SUNSILK – INNOVATIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES

1. INDUSTRY PROFILE

Shampoo in India was derived from the Hindi word ‘Champi’ meaning hair massage. The introduction of shampoo in India dates back to the British reign in the country. Being a recent development the growth of shampoo or rather the penetration levels of shampoo in the India has been commendable.

The shampoo market in India is estimated to be Rs 2,500-3,000 crore. The shampoo market is India is categorized according to the benefits they provide. Mostly consisting of three kinds of shampoos cosmetic, herbal and anti dandruff, the shampoo market in India has managed to tap users of the various segments according to their requirements and preferences.

Due to the continuous efforts of the top shampoo brands in India penetration of shampoos in urban areas is almost 100%. As far as penetration of shampoo in the rural areas is concerned it has risen by almost 18% in the current scenario.

The top shampoo brands in India include Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Dove and Pantene. The company that leads the shampoo market in India is Hindustan Unilever Limited. The top three most sought after brands Sunsilk, Dove and Clinic are produced by HUL. The company holds a 44% market share in the Indian shampoo industry. It is said that HUL earns almost 8% of its revenue from the sale of these products The other recent brand that has taken the Indian personal care industry by storm is Pantene. Since its very inception the brand was a best seller. A product of FMCG giants Proctor and Gamble Pantene has slowly and steadily managed to capture quite a large amount of the Indian market. Proctor and Gamble the second top shampoo brand in India holds a market share of around 25% in the Indian shampoo industry. The revenue earned from the ale of shampoos from Proctor and gamble is almost 17%.

Together these two major players constitute a major part of the Indian shampoo industry. Both these players with their numerous brands dominating the Indian shampoo market are continuously trying to outdo one another by introducing different marketing schemes. Be it in the form of price cuts, discounts or increasing the size of the shampoo sachets without any extra costs these two to shampoo producing companies are at a continuous price war.

1

2. COMPANY PROFILE

Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch company, was formed in 1930 as a result of a merger between British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Union. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a subsidiary of Unilever; one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100 countries across the globe with annual sales of about €40 billion. HUL is the first foreign subsidiary to offer 10% of its equity to Indian public.

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has an employee strength of over 15,000 employees and contributes to indirect employment of over 52,000 people. The company was renamed in June 2007 as “Hindustan Unilever Limited”.

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. The company’s Turnover is Rs. 17,523 crores (for the financial year 2009 - 2010). In 2009 Unilever has about 52% shareholding in HUL.

Hindustan Unilever was recently rated among the top four companies globally in the list of “Global Top Companies for Leaders” by a study sponsored by Hewitt Associates, in partnership with Fortune magazine and the RBL Group. The company was ranked number one in the Asia-Pacific region and in India.

HUL VISION

The four pillars of HUL vision set out the long term direction for the company – where we want to go and how we are going to get there:

work to create a better future every day help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services

that are good for them and good for others. will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big

difference for the world. will develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of our

company while reducing our environmental impact.

2

HUL MISSION

To help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.  It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever.

HUL’S Purpose & Principles

Our corporate purpose states that to succeed requires "the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch, and the environment on which we have an impact."

Always working with integrity

Conducting our operations with integrity and with respect for the many people, organisations and environments our business touches has always been at the heart of our corporate responsibility.

Positive impact

We aim to make a positive impact in many ways: through our brands, our commercial operations and relationships, through voluntary contributions, and through the various other ways in which we engage with society.

Continuous commitment

We're also committed to continuously improving the way we manage our environmental impacts and are working towards our longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business.

Setting out our aspirations

Our corporate purpose sets out our aspirations in running our business. It's underpinned by our code of business Principles which describes the operational standards that everyone at Unilever follows, wherever they are in the world. The code also supports our approach to governance and corporate responsibility.

Working with others

We want to work with suppliers who have values similar to our own and work to the same standards we do. Our Business partner code, aligned to our own Code of business principles, comprises ten principles covering business integrity and responsibilities relating to employees, consumers and the environment.

3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

- DEFINATION OF RESEARCH

Research can be defined as the search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, usually using a scientific method.In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge.Reading a factual book of any sort is a kind of research. Surfing the internet or watching the news is also a type of research.

- OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

1. To know about the Sunsilk.2. To know about the competitive positing of the Sunsilk.3. To know about the branding strategies used by Sunsilk.4. To know about the various promotional strategies of Sunsilk

- TYPE OF DATA COLLECTION

Second Hand Data collected from the internet.

- TYPES OF RESEARCH

Type of research conducted is a descriptive research in which major objective is to study the latest marketing strategies by HUL for the branding, targeting and positioning one of their major product Sunsilk.

- SCOPE OF STUDY

Study to which extent theory of marketing is applied to the real market.Study the Marketing strategies used by HUL.Study the S-T-P techniques used in marketing Sunsilk.Know about the 4P’s.Study the SWOT analysis of SunsilkStudy the various Advertising techniques done for the brand

- LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

Provides less information on the basis of holistic marketing.Provides less information about the social responsibility fulfilled by the company.

4

- FINDING OF STUDY

INTRODUCTION

Sunsilk is a hair care brand, primarily aimed at women, produced by the Unilever group. Sunsilk is Unilever’s leading hair care brand, and ranks as one of the Anglo- Dutch conglomerate's billion dollar Brands".

Sunsilk shampoos, conditioners and other hair care products are sold in 69 countries worldwide.

Sunsilk is Number 1 in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East having sales of more than ¼1 billion a year. It is marketed in other brand names as Elidor, Hazeline, Seda and Sedal.

The Brand Sunsilk was launched in 1954 in the UK. The brand included a range of shampoos, conditioners, and other styling products. By 1959, it had become a well known hair care brand and was available in 18 countries worldwide...

It was launched in India in 1964. It is the HUL shampoo brand for the ‘Aspiring’ or mid-segment specially women. The intended positioning of the brand over the years has changed from ‘Shampoo plus cosmetic’ to ‘Beauty Shampoo’ to ‘Hair Expert’. Recently Sunsilk and HUL won the highly acclaimed Guinness World Record for the most heads of hair washed and styled in one day.

But over the years there has been constant effort to add emotional appeal to the brand. Currently following is what the HUL site says about the brand: ‘It knows you, and hence knows exactly what your hair needs’. Based on different customer needs Sunsilk offers different variants. Target segment for Sunsilk being aspiring young women – most Sunsilk ads show young women getting their hair problems solved by using Sunsilk shampoo. The tagline of most Sunsilk ads: ‘Baloon Mein Dhadkan Dil Mein Shararat’. A brand extension of Sunsilk was the launch of Hair Oil.

In the India, Unilever’s goal was to position Sunsilk as a brand that understood the problems faced by women and their needs and preferences.Sunsilk had a range re-launch in 2006 followed by launch of new variants in 2007 when conditioners, Livon and hair masks were introduced — transforming Sunsilk into a complete hair care brand

5

4P’S OF SUNSILK

- PRODUCT

Point Of Parity

For an offering to achieve a point of parity on a particular attribute or benefit, a sufficient number ofcustomers must believe the brand is good enough on that dimensionLike others SUNSILK consists of such POPs are:

1. Dream soft & smooth2. Stunning Black Shine3. Lusciously Thick & Long4. Anti-Dandruff Solution5. Hair Fall Solution

Point of Difference (POD)

With point of difference, the brand must demonstrate clear superiority. Sunsilk’s PODs is Co-creation. They came with this idea to grab the market and to be superior in the market. From 2009 Sunsilk started working with a number of professional hair "experts" to develop new and improved products. Each hair issue variant links to an expert with the relevant specialist hair knowledge.

CO-CREATED BY 7 OF THE BEST HAIR EXPERTS IN THE WORLD

6

Branding Decisions:Branding strategy is one of the most vital decisions taking by marketers. It is a strategy, which brings lots of positive feedback for a firm.

Individual name:Unilever follow individual name for setting brand name for their different products, such as Sunsilk, Dove (Shampoo), Ponds, Fair & lovely, Dove for skin care.

Brand Elements:Brand elements can play a number of brand building roles. Brand elements are those trademark able devices that identify and differentiate the brand.

Branding strategy

1. Memorable: every consumers mind catches the brand name.Their marketing programs set the brand name in consumers mind. Their short brand name such as: Dove, ponds, Sunsilk etc are easily memorable.

2. Meaningful: Every consumer has a clear meaning about Sunsilk. Consumer thinks about sunsilk as a product which solve their problem relating with hair.

3. Likable: From our research we found that most of the people like the brand verbally and visually.

4. Protectable: The brand name is legally and competitively protectable. The brand retain their trade mark rights and not generic.

PRODUCT RANGE

Currently, the range consists of:

♦ Yellow Sunsilk with Bio Proteins from Vegetable Extracts:Normal hair needs wholesome nourishment. New Sunsilk with Bio Protein extracted from Vegetable milk has nutrients that deeply penetrate each hair strand, to nourish it leaving hair strong and beautiful.

♦ Black Sunsilk with Melanin from Plant Extracts:Dull hair needs a rich black shine. New Sunsilk with Melanin extracted from plants serves this purpose very effectively. It helps in the growth and retention of the black color of hair, giving it a rich black shine.

7

♦ Green Sunsilk with Fruitamins Vitamins from fruit Extracts:Thin and limp hair needs extra body and volume. New sunsilk with Fruitamins has natural extracts from fruit that contains Vitamins. These vitamins help in giving extra body, shine and amazing manageability to the thinning and lifeless hair.

♦ Pink Sunsilk with yoghurt proteins :Dry hair needs wholesome conditioning, extra shine and style. New Sunsilk with yoghurt proteins makes the dry hair full of life. Its especial ingredients moisturize each hair right to its tips leaving it shiny and beautiful.

♦ Orange Sunsilk with active nutrients from Citrus Extracts:The advanced formula of orange Sunsilk is the result of the latest research. This shampoo is especially designed for oily hair type that looks flat and greasy due to the excess of moisture. New sunsilk with active ingredients from citrus extracts cleans the excess oil off hair while its nutrients deeply penetrate each hair strand to nourish it.

Sunsilk has teamed up with seven pioneering global hair experts to bring to Australia the world’s first co-created product range for all specific hair types

Hailing from fashion hubs of the world – New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Los

Angeles – the seven hand-picked hair experts have a combined 50 years experience

working in the hair industry and were selected for their specialties after an extensive

search that lasted almost a year:

Tom Taw (London) – Dry & damaged hair

Teddy Charles (Paris) – Volume

Rita Hazan (New York) – Colour protection

Yuko Yamashita (Japan) – Straight

Ouidad (New York) – Curls

Dr Francesca Fusco (NY) – Dandruff and Scalp issues

Jamal Hammadi (LA) – Shine

8

9

- PRICING

HUL claims to practice value-based pricing in which the customers’ perception of the product’s price provides a starting point for developing the marketing mix of the product. The research department determines this price usually by using focus groups. The price of Re 1 and 2 for Sunsilk shampoo sachets shows how the price also reflects a concern to make the purchase more convenient, since the rupee is denoted in this value.

Sunsilk is also available in Rs 45 and Rs 169 price bottles to cater to the demands keeping in mind the wants of this particular customer segment.

The primary importance of this value-based pricing is that the product demand will be much higher if its price is in line with the customer’s perception of its value. One crucial concern for value-based pricing is strict management of cost in order to be able to make a profit at the value-based price. After the initial price is determined, HUL then uses target costing in order to achieve the required profits.

- PROMOTION

• Build top of the line consumers’ awareness.• Creating a personality of the brand.

Besides having these general objectives, the advertising objectives are set avoiding to the advertising strategy for each product, e.g. Sunsilk advertising objectives since it was being re-launched were:

• To increase the usage.

• Conditioning benefits.

• Makes the hair appear clean and shiny.

• Imparts a feeling of freshness-due to fragrance.

• Easy to manage, silky, soft hair.

• Unique shampoo for every hair type.

• Effectively communicate brand promise.

10

Promotional strategy

Innovative campaigns such as ‘Hairapy’ and ‘Life Can’t Wait’ were launched to attract women to the brand Sponsored short films that were broadcast during popular television shows.

Media platforms used

Print media

internet rural campaign environment concern ads

Music videos

Free sample distribution

Demo campaigning

Promotion of the products in the sunsilk range through movies such as“Fashion”

Sunsilk has come up with a new promotional campaign GOOD HAIR DAYS in six major cities in collaboration with famous hair stylists of the country along with

Hoardings

Sponsorships

Enhancement of product mix

New product formulations according to changing consumer preferences

Advertising

HUL believes that messages about product delivered by credible sources can be very persuasive. Hence Jawed Habib who is a hair care expert endorses Sunsilk and more value is added to the brand. Consumers relate to products itself, they can relate to a human being who consumers believe is an expert so Jawed Habib is an expert so is Sunsilk. Jawed Habib, a recognized and highly qualified hair stylist is used by Sunsilk in its ads because they want to bring out an expert’s image.

11

METHODS ADOPTED TO PROMOTE THE BRAND NAME OFSUNSILK

Actresses as spokespersons Co-marketing Some of these films were made exclusively for retailers like Wal-Mart and were telecast in-store Sponsor for fashion shows

INNOVATIVE AND UNIQUE STRATEGIES IMPLEMENTED BYSUNSILK IN INDIA

Hindustan Unilever launched the ‘Gang of Girls’ website in June ’06.“India’s first online girl community concept.”Gang of Girls site was pushed online and via TV and print. Lots of media mentions as it as a “successful branded space.” It brought the product in Direct contact with target audience

12

Sunsilk's website Gang of Girls has been relaunched in keeping with the new campaign of the brand for "Sunsilk Co-Creations". With the intent of popularising the four stylists shown in the advertising - Teddy Charles, Jamal Hammadi, Francesca Fusco and Thomas Taw - the new website offers an "expert studio" online where users can get information about each of them, watch their videos and read their blogs.

Gang of Girls events at 60 college festivals, malls and multiplexes across India.Sunsilkgangofgirls.com benefited from redirect from Sunsilknaturals.com.

This site has 100,000 registered users and very similar features.

Hindustan Lever claims 2,500,000 registrations to Gang of Girls site --

• 25,000 girl gangs• 200 million hits

• 12-13 million page views every month

Company taking benefits of new web 2.0 technologies ranging from blogs topower of social networking.

“As far as brand is concerned plus side forsunsilk here is ability to usepower of technology to position brand successful and create followingamong niche users whom must have generated enough feedback for thebrand 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.”

-HUL EXECUTIVE

13

- PLACE

Distribution Objective:“To reach as many towns and villages as we can”

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER has 150 distributors whose function is to sell to wholesaler s directly. There are different distributors for different areas. They are carefully selected and their performance is constantly evaluated.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

14

COMPETITION AND MARKET SHARE

CLASSES OF COMPETITORS: In urban areas, Sunsilk is acting as a market challenger against Head & Shoulder. The major competitor of Sunsilk in rural areas is BIO AMLA

IDENTIFYING COMPETITORS

MARKET SHARE : Sunsilk as a market challenger, they are steadily gaining market share. At present market situation, they capture 34% of total market share.

MIND SHARE: To buy a shampoo rational consumers firstly think about Sunsilk due to the promotional strategies of Sunsilk. So that Sunsilk rapidly increase their mind share.

15

HEART SHARE: Due to reach product and marketing attributes & features Sunsilk’s mind share in total competitive market is higher than any other brand. Consumer choosing sunsilk as their first choice.

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT:1. Expanding the total market: Sunsilk is very sensitive to increase its market.

2. New customers: Sunsilk trying to attract buyers who are unaware of the product or who are resisting it because lack of such features. Sunsilk using market penetration strategy, new market segment strategy and geographical expansion strategy for searching new consumers.

3. More usage: Sunsilk recently increase the amount, level and frequency of consumption. It also improves packaging and redesigns the product.

16

- SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHES • HUL is one of the largest organizations in India.

• Company has advanced technology and well skilled professionals. • The New Sunsilk Shampoo is a high quality product in terms of hair protection.

• The target market is educated, professionals and belongs to premium and middle class.

• Company totally owned, systematic distribution network, transparent communication system.

• Participative management style • Very good distribution network all over India, in all major and small cities. WEAKNESSES

• Competitor has strong promotional activities.

• Customers are offered better alternatives by the competition.

• Advertisement flaws-

○ Devaluation of product

○ Product’s quality looses its values

○ Poor promotion of free samples

○ No unique identification of product

17

OPPORTUNITIES

• Population expanding at a rapid rate.

• Consumers are becoming more quality conscious

• Current capacity utilization is 80%, which can be further broadened with the increase in demand.

• Customer base is increasing with effective marketing. • Baby shampoo is another area where HINDUSTAN UNILEVERs can make huge gains.

• Shampoo plus conditioner and anti-dandruff shampoos are another area where HINDUSTAN UNILEVER can earn huge profits.

• Rural areas are a large prospective market where they can introduce Sunsilk.

THREATS

• Political and Economic factors.

• Partial Government policies.

• High rate of competition.

• Local and Foreign competition.

18

- CONCLUSION OF STUDY

HUL has concentrated on the marketing plan and strategies on a very high note. Sunsilk has been targeted among the teenagers and young women in the urban areas more in depth rather than the rural.

People are familiar with Sunsilk, however they are not interested in whether it is a Unilever product or not. Through extensive marketing methods Unilever should make people aware of the fact that it is a Unilever Product and not just any product so that the brand loyalty increases and people purchase its product due to its brand name and not just the product name.

For the target market, HUL should reduce their Co- creation ranges bottle prices compared to Head & Shoulders so as to make the consumers feel the difference in what options are placed before them and opt for the former.

Sunsilk has huge potential of rural market 72% of total population but not yet develop a successful strategy to penetrate this market. The success of sunsilk emulated which captured the rural market by two strategies-

1. Develop strong distribution structure 2. Adopting packaging and pricing.

As shown in the pie chart of market, mind and heart, we observe the noticeable difference in them. Being the rulers of the mind and heart shares, they lack in the market share which is not understandable.

HUL has improved its packaging style of Sunsilk in lepas and bounds. With every launching of new ranges. It has not only improved its features but also kept changing tag lines to attract the consumers in just a glance.

19

HUL also lacks in the social responsibility clause whereas it pays maximum of its attention to the promotional activities and sales figures.

Launching a website to attract young girls and giving them a catchy name ‘GANG OF GIRLS’ was a very innovative and tremendously effective strategy to capture the minds and the approval of the target market. The number of members in the website speaks itself for the success of the launch.

The latest sunsilk range ‘ sunsilk co-creation’ gives the consumers a wide range of option to choose according to their hair texture which shows that HUL is also working to the core to improve the product quality.

20

- SUGGESTIONS OF STUDY

HUL can modify their marketing strategies using the following few suggestions.

Fla nk Att a ck : Sunsilk can follow segmental strategy. In market Head & shoulders targeting mainly high and middle class people but big portion in lower class consumer could not adopt their product. So, Sunsilk can targeting the lower class, who have lower income and launch new product at a lower price.

Frontal attack –Sunsilk can launch shampoo combining conditioner, anti- dandruff, and shinning in a one product as follow as Head & Shoulders.

Bypass attack –Sunsilk can introduce anti dandruff shampoo n add a conditioner in its package.

HUL should convert their opportunities to effective and noticeable results. Being leaders in the urban market, now major focus should be given to the rural market targeting and development.

HUL should choose such a person as a Brand Ambassador with whom the young generation can connect with in a short span.

Sunsilk will attract more once free sachets are being offered with HUL’s other brands. Along with the bottle wise sales, sachet sales should also be monitored as middle class and lower middle class consumers opt for sachets.

Now as sunsilk has become the No 1 in the ladies segment, it should now concentrate and bring out new ranges of products for the male segment and the elder generation.

If taken into consideration all the above studies, conclusions and the suggestions and implemented to its best , Sunsilk range of products will once again rule the market share as it did when it was established.

21