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Group 10 Amm Assignment 2 Linc Pen and Plastic LTD: Creating A Brand From A New Product Synopsis

The document summarizes a case study about how Linc Pen & Plastic Ltd (LPPL) created the Pentonic brand to capture customers willing to pay a premium for writing instruments. Pentonic was a cylindrical black ball pen that provided a smooth writing experience, differentiating it from competitors. It was positioned as a "mass-premium" product targeting students, office workers, homes, and offices. While Pentonic faced some challenges around packaging and pricing, it established itself as a new mid-premium brand through innovative promotion campaigns and a focus on quality.

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341 views3 pages

Group 10 Amm Assignment 2 Linc Pen and Plastic LTD: Creating A Brand From A New Product Synopsis

The document summarizes a case study about how Linc Pen & Plastic Ltd (LPPL) created the Pentonic brand to capture customers willing to pay a premium for writing instruments. Pentonic was a cylindrical black ball pen that provided a smooth writing experience, differentiating it from competitors. It was positioned as a "mass-premium" product targeting students, office workers, homes, and offices. While Pentonic faced some challenges around packaging and pricing, it established itself as a new mid-premium brand through innovative promotion campaigns and a focus on quality.

Uploaded by

Gaurav jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Group 10

AMM ASSIGNMENT 2
LINC PEN AND PLASTIC LTD: CREATING A BRAND FROM A NEW PRODUCT

SYNOPSIS:-
This case study deals with how Linc Pen & Ltd. created the Pentonic (“Driven by Design”),
with an objective to capture those customers who are willing to pay a premium for writing
instruments. Throughout the case, we have seen that how with the Pentonic product they
have created a brand value in the market. It was aa result of undying quest for innovation.
Pentonic was a tall, cylindrical, black ball pen with smooth writing experience which
differentiated with competitors but also with their self products.
LPPL competitive forces in the market are high so developing a product like Pentonic was
essential.
Linc brand was established in 1976 by Surajmal Jalan and the brand is known for quality
writing instruments since then. LPPL developed this product for its mass-premium market. It
was based on hybrid technology and ink solution with feather light writing experience.
Positioned as “Pentonic- Write the future”.
Pentonic targeted students, office goers, homes and offices. They sold the Pentonic at 10 Rs.
while the other products of LPPL were sold at Rs.5 .
Pentonic followed a different packaging to avoid great deal of wastage and to increase the
savings on individual packages but this faced resistance from distributors. LPPL insisted that
retailers keep dispensers at the front of store to catch customer’s attention. The challenge is
to convince sales team to like the product, so they tend to incentivize them. They needed
confidence to stock products. Pens were distributed through traditional FMCG channels.
They followed a creative promotion campaign in 2018 by targeting students for the coming
board exams that reflected a roller coaster emotions exp. Also they created a social media
presence on platforms.
Currently, they are facing pricing issues as they are pricing the pen at Rs. 10 and can’t price
below 20 as no pricing strategy can work between Rs. 11 to Rs. 19 due to inconvenience of
returning change and they want to focus on Pentonic being mid-premium for the masses.

II. Answer the following questions

1.)How would you justify the decision to create a new brand for positioning among other
plausible options?

There are some decisions to justify for positioning-

● Positioning is based on product characteristics like writing smoothness, design, grip,


and quality.
● Positioning based on price, Pentonic is a luxury type product and cheap price range
for economic and corporate people.
● Positioning is based on product application.
● Positioning is based on competition because it is difficult to copy this product.
● Mass advertising is also a good option for positioning.
● It reduces the resistance from Linc brand.
2.) Identify and evaluate the differences in positioning for Linc and Pentonic, carrying out
an analysis with respect to (a) competition, (b) target customer, and (c) value proposition.

Competition

Linc pens were positioned in the market as pens for ordinary people. The product did not
compete in the premium segment. Whereas if we take Pentonic pens, this product was
introduced by LPPL to compete in the mass-premium market and if we compare pentonic
pens with the competitors, they were providing a lot of features at that price range.
Pentonic pens also got the advantage of the existing brand image of LPPL.

Target Customer

The target customers for the Linc pens were the people who wanted a good pen in cheap
price. The target customers for the product were Home users, Low wage workers. Whereas
the pentonic pen was introduced to target the premium segment, Initially LPPL did not have
any product in the premium segment, so to Capture the customers who were willing to pay
a premium amount for low involvement lifestyle products the pentonic pen was launched.
For them the target customers were mainly Students, Office goers and for offices uses.

Value Proposition

The Linc brand was for the mass market and the gel and ball pens introduced by the brand
were priced at Rs 5. The Linc pens proposed that they were of better quality than their
competitors pen in terms of smoothness of writing and the quality of the grip. Whereas
Pentonic pens proposed that the pen gives a smooth and light experience while writing. The
pentonic pens also had a better grip with a stylish look.

3.)Keeping consumer behavior in mind, do you support Jalan's decision to defy industry
norms in terms of packaging?

The industry norm for packaging was that pens priced Rs.10/- were usually packed
individually in paper or plastic pouches. LPPL was this as an opportunity to save on costs and
make Pentonic profitable. Pentonic pens were put in dispensers and also in boxes of 10 and
wholesale packs of 100 pens. The packaging saw some resistance from distributors as it was
against the industry norm. LPPL promised to change to individual packaging if the dispenser
packaging did not pick up sales.

Price was the most important criterion for consumers when choosing a pen, followed by ink
color and brand. Students were more loyal to the brand than older individuals, but if they
couldn't buy the pen they wanted, they looked for another brand. Usually, consumers who
were not brand-sensitive would ask something in their price range. Look of the pen also
mattered, especially for students and once they tried the pen and liked it, they would be
more loyal to the brand. Also, customers would try new pens that were displayed at a retail
counter.

Of all the points that drive consumer behaviour, packaging was the least important or didn't
matter. Because the quality and the look of the pen were superior in the price range, the
packaging didn't hinder the success of Pentonic. So, Jalan's decision to defy the industry
norm proved correct and made the difference in making Pentonic profitable.

4.) What are your views regarding waiting for Pentonic ball pens to succeed
before launching other categories under Pentonic brand?

We as a team think that waiting for Pentonic to build as a brand before launching other two
products under Pentonic’s name is a good idea. In order to leverage a brand equity you
must first make sure that brand does actually hold that position in minds of consumers and
distributors/retailers, then only this endeavor would see the light of the day. But company
has to keep in mind the risk these strategy carries if other products are disappointing and
could harms Pentonics long build image

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