Right Guard:Background

Introduced in 1960, Right Guard gained a market share of 26% and became the premier product by 1967 In mid 1970s started losing market share due to aerosol image Lost market leadership in 1976 due to entrance of new products Slipped down to no 5 position in 1982 with small market share of 8.5% Right Guard: Restage Being the 15% divisional sales and 25% of divisional operating profit contributor Restaging was considered Restaging was thought of in terms of New Chemical and New Fragrance Advertising was reduced (in first quarter of restaging) and price was increased to maximize the profit in1982 Huge sum of $12.7 mn was spent on advertising campaign to build new image of the product(in 2nd and 3rd quarter)

White rain: Background

Introduced in 1952 as a low price shampoo and added a same value hair spray in 1962. Phased out in late 1970s due to lack of national distribution Hair spray had a extremely strong regional skew and sold well in southern and central states but did not do well in northeast and west

White rain : Re-launch Test market

Re-launch was thought as demand for low price brands was increasing in the market Test market started in mid-1984 The market planning process for the product was informal with minimal documentation due to time constraint of re-launching and no advertising cost was incurred launched in the already strong markets of Gillette to test its market acceptability(southern region) It gained a market share of 2% in 1985

Lessons from the test market before roll out

Minimal expenditure on marketing as no advertising in test market created difficulty in convincing retailers Special shelf display at retailers to reach to the customers Adopted same price strategy and introduced a conditioner to add to the product

Analysis
85% of the products were sold on promotion Due to profit sharing to Gillette products starved of budget High lead time between planning and execution Organization hierarchy is bulky and there is no pan division/department view in terms of market plans, profits, performance and other parameter

Factors that affected the performance of Right Guard

Hard and established competition Old image of being an aerosol product Failure to anticipate and react to competitors products and marketing. High expectations that were set by the company, which might not be realistic

Factors that favored the performance of White Rain

Less Expectations from the product Valued product Competitive pricing Launch in a familiar market