Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3

COMPANY BACKGROUND................................................................................................................3

VISION...................................................................................................................................................3

MISSION................................................................................................................................................4

UNILEVER’S POSITIONING STRATEGY..............................................................................................4

COMPETITORS.........................................................................................................................................4

DESCRIPTION OF PRODUCT..................................................................................................................5

MISSION................................................................................................................................................5

MARKETING GOAL OF DOVE...............................................................................................................5

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................................................5

TARGET MARKET...................................................................................................................................6

MARKETING STRATEGIES....................................................................................................................6

MARKET PENETRATION....................................................................................................................6

MARKET DEVELOPMENT..................................................................................................................6

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DIVERSIFICATION...............................................................................................................................7

BRAND POSITIONING.............................................................................................................................7

MARKETING MIX....................................................................................................................................7

PRODUCT..............................................................................................................................................7

PRICE.....................................................................................................................................................7

PROMOTION.........................................................................................................................................8

PLACEMENT.........................................................................................................................................8

SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES............................................................................................................9

SWOT ANALYSIS...................................................................................................................................10

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS.....................................................................................................................11

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.........................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION

COMPANYBACKGROUND

The inception of Unilever came when William Hesketh Lever formed Lever Brothers in 1890s. One of his friends Lord Leverhulme from Victoria, England gave the concept of a novel product “Sunlight Soap” which raised knowledge about hygiene and cleanliness in the everyday routine, to reduce the burden on women and the concept gained popularity and became the first step of creation of Unilever. Unilever was established in 1930 and its headquarters is in United Kingdom. Unilever has now setup its business in a number of developed and developing countries like Russia, India, Brazil, China, USA, Canada and South Africa with production facilities in almost 160 locations and it employs more than 174000 employees(Mohammedfikri'sBlog, 2010). It has a turnover of €49.3bn in 2013 and in a day more than 2bn people use its products every day. Approximately 57% of its business is done in emerging markets. Since 2011, it has reduced the waste impact by 11%.The products produced by Unilever are sold in 190 countries.

The business strategy of Unilever is aimed to bring sustainable growth. Unilever considers the issues like scarcity of water, carbon dioxide emission, limited energy, etc. as opportunitiesand try to address these problems. Unilever has a compass strategy for advancement and improvement of the business model and it has three pillars i.e. consumers, products and operations, these pillars are then combined with the compass strategy to attain the goals and objectives set by the company. The unique feature of Unilever is Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) alignment with its vision statement. The strategies which lead to both sustainability and profitability growth are acceptable to Unilever. Businesses now a days have to be innovative and generative of ideas that will reduce costs, earn more margins and decrease the risks associated with it(Unilever’s Annual Report, 2013).

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VISION

“Double the size of the business, whilst reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive

social impact. We will lead for responsible growth, inspiring people to take small everyday actions that

will add up to a big difference. We will grow by winning shares and building markets everywhere”.

(Unilever’s Annual Report 2013)

MISSION

“Our purpose to make sustainable living commonplace we work to create a better future every day, with

brands and services that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Our first priority is to

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our consumers – then customers, employees, suppliers and communities. When we fulfil our

responsibilities to them, we believe that our shareholders will be rewarded.”

(Unilever’s Annual Report 2013)

UNILEVER’SPOSITIONINGSTRATEGY

Unilever has an immense range of products and it tries to cater to nearly all segments of consumer needs

whether it is personal care, food products, products for weight watchers and household products.

COMPETITORS

Unilever’s main competitors in personal, health and household care products are Proctor & Gamble

(P&G), personal and health care products is Nivea; food products are KRAFT Food and Nestle.

The selected product in this report is DOVE from Unilever’s range of products. A detailed analysis of the

product is discussed below

DESCRIPTIONOFPRODUCT

Dove was developed in United States of America (USA) in 1957 as a soap which contained 1/4 th or 25%

of moisturizing cream which was a new kind of soap especially for American women. Dove today is not

merely a US-based soap bar but it has now transformed itself to Unilever’s most successful and largest

global brand. In early 1990s dove was launched in more than 55 countries and by 1996 it was launched by

Unilever in almost 80 countries. Currently, dove has diversified itself with a range of items like

deodorants, facial care products and hair care products. The main rivals of dove are Proctor & Gamble’s

“olay”, Neutrogena of Johnson and Johnson’s and Nivea of Beiersdorf. These brands also have a variety

of product range. dove as a result of aggressive and wise marketing effort has become Unilever’s top

profile brand in terms of revenue generation. In the 1990s dove was positioned to compete with Proctor &

Gamble’s Olay but this changed after 2000 when Dove also moved to hair care and deodorant market

developing a niche market which was certainly a less competitive market. Most of the dermatologists in

Canada, France and the United States of America advice and endorse dove as a recommended brand.

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MISSION

“Dove is committed to helping all women realize their personal beauty potential by creating products

that deliver real care. Dove believes that beauty should be for everyone, because when you look and feel

your best you feel better about yourself.”(Unilever 2014)

MARKETINGGOALOFDOVE

Dove marketing goal is to build self-esteem in women. It targets women of all color, ages and/or sizes

and with extensive marketing and promotion of its products it tries to make them believe that beauty lies

inside them not in other factors. Dove’s marketing objective is to magnify the concept of beauty for all

users of its products (kasi 2011.) This objective is developed after a lot of planning and research and

requires prudent thinking. Because of Dove’s successful implementation of its marketing strategies more

than 10 million women use Dove products every week. Dove’s marketing objective also include to

increase the number of sales of its different products, always finding itself in the spotlight of media i.e.

rigorous advertising of its products and try to remain the pioneersof innovation in the field of natural

beauty.

BUSINESSOBJECTIVES

Dove has a business objective of sustainable andprofitable growth. Dove strives to reach more consumers

by increasing the number of retail stores or outlets and by transforming its supply chain and go-to-market

strategy. Dove through its close relationship with the costumers and exceptionally simplified operational

performance try to improve its earnings. Dove also strives to bring the non-existing consumers to its

consumer base by building brand awareness in the consumers(Unilever’s Annual Report 2013).

TARGET MARKET

Dove has positioned itself mainly towards women;nearly 57% of its users are women. The primary target

market is women and secondary target market is men. The main focus is on the primary target audience

and for this Dove identifies females who likes using personal care especially beauty products, females

who love to take care of the beauty and health of the skin and females who are unwilling to buy expensive

beauty products because of less purchasing power.(Kasi, 2011) Dove has selected women as a target

audience because of the consumer buying trend and its own products features. The selection of target

market is a very critical process, it requires a lot of research and analysis and this work is carried out by

the Research and Development (R&D) of Unilever.

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MARKETING STRATEGIES

Dove’s marketing strategy is to provide product and services to consumer of all sizes with a competitive

price, extensive workforce to get profits in a sustainable and systematic way. Following are the marketing

strategies of Dove

MARKET PENETRATION

To improve the market penetration Dove have a unique strategy, Dove sends its representative to different

market segments and give them a task to identify the needs and wants of the different market segments,

the most famous technique used for this is sampling(kasi 2011) . This helps the company to let the

costumers think that the company cares for them and hence the company penetrates into a new market

segments.

MARKET DEVELOPMENT

Dove heavily focuses on the marketing development and educating the existing costumers about the

products that are being made according to the needs and wants of the existing and prospective

customers(kasi 2014). To accomplish this strategy, Dove usually in an advertising campaignhas a

demonstrator in every outlet that performs and educates the costumers about the products.

DIVERSIFICATION

Dove believes that diversification in its product line is an integral part for the success of its business. For

that Dove has specializes itself in bringing new developments in its product line for different types of

skin. This diversification of product line brings new customers from different market segments.

BRAND POSITIONING

Unilever positions its brand “Dove” with a point of differentiation that beauty is not just about attraction

but it is something more beyond that thing instead it is about every women and the inner beauty which is

the market segment for Dove. This thing is well catered by Dove that’s why most of the women relate

their skin with dove(Elliot, R and Larry P 2011).

MARKETING MIX

PRODUCT

Dove came with a new idea of moisturizing of skin which was not there before its inception. The products

line of Dove is developed after carefully examining the traits and behaviors of women when it comes to

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beauty and personal care. The product line of dove has a lot of products ranging from variety of skin care

soaps, body wash, moisturizing lotions and hair care products to dove for men which was launched in

2010. Unilever has reached every single individual by producing a range of products according to the

needs of current and prospective consumers(ukessays 2014).Dove has five different classes of product i.e.

Hair care Products, Men care,Lotions,Beauty Bars/body wash and Deodorants. Dove has a range of

products in its each main category i.e. in Hare Care Products it has 44 different products, in men care, in

lotion, in beauty Bars/Body Wash and deodorants has sub products.

PRICE

Soon after the establishment of Dove soap, it was highly priced because of its high quality and most of

the consumers at that time did not consider buying it because of its high price but later on Unilever

changed its pricing strategy and made its products inexpensive and caught the attention of upper middle

and middle class consumers. Dove shampoo is a good option for repair and maintenance of hair in a low

price(ukessays 2014). The soaps produced by Dove are packed in a similar way as other brands’ soaps are

packaged therefore bringing its packaging costs low. Dove before launching a product always does a

detailed research and analysis on competitors’ pricing strategies and produce its own pricing strategies by

keeping in mind the sustainable growth and brands image which helps it in gaining a competitive

advantage.

PROMOTION

The promotion strategy of Dove is to make the brand famous in the market for its personal care

specifically beauty products. Dove promotes its products in the market as the products which enhance and

maintain the beauty of women.Dove’s markets its products heavily on print media, banners, signboards,

social media and the most important TV commercials that makes Dove the strongest advertiser of its

products in the market (ukessays 2014). To grab the attention of more buyers Dove rigorously take

advantage of some marketing tools like promotion counters, previous recommendations from costumers

and over-the-counter advertising which is very common in recent times. Poster campaigns, flyers,

magazines and face-to-face marketing are the strategies which are used by Dove to show the target

market that Dove is the only brand which cares for your skin and try to solve skin problems (Kotler, P and

keller, K).Unilever also amalgamate its promotional strategy with social responsibility, in many

educational projects in schools in different countries Unilever promoted its products like Dove and

toothpaste. Specifically for promotion of Dove, Unilever joined hands with GS of United States of

America and EDA of United Kingdom to help raise fund for the project Self Esteem Fund to raise some

money for deprived women (Mohammedfikri'sBlog, 2010). Unilever is among the top 5 companies which

spend billions of dollars on advertising every year and personal care products accounts for 75% of that.

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Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” was a successful promotional campaign and the main idea behind

this campaign was to build self-esteem and confidence in women. Dove always produces and promotes

those products which “feel good, look good and get more out of life.”

PLACEMENT

Unilever utilizes its own distribution network to distribute its products. Unilever has an extensive supply

chain management system which means that it does not rely on outsourcing and does all the activities

from bringing raw material to manufacturing facilities i.e. procurement to selling the finished goods to the

end consumer on its own. Unilever has several warehouses to accommodate such a large quantity of

products (Mohammedfikri'sBlog, 2010). Unilever’s global presence and incredibly good supply chain

management create a lot of opportunities for Unilever to take advantage of profit sanctuaries in the

emerging markets and developing countries. Unilever because of its economies of scale can enter any

market and gain substantial market share from domestic producers. Unilever’s strategy when entering a

market is to compete on low prices while providing the customers with high quality products and

services.

SUSTAINABILITYSTRATEGIES

UnileverSustainable living plan (USLP) was formed in November 2010 to achieve the long term goal of

achieving double growth in business while reducing the adverse impact of the growth on environment.

Unilever plan of sustainability includes helping 1 billion people to improve the standards of health by

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2020, reduce the environment footprint of Unilever’s product to half and buying raw materials which are

produced sustainably. As the population of the world is expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050 it’s

the need of the hour to respond strategically to the effects that the world is and will be facing in the

future. Unilever is focusing on the sustainable development of its products which will help in reducing the

costs and risks and minimize the waste generated from production. Sustainable innovation is the key

factor in developing products that leads to better environment for the future generations. In order to cut

the use of water and electricity, Unilever in all of its US operations has shifted to renewable energy

resources and 50% of its worldwide production facilities have zero level of hazardous waste production.

Unilever has helped around 224 million people by reducing the chances of diarrhea by changing their

hygiene habits. Atleast 18% of the products of Unilever have met the criteria for highest Nutritional

Standards. 6% is the number by which greenhouse gas per customer use has reduced since 2010. Waste

impact per customer has been decreased by almost 7% and more than 450,000 farmers were trained by

Unilever for the benefit of the society and environment (Unilever’s Sustainabilty Living Plan 2012).

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SWOTANALYSIS

POSITIVE NEGATIVE

INTERNAL

STRENGTHS

World’s leading and

internationally recognized

Brand

Market leader in soap

industry and high market

share

Successful Restructuring

program like “One

Unilever”

Extensive Research &

Development

Fast product development

Use of real people in

advertisements

WEAKNESSES

No significant patent of

technology

Huge spending on

advertising and marketing

Women are considered to

be the only target market

Talks about beauty not

specifically about the

product

EXTERNAL

OPPORTUNITIES

Expanding customer base

Presence in prospective

consumer sector

Increasing demand of

products for ageing

population

Catering the booming and

emerging economies

THREATS

Big competitors

Slowing down economy in

the developed countries

Growing power and

authority of large retailers

Increasing demand for

niche brands unlike Dove

Use of animal testing

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COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Unilever’s main competitors in consumer good are Proctor and Gamble (P&G), KRAFT Foods and

Johnson and Johnsons and Nestle. In the case of Dove there are mainly three competitors P&G’s Olay,

Johnson and Johnson’s Neutrogena and Beiersdorf’s Nivea. There is an intense competition with P&G in

the hair care in developed regions like US and Europe. P&G’s market share is always above Unilever’s

hair care but it has a declining trend after 2007 on the contrary Unilever’s market share is increasing

because of its rigorous spending on R&D and advertising.

POSITIONING CHART

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Unilever has established its brand name very successfully and have a good amount of market share of

different products but still P&G and L’Oreal in personal care products have a market share greater than

Unilever’s market share. Unilever has to invest in total factor productivity and innovation in technology

instead of spending a huge amount of money on marketing and advertising of a product like dove which

is a market leader. Unilever should also make some strategies to pull the male costumers toward it.

Unilever does not own a patent it should buy patent for the new technologies and innovations like P&G’s

Pentene Pro-V.

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REFERENCES

o Mohammed fikri 2010, Unilever’s Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets ,

Mohammedfikri's Blog, http://mohammedfikri.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/unilever

%E2%80%99s-strategies-for-competing-in-foreign-markets/

o Unilever 2014, Annual report 2013, Unilever N.V. and Unilever PLC, www.unilever.com

o Unilever 2014, Dove 2014, Unilever N.V. and Unilever PLC, doveus.com

o Kasi 2011, Marketing Plan of dove, Marketing Mixx, http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-plan-

2/181-marketing-plan-of-dove.html

o Kasi 2011, Unilever Marketing Plan, Marketing Mixx, http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-plan-

2/201-unilever-marketing-plan.html

o UK essays 2014, Marketing mix and strategies of Unilever,

http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-mix-and-strategies-of-unilever-

marketing-essay.php

o Unilever 2014, Unilever’s Sustainable living plan (USLP) progress report 2012,Unilever N.V. and

Unilever PLC, www.unilever.com

o Unmanabarkakati 2013, Product Mix of Unilever, Marketing Blog: UnmanaBarkakati,

http://unmanabarkakati15.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/session-6-product-mix/

o Elliot, R and Larry P 2011, Strategic Brand Management, Oxford University press, Oxford.

o Kotler, P and keller, K 2009, Marketing Management, Pearson, Singapore

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