PROJECT REPORT ON:-

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF LAKME PRODUCTS

Bachelor of Business Administration

SESSION : 2009-2012

INVERTIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

BAREILLY

Submitted to : Submitted by:Mr.Suneel kumar Devika khandelwal Associate Professor BBA- VI Sem. (Sec-A)

CONTENT

TOPICS: PAGE NO.

PREFACE 04

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 06

OBJECTIVE 08

INTRODUCTION 10

COMPANY PROFILE 12

LITERATURE REVIEW 56

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 58

FINDINGS 60

LIMITATIONS 62

RECOMMENDATIONS 64

CONCLUSION 66

BIBLIOGRAPHY 68

PREFACE

Excellence is the attitude that the whole of human race is born with. It is the environment thatMake sure that whether the result of this attitude is visible or otherwise. The planned properly

executed project report help a lot in including the good work culture.

During this period, the student gets their real fast experience on working in the actual

environment. Most of the theoretical knowledge that they have gained during the course of their

studies is put to test here. A part from this the student gets the opportunity to learn latest

technology, which immensely help them in carrier.

I had the opportunity to have the real practical experience, which has increased my sphere of

knowledge to great extent. Now I am better equipped to handle the real thing than anyone else

that has not undergone any such project. During the project, I learned how an actual project

progresses, what sort of problems actually occurs during the development of such projects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to those who, directly or

indirectly made this project possible.

I have got considerable help and support in making this project report a reality from them.

I would like to thank Mr. SUNEEL KUMAR, Asstt.Proffesor, IIMS, and Bareilly whose

endeavor for perfection, under fatigable zeal, innovation and dynamism contributed in a big way

in completing this project. This work is the reflection of his thought, ideas, concept and above all

his modest effort.

DEVIKA KHANDELWAL

OBJECTIVE

To study the complete history of Hindustan Unilever.

To Study about LAKME products of Hindustan Unilever.

To study the marketing strategies of Hindustan Unilever for Lakme.

INTRODUCTION

India’s largest FMCG Company, HUL has unveiled a new corporate identity represented by a

new logo and also a new name Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). The new name reflects the

company’s heritage as well as the synergies it has with its global parent Unilever Plc. To reflect

its India-specific focus, the company has chosen to retain ‘Hindustan’ as the first word in the

name. The new identity positions the company as working on a local as well as a global

platform. HUL also unveiled a new logo consisting of 25 different icons which symbolizes the

company’s brands, organization, values and its core idea of Vitality.

MUMBAI: FMCG major Hindustan Lever on Monday announced that it has received

government approval to change its name to Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). Thus the company

will have a new corporate identity and a new logo will come into effect.

“The identity symbolizes the benefits we bring to our consumers and the communities we work

in. Our new identity will help us open up exciting opportunities where we have competitive

advantage for developing our business,” said Doug Baillie, CEO, and HUL.

The new logo is symbolic of the company’s mission of ‘adding vitality to life.’ It comprises 25

different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of vitality, Hindustan

Unilever said in a statement.

COMPANY

PROFILE

The shareholders of the company, which has interests in 20 distinct categories like nutrition,

hygiene, personal care, food and drinks, had approved the proposal for change in name on May

18. The stock closed 1.5% higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 191

The company believes the new name provides the optimum balance between maintaining its

heritage and synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of Unilever. Most

importantly, the name retains ‘Hindustan’ as the first word to reflect the company’s commitment

to the economy, consumers, partners and employees, the statement added.

“For us this is really an opportunity, collectively as an organization, to renew and strengthen our

commitment to continue our Endeavour to earn the love and respect of India, by making a real

difference to every Indian,” Mr. Baillie added. Anglo-Dutch FMCG giant Unilever owns a

majority stake in Hindustan Lever.

Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, in

1931, followed by Lever Brothers India Ltd in 1933 and United Traders Ltd in 1935. These three

companies were merged to form HUL in November 1956

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 51%-owned subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever,

has been working its way into India since 1888. India's largest consumer goods company, HUL

markets products such as beverages, food, and home and personal care goods. Its brands include

Quality Wall's ice cream, Lifebuoy soap, Lipton tea, Pepsodent toothpaste, and Surf laundry

detergent. HUL markets Atta (a type of meal), maize, rice, and salt, and its export division ships

castor oil and fish. The company also sells bottled water and over-the-counter healthcare

products. Douglas Baillie, former president of Unilever's Africa Business Group, became the

firm's first expatriate leader in March 2006.

Management Committee

The day-to-day management of affairs of the Company is vested with the Management

Committee which is subjected to the overall superintendence and control of the Board. The

Management Committee is headed by Mr. Douglas Baillie and has functional heads as its

members representing various functions of the Company

Mr. Douglas Baillie - Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director

Mr. D Sundaram – Director Finance and IT

Mr. Nitin Paranjpe – Executive Director Home & Personal Care

Mr. Shreejit Mishra – Executive Director Foods

Mr. Sanjiv Kakkar – Executive Director Sales and Customer Development

Mr. Dhaval Buch – Executive Director Supply Chain

Mr. Ashok Gupta –Executive Director Legal

Ms Leena Nair –Executive Director HR.

MISSION

Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and

personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

PRESENT STATUS

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company,

touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home &

Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. They endow the company with a scale of

combined volumes of about 4 million tones and sales of Rs.10, 000 crores.

HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognized as a Golden Super Star

Trading House by the Government of India.

The mission that inspires HUL's over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to

"add vitality to life." HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with

brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares

with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 51.55% of the equity. The rest of the

shareholding is distributed among 380,000 individual shareholders and financial institutions.

HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Sunsilk,

Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, quality Wall's –

are household names across the country and span many categories - soaps, detergents, personal

products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. They are manufactured

over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates. HUL's

distribution network, comprising about 4,000 redistribution stockiest, covering 6.3 million retail

outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers.

HUL has traditionally been a company, which incorporates latest technology in all its operations.

The Hindustan Unilever Research Centre (HLRC) was set up in 1958, and now has facilities in

Mumbai and Bangalore. HLRC and the Global Technology Centers in India have over 200

highly qualified scientists and technologists, many with post-doctoral experience acquired in the

US and Europe.

HUL believes that an organization’s worth is also in the service it renders to the community.

HUL is focusing on health & hygiene education, women empowerment, and water management.

It is also involved in education and rehabilitation of special or underprivileged children, care for

the destitute and HIV-positive, and rural development. HUL has also responded in case of

national calamities / adversities and contributes through various welfare measures, most recent

being the village built by HUL in earthquake affected Gujarat, and relief & rehabilitation after

the Tsunami caused devastation in South India

QUALITY POLICY

.

Hindustan Lever is now Hindustan Unilever

Hindustan Lever said on Monday it has received government's approval to change its name to

Hindustan Unilever Ltd following which, its new corporate identity represented by a new logo

will come into effect.

"The identity symbolizes the benefits we bring to our consumers and the communities we work

in. Our new identity will help us confidently position ourselves in every aspect of our business,"

Hindustan Unilever CEO Doug Baillie said.

The new logo is symbolic of the company's mission of Adding Vitality to life. It comprises 25

different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of vitality, Hindustan

Unilever said in a communiqué to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Hindustan Unilever Limited considers quality as one of the principal strategic objectives to

guarantee its growth and leadership in the markets in which it operates.

The company is committed to respond creatively and competitively to the changing needs and

aspirations of our consumers through relentless pursuit of technological excellence, innovation

and quality management across our businesses, and offer superior quality products and services

that are appropriate to the various price points in the market as well as to our commitment to

building shareholder value.

The company recognizes that its employees are the primary source of success in its operations

and is committed to training and providing them the necessary tools and techniques as well as

empowering them to ensure broad base compliance of this policy in the organization at all levels.

The company is committed to fulfill its legal and statutory obligations and international

standards of product safety and hygiene and will not knowingly sell product that is harmful to

consumers or their belongings. It will institute systems and measures to monitor compliance.

The company will maintain an open communication channel with its consumers and customers

and will carefully monitor the feedback to continuously improve its products and services and set

quality standards to fulfill them.

The company is committed to extend its quality standards to its contract manufacturers, key

suppliers and service providers and by entering into alliances with them, to jointly improve the

quality of its products and services. This policy is applicable to production from its own facilities

as well as to production that is outsourced.

The company will periodically review this quality policy for its effectiveness and consistency

with business objectives.

The company delegates authority and responsibility for dissemination and implementation of this

policy to each Business and Unit Head.

ABOUT LAKME

Lakmé is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Unilever. Lakme started as a 100% subsidiary

of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata, it was named after the French opera Lakmé, which

itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Indian

cosmetic Lakme was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal

Nehru was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty

products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined

the company as director, and went on to become its chairman. In 1998 Tata sold off their stakes

in Lakmé Lever to HU, for Rs 200 Crore (45 million US$), and went on to create Trent and

Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lakme

still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women.

Lakme also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakme Beauty Salons all

over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India

providing beauty services

Product of Lakme Cosmetics

Face

• Flawless Makeup

• Crème Compact

• Matte Compact

• Radiant Compact

• Liquid Foundation

• Face Magic

• Rose Powder

• Face Highlighter

Lips

• Enrich Lip Colour

• Lip-gloss 

• Lip liner

• Aqua Shine Lip Color

• Enrich 9 to 5 Lip Color

• Enrich 9 to 5 Lip Duo

• Enrich Metallic Lip Color

 Nails

• Tarun Tahiliani

• True Wear Nail Enamel

• Free Spirit Nail Color

• Glamour True Wear Nail Color Winter 2009

9 to 5 Intense Volume Mascara

• Quick Dry Eye Liner

• Defining Eye Liner

• Perfect Definition Eye Pencil

• Lakme Thick lash M

  Eyes

• Intense Shine

• Eyeliner

• Kajal

• Shimmer Eye Cube

• High Definition Eyeliner

• Eye Color Quartet

Cleansers

• Fruit Energy Home Facial

• Fruit Facial Scrub

• Deep Hydrating Mask

• Crème Face Wash

• Matt effect Morning Fresh Set

• Strawberry Silk Splash Face Wash

• Deep Pore Cleanser  

• Matt effect   Purifying Face Wash

• Matt effect   Refreshing Astringent

Moisturizers

• Matt effect Icy Fresh Gel

• Peach Milk Moisturizers

  • Winter Care Moisturizers

Lakme Pure Defense Anti-Pollution System

• Pure Defense Detoxifying Facial Wash

• Pure Defense Protective Day Lotion

• Pure Defense Detoxifying Serum

• Pure Defense Restorative Night Crème

Skin Care Lakme Sun Expert - Sun Care

• Lakme Sun Expert Ultra matte SPF 20 & 30 

• Lakme Sun Expert Cream SPF 30

• Lakme Sun Expert   Sunscreen Lotion SPF 15

Lakme Discover Glow

• Lakme Deep Pore Cleanser  

• Lakme Peach Milk Moisturizer

• Lakme Winter Care Moisturiser

• Lakme Strawberry Crème

Lakme Matte Effect

• Lakme Matt effect   Purifying Face Wash

• Lakme Matt effect   Refreshing Astringent

• Lakme Matt effect Morning Fresh Set

• Lakme Matt effect Icy Fresh Gel

Lakme Bridal Sutra Collection by Sabyasachi & Anamika Khanna

• Bridal Jewel Eyeliner

• Bridal True Wear Nail Color

• Lip Chrome

• Glide on Eye Color

• Jewel Sindoor

• Enrich Metallic’s Lip color

• Silk Naturelle Daily Foundation

• Pure Rouge Blusher

• Just Kissed Cheek and Lip Tint

• Enrich Matte Lip Color

• Glide On Lip Color

• Eye Artist

Lakme Spa Line

• Shea Nut Hand Butter

• Nail Beauty Oil

• Honey Cuticle Cleaner

• Protective Base Coat

• Nail Color Remover Oil

• Hard Wear Top Coat

EYE MAGIC

The lightweight, translucent gel comes with a quick dry formula that fixes the sparkle in place.

Paint crystalline lines for a soft look or sweep the entire eyelid for the jewel encrusted look. Can

be used as an eye shadow or as a highlighter for cheeks or any other part of the body. In classic

shades of gold & silver for a subtle, pearly shine

BLACK IMPACT LINEAR

Enhance your eyes with the blackest of black eyeliner that doesn't fade. The rich, intense color in a silky

Formula glides on - lining, defining with the greatest of ease. Water resistant and fast drying. It won’t

Budge for Hours. The brush handle offers a comfortable grip so you can create dark, dramatic eyes that are

A night time glam staple.

 

Black

CREATING THROUGH HAIRCARE

Lakmé is a company inspired by beauty. Hair is a fundamental element of our personality. Health, wellbeing

and the search for our own personal look are the essential values that guide us towards the hair’s natural

Beauty. With the development of our products, we aim to bring these values to fruition in hairdressing, through

Professional creativity and the infinite possibilities that hair provides.

LIPS

 A high performance, color-fix formula developed in Italy; this creamy lipstick

combines amazing comfort with staying power that keeps you looking fresh for

hours.

 

After lining your lips with a matching lip liner, fill the outlined area of your

lips with these rich lip colors. Wait for two minutes for the color fix action to

take effect. Now your lip color is set to last for hours

 

21

Jewel Pink

22

Moon Berry

23

Poppy

26

Lotus

27

Berrylicious

     

28

Mauve Latte

29

Pink Latte

     

 

41

Garnet Spray

42

Satin Ruby

43

Red Hot

44

Bridal Dream

45

Merlot

       

46

Apple Crush

       

 

51

Brick

52

Crème Brule

53

Bitter Chocolate

54

Cocoa Crème

55

Espresso

 

56

Mocha

58

Earth

30

Cocoa Pink

59

Toasted Brown

 

 

 

61

Terracotta

62

Nougat

63

Taupe

65

Cappuccino

A high performance, color-fix formula developed in Italy; this creamy lipstick

combines amazing comfort with staying power that keeps you looking fresh for

hours.

 

After lining your lips with a matching lip liner, fill the outlined area of your

lips with these rich lip colors. Wait for two minutes for the color fix action to

take effect. Now your lip color is set to last for hours

 

21

Jewel Pink

22

Moon Berry

23

Poppy

26

Lotus

27

Berrylicious

     

28

Mauve Latte

29

Pink Latte

     

 

41

Garnet Spray

42

Satin Ruby

43

Red Hot

44

Bridal Dream

45

Merlot

       

46 Apple Crush        

 

51

Brick

52

Crème Brule

53

Bitter Chocolate

54

Cocoa Crème

55

Espresso

 

56

Mocha

58

Earth

30

Cocoa Pink

59

Toasted Brown

 

 

 

61

Terracotta

62

Nougat

63

Taupe

65

Cappuccino

FACE

INVISIBLE FINISH FOUNDATION

Foundations are great make-up products, they help

1. your skin look flawless without any blemishes,

2. Make a great base for makeup to be applied on.

The difficulty is:

1. Finding the right shade to match your skin tone

2. Finding a foundation that suits Indian weather

3. Finding a foundation that blends flawlessly with your

skin

 

 

 

Lakmé best understands the needs of the Indian woman and

therefore has been designed for Indian skin tones, suited for

tropical Indian weather.

 

 

     Price : Rs.185

     Fill level- 25ml.

Foundations are great make-up products, they help

1. your skin look flawless without any blemishes,

Skin Family Base Skin Tone Shade No.

Light Pink 01

Light Yellow 02

Medium Yellow 04

Medium Pink 05

Deep Yellow 07

Deep Pink 08

2. Make a great base for makeup to be applied on.

The difficulty is:

1. Finding the right shade to match your skin tone

2. Finding a foundation that suits Indian weather

3. Finding a foundation that blends flawlessly with your

skin

 

Lakmé understands this, and therefore has introduced the

‘Lakmé Invisible Finish Foundation’.

Cory Wail, Lakme Make-up expert

“I love IFF because it has a super fine effect that gives a

matte yet glowing finish. This is because the formulation

spreads evenly all over the skin including dry & uneven,

patchy skin. It is very easy to blend it with fingertips or a

make up sponge or even a brush, giving the same finish each

time.”

 

 

The Invisible Finish Foundation

1. Blends perfectly with your skin

2. Offers full coverage for a flawless invisible

finish

3. Is water based, ultra light when applied

 

 

  blends perfectly to give you full coverage

 It has SPF 8* which protects you from the sun and

darkening

 Available in 6 shades, keeping in mind Indian skin tones

and Indian weather

 

It is convenient to use; it has a spatula applicator which

makes easy and  effective removal of the product, no need

of putting extra foundation back  into the bottle, hence

preventing wastage

 

 

Lakmé best understands the needs of the Indian woman and

therefore it has been designed for Indian skin tones, suited for

tropical Indian weather.

Skin Family Base Skin Tone Shade No.

Light Pink 01

Light Yellow 02

Medium Yellow 04

Medium Pink 05

Deep Yellow 07

Deep Pink 08

 

 

     Price : Rs.185

     Fill level- 25ml.

EYES

 

http://w.com/shades/prod_rose.asp

NAILS

   

LAKME’S POSITIONING IN TERMS OF PERSONALITY AND

SELF CONCEPT:

Lakme is a product range that caters to the beautification needs of not only women in their adult

age but in today's context teenagers also. It has a brand personality of someone who takes care of

you and your beauty needs. It tries to position itself amongst its consumers as a product range

that will help them look beautiful as is evident from its catchphrases:

1. On top of the world!

2. Source of radiant beauty1!

Lakme has a range of beauty products to offer to its consumers. Some of the ways in which it

tries to position itself:

1. Lakme Hair Color: magic of colors (collage).

2. Lakme (versatile eye shadow collection): rich, long lasting and healthy make up.

3. Lakme fair perfect: For flawlessly fair skin!

4. Lakme face magic: daily wear soufflé.

5. Lakme (skin vitalizes): radiant skin, now and forever.

6. Lakme (moisturizer): radiant skin, now and forever.

7. Lakme nail polish and lipstick: electric brilliance/sensual brilliance/free

spirit/peppermint/9 to 52.

8. Lakme sun expert (sunscreen): sun safe hamesha! (face the sun with a smile)

1

2

9. Lakme pure defense: anti-pollution system.

10. Lakme Tropical Island (cosmetics): defining the future of fashion.

11. Lakme hair care (international): natural hair care, a source of pleasure and well being.

12. Lakme hair next: exclusive range of hairstyle products that give you that salon look

instantly.

On the basis of above mentioned positioning strategies Lakme can have the following

characteristics that determine its personality:

Someone who takes care of your beauty needs.

A long lasting beautification product range.

Something that is not harsh on your body or harmful for your beauty.

A product that provides you with an option of getting beautiful hair.

A product that helps you gets a beautiful skin.

A cosmetic product that you can wear for the entire day and not a special occasion.

Someone who tells you right things about looking good.

It's an Indian cosmetic brand.

It covers all facets of beauty care for women.

The following factors of Lakme's personality help in differentiation of its products from the

competition:

It covers all facets of beauty care.

It helps arm the consumer with products to pamper her from head to toe i.e. a complete

product range.

The quality of its products which can be only gauged by the consumer perception of the

brand.

India's first beauty brand and is there for a long time in the market (since independence).

However, most of the other foreign brands have come only lately.

CONCEPT

According to Freudian Psychoanalytic theory Lakme tries to position itself on the basis of

its appeal to the consumers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakme

have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for

means of satisfaction.

Women all over the world are always expected to look good and Indian women are no

exception; More so because of the fact that Indian women in general do not have a fair

skin like that of their western counterparts. Thus it becomes but natural for Indian women

to try and look good and use beauty products that help enhance their looks and style.

With globalization and liberalization of Indian economy and the changing demographics

and income levels there is more and more concern to look good as today's Indian woman

is no longer confined to her home but is a big contributor to the growth of Indian

economy.

Lakme tries according to Karen Horney's classification3 of personality groups i.e. people

who move towards others. Those who have desire to be loved, wanted and appreciated.

As is earlier stated women are supposed to look good not only in western countries but

also in India.

Women always appreciate if someone calls them beautiful and it has become the custom

of the society to see women in such a context. So it would be prudent to say that

according to the societal norms a women has to look good at all times and which has a

bearing on the psychology of female consumers towards cosmetic products which help

them achieve that desired look. Needless to say that Lakme plays on the concept of

women wanting themselves to be appreciated for their beauty and being loved for that.

3

Lakme has tried to gain the attention of it’s by line extension and having more and more

product depth, packaging and attractive print advertisements. If we look at the line

extensions of Lakme than we would observe that it is in almost all the segments of

cosmetic care ranging from hair care to skin care to beauty salons! Looking at the product

depth it is pretty evident that Lakme has actually tried to fill in all areas that it can,

particularly the nail paint and the lip color segment is a big hit among Indian women as it

offers them a wide variety of products in terms of colors as well as various styles that

they can choose from.

. The major reason they attributed to this was that it was the first cosmetic brand in India

which was particularly catering to the need of Indian women and thus set a trend for the

foreign players to tap the Indian market. Today also they said that it is a trendsetter in

cosmetics as it keeps on coming out with novel colors, shades and products from time to

time.

This again matches with what the company wants Indian by

the shown advertisement. Lakme’s strategy has been to come with new and vibrant colors

and shades of cosmetics each and every season. Currently it is aggressively advertising its

‘Tropical Island Collection’4 which has been designed by none other than famous fashion

designer Wendell Rod ricks.

Lakme’s lip color is longer lasting as compared to other brands such as Maybelline and

Revlon. They felt that it is because of good quality of lip color that was provided by the

company.

:

This is what Lakme is trying to do with the advertisements of its

lip color. In fact it has launched a special range of lip color that is called 9 to 5 range and

is meant for women who are working in offices. This product is primarily harping on the

premise that the lip color stays longer than any other and is meant for working women

who stay in offices from 9 to 5 and can’t give that much time for their looks in between

working hours.

:

. According to product it is a brand which communicates to them the various ways in

which they can protect as well as enhance their beauty.

:

This advertisement of Lakme is

exactly trying to communicate this message to that the brand is an expert in beauty care

as it helps the not only to look beautiful but also helps her to protect her beauty.

4,

Although is not a very well known and trusted brand for its hair care products but still

the new range of hair styling products that it has brought out in the market have to some

extent provided them with an easy way of making their hair look beautiful.

This advertisement of

Lakme although is trying to say the same thing built according to what the company is

primarily looking for i.e. it is trying to position itself as a instant hairstyling product.

Lakme’s skin care lotion is one of the best products in its category and provides them

with optimum care in winters. However they said that the role of a cosmetic product is

different for different environments. They disagreed about the fact that the cosmetic

products actually help you maintain a good and healthy skin for a long time unless it is

of good quality. They were of the opinion that a good and healthy skin can only be

obtained by proper diet and hydration with the help of liquids taken orally.

In this context Lakme has tried to means of

informative advertisement that of what the company wants to achieve.

DATA PRESENTATION

DISTRIBUTION

With respect to distribution related activities like sales and marketing, HLL is second to none in

pushing the boundaries of what is possible financially, structurally, and logistically. Beyond its

pioneering work FMCG distribution, the company has sought to instill in its customers an

elevate sense of brand experience while simultaneously providing greater and more varied access

to its products as well as improved clarity to its communications. New initiatives include raising

brand visibility through in-store promotions, store-based product facilitators, and self-service.

HLL has enabled an even further level of personalization and brand experience in the direct sales

arena with its ground-breaking Hindustan UniLever Network, having amassed an army of

consultants 250,000 strong with access to 80 % of city dwelling Indians.

Hindustan Unilever – Present Scenario

15,000 employees

1,200 managers

2,000 suppliers & associates

75 Manufacturing Locations

Total Coverage 6.3 Mln Outlets

Direct Coverage 1 Mln outlet

Competition

The Indian cosmetic market, which has been traditionally a stronghold of a few major Indian

players like Lakme, and Ponds has seen a lot of foreign entrants to the market within the last

decade. India is a very price sensitive market and the cosmetics and personal care product

companies, especially the new entrants have had to work out new innovative strategies to suit

Indian preferences and budgets to establish a hold on the market and establish a niche market for

them.

Given the price-sensitivity of the Indian consumer who do not normally prefer to fork out a large

sum at one time, many cosmetic and toiletries companies launched their products in smaller pack

sizes to make them more affordable. HLL and Revlon were the first to introduce small pack

sizes. Revlon introduced its small-range of 8 ml nail polishes and lipsticks, and was soon

followed it its strategy by major Indian companies as well.

Stiff competition in the cosmetics and toiletries market also saw an increase in the range of new

products being introduced for newer application concepts in the last few years. In the skin-care

segment, from just creams and moisturizers, there has been a upgrade to value-added products

such as under-eye wrinkle removing creams, dark circle removing creams toners, sunscreen

lotions, fairness creams, and many more.

.

Beauty counselors or advisors at retails outlets have been very successful in gaining attention,

creating product awareness and overcoming consumer’s lack of familiarity with, and fears about

many cosmetics and personal care products such as home hair permanents and color cosmetics.

Some companies such as Lakme have even set up exclusive Lakme beauty parlors at major cities

in India through the franchisee route.

A strong brand promotional campaign, good distribution network, constant product innovation

and quality improvement, and the ability to provide a variety of quality products are some of the

major reasons for the success of most companies.

HUL is currently India's largest cosmetics and personal care products producer and its brands has

the dominant share (more than 50 percent) in segments such as personal wash, skin care,

shampoos, lipsticks and nail polish.

Sales Prospects

The growing Indian cosmetics market offers promising opportunities for international brands.

The growth rate in the cosmetics market reflects an increasing demand for beauty care products

in India. The most promising segments for international companies to pursue are perfumes and

fragrances, and specialized/professional skin care and hair care products. The fastest growing

market is however color cosmetics, which account for US$ 60 million of the total market.

The rural market in India for cosmetics and toiletries remains is largely untapped. Major

domestic players have also not been able to penetrate this market. The urban market itself for

specialized cosmetic products remains to be fully exploited. The Indian skin-care market is not

yet fully tapped and offers promising prospects as a growth area. Penetration of color cosmetics

is lower than the penetration prospects of the skin-care segment.

To promote the growth of their products, a dominant player like Lakme has embarked upon a

business plan to establish their exclusive franchised beauty salons across major metros in the

country.

Imported cosmetics have had a major impact on the Indian market. Foreign products have

enhanced growth of the Indian market by attracting aspirational consumers and increasing

acceptance of color cosmetics, previously perceived by many as harmful to skin. Indians

generally perceive foreign brands as being of superior quality.

Other key issues regarding sales prospects are product variety and retailing strategies as

well. There is a marked shift among consumers from functional common-fits-all products

to more specialized formulations. This is one of the reasons why an increasing number of

cosmetic companies are dealing with consumers directly through special exclusive counters

in major departmental stores and malls featuring their own beauty consultants. L'Oreal

India has established a consumer advisory unit and Ponds, as mentioned earlier offers skin care

advice through touch-screen kiosks, and telephone help-lines.

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF HUL FOR

LAKME

The company has constantly improved return on capital employed as well as returns to

shareholders. In fact, the Indian subsidiary has been Unilever's largest success story in any Asian

country.

HUL's key strength in a vast country such as ours has been its unmatched distribution reach

through a stockiest network of 7000 and a retail reach of over 1mn outlets. It is the only

company which distributes its products to more than 50000 villages. Innovative programmers’

like Project Bharat have been undertaken which aim to make available to every consumer in the

remotest corner of the country, products that meet his day to day requirements.

Also the management is well known for its marketing savvy. It has over the years studied and

understood the Indian markets as no other MNC player has. It has adapted its products to suit the

Indian tastes. A lot of wars have been played and won on the price front, acknowledging that the

Indian consumer is extremely price sensitive. The financial strength to cross subsidize new

initiatives with existing profitable businesses has enabled the company to achieve its zeal of

being the dominating player in all markets that it enters into.

While the personal products business has been the revenue driver during the last few years,

growth rates in the category (especially like detergents and toilet soaps) are likely to taper off

once certain penetration levels are reached. The company has been therefore consciously

building up extended product ranges which are at various stages of the growth cycle. As Mr.

Dadi Seth emphasizes, "The building of the personal products business was started 10 years ago,

and the benefits are being reaped now. Similarly we are investing in the foods business today - as

that will be the revenue driver in the future." Although profitability in the foods business may

still be a few years away, once the branded foods market really matures, the potential for volume

growth in the business are enormous.

Nor has the company ever given loyal shareholders a reason to be unhappy about its performance

in the bourses. The stock market performance has year after year been more than satisfactory.

Just look at the comparison of annualized returns earned by major food and personal products

companies via, Sensex returns in the last ten years.

THE CHANGING FACE FOR LAKME

Lakme marketing is no more going to be the same again! The changing consumer mindset

thanks to more knowledgeable and discerning customers coupled with changing competition and

saturated market is giving a tough time to the cosmetic marketers. The changed scenario not only

demands a new game plan with a sharp and decisive strategy but also a lot of creativity and

insight. Some of the players in Indian Cosmetic industry have already taken a lead and are

smartly moving to chart a success story for their brands. Some brands that reaped magnificent

dividend from adopting a new strategy. . If we analyze the success story of these brands, it will

be self evident that their marketing strategy is not a jargon filled new model of marketing. It is

more of common sense marketing. But then, common sense is not so common!

A common thread that binds the strategy adopted by these brands is razor sharp focus. They

clearly see their target market. They know their customers well. They are not targeting

consumers who already have built-in perceptions. They are reaching out to untapped market

within a well known product category. Their primary focus is on millions of lower middle class

families in small towns and rural segment. They are doing what legendry management guru C K

Prahlad advocates when he says in his published paper, "Raising the Bottom of the Pyramid:

Strategies for Sustainable Growth" that the greatest challenge for managers is to visualize an

active market when what exists is abject poverty. These successful brands are just doing that-

focusing on untapped markets. Take the example of Dandi namak. Who would have advised

them to enter the branded salt market when Tata and HUL virtually share the whole market

among them? But they entered this category when conventional wisdom said no. And they

became a success story overnight. How? The answer is focus. They entered the market not to

compete with Tata and HUL, but with the focus to take branded salt to rural and semi-urban

areas. With this narrow focus, they not only captured a large rural and semi-urban market but

also got some share of the urban market due to rub off effect.

Moreover, these small players fully realize that in today’s world, marketing needs money. So

they don’t shy away from investing in marketing. Again take the example of Dandi namak. They

splashed out money on their lengthy TV commercials to ensure that the message gets ingrained

in the mind of the prospect. Fairever and Ujala adopted the same strategy. Of course they don’t

spend as much as the MNCs do but they do spend enough to get attraction. The best part is when

they get attention and a little success, MNC Goliaths retaliate back with huge spending and these

little David’s piggyback on that!

The stratagem of this new breed of marketing is deciding the opponent to fight! In case of most

of these brands, it is seen that they fight their marketing battle by selecting a particular company

and in many cases a particular brand, which often is the market leader! Then they deploy their

entire marketing arsenal on this selected competitor. Ujala applied this tactic to full advantage

against Robin Blue and now it commands nearly three-fourth of the Rs2bn ultra marine blue

market, Fairever did the same to Fair & Lovely; Even the advertising strategy is designed with

an eye on its opponent. This hurts the big companies badly. They wake up from their complacent

sleep to realize that they are being brutally attacked. And by the time they retaliate, it’s too late

and they only succeed in helping these brands get more attention. HUL realized that its brand

Fair & Lovely was in danger only after Fairever had garnered a healthy market share within

months of its launch. Retaliatory advertising by Fair & Lovely only helped Fairever gain more

attention!

The way these home grown marketers are inducing insomnia to Kotler fed B-school grads is

really amazing. By their ability to be flexible, innovative, and being close to their customers,

they are conquering Indian market, which many MNCs find a tough nut to crack. The secret of

their success is not hard to guess. It is connecting with the heart and soul of India- the lower

middle class and the rural consumers. Are the FMCG giants listening?

LITERATURE

REVIEW

The impact of media context on advertising effectiveness has received considerable attention in

their search literature. Context effects have been approached in terms of differences in media

content. Furnham, Gunter, and Walsh (1998), for instance, compare advertising in entertainment

television shows versus news television shows. More generally, media context has been

identified with the concept of "involvement." For instance, Norris and Colman (1992) inserted

ads in different types of magazine sections and varied the involvement of the sections. Felltham

and Arnold (1994) compared participants who were highly involved in a program with those who

were not involved. These and other studies (e.g., assumes 1978; Ellsworth and Mackenzie 1998;

Danaher and Malarkey 2003; DePelsmacker, Geuens, and Anckaert 2002; Goldberg and Gorn

1987; Krugman 1983; Lloyd and Clancy1991; Lord and Burnkrant 1993; Lynch and Strips 1999;

Winick 1962) point to the existence of media context effects and the need to understand these

effects in terms of psychological reaction to the medium. Involvement, however, is a very loose

construct when used to describe media contexts. Andrews, Durvasula, and Akhter point out that

"involvement is ... controversial due to the many different proposals and ideas for

conceptualizing ... and measuring the involvement construct" (1990, p. 27). They give an

extensive literature review of different ways that the construct has been operational zed. Marc

(1966) defines magazine involvement as how disappointed a person would be "should the

magazine stop publication." Adapting television involvement scales for magazines and

newspapers, Tips, Berger, and Weinberg (2006) measure three factors labeled informational

value, emotional connection, and concentration/diversion. Other streams of research, including

work on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), also offer a variety of different

operationalizations. In the most extensive review of such work, Johnson and Eagly (1989) can

only conclude that the underlying construct is defined generally as a motivational state that

implicates the self-concept in a desired outcome, in other words, personal relevance.

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a careful investigation for inquiring in a systematic method and finding

solution of a problem. It comprises the defining and redefining of problem formulating ,

collection and evaluating data, making detection and reaching conclusion. This research consists

of following element.

SOURCES OF DATA

Collection of data is secondary based.

Secondary data is collected from company’s website, magzines, wikipedia, newspaper etc.

FINDINGS

Promotions beyond fashion week

The brand should not lose its focus away from cosmetics. It can prove to very detrimental.

For vast reach unlikely, in the short-term. “Some sort of an alliance or co-branding with the

salons that already exist may, perhaps, have been a better strategy.

The general perception is that company-owned salons are expensive. Though Lakme beauty

salons are reasonably priced, it has not been communicated well enough.

LIMITATIONS

According to the industry, the market is saturated with many different types of products, and in the long run, established brands that emphasize quality and service will have the edge.

Increasing Competition

Low Rating of Lakme Saloons (not so good customer services)

No new Strategies to look for improvements.

May loose its Sheen in a long run.

RECOMMENDATION

HUL should give more attention on Lakme product. The MRP of lakme products are too

high so company should decrease the rate of lakme brand.

Company should increase their budget for Lakme should increase.

Company should provide home delivery service of their products.

The price policy of the company is quite high as compare to other brands

CONCLUSION

At last I would like to conclude that Lakme tries to position itself on the basis of its

appeal to the consumers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakme

have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for

means of satisfaction.

Women all over the world are always expected to look good and Indian women are no

exception; More so because of the fact that Indian women in general do not have a fair

skin like that of their western counterparts. Thus it becomes but natural for Indian women

to try and look good and use beauty products that help enhance their looks and style.

With globalization and liberalization of Indian economy and the changing demographics

and income levels there is more and more concern to look good as today's Indian woman

is no longer confined to her home but is a big contributor to the growth of Indian

economy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I have used the following source for finding the data:

www.lakmeindia.comwww.encyclopedia.comwww.ask.comwww.scibd.comwww.google.comwww.goodlife.com/lakmewww.lakme_cosmetic.comwww.lakmefasionweek.co.in/www.lakmebeautysalon.in/FASION WEEK MAGAZINES