Marketing baby food in Sweden Essay

In doing so it added three ingredients, â€Å"selenium† which is a substance that helps the body get rid of harmful oxidants since it is a proven antioxidant that has the capacity to turn harmful radicals that appear in the body into innocuous water and oxygen. The second ingredient it added was â€Å"nucleotides† whose main function is helping the growth of good bacteria in the gut so that the gut can fight bad bacteria and this ingredient is available in breast milk enabling children to build a natural immune system. And when children are using breast milk substitute formula, unless this substance is added they could be vulnerable to many kind of diseases, one of the reasons breast milk advocates had been highlighting, although it could be solved by simply introducing this substance into baby foods, which nestle did. The third ingredient was â€Å"beta-carotene† whose main function is to create a fortified immune system in the body since it is an antioxidant and it also helps in developing good vision early on, as well as it adds to the good development of the skin. [7] These are ingredients that are supposed to raise the eyebrows of mothers and their pediatricians who are mostly responsible for recommending what kind of baby food formula is good for the newborn children. From the outset the team knew that it has a winning product on its hand and this product is expected to cannibalize the regular Piltti in the long run, which is a little bit cheaper, but it is also presumed to beat many of the competing products that have not yet introduced functional baby food products in their baby food product line, even if their catching up quickly is imminent. However, until that happens the team was aware that there would be a window of time the company could do a quick profitable business. They have everything at their disposal except that they were aware of the WHO Code, which stipulates rules that make all the areas where an effective promotion could have taken place off limit. They are not allowed to have a direct contact with pregnant women or mothers of small children, although in today’s marketing campaigns that might not be essential, yet sometimes it is possible to come up with events where a close interaction between the marketing team and those who would be firsthand users of their product would have been possible. Because not only they can educate the mothers about their products but also they can give out samples and gifts that will build good relationship, which the code prohibits nonetheless. [8] It is not only that they cannot advertise using the known methods where they can put their ads on billboards, distribute brochures, or give out samples. All that can be carried out is through approved institutions by the WHO Code and if any of the allowed institutions are engaged in giving out free samples that are allowed to receive free samples from the manufacturers they have to make sure that there will be enough supply for the involved mothers for as long as they need it. This is so because this tactic had been highlighted where marketers and distributors of baby food products would usually start giving out free samples and if the mothers become dependent on it at the earlier stage of their breast feeding days and avoid breast feeding it will affect their ability to produce milk leading to their forced dependency on the substitute, which would mean they will be forced to buy the breast milk substitute products. Those who might not afford it could harm the normal growth of a child, which is a justifiable cause to be concerned about. [9] Therefore, there are very limited channels the marketing team could be promoting through and spotting those channels is very important. In addition, it is important the marketing team as well as the company should know that their new product should aim at those that are four months old and higher in normal circumstances and the only exception is when the mothers are not in a position to do breast-feeding for various reasons, there are no wet nurses, and at times access to breast milk banks might not be available since there are some of them in some communities. This would mean their marketing interaction is severely limited to interacting with health care personnel only and it is through them their would be customers will be educated to use their product as advertising to the general public is not allowed. Marketers do not have permission to show their existence at the point of sale, put posters, or any other means of advertising to promote their products. They cannot solicit mothers directly or indirectly or cannot give them gift nor free samples. Even if the health care system has the discretion of recommending the use of breast milk substitutes, they cannot allow their workplace for promoting any kind of such products. Nor any of the staff of such establishments have permission to accept any money from distributors and manufacturers of such products. But at least if the authorities see it beneficial they can make arrangement where pregnant women and mothers of young children to be educated or to be informed by a sales team, but the purpose of the meeting is far from pitching a product and it will be educational, where they will always be advised there is nothing better than breast-feeding for the newborn children. The labels on the products should not display a child’s picture and labels should clearly describe what the ingredients are, how to prepare it, and at what kind of temperature to store the product. In addition, they have to testify that the substitute does not come near to breast-feeding and the message will have to be to the point, without idealizing the breast milk substitute. The overall scenario when promoting baby food formula resembles medicine where there are go betweens who are the health officials and the authorities, and manufacturers of medicine target physicians when it comes to promoting their product since they are the ones who would subscribe it to their patients. Furthermore, almost no medicines are available without prescription, even if there are a few over-the-counter products. With the same token, even if the breast milk substitutes could find their way into grocery stores or even drug stores where anyone can pick them off the shelf without prescription, the consumers of such products could get their information from health workers only or from the labels that are required to follow some procedures, and marketers should not try to reach the direct consumers who are mothers of young born children or expectant mothers. Therefore, the team only had to approach a given number of institutions, mostly health establishments, where they are allowed to distribute their samples, gifts, and educational material so that the health officers will be informed about the benefit of their products and pass it on to the mothers of the young children. Due to this restriction the cost and the effort involved in marketing a baby food brand is not very high since they are not allowed to put billboards on the highways of several comminutes, or they do not have to advertise on TV, print, or are not allowed to print brochures and distribute them to the public, but they can pass such material to the health officials to help them with their educating the mothers. Hence, the undertaking would not be expensive since doing it in a continuous basis until the product becomes popular is not required as the case is when promoting other products. Instead, what is involved here is arranging an appointment with the involved officials or at times, all it might take is visiting these establishments in person that might number less than hundred. Since such officials are not allowed to ask any payment directly or indirectly that also saves the company a lot of money and it can focus only on samples and at times gifts, to be given to the mothers through the health officials in a form of utensils and the like. Nevertheless, giving physicians bonus is a common practice in the pharmaceutical industry since it is through them all the manufactures are selling their products. When it comes to baby food market it is not allowed, yet the sales team had started taking note to see if there will be some that will qualify in the long run for a preferential treatment and if there is a possibility of getting around the restriction to introduce a bonus even if the code prohibits it, but since it is a marketing scheme there has to be some way of compensating some of the health care workers who would choose to recommend the particular. Nestle product for their clients when there are other competing products, because even if Functional Piltti is new in the market, it might not take more than three months for the other manufactures to come up with similar products. Consequently, the job of the sales team is cut out for them where they have made a list of the establishments that are responsible for advising mothers and expectant women what kind of breast milk substitute to use. The job of the establishments that are medical and health care centers, hospitals and private pediatricians is to educate the mothers when to start mixing the breast milk substitute with their breast-feeding and what quantity and frequency to use, a knowledge they would acquire from the manufacturers and from their own experience as a health care officials. There is always a department at the bigger institution that will deal with the various marketers and when the need arises it is possible to arrange a one-on-one appointment and the promoting and the education process could take any form and any length of time. But the anticipated end result is in due time the company will start selling its products, either through the drug stores of big hospitals and health centers that can arrange to receive a shipment or the mothers will have to go and buy it from outside market once it is recommended to them by the health officers.