ByHarshan Sethi(60)Kumar Krishanu Mukherjee(64)Sonam Sandilia(65)Vishal Panchbhai(66)Sharwari Chitale(68)Rishi Saraf(67)Mudit Kanoria(139)

Marketing Management

Case Studyon

Unilever

Unilever is a multinational corporation, formed of British and Dutch parentage, that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employed 174,000 people and had a worldwide revenue of €40.5 billion in 2008.

Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever.

Unilever at the Corporate Level Its mission, “To add vitality to life,” impacts:

The products it develops The way in which it interacts with:

People Communities The environment

Its overall goal: “To help people look good, feel good and get more out of life.”

“Corporate responsibility isn’t philanthropy, it’s business…it’s about creating social benefits through our brands and through our interactions as a business with society.”

- Patrick Cescau, Unilever CEO, 2006

Dove Soap was launched in the United states in 1957

Dove products are manufactured in the Netherland, United States, Germany, Ireland and Brazil. The Dove trademark and brand name is currently owned by Unilever. Dove's logo is a silhouette profile of a dove, the color of which often varies.

History First launched in the US during the 1950s,

Dove cleansing bar with its moisturising properties was originally developed to treat burn victims during the war. 

In 1957 the basic Dove bar formula was refined and developed into the “Original Dove Beauty bar”. It was launched as a beauty soap that was clinically proven to be milder on dry and sensitive skins. 

In the 1970s an independent clinical dermatological study proved Dove “Beauty bar” milder than 17 leading bar soaps.

Dove was launched in the UK in the 1990s. The following years saw the launch of more bathtime treats like beauty baths and moisturising body washes.

Contd…. In 2001 Dove made its first foray into

antiperspirant deodorant lines. Hair care products soon followed in 2003.

2004 saw the launch of the Campaign for Real Beauty, which highlighted the Dove brand’s commitment to broadening definitions of beauty.

Following on from this Dove launched the Self Esteem Fund in 2005 which acts as an agent of change to educate and inspire young girls on a wider definition of beauty.  It aims to boost the self-confidence of young girls and women, enabling them to reach their full potential in life.

Also in 2007 Dove launched ProAge, a range of skin care, deodorant and hair care that has been specifically designed to give mature skin what it needs right now                          

Brand Promotion• No matter what your product is, you are ultimately in the education

business. Your customers need to be constantly educated about

the many advantages of doing business with you, trained to use

your products more effectively, and taught how to make never-

ending improvement in their lives – Robert G Allen

• 4 phases in brand promotion :

– Market Analysis

– Promotion Planning

– Promotional Campaign

– Evaluating Promotion

Market Analysis

Defining your ‘market’ Market Position Identifying customer requirements Customer Satisfaction

Product Life cycle

The Case with Dove

Marketing Mix

Marketing specialists use a mix of tactics to attract and keep customers. These involve balancing the four Ps of the marketing mix.

• product, this includes introducing new products or enhancing existing products or packaging

• price, this might involve special offers or discounts• place, a company might look to use different ways

or channels to reach customers, for example, through the Internet or high street retailers

• promotion this includes many different ways of communicating sales messages to customers to buy products or services.

Promotion Planning

4 P’s of marketing Planning includes

a set of clear objectives an intended target audience staff to work on the campaign a budget, based on costs for the work

identified.

Promotion Strategies

• Above-the-line promotion– Television and radio– national press and consumer magazines– Trade journals

• Below-the-line promotion– Sales promotions– Direct mail– Word of Mouth– New Media– Public relations

Product launches Sponsorship Charitable donations Press releases

Evaluating Promotion

Communication- Effect research Consumer feedback approach Portfolio test Laboratory tests

Sales-Effect Research

Dove Campaigns - Campaign Background

Background

•Mother’s Day presented an excellent tactical opportunity for Dove. Men, and particularly men with children, are looking for Mother’s Day gifts.

•80% of the total male sample of 18-44 year-old males claimed some Mother’s Day purchase activity.

•But toiletries accounted for less than 10% of gifts.

Dove’s advertising therefore had two objectives:

to persuade the reader to consider toiletries as a Mother’s Day gift.

to make their brand of preference Dove.

Campaign Background

•Newspapers delivered cost effective reach of the male 18-44 age group.

•The low cost of generating copy allowed production of three executions over three consecutive days in the run up to Mother’s Day. This meant multiple exposures to the campaign - an average of 2.5 opportunities to see.

•Editorial also acted as a ‘call to action’ for Mother’s Day gifts and an impetus for increased sales.

Campaign Execution

•Dove was the main brand for which the research sample showed spontaneous awareness for Mother’s Day advertising.

•Nearly 10% of those who saw the ads did something which resulted in a sale - this represented 80,000 sales.

•This rose to 17% for those with children.

•60% of those with spontaneous awareness said they were more likely to buy Dove brands in the future.

•The Campaign increased sales, purchase intent and boosted brand awareness.

Campaign results

Dove’s Strategy

Dove identified and commissioned a panel of experts to further review existing research and literature, and provide guidance on untapped opportunities on the topic of women and beauty.

Conducted intensive qualitative research to gain a better understanding of the real beauty issues women face, and how they speak about them.

Research methodology:• 20 in-depth individual interviews (1.5 h).• 12 focus groups (2.5 h).• A phone survey of 1600 respondents.

Findings

Contrary to media messages that seem to indicate that women are striving to look like someone other than themselves, only 7% say they do not like how they look.

In spite of the surprisingly high level of satisfaction with their looks, women seem to have trouble claiming beauty for themselves.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) also agree that beauty can be achieved through attitude, spirit and attributes that have nothing to do with genetically-inherited physical traits.

When it comes to beauty, women feel challenged by societal influences. The majority of women (78%) believe they are judged more harshly on their physical appearance than men.

71% said they wish the media and advertising industry could appreciate the different physical types of women as beautiful.

Campaign for Real Beauty

To celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves.

Dove declared, "We embrace the philosophy that each woman’s looks, shape, size and spirit are what creates her own unique beauty. We believe that a wider definition of beauty is possible – one that is multi-dimensional and defined by women themselves. Dove wants to be a part of making this definition a reality”.

Features of the campaign

Concentration not on functional aspect but on the need for customers to feel good about themselves while using the product.

Widening scope without increasing much cost: Change of broadcast media to digital media, YouTube, blogs, etc. Involved talk shows, magazines, news programs, blogs.

Backfiring risk : They were stirring debate on same segment in which they sell.

Gained favour because they were 1st to address the social issue of low esteem in women due to beauty issue.

Campaign for Real Beauty-Viral Tactics

The website provides: A variety of materials that can be forwarded to friends,

including: Self-esteem development materials for young girls Self-esteem training materials for moms and mentors Campaign videos Online discussion boards

An opportunity to contribute to the Self-Esteem fund or forward a request to someone else.

Viral Videos (available on both the website and YouTube): Evolution

Generated over 12 million YouTube views in its first year Provided an estimated $150 million in free publicity

Onslaught Viewed over 500,000 times in its first month and over 1 million

times in its first 3 months

Dove was the world's largest cleansing brand with annual sales of 2.5 billion euros in more than 80 countries. It was reported that after the campaign, the sale of Firming Lotion in the UK rose by 700 percent.

Background

Dove’s Key thought Beauty is fragile…you constantly need to protect

it. In most women’s minds especially in India, there is an almost inevitable tension between beautiful hair and doing damage to it, though the damage is not self inflicted.

Dove wanted to tell the truth to women that “really beautiful hair is hair without damage. The only real way to get beautiful hair is to deal with the damage that life meats out.”

Objectives of Dove

Zero Damage (functional benefits) hair with Dove hair care

Generate buzz for the brand around the thought of “real women real hair”.

Promotion by Yahoo!!!

Yahoo! created a space for like-minded Dove women who live in the real world. She has a busy life, passions, interests, moments of joy and moments of frustration.

Created a forum wherein she could involve herself into activities, and thoughts she would like to ponder on.

Promotion by Yahoo!!!

Platform for women to interact with women who think alike. They could share their ideas with the world.

The campaign was designed to make more women feel beautiful everyday, by questioning today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring them to take great care of themselves.

Other media used

On-ground video shoot Pre-decided questions related to hair care

were asked at malls & market places The videos were uploaded on to the Dove

Yahoo! India Answers micro site.

Yahoo!! Answers Page

Some Statistics

Total Page Views Delivered : 942, 567 The Promotion received 1300 video

answers on the street Total 2658 answers from Yahoo! India

users – making it the most successful branded promo on Y! Answers!!!

Hindustan Unilever Representative Speaks:

Thank You