the rational approach for their product’s promotion,

which is basically emphasizing the product attributes in the ads rather than emotional

approach. So, to be more effective in the ad campaign they should use emotional

approach in their ads to attract more customers.

As RC cola losses CO2 after opening the bottles and losses the essence of cola taste, so

they should come up with more new ways to keep the sufficient CO2 inside the bottles.

Ultimately it will give the customer more taste to have a RC cola.

RC should make modifications in its budget determination process because a top down

approach is a weak form of determining budget. As a leading company it should adopt

strong and acceptable forms of budget determination.

RC can also include some more beverages in their product line such as RC juice items.

This will attract the children and health conscious people much more and create a new

market for their new product with special items like juice.

We all know that Coca cola and Pepsi has engaged themselves in some controversial

issues in recent years like, these companies are financing to Israel soldiers with their

profit earns. RC as a local product can create new market by taking the advantage of this

kind of issues.

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