Tittle: Integrated Marketing Communications Plan on Sunsilk Shampoo
Executive Summary
Sunsilk Shampoo‟s Sunsilk Shampoo‟s are under the flag of Unilever which would like to make an announcement and awareness to the society by conducting a campaign starting from July 2009 to December 2009. The campaign is objected to achieve the positive feeling about the brand, develop and maintain regular use of backstage, create the interest and awareness of the brand. On the smaller scope we tend to achieve to obtain loyal customers and maintaining them informing about the existence of the brand so that people who don‟t know could could realize. Otherwise the vision on becoming the market leader can be achieved. We are targeting young adult between the age of 21 and 25, where on that age, the girls need an actualization and acceptance of the society. They are the type of strivers people, who are trendy and fun loving, money defines success, concerned about the opinion of others type of people. On the Foot Cone and Belding Grid, we determine self-satisfaction/ reactor will be our target, they primarily focus on feeling. Shampoo is a low involvement product. On the positioning strategy, we are learning to understand that every young adult are expecting to be delighted. The elements that will be used are advertising, publicity and internet marketing. The magazines which have become a highly specialized medium that reaches specific target audiences, Internet which has been a new technological virtual system that would allow people makes a communication and publicity to attract the society most. The execution of the advertising will be Informational appeals and emotional appeals. The advertising will provide information about the brand itself. The girl that appears with her black hair with her delicateness and beauty would create the emotional feel, which would influence on the wish that they could be as pretty as they can be. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Authorization
This task is planning on the integrated marketing communication campaign to promote the Sunsilk Black and Shine shampoo. Expectedly the campaign could achieve the objectives of the organization; the report is commissioned for Mr. Morgan as the Ceo of the Unilever Indonesia.
1.2 Limitation
There is still much information that can be reported but it is limited due to the word limit 1.3 Scope of the report
While planning on the integrated marketing communication campaign, it is essential to consider the information from textbooks, journals, and internet, which can be used to identify and evaluate the strategy to be implemented, the conclusion and recommendation also, can be identified for the future use of this company. 2.0 Situational Analysis 2.1 Company Analysis
PT Unilever Indonesia was build in 5 December 1933, the company have been existed in Indonesia for more than 70 years, before Indonesia got their independent The main office was centred in i n Jakarta and the t he manufacturing manufactu ring was w as located l ocated in i n Cikarang Cik arang and Surabaya. The company moved in many sectors of industry starting from personal care, house care, food and beverages. In example: ponds, Lux, Rexona, Trika, Citra, Molto, Lifebuoy, Blue band, Bango, Sariwangi, Clear, Rinso, Domestos Nomos and etc, Although there are many products in the company, the Unilever product that we wish to do the Integrated Marketing Communication plan for 1 July 2009 – 31 June 2010 was Sunsilk Black and Shine shampoo (Unilever 2009) 2.2 Product analysis
Sunsilk shampoos have eight varieties for the consumer to choose which expectations they need for their hair. Which are Sunsilk Anti-dandruff, Black & Shine, Clean and Fresh, Hair Fall Solution, Soft and Smooth, Damage Treatment, Bouncy Curl and straight; the specific brands that we will going to be using for the IMC plan is Sunsilk Black and Shine.
Sunsilk Black and Shine, with is nutritious ingredients helps our target market hair to look more black and shine, and recovering the damaged hair. The black and shine hair shows the feminist of the personality. (Unilever 2009) The price of Sunsilk 90ml, 180ml and 360ml are relatively affordable and the price are Rp5.600,Rp11.000,- and Rp22.000 2.3 Competitor Analysis
The nearest competitor that Sunsilk have was Pantene shampoo from P&G Company. The shampoo also has many varieties like Sunsilk has; the Pantene type of shampoo that would
be our
nearest
competitor
is
Pantene Midnight
Expression. Midnight
Expression helps keep the black hair glossy and rich,
(Pantene 2009) Pantene applied a massive promotional strategy starting from advertising and publicity. The latest public relation campaign that they have done successfully was „Pantene Looking for Stars‟ with Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian Top Singer as the icon. Pantene‟s ar e inviting the girls inIndonesia to join the contest; where as Indonesian girls love Siti Nurhaliza and expect themselves to become as pretty as her by using the shampoo. Adopted from: Kapan Lagi
Pantene‟s can be obtained everywhere, starting from traditional market, retail store until the department store, the price for 360ml Pantene is relatively expensive, the price was about Rp31.500,-. With the availability benefit, it also helps Pantene to be success on their public relation campaign. (Kapan Lagi 2009) 2.4 Target Market
Our brand/ product that will be used is an ordinary product, oth erwise we don‟t have a very specific target market, those who need our shampoo, should at least a female and young adult, which their age are between 21 – 25. 3.0 Estabilishing Objectives
3.1 Communication Objectives
DAGMAR that stands for defining advertising goals for measured advertising result, is an important approach to setting objectives, „Many promotional planners use this model as a basis for setting objectives and assessing the effectiveness of their promotional campaigns‟. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.206) setting up a right objectives help us to reach our goals accurately. Colley listed four characteristic of a good objectives, which are „concrete, measurable tasks, target audiences, benchmark and degree of change sought and specified time peri od‟. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.205) Below are our objectives that will be achieved Product: Sunsilk Black and Shine Time Period: one year
1. Create positive feelings about the brand among 60% and preference among 40% of the target audience Improving the packaging of the brand becoming more attractive, otherwise it would build the image in the eyes of society.
2. Develop and maintain regular use of backstage shampoo among 25 percent of the target audience Expecting our target market are satisfied with the performance of the shampoo, by using the reinforcements advertising and comments by the professional or hair specialist.
3. Create interest in the brand among 70 % of the target audiences Commucicating the benefit of the brand to our target market will be our main task, to create the interest among the society.
4. Obtain trial among 30 percent of the target audiences Our campaign will present a massly hair wash for our target market for one hundred thousand people for free, which will be held on the centre of jakarta, Monas.
5. Create awareness among 90 percent of target audience After presenting the massly hair wash, the media will be attracted, and it would help us to promote and penetrate the brand easily to our target market. And it can be an opportunity for us to sell astonishing situation for our target market.
Response Hierarchy Shampoo is a low involvement product, where every people used it and don‟t need to make a further consideration before making a decisions to buy it. Response is „the set of reaction the receiver has after seeing, hearing or reading the message,‟ (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.142) on the response hierarchy there is an AIDA model that was
„developed to represents the stages a salesperson must take a customer through in the per sonal selling process.‟ (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.146) The process of Aida model is Attention Interest
Desire Action
(Belch & Belch 2007, pp.146) Above is the process that the people will need to experience. To build attention, promoting the brand through several elements would attract. After gaining the interest of Sunsilk shampoo, they would think to buy it, and this is the chance for the marketers to execute it and close the sales, as it is the most important stage on the model.
4. Target Audience 4.1 Segmentation
Segmentation is „dividing up a market into a distinctive group that has common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.45) By segmenting the group or society, it would help the marketers to conduct the best and accurate promotional strategies to earn the market interest. The segmentation that we have been studying, divided by four, which are „geographic, demographic, psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation‟. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.49) Demographic segmentation is „dividing the market on the basis of demographic variables such as age, sex, family size, education, income and social class‟. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.47) Sunsilk shampoo will be using gender and age as the basis for segmentation. Sunsilk Shampoo are targeting female, starting from 21 to 25 years old. Geographic segmentation is „dividing market into different geographic units, include nations, states, counties or even neighborhoods.‟ (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.45) Sunsilk shampoos are targeting Indonesia which has 33 provinces from Sabang until Merauke, and Jakarta city will be the basis for the marketers to conduct the promotional strategies. Psychographic segmentation is „dividing the market on the basis of personality and/or lifestyle‟. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.49) the market which are expecting to appear beautiful will be the target for the marketers, which according to VALS model, they are strivers which can be explained as „trendy and fun loving, money defines success, concerned about the opinion of others‟ (Hanley 2007) type of people
Behaviouristic segmentation is „dividing consumers into groups according to their usage, loyalties or buying responses to a product.‟ (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.45) Shampoo as the low involvement product will focus more on the regular user, to achieve higher demand for the company profitability. 4.2 Targeting
Picture 4.2 Adopted from: Tim Glowa
The picture above explains that shampoos are located on the fourth diagram, which means the self-satisfaction/ reactor will be our target, they primarily focus on feeling. Shampoo is a low involvement product. This is a „do – feel – learn operating‟ (Belch and Belch 2007, pp.152), on the scenario, people buy any types of shampoo brands, after they try; they start to feel whether the performance of the shampoo meet their expectation or not, and after that they recognize it by their own and it is called a learning stage. „The creative objective is to get attention with some sort of consistency, and suitable methods may include billboards, point-of- sale or newspaper advertising‟. (Vaughn 1980) Foote Cone and Belding matrix is useful for the marketers „to recognize the market behaviors‟ (Belch and Belch 2007, pp.153) by recognizing the behaviors of the market, it would be easier to conduct appropriate promotional strategies. Apart from it, we also focus the target market that would also be the strivers; young adult who wants to be recognized, appear beautifully and concerned about the opinion of others.
4.3 Positioning
Products positioning refers to „the customer perception of the place a product or brand occupies in a given market.‟(Sengupta 2005, pp.290) The positioning of the Sunsilk Shampoo brand is „understand‟. The positioning strategies play a very important role to create a perception of the brands by the society. Why we are choosing that was because we are learning to understand that every young adult are expecting to be delighted. the happiness would only be achieve if they get a positive attitude by others, that‟s why they need to understand themselves to know the actual things they need, Sunsilk wants to be seen as brand that know what woman feel, what they need and Sunsilk are telling them, „we feel wh at you feel‟ The marketers are emphasizing the product benefit of our shampoo, Sunsilk product is a product with a very good quality, with the selected fragrance that can be obtained with an affordable price. “Consumers may also judge the price paid relative to the consistency of the performance of the product or service” (Herman, et al 2007) This statement from Herman is our main reason why we are deciding the affordable price.
5. Communication Strategy 5.1 IMC Objectives
There are six elements of IMC mix, which are „advertising, sales promotion, publicity, personal selling, direct mark eting and internet marketing.‟(Belch & Belch 2007, pp.17) The elements that will be used are advertising, publicity and internet marketing. After making some analysis we found three of the elements above, is the most accurate elements that would support our entire campaign. Sunsilk Black and Shine shampoo is the low involvement product which people would used it for their daily needs, although the target market are women young adult, there is also a big possibilities people that is not our target will used our brands. Therefore using a personal selling and direct marketing will not be an effective strategy to be integrated, unless it is a high involvement product which people need to consider more before buying the brands. Advertising is defined „as any paid form of non personal communication about an organization, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor‟.(Belch & Belch 2007, pp.17) the magazines which have become a highly specialized medium that reaches specific target audiences, will
effectively support our mission to target the young adult. Several magazines such as Go Girls, Cosmo and etc will be the magazines that will be used, to attract our target market. This campaign will highly focused on publicity and public relation, according to Belch, „publicity and public relations have been considered more supportive than primary to the marketing and promotional process.‟ (Belch & Belch 2007 pp.23) publicity will create an awareness which would increase the image of the company and would attract the curiosity of the society about the brand. The marketers will implement it by creating an event in Monas (centre of Jakarta), through advertising it will invite large society to come and experience their hair being washed on a time together with other people. Not stop until that, well known singer will also be invited to show their performance in front of the stage. By inviting the singer, it would attract the society a lot. The activities can also be considered as our role to build a relationship with the customer, which is supported by Rodie with his statement, „building rapport, trust, and relationships with customers may be essential‟ (Rodie et al 2001). „The interactive medium that is having the greatest impact on marketing is the Internet.‟ (Belch & Belch 2007 pp.21) Internet which has been a new technological virtual system that would allow people makes a communication electronically for communication reason and any informational research. On these opportunities, placing an advertisement on young adult most visited website will help. While they are browsing or playing friendster or facebook, they might see the advertisement. 5.2 Channel Factor
The company also used the media to promote Sunsilk products such as print media and support media. For the print media Sunsilk product used magazine for the advertising and for the supporting media the company used interactive marketing.
5.2.1 Print Media
The print media are not intrusive like radio and TV, and generally require some effort on the part of the reader for the advertising message to have an impact. (Belch & Belch 2007, p. 377) The print media consist of magazine and newspaper, which are Go Girls and Cosmo Girls. Sunsilk product used magazine as the media to promote the product starting from June 2009 until December 2009 because nowadays, many young adult likes to read magazine rather than
newspaper because the content was more attractive, more creative, and more colourful and the consumers will not get bored and easy for them to see the product packaging. The advertisement will be located on the coversheet behind of the magazines, even though putting there will be more expensive, but more people would see it through clearly. We used Go Girls and Cosmo Girls as the media to promote the product because these both magazines is talking about fashion, beauty care that was needed by the target market which is young adult. The advantages of using magazines are selectivity. Magazines are the most selective of all media except direct mail. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.380) In magazines, the marketer can select what magazine that the marketer wants to put the Sunsilk product to magazines. A second advantage is reproduction quality of ads. Magazines are generally printed on high-quality paper stock and use printing processes that provide excellent reproduction in black and white or colour. (Belch & Belch 20007, p. 382) The other advantage of magazine is permanence, which is long life span. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.384) If we put the advertisement in magazine it is can have a long life, because even though the product not become trend anymore, the product advertisement still stick in that magazine, different with other media likes TV, radio and newspaper. If other media like TV and radio it‟s only have short life span because in the beginning, if the product is trend and it will advertise three times in one week and if the product not trends anymore the products will advertise may be one times in a week, so that TV and radio have short life span. Other media likes newspapers also have short life span because newspapers are generally discarded soon after being read. This advantage of magazine that have good quality, it can make benefit for the product because when the consumers went to salon and the magazine already last one month, they still can read it. Nowadays, the target market, which is young adult, likes to read magazine than newspaper. The target audience will give response about the advertisement in magazine. The disadvantages of using magazine are costly. The costs of advertising in magazines vary according to the size of the audience they reach and their selectivity. (Belch & Belch 2007, p. 387) If we want to advertise, the product in magazine is quite expensive because every place that we want to put the advertisement have different price. The price is depending on the size, colour, and place. The other disadvantage is long lead-time. Most major publication have a 30-60 days lead time, which means space must be purchased and the ad must be prepared well in advance of the actual publication date. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.389) The magazine not publishes everyday; this media only publish once a week or once a month so it is difficult for marketers to put the advertisement because we should waiting for the next edition published. Supporting Media is described in the previous chapter dominates the media strategies of large advertisers‟ particularly national advertisers. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.414) The support media is include interactive media that is online/ internet, outdoor advertising, personal media which is personal selling, sales promotion, direct selling. For Sunsilk, we will be using interactive media
as a media to promote the product, which is Face book. Sunsilk product used internet to promote the product because nowadays, most of the people open internet to find a data or information. If we put the advertisement in internet and when the people is connected to the internet to find the information, the consumers can see the advertisement and when the consumers see and they opinion is attractive or interesting they will read more about the advertisement. We used Facebook as the media because many people use Facebook, starts from teenagers and young adult until married people. Therefore, this website is suitable for the target audience, which is young adult that often open the website to find new friends, find old friends and the most important thing; they can share information with other people. The advantages of internet is interactive capabilities, it is provides strong potential for increasing customer involvement and satisfaction and almost immediate feedback for buyers and sellers. (Belch & Belch 2007, pp.486) Putting the advertisement on the internet can increase consumer‟s satisfaction because the consumers can immediately give a feedback about the advertisement and the products. Therefore, if the information from the feedback about the advertisement and the product is not good, the company can change the advertisement or either improves the product quality to achieve customer satisfaction. The second is creativity. On the internet, the company of a product can create creative advertisement as the marketers can do. If the advertisement is nice and attractive, the consumers will look and see what also can read the advertisement and this will make the consumers try the products. This can increase the sales and gain profit for the company because of the creativit y design in internet. Other advantage is speed. „The internet is the quicker means of acquiring this information‟. (Belch & Belch, pp. 486) As we know, the internet has faster speed and make easy for the people to find the information. The advertising that the company can provide, can be photo, video etc. if the consumers want to see the advertisement about the product, The disadvantages of using internet are clutter. In internet, many website that the consumers can visit, sometime it can make the consumers get confused. The result is some advertisement may not be noticed and some consumers will become irritated with the clutter. In addition, this will lose the effectiveness to the advertisement itself. Another thing is annoyance. If the consumers like the product advertisement and want to look repeatedly and the consumers want to download the image, message it is will take long time because the consumers should install first and then download it. This will make the consumers get annoyed and lazy to download the advertisement. Other is poor reach, while the internet numbers are growing rapidly; „its reach still lags behind that of television‟. (Belch & Belch, pp.487) The number of internet user in Indonesia was approximately still 12.800.000 (Galesus 2008). Therefore, the company has to turn to traditional which is television to achieve the company goals.
6.0 Creative Strategy
6.1 Copy Platform
The issue that Sunsilk experience now was, there are many maid use Sunsilk as the shampoo. This would people thought it is a maid shampoo. We are avoiding this because „Negative perceptions of service may ultimately damage the reputation and profitability of the business‟.(Hensley, et al 2007). Therefore, the company should make a new strategy to build the higher image otherwise it can also be used by middle or high level of people. The communication objectives of Sunsilk was to make the women hair become more black, shiny, smoothen. Many people care with their appearance, and hair become one of the most factor they care about, the target market is for young adult, which is from 21-25 years old that care with their appearance. The major selling idea or key benefit to communicate is „Sunsilk Black Magic‟. The creative strategy statement for Sunsilk is the marketer strategy to make event in Monas and give free hair treatment by washing their hair to the consumers so that the people can try the product, this become one of promotion to achieve the company goals. For supporting information is when the marketer makes the event in mall, the marketer need sponsor to support their information and requirement. The sponsor can be from magazine that is Go Girls, Cosmo Girls, etc. The marketer need sponsor to reduce their expense and to increase the profit.
6.2. Objective from campaign by communication
The objective for the campaign is to introduce Sunsilk product to the public, so that people who does not know anything become know about this product, also give more information for the people that already know about Sunsilk, by the campaign, it can enlarge the market. Moreover, expectedly Sunsilk can be a market leader among the young adult after the great campaign so that the people would prefer to buy this brand.
6.3. Major selling idea to communicate
There are four concepts of major selling ideas but we only used one concept, which is using a unique selling proposition. „Unique selling proposition is described influential in advertising.‟ (Belch & Belch 2007, pp. 254) The company used „Sunsilk Black Magic‟ as the slogan, because, black means symbol of beauty, elegant, gorgeous and shiny hair. Sunsilk can be like a magic that can make people hair become black and shiny. In addition, people will think that only Sunsilk that can make people hair become blacker and shinier.
6.4. Ads execution/measurement of target market response
Informational appeals and emotional appeals will be used for the advertisement execution. Sunsilk tells the people that the shampoo can make the hair shinier, smooth and become blacker this is using informational appeal because the company tell the information about the Sunsilk product which contains of several natural ingredients and benefits. Nowadays, young adult care with their appearance and hair becomes one of the things which people concern about. The girl that appears with her black hair with her delicateness and beauty would create the emotional feel, which would influence on the wish that they could be as pretty as they can be.
7. Conclusion & Recommendation
The integrated marketing communication objectives by Unilever Company that planned to be achieved would result the best to attract the interest, feel and image of the Sunsilk brand to the right target market which is young adult. The innovative thing on the public campaign is inviting the society to experience the brand by washing up their hair; we are inviting the singer to attract more people to come. Besides using public relation campaign, selecting the right media such as magazines and internet can be other way to promote the brand to the society, purposely was to protect and increase the market share, otherwise Sunsilk can be the market leader on the beauty shampoo. The advertisements that were executed by informational and emotional appeal can influence the strivers to obtain our product, and it also relate with our positioning which understands them.
After investigating further, we must not only be depending on the promotional strategy, we must also consider the distribution factor of the product that we are promoting on the time. To gain more market interest or either gain more support from society, the promotion manager can work together as a team with the green peace society, bike to work and WWF organization as our contribution also to protect our environment. On the next opportunities, Sunsilk can also work together with other Unilever brand such as Lifebuoy and Lux as the soap to conduct the personal care campaign under the flag of Unilever. The success of the organization highly depended on the promotion that directed for the interest of the customer. By recognizing what factors to improve, the marketers, entrepreneurs and owners may have different strategies to improve their promotional or marketing strategy performances for the success of the organization in the future.
Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behavior Analysis for Sunsilk Shampoo Contents About Sunsilk .................................................................................................................. 3 Part I: Product Strategy ................................................................................................... 3 Customer-value hierarchy............................................................................................ 4 Product Differentiation ................................................................................................. 5 Design......................................................................................................................... 6 Product and Brand Relationships................................................................................. 7 Product hierarchy (In case of Sunsilk): ..................................................................... 7 Product system and Mixes:....................................................................................... 8 Product Line Analysis: .............................................................................................. 8 Product Line length:.................................................................................................. 8 Product Mix Pricing: .................................................................................................. 9 Co-Branding:............................................................................................................. 9 Packaging and Labeling: .......................................................................................... 9 Part II. STP – Segmentation, Target Markets and Positioning ........................................ 9 Part III. Branding ........................................................................................................... 10 Target Customer ........................................................................................................ 11
Brand Values ............................................................................................................. 11 Part IV. Pricing Strategy ................................................................................................ 14 References.................................................................................................................... 17 About Sunsilk Sunsilk, the number one beauty shampoo brand from Hindustan Lever Ltd, ha s evolved to become one of the l eading brands in the beauty regimen of women. Sunsilk has consistently been a brand that has brought innovations in hair care to the Indian consumer. It was the first brand to launch a 2–in-1 shampoo (shampoo plus conditioner), also the first to offer shampoo by hair types and pro- conditioner. Part I: Product Strategy Sunsilk shampoo is a product offered by Hindustan Unilever as a part of Personal and Healthcare division of the company. Under the Sunsilk Brand, HUL has offered hair care products ranging from shampoos to conditioners to Hair-Serum to other Hair care products. Different Sunsilk shampoos are: Sunsilk : Sunsilk - Anti dandruff – blue; Sunsilk damage repair – orange; Sunsilk thick and long – pink; Sunsilk soft and smooth – yellow; Sunsilk black shine – black; Sunsilk hair fall - gold Sunsilk Naturals Range: Sunsilk Naturals Silky Strength with Henna & Lotus extracts, Sunsilk Naturals Black Shine with Amla & Sunflower extracts, Sunsilk Naturals Curl Control with Milk Proteins, and Sunsilk Naturals Anti-dandruff with Curd and Lemon. Color and Shine Range: Sunsilk for Red hair, Sunsilk for Dark Brown hair and Sunsilk for Black hair Fig1. Sunsilk Color and Shine shampoo for Brown Hair Customer-value hierarchy The Customer-value hierarchy has been followed by the company for Sunsilk shampoo as mentioned below: Core Benefit – Through Sunsilk shampoo, the company has provided solution for the core benefit of cleansing of hair, especially to women. Basic Product – This benefit has been translated in the form of shampoo which offers cleansing along with conditioning (shampoo plus conditioner). Expected Product - The product has been offered as different types of shampoos on the basis of hair types (Dry, Normal, Oil y) and desired results (Anti-Frizz, Anti-Dandruff etc.). Augmented product – Sunsilk shampoo initially was launched as a shampoo for dry, normal or oily hair and l ater was extended for colored hair along with being enriched with conditioner to do away with need for a separate conditioner to be used by women. Potential product – Sunsilk shampoo is still evolving and we have seen that every alternate year some major improvement is introduced in the product line to incorporate innovation to satisfy customers and distinguish its offerings. Sunsilk shampoo has been classified as nondurable and convenience (staple) good and follows product and marketing-mix strategy befitting its t ype. Product Differentiation Product differentiation for Sunsilk is achieved as follows: Form: Different sizes such as 100ml, 200ml and 400ml are introduced in the market and the current shape of the bottle is aesthetically pleasing. It is also available in sachet form. Sunsilk shampoo is available in t hree differently colored packs – Pink, yellow, Black. It also has two more product lines- Sunsilk Naturals and Sunsilk Color Shine with 23 new product variants. Each one of these products has different packaging in terms of color and design. Features: Sunsilk shampoo is available in different variants having unique features. It
has different product for different types of hair- types of hair, colored hair, damaged hair etc. The differentiation is based on ingredients used for each type of shampoo on offer. Great smell is an additional feature that increases the product‟s appeal among customers. Customization: Multiple variants of Sunsilk shampoo ensure that the products cater to a wide range of needs of the customers and are mass customized for different kinds of users. Performance Quality: Emphasis on ensuring high quality has led the company to constantly innovate. Each range of Sunsilk shampoo is qualit y oriented and is customized to meet specific requirements of customers in terms of identifi cation of their changing grooming needs. Style: Attractive packaging and different product type to suit different types of needs of customers has ensured that along with high style quotient, Sunsilk shampoo also delivers on the promise of high quality product. This adds to the differentiating factor as Sunsilk is perceived not only as a stylish product but also as one which provides value to its customer. Good smell also contributes to the style quotient. Service Differentiation: Sunsilk shampoo is recognized not only as a product but through the site www.sunsilkgangofgirls.com, the company has made an effort to expand into services offering solutions to hair problems. Through this site, women can share their concerns and thoughts with each other and it also promotes awareness about growing styling and grooming needs. This forms a strategy to further the market expansion. Fig 2. Sunsilk Gang of Girls site Design Design offers a potent way to differentiate and position a company‟s products. Pricing and technology though important are not enough to provide competitive edge to the company. Design is the totality of features that affect how a product looks, feels and functions in terms of customer requirements. In case of Sunsilk shampoo, all the factors discussed above related to product differentiation are applied to the designing of the product. Sunsilk has offered great style in terms of attractive packaging, bottle shapes and l abeling. The three major ranges – Sunsilk, Sunsilk naturals and Sunsilk Color. Sunsilk has three products – Pink, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Gold and Black. Sunsilk naturals has Anti-dandruff, Curl-control, Blackshine and Silky-strength. Sunsilk color and shine has three variants – for red hair, for brown hair and for black hair (radiant light brown, dazzling shiny black and vibrant burgundy). The great style, quality of product, smell and types along with packaging, satisfying different needs of customers and help Sunsilk maintain a competitive edge. Product and Brand Relationships Each product can be related to other products to ensure that a firm is offering and marketing the optimal set of products. Product hierarchy (In case of Sunsilk): Need family: Hair care Product Family: Cleaning agent for hair and scalp Product class: Shampoos Product Line: Sunsilk Shampoo Product type: Sunsilk Naturals Item: Sunsilk Naturals Silky Strength with Henna & Lotus extracts, Sunsilk Naturals Black Shine with Amla & Sunflower extracts, Sunsilk Naturals Curl Control with Milk Proteins and Sunsilk Naturals Anti-dandruff with Curd and Lemon. Fig 3. Range of products from Sunsilk
Product system and Mixes: In case of Sunsilk, product mixes comprises of range of shampoos, conditioners and leave-ins. The width, length, depth and consistency of Sunsilk(HUL) is as discussed below: Width: Hair Care Length: Shampoos, Conditioners and leave ins Depth: 13 types of shampoos, 3 types of conditioners and 3 types of leave ins. Consistency: All the three lines provide hair related products and are complementary to each other. Hence, consistency is maintained. Product Line Analysis: Core Products: Plain Sunsilk shampoo i.e. Sunsilk pink, black a nd yellow form the basic product line and they are viewed as similar products with minor difference. Staple Products: Sunsilk blue, orange and gold have lower sales volume and very low level of promotion form staple products. The conditioners and leave ins also fall under the same category. Specialties: Sunsilk naturals and color shine shampoos form specialties are highly promoted as unique products. Convenience items: Sunsilk pink, black and yellow shampoo in sachets and small sizes form convenience items. Product Line length: Over the years, various variants of Sunsilk shampoos and other hair care products have been introduced as a change in product line length. Down- Market stretch has been done by t he company by introducing another brand of shampoo called Rejoice which caters to market for low priced shampoo. Up-Market stretch has been done by introduction of Sunsilk naturals and Sunsilk Color and shine line of products. These are customized products available at a premium. Line-filling has been done by adding Sunsilk orange, blue and gold to the previously existing Sunsilk pink, black and yellow shampoos. Keeping pace with the need to cater to the diversity of Indian hair types, as well as the changing fashion and grooming needs of the Indian woman of today, the product lines have been modified to include a premium range of complete hair care solutions, especially designed to meet the needs of women with colored and damaged hair. Product Mix Pricing: To obtain maximization of profits for the product mix, HUL has fixed different prices for different lines of products. It has followed Product line pricing strategy and kept Sunsilk plain at the lowest price with Sunsilk naturals having a higher price and Sunsilk for colored hair with the maximum price. Captive products such as conditioners are priced higher and users are recommended to use those with the complementary shampoos. Co-Branding: Through integrated packs offering complete hair care solution, shampoos are sold along with conditioners and leave ins. This kind of same company co-branding help Sunsilk create a brand image for itself as a complete hair care solution provider for all kinds of hair. Packaging and Labeling: Sunsilk being available in packs of 100, 200 and 400 ml along with sachets provides flexibility to the consumers in terms of usage of different types of shampoos for different times. Through smaller packs, trials are also encouraged. The quality ensures that the customers return for another buy. The aesthetically pleasing labeling and design of the bottle make a style statement and i nfluences customer buying decision. Choice of color to convey different values through such a wide range of shampoos is also part of the strategy.
Part II. STP – Segmentation, Target Markets and Positioning The objective of segmentation is to find attractive markets for a product. In case of Sunsilk, the buyers are segmented in terms of gender, income and behavioral differences. For Sunsilk the segments identified are Women belonging to middle and high level income groups. These women can be reached through channels of mass communication such as women‟s magazines, TV and newspapers. As the income level is medium to high, the margins on products can be kept a bit higher and hence the product be made more profitable. Also, the range of products target different segments differently. Sunsilk line of products target middle –middle and lower middle income level group as it is priced the lowest in the range. The availability of this line in sachet encourages trials and use in lower income l evel group too. Sunsilk naturals targets middle-middle and higher-middle income level group and provides extra features in terms of organic components used. It also t argets women with higher awareness about the components useful for different types of hair requirements. They are priced higher than plain Sunsilk line of shampoos. Sunsilk color and shine targets women with high fashion and style awareness. It is mainly for women with colored hair and is priced higher than the two l ines of products. In terms of positioning, Sunsilk has established itself as a brand of shampoo and other hair care products which delivers value in terms of right price for a high quality product. It has offering for a wide range of customer requirements. The popularity of Sunsilk shampoo in Tier A, B, C and D cities can be att ributed to the way it has been able to position itself as a quality product at an affordable price with an understanding of the women‟s requirement from a hair care solution provider. Part III. Branding “A house of brands is like a family each needs a role and relationship to others” – Seffrey Sinclair. The brand tells why products exist, where they come from and where they are going. It also sets their guidelines. A brand must be able to adapt to the times and to changes in buyer‟s behavior and technology. Over the past years, large groups of people esp. middle class have experienced an increase in their living standards. People have become wealthier and t hey possess a larger buying power. Nowadays, most consumers are more l ikely to choose branded products that are established over products of an unknown make, making branding one of the most important activities for consumer products. Branding is not a project it is a process. The complexity of branding is reflected by t he diagram shown below Fig 4 : Complexity of Branding The branding strategy of Sunsilk has to be viewed in conjunction with the branding strategy followed by the parent company HUL. HUL came up with the concept of power branding. Target Customer The audience for this product is aimed at women in their 20s. The one who wants to look good and can express herself, the same is visible through numerous advertisements that the company promotes on television. Brand Values Sunsilk as a brand recognises and respects the fact that every woman has unique hair needs and problems. Unlike other beauty brands that offer superficial beauty, Sunsilk is a genuine and honest brand which celebrates natural beauty. It contains familiar and trusted natural ingredients which women have been using for centuries to make their hair look more beautiful. While the brand is rooted in nature, it is a young and modern
brand which connects with the woman of t oday and her aspirations and dreams. Power Branding: Power branding refers to building multi-product, Multi-category brands which have global reach. Sunsilk was identified as one of the power brands was on the basis of Size, Brand Strength, Uniqueness and Growth Potential. Since then, Sunsilk has been at the forefront of HLL‟s experiments with extensions, variants, pricing strategies, and large-scale advertising and promotional campaigns. Branding Innovations To increase the brand value of Sunsilk, the company introduced 8 ml sachet packs to deliver the goods. In 2001, HLL decided to add a splash of colour to the brand by launching Sunsilk Pro-Colour in a market with the objective of forward integration , Sunsilk as a brand was int roduced to Hair colour. Online and Mobile Branding The latest initiative that the company has taken up is to expand the use of online branding. It has concentrated on user communities for brand building. The concept of Gang of Girls will soon be relaunched for rural parts of India as “Sunsilk Saheli.” – a service via mobile phones, which have higher penetration than t he Internet in rural India. Hindustan Unilever launched the Gang of Girls website in June ‟06. “India‟s first online girl community concept”. Sunsilk encourages all its users to get together on the site and discuss product use, hair care, beauty tips etc. The site has been marketed as a network for „girl bonding‟ and looked to improve Sunsilk‟s brand image among its target market of female youth. The features such as digital makeover, gang blog, site visitors vote on talents, tie in with www.monster.com, rhythm lounge etc. are first of their kinds to be offered exclusively for women. It has led to the creation of “successful branded space” having direct contact with target audience. The huge n umber of hits and around 2,500,000 registrations to the site proves how successful it has been in integrating technology, sentiments and need of the target group. Fig 5. Logo of Sunsilk Gang of Girls Commentary about the new Branding strategy “…[a] company taking benefits of new web 2.0 technologies ranging from blogs to power of social networking. You ask for it its all there at sunsilkgangofgirls.com. “As far as brand is concerned plus side for Sunsilk here is ability to use power of technology to position brand successful and create following among niche users whom must have generated enough feedback for the brand to understand demographic served. Other brands need to take a cue from here and understand how web can be used as an effective brand delivery/promotion tool.” Following Gang of Girls‟ success, archrival Procter & Gamble India launched www.BeingGirl.co.in aimed at girls 14-19 years old as compared with Gang of Gi rls‟ target audience of 17-22 years. Promotion Sunsilk communication has been true to it s values. The brand demonstrates a perceptive and sympathetic understanding of women, how she feels when she is faced with hair problems and how elated she feels at the end of the conflict. Communication is driven by insights into the feeli ngs surrounding those problems. The communication idea has always been to capture the 'emotional drama' in a girl's life that results out of a particular hair problem. Core to the success of t he brand has been its ability to relate to the contemporary Indian woman as a beauty and hair care expert Points of parity and points of differentiation (POP and POD) If we look at the shampoo industry as a whole, then it occupies a minority share of consumer‟s pocket. The product has reached the maturity stage and there is a cutthroat
competitions due to a large number of players in the market both domestic and international brands therefore innovations are easily and quickly copied. For example- Sachet introduction by HLL in 2001 was a major hit with the masses but now almost all the companies have their own version of satchet in the market. The only way a company can differentiate itself from this clutter is by creating associations with the product on the emotional scale definit ely backed by superior product offerings by constant innovation. Sunsilk achieves differentiation in terms of: International Brand name Small packaging Product range for all types of hair Complete hair care range Price point Effective distribution (Availability) Emotional positioning (identifies with the aspirations of young women ex. Sponsoring miss India contest) Localized manufacturing that uses local ingredients like amla, henna, lemon and curd in their products. Part IV. Pricing Strategy There is a strong correlation between Consumer psychology and pricing. Marketers recognize that consumers often process price information, interpreting prices in terms of their knowledge from prior purchase experience, formal communications, informal communications, point-of-purchase or other factors. Purchase decisions are based on how consumers perceive prices and what they consider the current actual prices to be-not the marketer‟s stated price. Customers may have lower threshold below which prices signal inferior or low quality as well as an upper threshold over which prices are prohibitive and don‟t seem worth the money. There are three key areas-reference prices, price quality inferences, and price endings. When examining products, consumers often employ reference pricing: comparing an observed price to an internal or external reference price. Many consumers use price as an indicator of quality. Image pricing is especially sensitive with ego sensitive products. Some brands adopt exclusivity and scarcity as means to signify uniqueness and justify premium prices. Further, the price setting involves the following steps: 1. Selecting the pricing objective (Survival, max. current profit, max. market share, product quality leadership) 2. Determining Demand (Price sensitivity, estimating demand curves, price elasticity of demand) 3. Estimating Costs(Types of costs and level of production, accumulated production, target costing) 4. Analyzing Competitor‟s costs, prices and offers 5. Selecting the pricing method (mark up pricing, target return pricing, perceived value pricing, value pricing, going rate pricing, auction type pricing 6. Selecting the final price. In terms of shampoo, the pricing could basically be categorized on the basis of the quantity. The major sizes in which the shampoos are available in the markets are 7.5 ml in sachets, 100 ml, 200ml, and 300 ml in plastic cans. In case of pricing strategy for sachets, t he price point plays the important role. Since Sunsilk has three different product lines, all of them could be launched in sachets. Sachets are also used as trial packs. They are used by first time users who are still exploring their hair type, users who want to change the brand of the s hampoo, users
who do not use shampoo regularly. Launching all types of shampoos in the product range would help existing consumers to try higher end product and graduate to higher level. At this stage it becomes important that the premium range be priced a little higher than the other range. While doing this the objective of launching the premium range in sachets must be kept in mind. The basic intention is not to boost sales big time with these sachets but to help existing users graduate to a higher level. Therefore a higher price point for premium range should not be a matter of concern. Infact, it might actually help in brand building by positive price quality inferences. Currently Sunsilk and its competitor Pantene both offer 7.5 ml shampoo at the price point of Rs.3/-. Some other things which have to be kept in mind, as in case of sachets price point is very important, is the price point cannot be fractional. This becomes significant as the price point is low and there is frequent problem of change at the retailer‟s store. Further after market research it was found that females, the core target group of Sunsilk, need at least two sachets of shampoo for one hair wash for medium to long hair. Therefore, a 15 ml volume pouch should be launched at a price point of Rs.5/- The message for promoting this size could relate to lesser effort on the part of individual i n terms of opening only one sachet and saving of Re.1 as they would have bought two sachets for Rs.6 otherwise. This sachets size would require lesser packaging material than two sachets and lesser operations in terms of packing and hence may drive down costs. In case of lesser margin while providing 15 ml for Rs.5, the volume should be adjusted rather than the price point. For e.g. say 14 ml or 12.5 ml may be provided rather than 15ml depending on the cost and desired margins. Incase of competitors coming up with offers of higher volume for same price or reduction in price point, appropriate call should be taken. In most cases, the offer has t o be matched due to the nature of customers buying sachets as explained above. In case of shampoo in plastic bottles and cans, the pricing strategy is a little different from that of sachets. The normal volumes available are 50 ml, 100 ml, 200 ml and 400 ml. The per ml price of shampoo decreases with increase in size of t he pack for instance the 400 ml pack is available for Rs. 149/- while the 200 ml pack is available for Rs. 79/-. The price ending (price ending in odd number, price being Rs. 79 and not Rs. 80/-) also plays a role in purchase decision as per research conducted. It is in this segment where the consumers are regular users and users who are loyal to your brand, users who found the sachet good and are willing to buy a larger pack. The price point pressure is lower in plastic bottles because the kind of consumers is different. The consumer buys the product because of its features and has liked the product. The price quality inference also plays an important role in this segment. The price in this segment is close to that of competitors like pantene. The pricing in this segment is more dynamic as the company under the strategy of being hair experts often has to come up with combination packs of shampoo and conditioner and the prices are adjusted accordingly. Often the prices are marked up a little and certain higher volume is given and the offer is conveyed as x% free. One of the strategies in this area could be to offer promotional sachets of higher range product with the normal product so as to induce trials and help the customers to graduate to the higher range of your brand of the shampoo.
