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m



 





   

 



 Ê 

 
  
  !
 "

  
  !
 

m
"
Ê
Since Metabical is a prescription drug for weight loss which can only be bought via a
prescription, the Y



 are not the only decision makers involved The 




 Y 
 are also decision makers in this process for they are the ones who prescribe the
drug
The Y
 
Y 
 Y
 (J
aul
eter & Donnelly, Ch3, p Ê for Metabical
goes through five stages: 

Ê 

 Y
Y



ccording to the case, 65 % of mericans are overweight Many perceive themselves as social
outcasts Here Metabical ties in with a variety of needs in Maslow¶s hierarchy of needs: the need
for belongingness and love for companionship fter all no one likes being excluded Exclusion
can also negatively impact one¶s self esteem So it also ties in with the need for self esteem and
self actualization since excess weight negatively impacts hiring, wages, and job promotion
|Ê  


 

  ‰nce the need for love and belonging, and self esteem is
recognized the overweight individual collects information from marketing sources like ads,
or public sources like newspapers and magazines The consumer might even ask his health
care provider about it He/she might even ask their overweight friends i e group sources who
tried many diet drugs before Then the consumer processes information after having been
exposed to it, having been attentive, and having understood and retained its message 
cÊ  


 

Y  The consumer here compares Metabical to the other
competitive products: ‰TC products, product lli, ephedra Here he/ she would see that ‰TC
products have several side effects since they do not go to the stringent FD approval
Ephedra for instance is linked to several cases of heart death lli although FD approved
has side effects like liver damage if consumed with too much fat, while Metabical has the
least side effects lso consumers would consider the 3$ price of the Metabical with respect
to others, the benefits that go with it like the 2 month support program of Metabical which
c



is longer than lli¶s He/ She would start comparing which one makes you lose more weight
and lets you keep it off
dÊ 

  fter evaluating all the choices, the consumer would decide to buy
Metabical
eÊ Y 




Y where the consumer might experience consumer dissonance,
or concerns over whether his/her choice was the best one

YY
Y

 Y
Y 










 

 

 Y 
 Y
 The unsatisfied needs are: the need for a safe
effective weight loss product which was expressed by the focus groups in the case

Since the decision making process also includes health care providers Health care
providers have to


 Y 
Y
 
 

 Y 

|
 YY From Exhibit , it is
shown that overweight and obesity percentages rise every year Health care providers would like
to see their patients put off the weight for good and establish healthy eating lifestyles To
address this need, the marketing plan put forth the 2 month support program which guarantees
patients long term effects, and helps them change their eating habits and behaviors to achieve a
healthy outcome Then comes the  


 

 Y Y
 health care providers can
easily search information about metabical since they are well immersed in the medical field, and
they have medical representatives who pass by them to inform them of their products be it
monthly or weekly s for the  





Y health care practitioners are aware of the
side effects of the other products in the market as compared to FD approved Metabical
However Metabical salespeople can provide them with the latest up to date research from the
journal of merican Medical ssociation regarding the side effects of other products, and the
advantages of Metabical s Y 

, since health care provider would be the one
convincing the patient to take Metabical, he should be totally convinced from the medical sense
in terms of short term and long term benefits

The important issue here is to build




Yf Metabical for the consumer, and then make
sure that the consumer knows enough information about it The more the advantages of safety,
FD approval and long term results due to the support program are advertised the easier it
becomes for the consumer to 
Metabical, and 

it over lli, or others ‰nce it becomes
c



in the consumers consideration set he/she might develop the conviction to buy it, and eventually
purchase it at the end This 

 Y

 Y
helps in knowing where to fit
advertising Media and the TV ads would spread knowledge and awareness to consumers (Direct
to consumer advertising lso the print ads in medical journals would help raise awareness
amongst medical practitioners The promotions like the informational pamphlets and the two
high profile medical education events would also help in contributing to health care provider




 The viral marketing campaign: Metabical Challenge contest and the contestant blogs
in the social networking sites would greatly enhance consumer knowledge and preference as
well To succeed; it¶s important to understand this hierarchy of effects: THINK, FEEL, and D‰
that the consumer goes through

2 Ê YY  

|Y



YY Y



|
Y

Y
Y 


Y


rintup could segment them according to benefits: |

 



Y (0
Ê
Ê Ê

 Ê  Ê  : the benefits they want like the looking good benefit versus the overall
health benefit ccording to Exhibit 2, the marketing survey, we see the categories like:
- the % of respondents age 35+ and the 65% age -35 who want to lose weight to YY
|


- the other category might be the 35% of respondents aged -35 and the 6% of respondents
aged 35+ who want to lose weight for Y





rintup could also segment patients by the


they have towards weight loss re
they really enthusiastic about losing weight? From the Exhibit, only 35% of respondents were
actively trying to lose weight, although 7% were currently dissatisfied with their weight
Consumers could also be segmented according to lifestyle; i e Y
 


Y
( 0
Ê
Ê Ê
Ê Ê  Ê  
rintup could use  ! "


 


Surely the people who are educated, the ones who went to college and have high level income
would be the innovators in this category The people with low incomes and less than high school
education are the survivors in VLS segmentation To market to innovators you would need a
lucrative sophisticated advertisement as opposed to marketing to survivors
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nother form of segmentation is by 

 Women are more interested in losing weight than
men lso
rintup can segment based on Y



Y


for it is apparent from
exhibit  that the highly educated people with incomes of 6,$ and more are more weight
conscious than their poor uneducated counterparts, although it is the poor ones that mostly need
to lose weight

Not only must
rintup segment the patients, she must also segment the health care
providers You cannot go promoting metabical to an eye or ophthalmic doctor or an ear doctor,
for instance It is preferable to promote it to heart surgeons, nutritionists, and endocrinologists
This is segmentation according to 

 

 She can also differentiate between the
doctors who need to a lot of convincing and those who don¶t fter all, there are many doctors
who would advise patients to slim down just by abiding by a healthy eating program and some
sports Such doctors don¶t see the need for drug usage and they are the ones who mostly need
convincing
rintup can also segment these doctors by their

|  to sales reps in the
region nother form is to segment by their






to help overweight patients
steer towards healthier lifestyle options

With respect to targeting, it¶s best to target educated women in the upper middle class
income range From Exhibit 3, the target would be the women who want to wear skinny jeans
aged 25 to , with a college education, and an income of 5,- $, as well as the 35 to
65 year old women who earn ,$+ who are ready to make the change In this case the
benefits segmentation process would really help in identifying this optimal target group, for this
group is the most weight conscious one These women have realistic expectations as opposed to
their younger counterparts aged , and who are still in high school So mostly they will be
satisfied with the results and more prone to commit to the support program due to their age, and
maturity
‰ne could also think of targeting the overweight population as a whole, yet such
targeting would require addressing the wants of each needs group It may overlook competitors
and may be too broad
c




G 
 
    
  !

    
 
 

 m

 


!



 
 
! ¦ÊÊ

‰ne way of positioning strategy is to position it as a prestigious product only for those
high sophisticated educated women lthough that reduces the effect of competition it¶s too
narrow a market

nother way is to position it is that it is the optimal solution for all overweight patients
having BMI between 25-3
ositioning this way is broad and does not help in differentiating it
from alli or other competitors, so then one must be careful in advertizing and promoting to stress
these facts:

-Metabical as the first FD approved 
 Ydrug for the overweight segment i e :
BMI 25-3, as opposed to other ‰TC products which are not FD approved

- it has the least side effects as compared to ‰TCS and also FD approved lli which
produces liver problems if consumer s consume a lot of fatty food

- its support program of 2 months support program    Y
 Y 


 


 # since it has a personal support component as well as a detailed exercise plan which lli¶s
does not have The 
Yf Metabical 3$ should be examined It should not be too high or too
low relative to lli since patients are paying it out of their pocket lso the functions of the
support program components should be stressed especially the personal support, and the exercise
plans because these are different from lli¶s The lli drug only has online support and not
personal support lso since Metabical is a prescription drug you would know exactly what dose
to take as opposed to ‰TC drugs where you can take as many as you want The FD approval
would give it an edge over the herbal ‰TCs proving it to be the safest among them, with the least
side effects For best positioning it is crucial to make it evident to the consumer that Metabical is
not a magic pill; it does not target obese or normal weight range patients ‰ne should not expect
unrealistic results
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However the problem with this kind of broad benefit positioning is that it does not target
the segments: high income vs low income segments, educated vs uneducated, etc« we talked
about in the answer to question 2 Therefore in order to target all segments it is best to develop
the 


 

 Y
Y 

 $% to make all segments aware of
Metabical¶s advantages, and place in the market

&ÊÊ

 YY


YY
'
Y |
YY
Y

Y


Y Y 




 Y  Y 

 
 

 |
 Y 
 $% ( $ Y
Y 
Y 


YYY
Y
 YY 


Since Metabical is a new product that needs to be launched the message should stress
realistic expectations with respect to patients The fact that it is only effective for overweight
patients i e BMI 25-3 should also be clearly pointed out because credibility is important in
establishing a name in the market

rintup started the correct way with her communication strategy with a plan focusing on
both the patient and the health care provider For Direct to consumer ads, the |
 


I
would choose is" Y
Y)YY#

YY
Y

Y




Y 
 
 Y Y 
 Y
 Y
 

 

 |

 
* because it is real and
positive message which highlights the importance of Metabical and the support program s for
the other two messages: ³look your best«´ and ³these extra pounds could be killing you¶, the
first message resembles many of the fad messages we hear on T V everyday; it also does not
highlight the health care provider¶s role in the whole process The second message resonates as
a negative one because it warns you of all the diseases you could get due to being overweight
without building awareness to the product¶s support program
rint up¶s message should look
like this in the end:
Y 
  Y' Y Y# 

 Y Y 
Y
 
 Y 

 

Y



|

 Y 

 

 Y 
 
 Y Y 
 Y
 Y
 

 


|

 


It is important to stress Metabical¶s safety and effectiveness for both the doctors and the patients
involved The above message is enough to make the patient and doctor aware that the product
Metabical also comes with a support program
c




rintup¶s integrated marketing plan already includes the advertising and sales promotion
so the consumer will have gone through the awareness part, the comprehension of product part,
and would be in the consideration stage However it does not guarantee preference unless the
product is branded in some way To brand Metabical she is in need of consistent advertising and
a brand personality Her celebrity endorser would help in marketing her product too Her viral
marketing idea and her pamphlet to doctors as well as the two high profile medical events are
great ideas for 

 YYY and | 

Y

rintup should bring an expert in social media to help her since she has little experience
with it lso for ³
ull´ marketing she should add a page on facebook for metabical, and use
twitter for spreading the word about it She should conduct more market research on competitors
like lli, and get to know lli¶s weaknesses in its support program as well How long is li¶s
support program and if she extends hers would she have a more competitive advantage? What
exercises does lli¶s online program support? lso pricing of li has to be known Sending a
mystery shopper to pharmacies would help
Second, in her surveys only 2% of surveyors responded that they would immediately get
a prescription, and only 5 % said they would be comfortable with drugs to lose weight She
should know why some people aren¶t comfortable with drugs Is it due to their physician¶s
recommendation or to their prior use of an ineffective drug? If due to a physician¶s
recommendations, she should make sure that her ads and medical journal articles as well as her
sales rep seminars and meetings are convincing the doctors If this is due to prior ineffective use
of the drug, her ads should continuously stress safety, effectiveness and promising results She
should also know whether her ads are really producing the desired effect on the consumer

Regarding the budget:

!Ê For the social media expert she is to bring: take out half a million from the 2 million
allocated for
ull advertising
!Ê For the expansion of the market research: She could take out 2 million dollars from the
advertising component (since the advertising component forms the highest allocation in
budget= 3, , /23, 6, * = 56 % of budget Even though she is taking this
much money for research it will pay back in the end
c



Regarding the timeline:

!Ê The communication strategy should be finished by the 
Y+ ,--.

!Ê The support program components which are to be added after conducting some market
research should be finished by
Y,--.
!Ê The sales rep should know everything about Metabical by
Y

|
,--.
!Ê Sales rep visits concerning Metabical should start in November 2
romotions too should
start in XY
|
,--.
!Ê The high profile medical events should occur Y
Y|
Y




of January
2
!Ê The ads or DTC should start 



 before the launch date
!Ê Launch date should go hand in hand with the date of viral marketing, television, and
newspaper releases
Y

 |
Y

 her product,
rintup should conduct SW‰T analysis
( J
aul
eter & Donnelly , Section 2, pg 26to analyze the situation Metabical would be facing
in order to conduct an effective communication strategy Definitely, this SW‰T analysis should
be finished by June 2 before she finalizes her communication strategy in July 2

S for strength:

áÊ FD approved, clinical trial results effective

áÊ Safe, less side effects than others: no stress on heart and no stress on liver
áÊ First prescription drug for overweight
áÊ chieves 5 pounds weight loss in 2 weeks for BMI 25-2, and 2 pounds in 2 weeks
for BMI 2-3
áÊ üood Y 


 Y Y
guarantees long term results
áÊ
rescription guarantees control over dosage patient takes

W for weakness:

áÊ some side effects like gastrointestinal risks with fatty food

áÊ Needs prescription so you cannot buy it whenever you want- uncertainty over whether the
money exploited for R& D research and marketing budget will pay back in the end
c



‰ for opportunities:

áÊ Large market share 65% of mericans are overweight and they are increasing each year
áÊ Better back up from physicians due to support program which guarantees long term results
due to implemented healthy lifestyle
áÊ
otential of exclusivity among higher income- middle income educated women who might
persuade their overweight family and friends to try it

T for Threats

áÊ lli product which is also FD approved has support program and does not need
prescription
áÊ ‰TC products which need no prescription might be cheaper
áÊ Doctors might not be convinced
áÊ Metabical might be seen as a fad if poorly positioned
áÊ
rice not well studied in comparison to others
áÊ Emergence of a new competitor

Five months after launching the product,
rintup should assess the sales numbers
of Metabical to see which marketing communication strategy is more effective? Which is
most effective in getting sales: the ad, the sales promotion or public relations seminar?
What environmental factors recently changed? Did a new product or new competitor
emerge? Upon this evaluation, she could redo her SW‰T analysis and reform her
marketing communication strategy to get higher sales and profits
c




References

áÊ ‰ur book:
J
aul
eter & Donnelly, Marketing Management Knowledge and skills, Mc üraw Hill tenth
Edition

X


I read Ch 3 for decision making process search, Ch 5 for segmentation, Ch  for IMC,
and Section 2 at the end of the book entitled nalyzing Marketing
roblems & cases It had
information about how to prepare case analysis and what SW‰T analysis was on page 26-27
For the 

Y

 model, I looked at the slides the Dr explained and provided us with
last time I also read from the below website to understand more about what it was:
http://drypen in/advertising/hierarchy-of-effects-model html

____________________________________________________________________________
c