Contents

z Introduction 2

z Objectives 2

z Research Method 3

z Target Group 3

z Findings 5

z Beyond Figures 17

z Analysis 19
Enduras Position In The Market
Is Situation Encouraging & Promising Or Uncertain
Is The Brand Going In The Right Direction
Has Comunication Done Its Job
Consumers Perception Of Brand At Large
Emerging Trends
Challenges And Challengers Ahead

z Suggestions 25
INTRODUCTION
The post liberalization era saw the rise of calisthenics among the youths. A study for
Endura was conducted in eastern U.P. to measure the awareness-level, to find out
perceptions and to have views about protein-supplements. It was an amalgamation of
qualitative and quantitative methods to judge the role of influencers and advertisements.
It was found that not all the people welcomed the idea of protein supplements with
open arms but its popularity was gaining ground. The awareness level of Endura was
higher as compared to its consumption. The study found some gaps which could be
filled to have better results.

OBJECTIVES
The questionnaire was made to find out-

❑ The awareness of Endura products among the persons aware of protein-

supplements.

❑ To gauze the penetration of advertising and to find out which source of

advertising was effective.

❑ Motivators for consumption of protein-supplements in general and Endura

in particular.

As the face-to-face interviews were conducted by the team, it left scope for qualitative
research. So some direct views were taken and probing questions were asked that
helped to achieve indirect objectives-

❑ Consumption of protein-supplements and to find out the competitors in

the market.

❑ Period for which protein-supplement was taken and also the amount that
was consumed.

❑ Views of the respondents about protein-supplements (Endura in particular).

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RESEARCH METHOD
Questionnaire encompassed dichotomous (yes or no as response), multiple-choice,
rating-scale (about Endura company) and open-ended (naming of competitors). Some
questions were to find out the Perceptions –

❑ Endura is an Indian or foreign company.

❑ Rating of Endura.

There was no hypothesis to be checked so the method used was an Inductive one, so as
to induce from the findings. The sample size of 350, people who were aware of
protein-supplements, was finally taken. Naturally responses of people having no
knowledge of protein-supplements were discarded.

TARGET GROUP
The target group can be broadly characterized in two groups, those under 24 and 24
or above. Naturally both will have different qualities. Those under 24 will have the
following characteristics-

❑ They are impulsive in decision-making and spending, and go mostly by

instincts.

❑ They are Brand-conscious and would go mostly for the brands.

❑ This segment has impressionable minds and is easily impressed.

❑ They worship personality cults whether be it filmy stars, sports super

heroes and even their coaches.

❑ They are more serious students of callisthenic (body -building) and are
result-oriented.

❑ This group is financially dependent on their parents and emotionally on

their friends and family-members.

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People, who are 24 and above will have the following features-

❑ They are rational in decision-making and use more logic than their younger
counterparts

❑ They are usually married and have responsibilities which may hamper
his passions and hobbies.

❑ This category is usually price conscious and seeks discount aggressively.

❑ They are financially independent.

❑ The members of this group are stylish and brand-conscious.

❑ They are career-oriented and spend most of their time is spent in their
working place.

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FINDINGS
The findings are the results of Quantative Questionnaire among the persons aware of
protein-supplements.

1. AWARENESS OF ENDURA

The awareness level of Endura was very high,of 350 respondents 302 were aware of brand
Endura. It was 86.2% awareness which is high.

Awareness level of endura in the cities surveyed was highest in Allahabad (97%) and Varanasi
(93%) while it was lowest in Kanpur (81%) and Gorakhpur (71%).

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2. IS ENDURA AN INDIAN COMPANY OR FOREIGN
COMPANY?

The perception of Endura as an Indian company is high of 63.8%.

CITY-WISE BREAK-UP

The city-wise breakup shows that Kanpur has the highest percentage of 89% having the perception
that Endura is an Indian company while Varanasi has the lowest of 54%.

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3. RATING ENDURA
The question was to rate Endura as excellent, good, average or poor.

66% of the respondents rated Endura as exellent and good company which is avery good sign. It
is still better to know that only 7% of them considered it as poor.

CITY-WISE

The respondents in Varanasi had rated highest Endura as exellent and good brand (78%) while
in Gorakhpur ratings were lowestof 56%.

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4. SOURCE OF AWARENESS OF ENDURA

Others: Received as an award in body-building competetion, saw in the home used by pregnant lady, old
persons and younger brother.

Advertisement was found as the main source of Endura’s awareness in the study. All cities had advertisemnt
as more than 50% (around 53.5%) except Varanasi which had only 36%.

5. PENETRATION OF ADVERTISEMENT

63% of the respondents had seen the advertisement which is an encouraging sign.

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 CITY-WISE

City of Allahabad had the highest penetration of advertisement of 76% while Gorakhpur had the lowest of 53%.

6. SOURCES OF ADVERTISEMENT

Print media is still the ruler but visual media has a greater impact and greater recall value so the tables should turn.

CITY-WISE
Newspaper: Highest in Varanasi and lowest in Gorakhpur

Television: Highest in Allahabad and lowest in Kanpur.

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7. PRODUCT POPULARITY

Among the persons who are aware of Endura 97% of them are aware of mass. 82% persons can
recall Endura through Endura Mass only. Allahabad had highest percentage of people who knew
about Force.

8. MASS IS FOR

As can be seen people are well aware of purpose of Endura Mass and it has moved from the
muscle-building category of the gyms.

City-wise: There is nothing to choose from the different cities.

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9. MOTIVATOR

Others; I ) deciding on their own

ii) parents

iii) siblings

iv) spouses

As can be seen coaches are the main motivators for this category be it gym, stadium, sports academies. Doctors are a distant
second with 16%.

Citywise: Coaches were found to highest motivator in Gorakhpur (68%) and lowest in
Varanasi (52%).

Doctor’s as motivator highest in Kanpur (20%) and lowest in Gorakhpur (9%).

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10. AWARENESS OF ENDURA FIRST

Endura First’s awareness level of 21% was very low when compared to that of Mass.

CITY-WISE:
Lucknow : 23.5%; Kanpur : 17.8%; Allahabad : 24.5%; Varanasi : 29.5%; Gorakhpur : 9.7%

11. PENETRATION OF ENDURA FIRST'S ADVERTISEMENT

The advertisement of Endura First was seen by only 9% of the people in the sample which was very low in isolation and
disheartening when compared with 63% of Endura’ s advt.

CITY-WISE:
Highest in Lucknow : 15.9%; Lowest in Gorakhpur : 3.3%;

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12. CONSUMPTION OF ENDURA

Consumption of Endura of 10% is good but when compared to the awareness level of 86% is very
low. Theaverage of both known and self is 11% is very much comparable.

CITY-WISE
Self Known
Lucknow 14.9% 12.3%
Kanpur 4.4% 8.9%
Allahabad 10.0% 14.1%
Varanasi 18.5% 16.5%
Gorakhpur 2.2% 8.2%

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13. AWARENESS OF COMPETING BRANDS

OTHERS
Brand Percentage Brand Percentage

Venky’s 6.1% Soya-Protein 3.9%

Protein-X 5.9% Mass-Gainer 3.6%
Optimum 5.6% Muscle-Man 2.5%
Megamass 5.2% Olympia 1.9%
Ans 4.9% Nutrina 1.7%
Body-Mass 4.7% Rolphin 1.6%
Aloevera 4.4%

14. EDUCATION-LEVEL OF RESPONDENTS

Others : School-dropouts, matriculate, eleventh pass etc.

Number of non-graduates respondents is high. They should be targeted as future customers.

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15. EXPENDITURE ON HEALTH:

Nearly 20% of the respondents spend more than Rs. 1500 per month on health. A very good sign for the
company

16. OCUPATION

Housewives should be the target for awareness and consumption. If you can enter the family your sales
will multiply.

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17. AGE-WISE BREAK-UP

Figure represents the actual no. of persons

Above the age 31 could be targeted as they are becoming health conscious whatever the reasons
might be. The senior citizens are also becomin health-freak. Think about them.

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BEYOND FIGURES
There were some facts that came out because of nature of interviews. We probed
persons for the indirect objectives & their views on protein supplements. The facts are
as follows :

1. Youth is not clear about the intake of the protein supplements. Some do not
want to have anything to do with tin packed food. They rejected the idea of
protein supplements, probably they believed in the dictum.

All the deadly sins

Can be bought in tins
With instructions on the label ….. W.H
.H.. Auden, (F ood Expert)
(Food

2. Myth of side effect rules, almost none is clear about the protein supplements
results. They are confident about its results but not about its side effects. Some
opine that it effects kidney, liver or other internal organs. In some cases rashes
appeared on the body.

3. Doctors are proscribing the use of tin packed food supplements. They were
found fencing for natural products. Some respondents were told by the doctors
that the food supplements are not to be taken in any condition.

4. Some respondent confused the food supplements with steroids. When study was
conducted it was found that as it gave instant energy. It was misunderstood that
it contained steroids.

5. Large numbers of users took the food supplements on trial basis that is, for 3 to
9 month & quantity varied from 200 g.m. to 2K.G. This did not justify the usage.
As for the better & permanent result it should be taken for a longer period of
time about 2 years.

6. Endura is not sold by all chemist & respondents were a bit confused about its
availability. So that should be made clear to them.

7. It was found that the Distributors were undercutting. They had distributorship of
many companies & was promoting others with zeal.

8. It was found that some respondents clamed that Endura products were sold at
different prices. This led to some confusion among the consumers.

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9. Youths were not clear about the various food supplements to be taken for different
levels. They had many question about the role of Endura First & Endura Force.

10. Food supplements are prescribed not only by the coaches of the gym but also of
the sports academics, stadium & by the dieticians. Even some general physicians
& gynecologists were prescribing.

11. General trend in the society of leaning towards Ayurveda & natural products
was also found in the Study. Respondents were found to be consuming protein
supplements with products like alovera, soya etc.

12. Absence of proper education/information about product usage was found. It

was because even the coaches (the major influencer) was not aware about the
product usage & the usage of different products for different levels.

13. Among the persons who consumed Endura, some had the perception that the
quality has deteriorated over the time.

14. Some respondents told that they could not continue the consumption because of
financial reasons. Some found it too costly to try it evern for the first time.

15. The food supplements ingredients contain only the permissible products. Coaches
of Weight- Lifting team wanted to know if it would pass the doping test.

16. Under 24 persons are usually, financly dependent on their parents. So the
parents should be made aware of food supplements & its merits.

17. Some consumers faced side effect like over-weight, rashes on skin, effect on
kidney & liver because of either lack of excercises are over consumption of
protein supplements.

18. Respondents opined that Endura used to pay more attention on advertising /
quality in the past. They had better memories of the product & company.

19. The availability of the product should either be made known on mass level
through mass media or at the local level. The respondents are not so sure about
the availability.

20. Endura Mass is moving out of the body building category. It was seen as a
general product for gaining weight which is a good sign for the product &
company.

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ANALYSIS
Endura figures in the total set, awareness set, consideration set & then finally in the
choice set. The conversion rate from total set to final choice is very low. As seen the
86% of the respondents were aware of the Endura products but the consumption of
10% is very low.

The SWOT analysis was found as follows:-

❑ Strength: The major strength of the Endura was its awareness level
among the respondents.

❑ Weakness: Its conversion figure from awareness to consumption was

found to very low from 86% to 10%.

❑ Oppurtunity: Market was found to be fragemented so it was for Endura

to sieze the opportunity and increase the gap with its competitors.

❑ Threat: The threat to the Endura was continuous flow of new players in
the market.

ENDURAS POSITION IN THE MARKET

Endura has a very high awareness level strong reliability but the consumers don't have
an unquestionable loyalty or an unwavering faith towards it. Its awareness level of 97%
was found In Allahabad with lower of 71% in Gorakhpur. But Endura is known by its
product Endura Mass while the other products are completely overshadowed. Mass has
moved from the category of muscle building to weight gainer. It was found as the
market leader in its category.

In the gymnasium some people had nostalgic memories about the Endura Mass.
Endura has succeeded in building a strong favorable image in the mind of the publics.
People can identify with Endura as the product that can satisfying their inspiration of
looking healthy and good.

It was found that Endura was lacking in an aggressive selling & promotion effort.
Advertising gives reasons to buy but sales promotion give incentive to buy. Endura is in
position to create a market for a product that is thought of as an upmarket, trendy and

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cool by the modern youth. As aptly sad by Felicity LLowrence
owrence in Eat Your Heart
Your
Out.....‘‘The gnius of globalised capitalisn is not just to give consumers what
they want, but make them want what it had to sell. sell.’

IS SITUATION ENCOURAGING & PROMISING OR UNCERTAIN ?

The situation is encouraging & promising with 86% of the total respondents aware of
protein supplements are aware of Endura.The city - wise breakup is Lucknow 86%,
Kanpur 77.8% Allahabad 97%, Varanasi 92.5% and Gorakhpur 71.1%. Endura is now
not only spoken in gyms, sports academy & stadium but these products are referred by
the family members which is an encouraging & promising sign.

The consumption of Endura was found to be lowest in Gorahhpur & highest in Varanasi
but still the average consumption though good in isolation but was poor when compare
to awareness level.

The awareness level of Endura Mass when compared to Endura First was amazingly
very high. 82% of the respondent could only recall Endura as Endura Mass. While that
of first was only 21% Endura Mass was known by 97% of the respondents which being
highest in Varanasi 98%& Allahabad 97% & lowest in Kanpur 75.6%.While for Endura
First awareness was highest in Varanasi & lowest in Gorakhpur.The difference was
startling & some strong campaigns for Endura First should be taken.

IS THE BRAND GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ?

Endura has built a strong brand image over the year. But brand vary in amount of
power & value they have in the market place. Endura is among the brands that has
created brand awareness among the buyers. It has also created a high degree of
brand acceptability. But it has not been able to command a brand loyalty among its
customers. Customers is not devoted to the brand Endura for which it has to work
hard. It is still a name not a term or sign or symbol with which the customers can
identify. Till date it has not been able to seprate itself from its identification product
Endura Mass.

Mass, which is indispensable for a brand to grow. Nearly 82% of the total respondents
were able to recognized Endura when its name was conjoined with Mass. So the brand
name is Endura Mass not Endura.Campagain for this is recommended so the Endura
itself becomes a brand name. A strong logo campaign is suggested which will increase

– 20
its brand value manifold it could also follow separate campaign for different product
but it would increase the cost.

High brand equity provides-

1. Reduced material cost
2. More leverage in bargaining with distributors
3. Can charge higher price than its competitors
4. Easily launch more products
The above mentioned steps will also help the other products like Endura first, Endura
force to grow out of the shadow of Endura Mass. The awareness of Endura First was
found as highest in Allahabad & Varanasi among the places survey was conducted but
its figures were very low in the study & separate campaign for force & first will be
appreciated. This is also needed as Mass has been taken away from Gyms shelf & it is
no longer considered a product for muscle building. Force could easily replace it for
the muscle building & First for the beginners.

HAS COMUNICATION DONE ITS JOB

The communication consists of three major mode of communication.

1. Advertising
2. Sales Promotion
3. Public Relation & Publicity

The communication of the company & public should be a two way system, the traditional
media News paper, magazine, television & radio & newer media computers, cellular
phones etc. The Advertising was seen by 63% of respondents which was higher at
Allahabad about 75.7% & Lower in Gorakhpur of about 53.3%.The print media was
found above 36% of Newspaper, Magzine About 1% & T.V. was lower about 27%.The
visual media has greater recall value & the impact is greater so the advertisement on
T.V. must increase to give better results. Among the various cities, Allahabad was found
to have greater Newspaper & T.V. response of about 79.3% while Gorakhpur had the
lowest of about 39%.

The advertisement contains a humorous message that make it more attractive. It attract
more attention & create more liking & belief in the sponsor. So the advertisement is
doing its job satisfactorly but for the fact that it should be focussed more on visual
media like T.V. & the table should turn, with T.V. taking the lead among the audience.
– 21
The company was found wanting on the other two forms of Marketing Communication
that are Sales Promotion & Public Relation & Publicity. Though evidence of certain
Body-building competitions sponsorshed by company was found, but other forms of
Sales promotion as premium & gifts, sampling demonstrations, rebates, trades in
allowance were not found. The company should pay more attention on press kits,
speeches, seminar, company magazines and events for the promotion. For the Publicity
the company initiative of posters was nice but in cities like Gorakhpur & Kanpur it was
very low. Even in the other cities the posters were insufficient & its number could be
increased.

CONSUMERS PERCEPTION OF BRAND AT LARGE

Perception is the method by which individual selects, organises & interprets information
to create an image of the product or service. The most important factor in this is the
individual. In the survey certain questions where asked to get the perception of the
respondents about Endura & its products. The company has been successful in building
its image as reliable, trust worthy and result oriented product.

One of the questions to know about the perception was which the respondent saw the
Endura as Indian company or foreign company. It was found that 64% of the respondent
thought it to be as an Indian company. It was highest in Kanpur of 88.9% & lowest in
Varanasi of 54.3%.

The next question was about the rating of the Endura Company as excellent, good,
average & poor. 16% of respondent thought of it as an excellent company. While 50%
rated it as good & only 7 % as poor. In Varanasi the rating was found as good &
excellent by 77.8% of the respondents while it was lowest in Gorakhpur of 55.6%. So
the company image was found very good.

As the interview were on personal level & face to face ones it found that people had
very good perception of the company & one could find that as the name Endura was
taken, they had the perception of quality, trust & affordability of the company.

EMERGING TRENDS

In the study it was found that target group is to be widened a the emerging trend was
towards looking good & healthy. So housewives, middle aged persons (male & female)
and even senior citizens should be in the target group. Even the economic liberalization

– 22
& globalization had its impact on our society, & yonng & not so young have disposable
income which they can spend on their health.

The trend is towards the natural, herbal & ayurvedic contents. Most people are
apprehensive of the tin based food but slowly and surely the acceptance is growing
which is a good sign for the brand.

Even unprosperous and backward cities like Allahabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur the
emerging trend is direct marketing and digital business. Direct Marketing channels are
catalogs, direct marketing and telemarketing. It reduces the cost , time, inconvenience
caused by conservative marketing. The growth of next day delivery By the courier
services has made ordering fast and easy. Digital communication in India is in the
nascent stage but it is the future of marketing even in developing countries like India.
Digital business is the general term for buyers & sellers using electronic means to
research, communicate & potentially transact with one another. This would give the
customers a channel to show there satisfaction and dissatisfaction. There outburst
whould help the company imensely.

Home shopping through telemarketing, cell phones & internet is fun, convenient &
hassle free. Sellers benefit by customizing & personalizing their messages. It could
maximize target calls, accountability calls, awareness, sales & distribution.

CHALLENGES AND CHALLENGERS AHEAD

As the brand & product is grooming it would also have to face certain challenges &
naturally some challenges ahead. The main challenges that the company face are.

1. To make coaches, the greatest influencor, endorse its products.

2. Endura Mass overshadowing the other products.
3. To establish Endura Mass in general category so as to give fight to
Protein-x, Nutrilite.
4. Endura First not making the impact that probably company perceived.
5. Endura Force to be the face of the company in muscle building category.
6. Creating an effective marketing strategy.
7. Sales-Promotion efforts.
8. Publicity Campaigns.

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The main challengers are general OTC products like Protienex, Nutrilite etc which are
giving stiff competitions to Endura Mass. The modern trend of natural ayurvedic products
is also fast catching up in this segment. In the study it was found that through these
were no market leaders but natural, herbal product like Alovera and Soya were fast
catching up. So it is advisable to pay attention to it also. The target group till now has
been youth under 24 but now it must concentrate on housewives,girls & even Senior
Citizen. As they have more dispensable income that would be good for thecompany.

It was found that Doctors were proscribing the protein supplement so the company
must organized seminar, competition and endorsements to have their view changed.
Medical endorsement would have a two way solution. It would convince the youth &
secondly the parents, of the dependents persons, who would finance the product. This
type of endorsement would also help in clearing the myth of protein supplements being
equated with steroids. Even the fear of side effect could be removed by organizing
public relation events endorsed by medical practitioners.

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SUGGESTIONS
1. It was found that doctors and chemist were not endorsing the products so
they should be involved in the programs for sales promotion.

2. The chief motivator is still the Coach whether be it gym, stadium or

sports academy. So their involvement is necessary for the promotion of
the product and company.

3. Mass is overshadowing the other products so should try and develop

Endura as a brand. This will be in the interest of the Company.

4. Awareness programs for different level of consumptions should be taken

by the Company. It would be benefit the company in many ways.

5. This is the right time to start LOGO campaign by the company as the
awareness level in the study was found as very high.

6. House wives have a great say in the matters of health in the family. As
company is taken out Mass from the gym category. So there involvement
is must.

7. The youth who is financially and emotionally dependent on their parent

requires their permission to buy the product, so make them aware of the
products.

8. The sales promotion programs were found in wanting. So company should

give it more importance.

9. The frequency of advertisement on television was found poor. To have a

greater impact its frequency should be increased.

10. Company could give a thought to the idea of direct selling whether be
tele-shopping, mail-ordering or any other.

11. Last but not the least important is that the company must channelise its
sources to have comments in its favour on the blog. It could make pressur
groups for endorsing its views and product through articles in news papers,
magazine, net and other means of communication.

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