Submitted by : pro-alliance Date : 17/12/2010 Class: BBA-2A Submitted to : Madam Rabia S oiab BA!

"R Aspirins Current Product Position

Bayers Aspirin has dominated the market till it had no competition and had a good market share but as the competition started to grow in the analgesics market Bayer started to loose its market share. There are three main types of pain relievers.
1. Aspirin 2. Acetaminophen 3. Ibuprofen

Bayers main weakness is that that with the passage of time it hasnt produced any variety in its product by only selling aspirin based drug. On the other hand his competitors have exploited its weakness quite impressively by introducing acetaminophen and ibuprofen based pain relievers and doing niche marketing. ith the introduction of new formula drugs other than aspirin Bayer should have positioned itself as the pioneer in pain relieving drugs by proliferating its drug but Bayer stuck to its aspirin formula which! with the passage of time ultimately decreased its market share. "n #$%$! Aspirin&based products held only '() of the total analgesics market. This dropped to *+) by #$$,. At that time! BAYER had a -.-) share of the total analgesics market and #$) of the Aspirin market. By #$$+! BAYER had less than +) of the analgesics market.

These .tats show how its market share dropped. The current position of Bayers aspirin based drug is not good because the market is demanding drugs which are Acetaminophen and "buprofen based while Bayer hasnt produced any drug containing these two. hile on the other hand its competitor /01/23"4 which was at one stage behind Bayer has now more market share than Bayer. 5owever! it now has a greater total market share in the overall analgesics market. "t has managed to grow its market share by aggressively adding line extensions6 "buprofen&based /01/23"4 "B and Acetaminophen&based /01/23"4 A7 and /01/23"4 89. Bayer is actually following a product strategy not reali:ing the fact that aspirin may have some positive affect for heart patients but its demand for pain reliever has gone down thats why it is loosing the market share and its current position in the market is not very

satisfactory it needs to proliferate its product so it can acquire a good market share like it had in the past.

What are the benefits & risks of introducing an Acetaminophen- or Ibuprofen-based analgesic, or both, with the BA !" name# $hould BA !" do this#
Bayer has so far positioned its product as aspirin based while on the other hand its competitors have grabbed the opportunity by introducing drugs based on acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

Benefits%
Bayer at one stage was the leading company in analgesics market the only thing that led to their decrease in market share was lack of product proliferation. "t means that at one stage there product was popular among the buyers if Bayer launches its product positioned as Acetaminophen& or "buprofen&based analgesic! it can certainly increase its market share by welcoming those buyers which left Bayer because it produced aspirin based drugs. 3ecent studies show that aspirin based drugs are affective against heart strokes Bayer already has an aspirin based background if it launches new type of pain relievers based on Acetaminophen& or "buprofen not only it can increase its pain relieving segment of the market but can increase the overall si:e of the pie by showing that its aspirin based drug is helpful against heart strokes. As a result a new dimension will open for its drugs as its aspirin based analgesics will be positioned as affective against heart strokes and Acetaminophen& or "buprofen based analgesics as pain relieving products.

"isks
7or many years Bayer has positioned itself as the aspirin based analgesics producer if it launches its product Acetaminophen& or "buprofen based it will be a difficult task for him to penetrate in that market segment as there is a cut throat competition in the analgesics market and its competitors will not let him penetrate easily through the market.

$hould BA !" do this#

;es Bayer should launch its product by introducing its product as a non aspirin based analgesic. Because of the growing demand of Acetaminophen& or "buprofen&based analgesics! the only way left for Bayer is to increase its market share by launching a product which is based on these two things because all his efforts to increase its market share in aspirin based product have proved to be in vain. "t spent $40 million on a

campaign <ust to acquire a considerable amount of market share in the analgesics market but overall its sales continued to decline. Bayer should move on and should look towards the customers what they actually want and try to target them by giving them what they want. .o far his product strategy has worked till the customers had no alternative other than Bayers aspirin based drug but as soon as they found an alternative Bayer lost a considerable amount of market share. .o now it needs to withdraw its product based strategy and should try to satisfy the consumers want and if Bayer can do this better than its competitors it can certainly become the leading company once again in the analgesics market.

If it proceeds, what would it want consumers to learn about the new brands# What learning principles should it use# &esign an ad based on the learning principles 'ou use#
=sually in drugs and non prescription painkillers people usually are conscious and carefully buy the drug unless they previously havent used that drug. "n case of Bayer it needs to introduce it as the non aspirin drug and for that it needs the cognitive component of the learning principle. "t will first have to position itself as the non aspirin based drug in the minds of the consumers and for that he can take a little help from the face of medical field because doctor is considered a socially nice character in general because they work for the social welfare.

(he ad could be like this%

A lady doctor is working in hospital she feels uncomfortable because of her headache> she takes Bayer ibuprofen and return to the work with smiling face. Then message comes "Take Bayer ibuprofen an take control". hen people see this ad they will feel that since doctor herself use Bayer& ibuprofen rather than other medicine there must be something good reason in that Bayer ibuprofen. This type of add can trigger the cognitive component of the learning behavior of the consumer who have positioned Bayer as the non prescription aspirin based drug producer but when a doctor certifies that if we use Bayers pain killer which is not aspirin based it will surely attract the customers which have lost faith in Bayer <ust because it produced Aspirin based analgesics.

&e)elop an ad or series of ads to introduce a BA !" Acetaminophenor Ibuprofen-based analgesic focusing on the following%
a* Cogniti)e component of an attitude b* Affecti)e component of an attitude

Cogniti)e component of an attitude

?A lady doctor is working in hospital she feels uncomfortable because of her headache> she takes Bayer ibuprofen and return to the work with smiling face. Then message comes "Take Bayer ibuprofen an take control". hen people see this ad they will feel that since doctor herself use Bayer& ibuprofen rather than other medicine there must be something good reason in that Bayer ibuprofen. "n the end the Bayer shows its old packet of aspirin based drug on which Ibuprofen is written. ?

Affecti)e component of an attitude

Ad .howing a famous athletic person takes Bayer ibuprofen! and says@ Aot muscle pain! headacheB ?Only Bayer ibuprofen has strength to relief your pain faster.@ This type of ad will try to convince consumer that Bayer ibuprofen has strength while other pain killers have no affect on muscular painC. 8eople usually look up to famous personalities and athletes they try to copy them because they praise such type of celebrities! this ad can form an emotional bond between the consumer and the Bayers ibuprofen. And whenever he goes to a pharmaceutical shop to buy a pain killer his mind will tell him that that athlete uses Bayers "buprofen and it should be pretty effective " should use it too.