BRAND MEANING
This summarizes the 7-day diary of our research participants. From these insights, we gathered that our brand users see Kotex as having a good variety of liners, large sized pads and colorful cotton designs. However, sales promotions do play a big part in their purchase decision. Further, the diary gave us valuable insights on our brand users’ attitude toward periods in general, as well as the actions that they take to counter those negative feelings. In summary, women hate the time of the month, which is associated with bad mood, awkwardness, embarrassment, and fatigue. There is an element of sneakiness in their behavior as well, as characterized by dark colored apparels, sneaking to the toilet frequently, and the avoidance of certain daily routines like going outdoors or drinking cold drinks.
BRAND RESPONSE
We conducted a combination of qualitative and quantitative studies to find out how Kotex users or potential users perceive Kotex as a brand. We carried out the focus group research and further make use of the results to craft our survey questions. These are the key findings of our research:
Salience – Kotex is highly salient among respondents with both strong recall and recognition. However, it was not the primary brand choice for most respondents.
Performance – Kotex fared moderately on all performance attributes and none of the attributes tested clearly stand out from the rest
Imagery – “Comfort”, “Young” and “Good” were the top three words associated with the brand.
Judgment – Kotex has low perceived brand superiority and quality.
Feelings – Results of feelings resonate previous findings; comfort and security fared better than other components. However, this shows that respondents perceive Kotex on the functional basis rather than the emotional basis.
Resonance – Brand loyalty is low among Kotex users and there is also lack of attitudinal attachment and active engagement, possibly due to the low involvement and sensitive nature of the product.
BRAND VALUATION
When calculating the value of our brand, we segmented Kotex users into four distinct segments:
After taken into account the expected growth rates of the segments, their RBIs and brand strength, we derived the brand value of Kotex to be $1,318,943.54 for the market in Singapore.
BRAND CHALLENGE
Through the Brand Frenzy session, our team went through 4 useful exercises (1) identifying the three banned commonly used words (2) two things we hated about the brand (3) Dividing the world (4) finding a cause that Kotex would challenge for. With the help of prior assignments and the brand frenzy results, we identified crucial gaps and weaknesses relating to Kotex’s CBBE dimensions.
Based on our gap analysis, we have identified the following gaps
#1: No salient niche product attributes
#2: Brand Imagery is closely linked to emotional attributes
#3: Inconsistent brand image conveyed
#4: Unable to achieve high POP due to poor absorbency and lack in comfort to pads in standard product lines
#5: Failure of technology to deliver on promise
#6: Lack of edge over competitors in technology and line names
#7: Pride and social approval are lacking
#8: Missing attitudinal attachment and sense of community with brand
By infusing our gap analysis and brand frenzy results, our team finalized on the next strategic challenge: To “Ignite Confidence Openly” by advocating women to “Stop Hiding.” through the use of emotional appeal instead of focusing on product attributes. By successfully addressing the challenge with newly improved strategies, this would help to bridge the gaps in the CBBE dimensions and gear Kotex towards achieving highest brand share in Singapore.
BRAND IDENTITY
Through initial secondary research, we found Kotex to be a brand that positions itself as a brand that is about empowering women with truths about their body, and targets the young, active and independent women. Kotex brand personality is ‘youthful’, ‘vibrant’, ‘trendy’. Some of its strengths include vibrant designs and association with opinion leaders. Its weaknesses include: Kotex pads are perceived to be of lower quality than competing brands and the target market’s knowledge of the brand does not appear to lead to purchase intent.