STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT

FINAL TERM REPORT

UNILEVER LIFEBUOY SOAP

Prepared By
Saiyed Muhammad Fauzan Ali
Muhammad Umair Yaseen
Umair Tariq
Submitted To
Miss Ayesha Aman
Dated: 02/01/2014
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TRANSMITTAL

Iqra University
Plot#210, Block-B, North Nazimabad,
Karachi, Pakistan.
www.iunc.edu.pk
SUBJECT: Report on Marketing Plan of LIFEBUOY SOAP
Mrs. Ayesha Aman
We are pleased to present our report on The Marketing Plan of Lifebuoy Soap. We deeply
acknowledge your help and support for this report and we look forward to discuss this report
with you and having your feedback on our work. We are immensely grateful to you for providing
us the opportunity to understand the theory and practically examining and applying them in this
report. We would also like to thank all the people who directly and indirectly helped us in
making this report.
This report as per your instruction has covered all the authentic areas of concern and contains all
the relevant information. We would dearly like to thank you for the faith you showed in our
capabilities and the encouragement you gave us when assigning us the report which helped a lot
in our learning process and accede us in experiencing.
Sincerely,
Muhammad Umair Yasin
Umair Tariq
Saiyed M. Fauzan Ali

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly we would thank Almighty Allah for giving us the opportunity and the resources to be able
to do something productive with our lives. Without His blessings we would not have been able to
come as far as we have.
Then our sincere thanks to teacher Mrs. Ayesha Aman for helping us throughout this report. Her
guidelines have been very useful for us in preparing this report. She helped us find new ways of
being innovative and creative. This report would not have been possible without her cooperation
and continuous direction.
Last but not the least we would like to thank our families for their incessant support and
approval.

Table of Contents
Synopsis...............................................................................................................................6
Company Background.........................................................................................................7
Market Definition................................................................................................................8
Mission Statement...............................................................................................................8
Vision Statement..................................................................................................................8
Competitors..............................................................................9
SWOT.......................................................................10-11
Market Strategy - Product............................................................................................12-13
Core Benefits.................................................................................................................12
Actual Product..........................................................................................................12-13
Augmented Product.......................................................................................................13
Red Ocean Vs. Blue Ocean Strategy.................................................................................13
Marketing Strategy............................................................................................................14
Target Market.....................................................................................................................15
Pastel Analysis..............................................................................................................16-17
Consumer Analysis.......................................................................................................18-19
Internal & External Customers..........................................................................................19
Product LifeCycle Stage...............................................................................................20-21
BCG Matrix.......................................................................................................................21
Product Attributes..............................................................................................................22
Brand Name.......................................................................................................................22
Brand Image.......................................................................................................................22
Brand Equity......................................................................................................................23
Packaging and Labeling.....................................................................................................23
Product support Services...................................................................................................23
Marketing Strategy............................................................................................................24
Price...............................................................................................................................24
Place.........................................................................................................................25-26
Promotion.................................................................................................................27-28
Recommendation...............................................................................................................29

SYNOPSIS
This report has been prepared with a view to analyze the marketing strategies and plan of
Unilever Pakistan Limited based on the information made available. The product that was
analyzed was Lifebuoy.
It appears that Unilever Pakistan Limited is following a marketing strategy to sustain the market
share. Lifebuoy soap with its significantly improved quality has shown robust growth and its
HEALTHY HOGA PAKISTAN campaign establishes the brand as Pakistans No.1 Protector.
Now a days new campaign is going on named as Germ Busters
The strategies or planning which has adopted by the Unilever Pakistan Limited have been
discussed in the report. These strategies helped Lifebuoy to sustain its share and promote growth
in it.
Lifebuoy is the leading product. The overall objective of Lifebuoy is to maintain its standards
and to be among the leading and dominating players of soap. Lifebuoy claim to earn high
revenue from the current market.
Lifebuoy is one of Pakistans best-known brands, with high user-ship across all income
segments. With the reduction in excise duty, the brand was able to rationalize is soap pricing,
bringing down its colour variants to the same economical price point as its core red variant. This
has successfully driven growth in the second half of 2005.
From the BCG matrix it is evident that Lifebuoy is a star as since a couple of years it has been
going through its capturing a high market share and almost in the process is about to attain
maturity. Lifebuoy is being used from generations and so it is highly preferred.
Thus, through the study it was evaluated that Lifebuoy has now shifted its focus towards shape,
colour and fragrance which is now favored by the consumers.

COMPANY BACKGROUD
In the 1890s, William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Bros, wrote down his ideas for Sunlight
Soap his revolutionary new product that helped promote cleanliness and hygiene in UK. The
idea was to make cleanliness a common place; to lessen work for women; to foster health and
contribute to personal attractiveness, that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the
people who use the companys products.
This was long before the phrase 'Corporate Mission' had been invented, but these ideas have
stayed at the heart of the business. Even if their language - and the notion of only women doing
housework has become outdated.
In a history that now crosses three centuries, Unilever's success has been influenced by the major
events of the day economic boom, depression, world wars, changing consumer lifestyles and
advances in technology. And throughout Unilever created products that help people get more out
of life cutting the time spent on household chores, improving nutrition, enabling people to
enjoy food and take care of their homes, their clothes and themselves.

MARKET DEFINITION
The Soap industry shows a market that has homogeneous preferences that is the consumers have
similar preferences.
They want soap that should provide the best hygiene facilities.
It should be good for skin and have soft feel on skin.
It should have good smell and can use anywhere.
Keeping these things in mind, lifebuoys market has been segmented. The marketers at lifebuoy
have had a number of options available to them when segmenting the market for their products.

Mission Statement
Vitality is at the heart of everything we do. It's in our brands, our people and our approach to
business.

Vision Statement
We help people around the world meet everyday needs for nutrition; hygiene and wellbeing, with
brands that help people look good, feel good and get more out of life.

COMPETITORS
DIRECT COMPETITORS
Dettol
Safe guard

INDIRECT COMPETITORS
Capri
Neem
Other local brands

SWOT ANALYSIS OF LIFEBUOY

STRENGTHS
Lifebuoy Red is a trade mark
Lifebuoys greatest strength is the blind trust of the consumer in the brand
Lifebuoy is the pioneer in the field of toilet soap.
Lifebuoy is the market leader in the soap category.
It is an inexpensive product.
Strong brand name recognition.
It gives complete protection.

WEAKNESSES
Its packaging requires improvement to attract consumers.
It faces the problem of limited capacity.
Its production capability is almost 26 to 28 tons.
The sales of red colors Lifebuoy is less than others.
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There is a lack of effective human resource management and human resource

development.

OPPORTUNITIES

The price of Lifebuoy is reduced.

Favorable government policies such as low duties on the import.
The population is increased significantly.
People are becoming more health conscious.
Increased awareness among customers through media.

THREATS
Increasing competition in the soap industry.
More competitors are aggressively entered the market.
Unbranded brands significantly affected the total soap market.
Reduction in the purchasing power of people due to inflation.

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MARKETING STRATEGY PRODUCT

LEVELS OF PRODUCT

CORE BENEFIT
Lifebuoy is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health solutions that enable people
to lead a life without fear of hygiene anxieties and health consequences.

ACTUAL PRODUCT

Lifebuoy Total Bar

Lifebuoy Care Bar

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These bar soaps are the actual product of lifebuoy. Lifebuoy provides different fragrances and
different types of soap for the whole family use.

AUGMENTED PRODUCT
In addition to its range of bar soaps of lifebuoys, Lifebuoy now introduces its Superfast Hand
wash with Active 4 that gives 99.9% Germ Kill in just 10 seconds. Available in all 4 variants,
Total, Nature, Care and Active fresh

Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean Strategy

The company is using red ocean strategy because Lifebuoy is the companys oldest brand and
even today it is the market-leading brand and the company has been competing successfully. The
company in addition to its range of bar soaps introduced its hand wash with active 4 that kills
99.9% germs in 10 seconds thus exploring the existing demand and strengthening the existing
value proposition.

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MARKETING STRATEGY
MARKET SEGMENTATION
The segmentation of the soap market can be done on the basis of three price ranges Economy,
Popular and Premium. The price differential between the premium and economy segments is
about 2X. The popular and economy segments accounts for about 4/5ths of the entire market for
soaps.

GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION

World region: Asia

Country: India, Pakistan
Cities: All cities of India& Pakistan
Target Area: Urban, Semi Urban, Rural.

DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Age: 6-50+
Gender: Anyone
Income: Rs.5,000+
Target Area : Lower income group

BEHAVIOURAL SEGMENTATION
Benefits: Total protection antiseptic soap.
User status: Regular user

PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Social class: Middle & Lower class.
Lifestyle: Outdoor- Oriented, Sports-Orie

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TARGET MARKET
After developing possible basis of segmentation, the company now has to evaluate the various
segments and decide how many and which one to target. Unilever evaluates different segments
for Lifebuoy on the basis of potential and growth of different segments.
It was first targeted at men and masculine health. The promise of Lifebuoy was 'You will remain
healthy if you use Lifebuoy. You will be able to play hockey or football well'. It was sporty.
When it started; the focus was on men as the role of the man was prime. The symbolism of
health, at the time, was the huge, sporty, macho man.
Now, the brand targets women, especially mothers. In the late 90s and early 00s we realized that
the consumer had changed from what he or she was in the 50s to the 70s. Women were the
decision makers, when it came to shopping, be it urban or rural. We had to communicate to
women and focus on the woman's role in the family.

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PESTEL ANALYSIS
It is very important that an organization considers its environment before beginning the
marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of
planning. In this regard, PESTEL analysis for safeguard soap is of pertinent importance.
PESTEL analysis is important for scanning the environment and look out for possible
opportunities and threats. Soap is a major consumer market and there is a huge customer demand
and potential market particularly in anti-bacterial segment. The anti-bacterial market segment has
grown year on year by more than 7% due to increased consumer awareness and education on the
benefits of anti-bacterial soaps. As a result, pie is growing bigger every year. There are some
uncontrollable situational factors that are faced by Unilever Pakistan and Lifebuoy. We would be
analyzing all these factors as follows.

POLITICAL FACTORS:
The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the spending
power of consumers and other businesses. As far as political condition of Pakistan is concerned,
Pakistan is faced by extremely variable political situation. Political stability in this region is very
uncertain. Series of bomb blasts has left the country at a very volatile position in the region.
Similarly, government is clueless about the political scenario in the country and hence the
political factors in the country are not encouraging by any stretch of imagination. Although
government policies about taxes are very clear and to some what extent are efficiently
implemented in case of multinationals. Government policies regarding economy have been
encouraging but due to recession the economic condition of the country has been badly hit.
Constant political instability has affected the company in terms of building new relations with
the government.

ECONOMIC FACTORS:
Economic factors in the country have also not been encouraging in the recent past. Interest rates
on borrowing have gone soaring high in the country. Consequently the rate of unemployment is
also on the rise which adds up to bad economic condition of the government. Inflation has also
increased in the recent past with is another indicator of bad economic condition in the country.
But despite all these factor Lifebuoy has been doing reasonably well in the country for the past
few years.

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SOCIO CULTURAL FACTORS:

Pakistan is a conservative country and therefore the mind set of masses is also on the
conservative side. The company has to be very careful in implementation of its promotional
campaigns, since the socio cultural environment of Pakistan is very conservative and any
suggestive usually face lot of negative reactions on part of consumer. Although the peoples
perception about international brands is very promising, this is a great advantage for Lifebuoy
and Unilever Pakistan. Countrys dominant language is Urdu; therefore Brands communication
regarding brand and health awareness has got to be in Urdu. Women are mostly responsible for
doing grocery in this part of the world. Therefore, Lifebuoys target market is very obvious. Due
to low literacy rate, awareness regarding environment and health is not common among the
masses of the country. Therefore, it is important for Unilever Pakistan to first create awareness
about health and then cash on it.

TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS:
Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. Technology
has been on the rise in Pakistan. Due to information technology and other technological
advancements in the country has enabled companies to run promotional and advertising
campaigns in an entire versatile fashion. Latest technology has also enables companies to make
cost effective products. Due to advent of latest technologies, the distribution network has been
completely revolutionized.

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Consumer Analysis

NATURE OF THE BUYING DECISION

The usage of the customer and awareness is brought among people about health and hygiene
with the help of electronic media, advertisements boards, banners and advertising on
newspapers, pamphlets, brochures, handouts
and by the stall activity of marketing
department. Customer feedback is also very important for lifebuoy and to cater this it has setup a
special call centre. RABTA is the tag line Unilever use for customer communication and
satisfaction.

PARTICIPANTS
The main participants of this product are home makers and kids. Because in our region this
decision is mostly taken by the women of the house or kids that which soap is going to use or
which is not, so the decision makers of the family is women and kids who influence to buy this
product.

DEMOGRAPHICS
Customer demographics include all the measurements necessary to statistically describe the enduser base in a given market. This would include the measurement of parameters such as:

Total number of customers

Customers by the number of employees
Customers by the size of production
Customers by industry
Customer segments by geographic area
Customer budgets and expenditures
Lifebuoy products are not bounded to any particular age, gender or lifecycle stage. The brand is
meant for all the users in upper or middle class families. Lifebuoy is specially designed for the
lower income group which is price conscious. But now they also design the products for the
upper class like hand washes and hand sanitizers.

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PSYCHOGRAPHICS
On the basis of psychographics, factors such as personality traits, lifestyles and values, the
marketers at lifebuoy have segmented the market more towards achievers who are goal-oriented
and focused on their careers, and experiencers those who are seeking variety in the soap sector.
Psychographic analysis is a technique that investigates how people live, what interests them, and
what they like. It is also called life style analysis because it relies on an individuals activities,
interests, and opinions. This product is design for house holds. This product is used by those who
are very conscious about health and hygiene. So its psychological target audience is sports
persons home makers and Kids.

Internal Customers
Unilevers Lifebuoy is the number one soap that came up with the idea of health and hygiene.
The companys internal customers for the product are people and departments that rely on the
output from other people and departments to accomplish their own goals. These internal
Customers include Marketing & Sales Manager, Stock Manager, and Supply Chain manager.

External Customers
The Companys External Customers for the product are general stores, online grocery stores that
stock the product, and people who purchase the product. The external customers include Imtiaz
Store, Naheed Super Market, Rehans Mega Mart, Rajput General Store, Al Khaleej Perfumes &
General Store, and various other stores.

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PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE STAGE

DEVELOPMENT:
Lifebuoy launched in the Pakistan in 1985, Lifebuoy is one of Unilevers oldest Brands, and has
a message of health through hygiene for More than a century. One of Unilevers founders,
William Lever, launched the Lifebuoy brand to help bring affordable hygiene to Victorian
England at a time when Epidemics of typhoid, smallpox, cholera and diphtheria were a Constant
threat.

INTRODUCTION:
Unilever launched lifebuoy in 1985, at that time customers are unaware of the product they did
not know much about anti- bacterial soap. So company heavily invested on Advertisement,
Company introduce football players in advertisement. Then they repositioning lifebuoy soap now
its for a whole family. Today Lifebuoy products are sold in more than 34 countries in Asia and
Africa, and every second 91 families buy a Lifebuoy product, trusting the Lifebuoy brand for
their familys health.

GROWTH:
In this stage mostly customers are aware of the product sales volume shoots up due to lower
pricing strategy.
This time more competitors starts to reduce the prices of their products like safe guard available
in family pack at discounted rate but as compare to life buoy its price is high.
Lifebuoy was the worlds first health soap when it was launched in 1894, and it is still the
worlds no.1 selling germ protection soap today.

MATURITY:
Now the product enters into a maturity stage due to competition. But demand of life buoy soap is
increasing because of its competitive price and company introducing new range of soaps as well
as in liquid soap now introducing
Lifebuoy clini-care10 complete gives 10x better germ protection and 10x more skin care
benefits and the market share of Life Buoy Company is keeps increasing and life buoy becomes
the best manufacturer of anti-bacterial soap.

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DECLINE:
In past life buoy only available in red bar which is not an anti-bacterial soap due to this company
not compete their competitors. At that time company eject that product from the market and
introducing anti-bacterial soap in different colors and now company keeps on working to
producing new product and introducing in the market.

BCG ANALYSIS
BCG Matrix shows the companys market share over the growth of industry. The following BCG
matrix is the clear picture of current market situation of Lifebuoy.

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PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES (PRODUCT FEATURES, STYLE &

DESIGN, QUALITY)
Lifebuoy has journeyed from humble beginnings of being a chunky red bar of soap to an evolved
range of general and specialized products across formats, offering solutions in the health and
hygiene space.
Lifebuoy is available in bar soaps, liquid hand wash, and hand sanitizer.
Its the most selling brand of Unilever especially for the price conscious costumers.
Lifebuoy change its look as time goes and now its available in signature style with
different fragrances.
Unilever launch different health programs under the banner of lifebuoy and promote
health and hygiene in Pakistan.

BRAND NAME

Anti-bacterial soap for your family

BRAND IMAGE
Marketers at lifebuoy have decided to create its own unique image and then strengthen the
position in the customers minds. Marketers created brand image of Lifebuoy as a family product
which can be use by consumers who are conscious about there health and the hygiene for their
kids.
The earlier image of lifebuoy is for men and sports person. But now they created an image of
whole family use. Earlier they image lifebuoy for strong and goal oriented persons but now they
image it for families and especially kids and their mothers.

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BRAND EQUITY
Once the brand is introduced into the market it is important to build brand equity. This helps to
improve sales and has long term benefits. Unilever, although a separate name from Lifebuoy it
has a very strong impact on the sales of Lifebuoy. People know Unilever because of its well
established reputation in FMCG. Therefore, they hold a strong association in their minds for
Lifebuoy as well.
Lifebuoy seems decline in 90s their sells get down but they but then they realize the new
markets trends and reshape their brand and repositioned it in 2005. And after repositioning they
become the most selling brand of Unilever. And now they are worlds #1 brand.

PACKAGING AND LABELING

PACKAGING:
Lifebuoy is available in a variety of packaging format to suit all consumer needs and
consumption occasions. packaging is innovative to meet the individual needs consumers all over
the country the range of formats extends from the individual bar soap (120 gms) to the family
size bar (70Gms) for in home and office usage.

LABEL:
The label provides the information like the ingredients, chemical composition, quantity, logo and
the stamp of FDA with the license is also mentioned.
AVAILABLE IN TWO SIZES: (120 gms) and (70 gms)

VARIANTS:

Pure white
Red
Skin care

PRODUCT SUPPORT SERVICES

There is no such support services associated with Lifebuoy but Unilever has its own costumer
feedback Costumer care line Called RABTA a toll free number where the customers can call
and give them their feedback about the products.
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MARKETING STRATEGY PRICE

Lifebuoy has well repositioned itself but still there is need to change the image that it is a low
quality low price product.
In penetrating the market through price, Lifebuoy has to compete with brands of P&G, Reckitt
Benckiser and Colgate-Palmolive which are a good name of quality, so accordingly Lifebuoy has
to adjust its prices at that level where it creates dominance among the existing brands.

PRICING OBJECTIVES
Lifebuoy bar of 115 gm Rs is 32
Safeguard bar 115 gm Rs is 45
Dettol bar 100 gm Rs is 45
The basic reason for the price difference is the advertising factor because when safeguard and
dettol introduced in Pakistan they advertised a lot thats why this brand of P&G is more popular
than lifebuoy was not enough advertised when lifebuoy introduced this complete name was
lifebuoy carbonic now changed it lifebuoy advanced, and the safeguard and dettol is medicated
soap. But still lifebuoy is much using because of low price they did not mention as safeguard
mentioned in their advertising that safeguard is bacteria protection soap.

PRICING METHOD
When lifebuoy introduced they used VALUE BASED PRICING they targeted rural area people
whom income less than 5000. Then they did brand positioning through advertisements and set
the slogan HEALTHY HOGA PAKISTAN after sometime when new technology introduced
named HAND SANITIZER then they did repositioning and targeted also upper uppers.

PRICING STRATEGIES
MARKET PENETRATION:
Market penetration: lifebuoy extensively uses market penetration for its sales of products. All the
products that lifebuoy sale are affordable by one and all. Lifebuoy products are mainly targeted
towards lower middle class and hence the prices are low for e.g lifebuoy clean skin soap Rs 13 is
charged for 75 gms and Rs 20 is charged for 125 gms for lifebuoy talcum powder Rs 28 is
charged for 100 gms and Rs 68 is charged for 400 gms and lifebuoy hand sanitizer 100 ml for Rs
60. This pricing strategy makes consumers perceive the products to be cheaper.
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MARKETING STRATEGY-Place
GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE
It includes all urban semi, urban and rural areas of Pakistan. The company directs deliver its
product to the urban or semi urban areas of Pakistan or distribute via distributers and
wholesalers. The areas they cover are Khairpur, Mirpurkhas, and Multan etc... Interior Punjab
and the rural areas of sindh and KPK.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
The company sells its products to its appointed distributor and sub distributors (+300 All over
Pakistan) that are responsible for the distribution of pre-defined geographical areas who
distribute it further to wholesalers and/or retailers.

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DIRECT DELIVERY:
The company provides direct delivery to select large costumers like institutional buyers of
accounts which sells directly to the consumers (in case of CSD) or to small retailers/ end
consumers (in case of METRO/MAKRO).

Suppliers

Lifebuoy Distribution Strategy

Distributors
Distributors

Wholesalers
Wholesalers

Wholesaler

Wholesaler

Retailers
Urban/rural

Retailers
Urban/rural

Retailers
Urban/rural

CC O
ONNSSUUM
MEERR

MARKETING STRATEGY PROMOTION

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MARKETING STRATEGY PROMOTION

PROMOTIONAL GOAL
Promotional objective of life boy is to increase top. Mind awareness about life boy product.
Persuade them to use life boy product by giving them demos and prototypes etc
Remind people again and again about life boy products by pulsing after every 5mins through
media and through bill boards.

ADVERTISING
REACH
How many people reach or expose your message. They attract or convey the life boy product
message by big poster and bill boards which are attach on every main roads so that every running
car can see life boy product message.
FREQUENCY
How many time your message repeat on media. After every news bulletin they show
advertisement and show short stories about hand washing.
MEDIA
They choose mostly news channel for their advertisements.
THEME
Their theme of advertising is usually base on families. But some time they targets kids. Main
theme of advertisement is Family and kids health.

SALES FORCE REQUIREMENT

Sales force requirement basically means how many sales force are needed to achieve the target of
sales And also need sales force for survey the specific area or specific region so that they came to
know how many customers are there who want life boy products and how many customers likes
life boy product.

TECHNIQUES AND MANAGEMENT

There are 4 type of managerial level:
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Top line
Middle line
First line
And sales force
In this the top line manager make strategy how to maximize sales of the company
So for this purpose company want a sales force which are highly qualified and experience and
have a convening power and have a polite speaking style so that they persuade the customer.
So for this purpose company first hire the sales force which are high qualified then they train
them according to company requirements tell them the detail about inventory available tell them
how to talk how to answer the objections of the customer, objections are logical and
psychological.
Then they also motivate the sales force by announcing bonuses allowances they give incentives
when they achieve the sales target, And so on Life boy also apply the same strategy by giving
incentives allowances promotions to their sales force.

SALES PROMOTION
They do sales promotion to encourage sales by distributing free samples, schemes
They message through mail to their loyal customers about new products related to lifebuoy
products.

PUBLICITY
They build good relation with publics, government for favorable unpaid publicity.

DIRECT MARKETING
Their direct marketing sources are website, face book they give awareness through social media
also.

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RECOMMENDATION
Lifebuoy has been preferred by middle class families for ages and went under numerous
modifications. Lifebuoy no doubt is still the best selling soap in the market and has been
targeting families increasing its market segment. However the company can increase its market
share by increasing its mix extension. The company can introduce a variety of shampoos.
Unilever should also opt to compete in the baby care products market and compete against
leading brands such as Johnson & Johnson. The company has never entered this side of the
market and with a high brand image and customer loyalty the company can promote hygiene
and increase their sale volume by launching their baby care product range by introducing
Lifebuoy baby shampoos, Lifebuoy baby oil with skin protection, Lifebuoy baby powder and
even a Lifebuoy baby soap.

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