Tambrands

Tambrands is a company that uses single-product strategy to advertise their product known as TAMPAX. This product is the best selling product with 44% of the global market share. Out of this 44%, approximately 90% of its sales come from North America and Europe. One of the main reasons for tampax being successful only in North America and Europe is because tampons still have not gained popularity as a result of various cultural resistance, religious resistance and/or myths associated with using a tampon. This case study discusses the various issues that Tambrands had to overcome in order to create a global demand for its product.

Question: What are the Problems in the case? What are the decisions to be made?

Despite being the best selling tampon in the world, the companies earnings dropped by 12 percent in 1996. Even though ups and downs in profits are part of any business, this 12 percent drop was a serious concern as the company uses a single-product strategy, also they compete against rivals such as Playtex Products and Kimberly-Clark, this makes the stakes high. At the same time, it's difficult to get new users as already 70% of Women in the North America already use Tampons. This indicated a need to expand globally; upon research Tambrands officials viewed the global market as a huge opportunity as only 100 million out of the worlds 1.7 billion women use tampons.

In the process of expansion, Tambrands adopted a strategy of dividing the global market into 3 clusters, these clusters were not formed based on geography, but on how popular the brand is in various global markets. This would help them figure out; in what part of the world the women are most resistant to using this product and in what part of the world our women increasing their use of tampons.

In cluster 1 (United States, Europe and Australia), a large portion of the women already use tampons and have enough product knowledge, however other issues sprung up here such as is it safe to go swimming with a tampon, can women go to bed with a tampon, Hygiene questions associated with it etc.

In certain markets such as France, Israel, South Africa (Cluster 2) only 50 percent of the women use tampons showing that people are either unaware or have a mental block about using this product. On further research it was noted that there were concerns about whether using a tampon makes you lose your virginity. At the same time women felt that these products are unnatural and block their flow. A lot of Hygiene issues also sprung up as women were unaware of the pros and cons this product had to offer.

The next problem arises to market to the most lucrative group which is also the most challenging group. These include markets such as Brazil, China and Russia where Tambrands not only had to deal with the virginity issue but also with how to market these products as women in these parts of the world were unaware as to how to go about using Tampons. Tambrands had to train these women on how to use a tampon at the same time making sure not to offend them or make them feel uncomfortable. This made tampons as one of the most difficult products to market worldwide. While Tambrands sales increased in Russia Tambrands couldn't market their product to Muslim countries, because of various religious beliefs.

The Companies global campaign was much different from most feminine protection product ads, which often pushed the message of comfort. Tambrands campaign featured bold women who casually talked about tampons what had been considered a taboo for the longest time.

Question: What alternative solutions to the problems, given the information in the case, are available? What is your recommendation? Why?

With all these issues discussed above, taken into consideration, Tambrands felt the need to expand oversees, where it faced cultural and religious sensitivities for the longest time. The agency decided to expand into 26 foreign countries, however being a single-product company, it was a very risky proposition to go ahead with. Another reason why