Signal Toothpaste

Group(D) members:
1. Reem Mohamed Amr.
2. Sama Ahmed el Sayed Abdo.
3. Sohaila Mostafa Mohamed.
4. Sohaila Essam Awad.
5. Salma Atef Hanafi.

Submitted to: Dr. Alaa Tarek

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Table of Contents
Signal’s History .......................................................................................................iv
Signal’s Vision .........................................................................................................iv
Signal’s Mission ......................................................................................................iv
Why we’ve choose Signal’s Complete
8 Nature Elements toothpaste? ............................................................................... v
SOWT analysis for Signal ...................................................................................... v
Strengths ...........................................................................................................................v
Opportunities .................................................................................................................. vi
Weaknesses ................................................................................................................... vii
Threats ........................................................................................................................... vii

External environment analysis (PESTEL) ....................................................... viii

Political......................................................................................................................... viii
Environmental .............................................................................................................. viii
Social .............................................................................................................................. ix
Technological ................................................................................................................. ix
Economic ..........................................................................................................................x
Legal factors .....................................................................................................................x
Natural ............................................................................................................................ xi

Consumer behavior analysis for Signal ................................................................xi

Needs and motives ......................................................................................................... xi
Perception ....................................................................................................................... xi
Learning ......................................................................................................................... xi
Beliefs and Attitudes ..................................................................................................... xii
Reference group influence............................................................................................. xii
Culture and subculture .................................................................................................. xii
Trends that Signal’s toothpaste build upon ...................................................... xiii
Marketing targeting strategy .............................................................................. xiv
Selected target market at base .............................................................................xiv

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Analysis of branding strategies and branding equity ........................................xiv
Product Positioning ................................................................................................ xv
Product differentiation .......................................................................................... xv
POPs .......................................................................................................................xvi
PODs .......................................................................................................................xvi
Product life cycle stage ....................................................................................... xvii
Competitive strategy analysis ............................................................................ xvii
Pricing strategy .................................................................................................. xviii
Distribution strategy .............................................................................................xix
Promotional strategy.............................................................................................. xx
The type of marketing orientation used by your company and your
argument for that ..................................................................................................xxi
Conclusion for the report ................................................................................... xxii
References page .................................................................................................. xxiii

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Signal’s History:

 Signal was developed by Unilever's oral health care experts, bringing families
around the world a range of scientifically advanced toothpaste and toothbrushes
to keep tooth decay at bay.
 The brand was launched in Europe in 1961 and since then Signal has been at the
forefront of oral care breakthroughs.
 Signal has been spreading smiles for over 60 years. With availability in over 48
countries and a top market position in eastern emerging
 Signal has been working to build a cavity-free Sri Lanka and in 1983 pioneered
the introduction of fluoride toothpaste to the country.
 Signal is available in 40+ varieties all over the world.
 Signal is not for specific type of people, it’s for all genders, ages, income class,
social class,

Signal’s Vision:

 Signal has a family vision as they play on the emotions of family care for their
toothpastes, often writing” family pack” or “family protection” on their
packaging, and showing the happy caring family in the commercials sharing the
values of its target customers.
 "Whiter teeth and a purified mouth.”

Signal’s Mission:

 “Together we can beat cavities”

 “Transform everyday habits through behavior change”

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Why we’ve choose Signal’s Complete 8 Nature Elements toothpaste?:

As the new edition of Signal is one of the best toothpaste we have ever used, and
we've tried most of them as we trust in natural products more than the chemical one.
We have recommended those natural toothpaste to many people and watched their
teeth become whiter and healthier. It works for everyone every time.

SOWT analysis for Signal toothpaste product:

1- Strengths:

 Signal’s company have a variety in their production line so, in FMCG the more
in depth your product line the more chances of success increase because the cost
of logistics drops further
 Unilever’s Support. As Signal is a product line for Unilever which provides for
Signal financial stability, as well as marketing and distribution support, which
has aided the brand’s global expansion.
 Recently signal starting to upgrade their production line by customizing the
products to meet the needs of customers.
 So there is a new line all the ingredients are from the nature like (Charcoal -
Mint – Coco- Clove).
 The company have online presence in a lot of global apps such as Amazon and
Noon
 The official website for signal is includes the ingredients of the products for the
customer to know the good for them which’s mean that they always working on
facilitating the buying process.

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 -Through the upgrading process for the company the distribution ratio increased
because it’s not only in big markets or international online stores it’s also in local
supermarkets so it reaches all layers of society.

2-Opportunities:

 Customers are becoming more interested in whitening products and their smile's
look Increasing because awareness of oral hygiene.
 Signal has made improvement of product advertising through the advantage of
globalization and selling through the internet.
 An innovative marketing and packaging strategy. In order to generate buzz about
the brand, Signal should look for an innovative approach to market the product.

In this category, the innovative packaging also draws the consumer’s attention.

 Expanding their product line and increase their sales through creating offerings.
 Tapping the rural market in developing economies and improving Lifestyle. As
It is one of the major challenges that every FMCG company is facing nowadays.
With urban markets close to saturation, the rural markets are the only hope for
reaping profits for the company.
 Usage rate. People need to be made aware about the optimum usage rate for these
products so that the market utilizes the product as forecasted by the company
Usage rate: People need to be made aware about the optimum usage rate for these
products so that the market utilizes the product as forecasted by the company.

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3- Weakness:

 Signal faces a huge competitive markets like Close-up, Sensodyne and Colgate
as it doesn’t affect the mouth as other companies and the element that combined
together to make a strong product in the market and limited offering and limited
products.
 By the time Signal reduce from diversity and include a real activated ingredients
and coming up with new products like Oral care segment.
 The price of signal toothpaste is low so sometimes this cannot help with the
competition brands as there’s different in the rang of the price. The customer
might see that it’s not worth buying.
 The product contains a lot of foaming. Once you start brushing it doesn’t help to
active in deep.
 Hug dependence on relations and there isn’t company buyers who sell signal’s
product and this effect consuming buying directly from relation’s industry.
 Signal is producing unrecyclable plastic tube which damage our environment by
the time.

4-Threats:

 Competition in the market: With increasing number of local & national players
it’s becoming very hard for the companies to differentiate themselves from
others.
 Many varieties of toothpaste can be confusing for the consumer
 Indirect competition include gums, mints and breathe spray that costumer would
prefer over our toothpaste

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 Many people in rural still clean their teeth with traditional products like (salt,
neem twigs)
 Also some people would not use toothpaste because of animal testing.

 External environment analysis (PESTEL) for Signal:

 Political  It’s about the political factors that may affect the company’s sales
and overall business is quite diverse. Signal has being spread across the globe, it
may get affected depending on the political stability of the regional government.
Also the inter-country trade deals or trade agreements can affect the Signal’s
business. The political stability of the country, laws of the land such as law
regarding the prohibition of certain chemicals or powder, trade barriers, the threat
of military invasion, political control of the labor unions at places and laws
regarding compulsion of labor wages would harm or boost Signal’s business.

 Environmental  Each company has to deal with different environmental

laws and regulations depending on the type of product that it manufactures and
the location of it’s operation

The environmental conditions of a particular region may affect the availability of

the product, manufacturing method and type of climate changes

Toothpaste involvement needs to know the level of consumer activism regarding

environmental concerns, it will help toothpaste involvement in developing
environmentally friendly products. For example, tooth sensitivity increases in
summer because of drinking and eating cold food such as (ice cream, smoothies,
iced drinks etc.)

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 so signal launched 8 natural elements that helps in eliminating tooth sensitivity
and used one of the most effective pain killer which is •clove•

Signal tubes are not yet fully recyclable. The tube may be disposed of with the
residual waste. Signal is a Unilever brand. In 2016, Unilever revised the
packaging waste strategy and set a target of including at least 25% recycled
plastic in plastic packaging by 2025. In 2017, Unilever also set the goal of
ensuring that by 2025 all plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or
compostable.

 Social  Social factors that have an impact on Signal's operations are the direct
reflection of the society on which Signal operates ,thoroughly understands the
market with

Its age factor for example: Signal is interested in making a toothpaste specifically
for children.

And with its cultural preferences factor for example: product preferences the
lifestyle of the locals effects on production and has to consider what kind of
health standards and what type of product is preferred largely and have to adjust
its product line accordingly.

All of this would help Signal get better space in the market.

 Technological  Now a day people spend most of their time on technological

means like smart phones. Signal toothpaste is not a technological invention
despite that the company could take part in technology as the company made a
website and social media pages to market its products and to reach the highest
number of consumers. This is an example for modern marketing
approach called Digital marketing.
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 Economic  Signal being FMCG, its sales depends on the demand of the
products & the demand depends on the circumstances of the market if it’s
monopoly, duopoly or prefect competition

The rate of GDP growth will impact the growth of signal.

The rate of currency exchange also will impact the percentage of profitability for
the company because it’s not manufacturing in every country.

Also if the country has a higher unemployment so the company will hire workers
but will low wages due to the higher percentage of unemployment and this will
reduce the cost.

 Legal factors  it’s about the health and safety laws in the country and what
Toothpaste Involvement needs to do to comply with them.

Different countries have different attitude towards health and safety so it is better
for Toothpaste Involvement to conduct a thorough research before entering the
market.

Signal is a Multinational company, it has its own sets of policies of operations,

however, when it operated in various countries, it has to take into consideration
the legal framework of that country.
Food safety board also expects a certain level of quality standards to be
maintained to keep the customers safe, and this has to be properly followed by
Colgate according to the region it operates.

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 Natural  Recently signal went with people to nature and natural product so
they can keep updated with the trends so they have
involved natural components into their toothpaste as an
example: charcoal white toothpaste, herbal toothpaste.

 Consumer behavior analysis for Signal:

1. Needs and motives:
 As the motivation plays an important role in people needs, Signal applied that on
her products by providing “Signal sensitive” for those who need an effective
toothpaste but still suffering from sensitive teeth.
 Also motivation affects brands and buying situations that depends on people

needs and reaching their satisfaction, so as this applied on Signal they are aiming
to provide toothpaste with charcoal that is activated to whiteness and teeth
cleaning 3x better And by toothpaste whitening could reach a high level of self-
esteem for customers and satisfy their needs.

2. Perception:

 As Perception influences people behavior Signal in her 2018 Advertising’s song,

sang for “healthy food and vegetables” and showed how it affects our health and
teeth, and these might be a visual examples in raising the awareness of the
importance of having a healthy teeth and how the healthy teeth is capable of
eating healthy food and how this all provide us a healthy life.

3. Learning:

 When I was at preparatory school, Signal Egypt where sending representative to

our classes to give us a free samples to try it. And from here we
knew about Signal, we tried it, it was effective in cleaning our

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 mouth. So that shows that the representative could call us for action to buy
Signal’s products on the long time based on our experience with the free sample.
By the time we got our drives, to have a clean mouth and white teeth. And every
time we go to buy a toothpaste we always buy Signal as responding to our
reinforcement.

4. Beliefs and Attitudes:

 Beliefs and attitudes influence the customer buying behavior, a belief is a

descriptive thought that a person holds about something, for example I have a
belief that signal is the best toothpaste and it’s based on my opinion according to
that I’ll have attitude towards it by liking and buying it.

5. Reference group influence:

 Signal in Egypt played on this point in a good way as they choose the most
adorable characteristic the Egyptians love, which is Donia Samir Ghaniem, who
plays a strong role in Signal’s advertisement on social media. And because of her
huge number of fans, most of people followed her and started to use Signal
toothpaste as they trust Donia’s choices.

6. Culture and subculture:

 Signal toothpaste is an identity-carrying product that has value and at the same
time economic and social development factors. An example of an economic
factor: the higher the number of consumers, the greater the positive economic
factor. An example of a social factor: the social factor also has an impact on the
purchase of the product, for example, the percentage of purchasing Signal paste
varies from the cities to the rural places.

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 Trends that Signal’s toothpaste build upon:

Signal Egypt, most of the time, launch its campaigns during Egyptian fests, such as
spring festival. Egyptians in this festival are used to eat many kinds of salty fish and
colorful eggs.

Therefore, Signal exploits that and launches many campaigns to aware people with
the importance of having clean mouth and encourages them to wash their teeth after
every meal.

Also Signal focuses on children in most of their

campaigns. As the launch huge campaign when it’s
time to back to school. They sent many delegates to
many schools. They make funny activities with the
children and distribute free samples so the children
would always remember that signal is a good
toothpaste.

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 Marketing targeting strategy:

Unilever has an extensive portfolio of brands across personal care. They offer
products that address the different needs and wants of their customers. Signal uses
a mix of demographic, geographic and psychographic segmentation variables such
as age, region, income, belief, and many
others to address the changing needs of the
customers. Unilever uses differentiating
targeting strategies to make the products
available to the customer based on the type
of need.

 Selected target market at base:

Signal is a family product, thus used by family members of all age groups. The users
of this toothpaste are everyone in the family who looks for strong, healthy teeth
without problems like cavity and tooth decay. Signal makes its products favorable to
the local communities by adding a local touch that appeal to the interests of the local
people.

 Analysis of branding strategies and branding equity:

One of the best business strategies used by Unilever is that it integrates its global
strategies with the local community to attract consumers who are attracted to the
products that are famous worldwide; however, it can hold on to its local essence.

The brand equity of Signal’s toothpaste consists of three components first one is:

1-Consumer perception. Signal is known all over the world and attached to people’s
mind by its product. So that Signal has been leading consumer

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company worldwide & it’s almost have 50% of market share (because it’s owned by
Unilever companies).

2-Signal have been investing in commercial advertising & also investing in various
marketing campaigns to be seen and deliver in all over the world & to be more
attached to peoples mind.

3-The campaign & advertising that signal has been doing have a positive effect on
the company & in the financial issue

4-The good experience that the consumer have with signal toothpaste it’s have
positive effects on the company

 Product Positioning:

It is a form of marketing that present the benefits of your product to a particular

target audience, oral hygiene is crucial for everyone to stay healthy, attractive and
to be able to enjoy types of food and drinks, throughout the years different products
were made for this purpose such as toothpaste, tooth brushes, mouthwash etc..
Unilever: Especially Signal is among the most influential and popular names
producing oral hygiene products.

 Product differentiation:

It’s a result of effort to make a product or brand stand out as a provider. Of unique
values to customers in comparison to its competitors. Signal has four different
products which are:

1- Signal core: for strong health teeth

2- Signal herbal: cooling relief from inner heat
3- Signal whitening: for strong white teeth
4- Signal triple action: for complete all round protection
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Also signal have Signal kids which target the younger tooth brusher.

 POPs:

POPs is an abbreviation of “point of purchase”. It’s a term used by marketers and

retailers when planning the placement of consumers products such as product
displays. Our customers will expect to find Signal toothpaste available when and
where they need them, in quantity that suit them , in surroundings that enable them
to make a good choice between products and also think of new strategies for
distributing it among customers.

We consider the following options: Dealing directly without customers, retailing,

selling through the internet, mail order, used a wholesaler - reduce administration.

Signals product distribution is immense, Signal toothpaste is physically located in

the oral health aisle of stores.

 PODs:

PODs is an abbreviation for “point of differences”. Signal is philanthropist and

ethically involved (initiative in developing countries) on their website they
communicate how they would like to be perceived by their consumers, an initiative
they call ‘Signal oral care service’ they appeal to consumers emotions and from this.
They’re building a strong brand personality which again is important when building
their brand community, they identify themselves with a special segment, the
emotional consumers, and by taking this approach they’re able to distinguish
themselves from their competitors.

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 Product life cycle stage:

1-Introduction: Signal has been spreading smiles since 40 years with availability in
over 48 countries and a top market position in eastern emerging economies like
Srilanka.

Signal is a brand no competitor can afford to avoid. Signal has established itself as
a strong, reliable brand.

2-Growth: In the coming years, signal is going to Increase in the toothpaste markets
but gradually every year through promotional strategies it can spread its brand name
which can help increase sales. The product line of signal is wide spread right from
lower end to higher end and addressing the basic needs of decay protection and
advanced whitening to specific medical needs. Signal provides good taste, fresh
breath, clean teeth, more foam and proper cleaning

3-Maturity: Signal made heavy competition search for other target markets
,psychological pricing methods to gain market share, signal attracted the customers
by different ways like attracting the kids to the bright colors of the toothpaste and
the variants available in the market are Tom and Jerry (orange packs) Barbie (pink
backs) and Superman (dark blue backs).

4-Decline: Today’s Signal mouthwash is not much popular and people shifted
themselves by dental mouthwash and cream. Signal has only one type of mouthwash
so people shift to another brand have varieties of mouthwash.

 Competitive strategy analysis:

The main competitive advantage is that Signal toothpaste product line is well known
and trusted brands worldwide. The very strong brand image is
attributed to the simplicity of the products, by giving the consumers

xvii
an all-in-one solution. Furthermore Signal has built up trust with the cooperation
with dental profession and this has contributed to Signal toothpaste being the brand
recommended and used most often by dentists worldwide.

Nowadays Signal also holds patents on special ingredients such as Tricolsan and
Copolymer which guarantee an anti-bacterial effect and differentiate their products
from competitor products. Signal consequently becoming a market leader for
toothpaste products. Another competitive advantage is the close cooperation with
thousands of small shop owners and local wholesalers.

This cooperation ensures greater availability to their products as well as to provide

the right assortment of products with best visibility in each store.

 Pricing strategy:

The product pricing is the most important aspect in establishing

the product's worth and the Company's profit. It is a crucial
element in the marketing mix because it determines the product
line's sole objective.

As a result, the price of Signal Tooth paste is carefully considered. The Signal Tooth
Paste product line is diverse, with varied prices assigned to different goods. It is also
the company's essential criterion, revenue that determines if the decided price is at
least above the unit average cost. Also, when pricing a product, prices of related
products must be taken into account. The following Company aims and goals rely
heavily on product pricing.

1. Maintain maximum market share. 2. Maximum current profit.

2. Survival in the market. 4. Maintain market leadership.

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 Distribution strategy:

Our customers will expect to find Signal toothpaste

available when they need it & that’s what we are working
in our distribution strategy for the company.

Signal’s company thinks for new distribution strategies to

distribute signals toothpaste among the customers but
they consider the following options:

- Dealing directly with the consumers.

- Retailing or selling through the internet or mail order.

- Buying by using specialist intermediary agent or outlet catalogs company.

- Use a wholesaler reduce administration.

The company try to make everything possible so that it’s considered the online
buying, mail or specialist intermediary agent or any other way as a part of the buying
process. Signals product distribution is immense, Signal toothpaste is physically
located in the oral health of the stores but it’s also found in the outlets like
supermarkets. The company in her distribution process now care the most about food
stores/supermarkets because from the company point of view, the family members
come all together for monthly or weekly purchases which involves children/parents
both as choice members. The drugstores have increased the amount of shelf space
so that our company will focus in her distribution strategies on the medical stores
where the supply of our product would highlight the main unique selling preposition
that is the enamel care, the protection coast for teeth. The results of this all efforts
we will find that signal is available worldwide in over 48 countries.

xix
It works on go-to-market strategies to reach out each and every part of the country
with its varied types of the distribution channel. Unilever is closely working with
2700+ redistribution stockiest and shoppers every day to maximize their sales so that
too makes sure that whether it is a small stores or drug store or pops and moms store
at a distant location their product should reach to all these locations on time every
time.

 Promotional strategy:

Promotion is not just about advertising the business, nor is it just about selling. It's
about pulling together a range of techniques, in the most cost-effective way we can,
to initiate, increase and maintain awareness of what Signal offers to its customers.
It’s about moving the customers from total lack of awareness through to the point at
which they actually buy and buy again.

Unilever uses the following promotional tactics, arranged according to significance:

1. Advertising (primary). 2. Sales Promotion.

3. Public Relations. 4. Personal Selling.

5. Direct Marketing. 6. Advertising serves.

As the primary means of promoting Unilever’s products. Many of the company’s

brands have advertisements on television and online media. The firm also
occasionally uses sales promotion, such as discounts and product bundles. In terms
of public relations, the Unilever Foundation’s activities enhance corporate image
and brand strength. The company sometimes implements personal selling in
collaboration with retailers to operate kiosks for certain occasions or promotional
events. Direct marketing is the least significant promotional tactic
in Unilever’s marketing mix. This tactic involves directly engaging

xx
client organizations to promote suitable products. Based on this section of the
marketing mix, Unilever heavily relies on advertising as the main factor that
influences consumer perception about the company’s consumer goods. Signal has
taken the help of social and digital media to promote its advertising campaign at its
maximum capacity. Their promotional strategy has proved effective as the brand has
gained the trust of the consumers and the people have started identifying signal with
quality.

 The type of marketing orientation used by your company and your

argument for that:

Signal uses the societal marketing concept as focuses on delivering superior value
to customers in a way that maintains or improves the customers' and the society's
well beings. And I think that this orientation fits our modern era as it will hence
organize various types of activities or launch different types of programs to show
the concern of the companies towards the society. It calls for sustainable marketing,
socially and environmentally responsible marketing that meets the present needs of
consumers. As Signal are looking forward to produce toothpaste tube that is
biodegradable.

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 Conclusion for the report:

To sum up, we have just talked about Signal’s history and its objectives toward its
customers. We’ve shown Signal’s most strategies they follow. We made SOWT
analysis for Signal toothpaste product, PESTEL analysis, and Consumer behavior
analysis for Signal that showed that Beliefs and attitudes influence the customer
buying behavior as Signal is the best toothpaste and it’s based on my opinion
according to that I’ll have an attitude towards it by liking and buying it. We also
talked about Signal’s marketing targeting strategy as they are targeting families and
their children. We talked about the brand equity of Signal’s toothpaste that consists
of main three components and we have explained them in detail. We knew that
Signal is among the most influential and popular names producing oral hygiene
products as Signal has four different products. We have discussed the concept of
POP and POD. We showed the product life cycle started from introduction till its
decline that showed that today’s Signal mouthwash is not much popular and people
shifted themselves by dental mouthwash and cream. We have described also
competitive strategy analysis, pricing analysis, distribution analysis, and
promotional analysis that showed Unilever promotional tactics and that direct
marketing is the least significant promotional tactic in Unilever’s marketing mix and
their promotional strategy has proved effective as the brand has gained the trust of
the consumers and the people have started identifying signal with quality.

In the end, we discussed the type of marketing orientation that Unilever and Signal
follow. Which is a societal marketing concept as focuses on delivering superior
value to customers in a way that maintains or improves the customers' and the
society's well beings.

xxii
References page:
 Principles of Marketing 16th edition BOOK
 https://www.facebook.com/SignalEgypt
 http://beyond-white-smile.blogspot.com/2011/11/4th-brand-signal.html
 https://www.managementstudyguide.com/swot-analysis-of-unilever.htm
 https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-unilever/
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh23N8x43iM
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzJHnRYkF9w
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfTxZa0AW14
 https://www.facebook.com/SignalEgypt
 https://www.signal.sa/en/toothpaste/signal-complete-8-original.html
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xalmVK9Hso
 https://www.missprettiness.com/en/signal-bio-tandpastas/
 https://www.signal.sa/en/faq.html
 https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-close-up/
 https://educationsiteforst.blogspot.com/2021/02/marketing-mix-for-signal-
toothpaste.html
 https://essaymin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sample-8-Unilever-
Marketing-Strategies.doc
 https://www.shopify.com/encyclopedia/product-positioning
 https://www.slideshare.net/knx007/pepsodent-marketing
 B. Huang, Comparative Analysis of the Strategic Strategy of Procter and
Gamble and Unilever Brand, Cooperative Economy and Technology, 2019

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