Marketing A New Baby Food In Sweden For Nestle

The guild that is planning to introduce a new cross viands product in Sweden already has a presence and it is among a group of companies that argon under Nestle Nordic where other Nestle companies that are operating in Denmark, Finland, and Norway are under and these quaternion companies work in concert and represent Nestles operations in Northern Europe.This means Nestle is non new for Sweden where it is selling a progeny of products among which there are a few baby nutrition products much(prenominal) as Bona and Piltti that pay back a wide range of acceptance among those that are using breast draw substitutes. 1 The baby food business had been and still is lucrative scour if it is a very sensitive area of business that has a lot of controversies around it simply because there are a big number of organizations that are against breast milk substitutes and had been highlighting the problems that are related to it.2 Because of that the comp each had always been on the def ensive in order to do business in this particular sector and it had made a concession with consumers and the concerned members of society, by putting a statement step to the fore on the very outset declaring that there is nonhing let on for a child than the mothers milk and every mother had been encouraged to use breast milk at least for the first four to sextet month, even more if possible.The only clip the company recommends the use of its mother milk substitutes early on is whenever mothers are not in a panorama to provide breast milk for their children, which could be because of a premature birth of a child or when the mother is either sick or deceased. Since it is not always possible to find unfaltering nurses the breast milk substitutes come slopped to what the breast milk give provide the newborn children. 3There are a few problems surrounding breast eating where if almosthow mothers start using the breast milk substitute early in a childs life the possibility that their own indispensable milk producing process could be disrupted and they leave alone constitute no choice other than to depend on the breast milk substitutes that are scientific altogether toldy proven to be as good as a breast milk, albeit some shortcomings where the breast milk is proven to have a natural insubordinate building mechanism that go out enable children to fight disease better.At the same duration in the absence of the scientific all(prenominal)y processed and manufactured baby foods much(prenominal) as what Nestle is selling in Sweden, it is problematical to come up with a baby food recipe that could be prepared at crustal plate that will have all the required nutrition, and the only substitute that could come close to the mothers breast milk, which is cow milk is not predigested by a small childs metabolism process creating problems such as anemia in addition to forcing the childs carcass to absorb a large amount of calcium and fat that it is not ready to do so.4 Because of all these controversies organizations such as the World Health arranging (WHO) had to intervene and come up with a code that every company that is manufacturing and selling baby food products will have to adhere to and it has the support of all government bodies. The particular code is not new to Nestle that had been applying it for all these years, provided when it is cartridge holder to come up with a new baby food product and tradeing it effectively, there are difficult procedures to follow, one of them being the code has to be observed.The main focus of the WHO Code is in preventing such companies that are marketing baby food products to have a direct access to mothers and to regulate the interaction they could have with those who are providing them essential services such as physicians, nurses, and other wellness care staff, because those who are against companies that are coming up with breast milk substitute products believe that mothers will have t o be protect from their marketing ploy as much as possible, at least for the first six months of a childs life.5 Such approach is difficult since most mothers living in societies such as Sweden will be strapped for time because most of them could be working outside of the home and record itself is such that if the breast is not used continuously after birth it will stop producing milk. And in between the mother milk advocates believe that if mothers are not approached with various marketing tactics this problem could be averted and mothers will start to feed breast milk right after birth up to six months and more if possible.Without disputing this assumption, it is not difficult to visualize the hurdle a marketing group that is trying to promote a new product that the company had gotten a permit to manufacture and put into the market has to overcome. Nestle had been focusing lately on what is called functional or nutraceuticals baby food that has a dual single-valued function of serving as a nutritional breast milk substitutes while at the same time it has medicinal advantage that the children using the product will be benefited from.6 The company did not want to come up with a new name for a product and what it did was it took one of its popular products Piltti and created a dissimilar version that is converted into a functional baby food and simply named it Functional Piltti. In doing so it added three agents, selenium which is a centre of attention that helps the physical structure 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 instalment it added was nucleotides whose main function is helping the harvest-time of good bacteria in the gut so that the gut can fight bad bacteria and this ingredient is for sale in breast milk enabling children to build a natural immune system. And when children are using breast milk substitu te verbal expression, unless this substance is added they could be vulnerable to more 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 troika ingredient was 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 ken 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 squad knew that it has a winning product on its hand and this product is expected to cannibalize the invariable Piltti in the long run, which is a little bit cheaper, exactly 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 todays 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 organize 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, plow brochures, or give out samples. All that can be carried out is by means of with(predicate) approved institutions by the WHO Code and if any of the allowed institutions are engaged in giving out apologize 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 anterior stage of their breast feeding days and avoid breast feeding it will affect their ability to produce milk leading to their forced settlement 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 require 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 wellness 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 authorization to show their existence at the point of sale, put posters, or a ny 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 suppose 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 childs picture and labels should clearly describe what the ingredients are, how to prepare it, and at what kind o f 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 carry 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 undercoat 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 b e 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 hypothesise 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 th e 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. And here the other job of the sales team will kick in because they have to go around to talk with the retail establishment, big and small, in the cities they are operating, which will require an extended travel as sometimes they have to cover the outskirts of the city as well as the outlying regions.There is a huge competition to get space in the herd shelves of retailers that will have to be convinced that the product is worth their recommendation and meets all the legal requirements to be so ld for the public, which is part of the job of the sales team to furnish proof and explanation. This is also a very crucial part of their job, although at times it could be done through the distributors. However, the smaller retailers that are not chain stores might have to be approached individually or it might be the job of the distributors to convince them to carry the new product that should attract many buyers because of what it is offering, which is not only unique but functional foods are new even for the general food market that is catering for the adult buyers.After doing that, the particular brand depending on its popularity might start to sell itself, where distributors and retailers would want to put it in their stock and on their shelves because it is selling well, and when that point is reached the sales team could say their job is partially done, but they can still search for new locations and retailers in the same regions or in other regions. The conclusion is the ba by food market is a highly regulated market and it is similar to the pharmaceutical market where manufacturers do not have a direct access to the buyers and users of their products, because of the sensitive nature of what is involved, which is the life of young children whose growth could be harmed irreversibly if they are not given what they exactly need for their normal growth from the beginning.Even if there is no immediately opposition to the existence of the breast milk substitutes, the authorities and other concerned groups would have preferred if mothers start using it between four and five months, but since that might not be possible because of the nature of the life of the mothers themselves who could be working outside of the home, which will result in their being time strapped, and rather of preparing food for their children at home it will be easier for them to pick the substitutes form the various stores and mix the feeding process with their own breast-feeding since it is proven to be springy for the children. Similarly, the existence of the breast milk substitutes will become handy for children whose mothers cannot breast-feed them for various reasons that were mentioned earlier, and in their case the breast milk substitute will come close to breast milk and they will grow up healthy as there are sources that are saying even if people simply wanted to believe that breast milk is better for the child and it will create some kind of bondage between mother and child, in reality the substitutes are proven scientifically to be as good as the breast milk if not better.Therefore, any company that is selling baby food, which has a world(a) market of close to $21 billion a year will have to go over many hurdles to put the substitute on the hands of the mothers that will use it to feed their baby properly and everyone will be benefited at the end of the day. 10 REFERENCE 1. Nestle in Northern Europe. Retrieved from the web on April 5, 2007. www. nest le. se/neobuilder/200108091943_6622_3b72cbb9544e1. html 2. Baby Food Business Assessment. Retrieved from the network on April 5, 2007. www. researchandmarkets. com/reports/3492 3. Baby Food Industry Lobbies WHO. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. bmj. com/cji/content/ secure/321/7273/1411 4. The Ecologist. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. theecologist. org/archive_detail. asp? 5. International Code. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. ibfan. org/english/resource/who/fullcode. html 6. Nestles Market War.HighBeam Encyclopedia. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G1-131934511. html 7. dresser Feeding. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. geocities. com/HotSprings/spa/3156/code. htm 8. Health Workers and the Baby Food Industry. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. bmj. com/cji/content/full/312/7046/1556 9. Nestle Public Relation Machine Exposed. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. babymilkact ion. org/boycott/prmachine. html 10. Health-Conscious-Drive-Baby-Food-Market-Growth. Retrieved from the Web on April 5, 2007. www. rncos. com/Press_Release/Health-Conscious-Drive-Baby-Food-Market-Growth-July. htm