Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 3
COMPANY BACKGROUND.......................................................................................... 3
VISION..................................................................................................................... 3
MISSION................................................................................................................... 4
UNILEVERS POSITIONING STRATEGY...........................................................................4
COMPETITORS............................................................................................................. 4
DESCRIPTION OF PRODUCT.......................................................................................... 5
MISSION................................................................................................................... 5
MARKETING GOAL OF DOVE......................................................................................... 5
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES................................................................................................. 5
TARGET MARKET......................................................................................................... 6
MARKETING STRATEGIES............................................................................................. 6
MARKET PENETRATION............................................................................................. 6
MARKET DEVELOPMENT........................................................................................... 6
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DIVERSIFICATION..................................................................................................... 7
BRAND POSITIONING................................................................................................... 7
MARKETING MIX......................................................................................................... 7
PRODUCT................................................................................................................. 7
PRICE....................................................................................................................... 7
PROMOTION............................................................................................................. 8
PLACEMENT............................................................................................................. 8
SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGIES...................................................................................... 9
SWOT ANALYSIS........................................................................................................ 10
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS............................................................................................. 11
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.......................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
COMPANYBACKGROUND
The inception of Unilever came when William Hesketh Lever formed Lever Brothers
in 1890s. One of his friends Lord Leverhulme from Victoria, England gave the
concept of a novel product Sunlight Soap which raised knowledge about hygiene
and cleanliness in the everyday routine, to reduce the burden on women and the
concept gained popularity and became the first step of creation of Unilever. Unilever
was established in 1930 and its headquarters is in United Kingdom. Unilever has
now setup its business in a number of developed and developing countries like
Russia, India, Brazil, China, USA, Canada and South Africa with production facilities
in almost 160 locations and it employs more than 174000
employees(Mohammedfikri'sBlog, 2010). It has a turnover of 49.3bn in 2013 and in a day
more than 2bn people use its products every day. Approximately 57% of its business is done in emerging
markets. Since 2011, it has reduced the waste impact by 11%.The products produced by Unilever are sold
in 190 countries.
The business strategy of Unilever is aimed to bring sustainable growth. Unilever considers the issues like
scarcity of water, carbon dioxide emission, limited energy, etc. as opportunitiesand try to address these
problems. Unilever has a compass strategy for advancement and improvement of the business model and
it has three pillars i.e. consumers, products and operations, these pillars are then combined with the
compass strategy to attain the goals and objectives set by the company. The unique feature of Unilever is
Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) alignment with its vision statement. The strategies which lead
to both sustainability and profitability growth are acceptable to Unilever. Businesses now a days have to
be innovative and generative of ideas that will reduce costs, earn more margins and decrease the risks
associated with it(Unilevers Annual Report, 2013).
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VISION
Double the size of the business, whilst reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive
social impact. We will lead for responsible growth, inspiring people to take small everyday actions that
will add up to a big difference. We will grow by winning shares and building markets everywhere.
(Unilevers Annual Report 2013)

MISSION
Our purpose to make sustainable living commonplace we work to create a better future every day, with
brands and services that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Our first priority is to

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our consumers then customers, employees, suppliers and communities. When we fulfil our
responsibilities to them, we believe that our shareholders will be rewarded.
(Unilevers Annual Report 2013)

UNILEVERSPOSITIONINGSTRATEGY
Unilever has an immense range of products and it tries to cater to nearly all segments of consumer needs
whether it is personal care, food products, products for weight watchers and household products.

COMPETITORS
Unilevers main competitors in personal, health and household care products are Proctor & Gamble
(P&G), personal and health care products is Nivea; food products are KRAFT Food and Nestle.
The selected product in this report is DOVE from Unilevers range of products. A detailed analysis of the
product is discussed below

DESCRIPTIONOFPRODUCT
Dove was developed in United States of America (USA) in 1957 as a soap which contained 1/4 th or 25%
of moisturizing cream which was a new kind of soap especially for American women. Dove today is not
merely a US-based soap bar but it has now transformed itself to Unilevers most successful and largest
global brand. In early 1990s dove was launched in more than 55 countries and by 1996 it was launched by
Unilever in almost 80 countries. Currently, dove has diversified itself with a range of items like
deodorants, facial care products and hair care products. The main rivals of dove are Proctor & Gambles
olay, Neutrogena of Johnson and Johnsons and Nivea of Beiersdorf. These brands also have a variety
of product range. dove as a result of aggressive and wise marketing effort has become Unilevers top
profile brand in terms of revenue generation. In the 1990s dove was positioned to compete with Proctor &
Gambles Olay but this changed after 2000 when Dove also moved to hair care and deodorant market
developing a niche market which was certainly a less competitive market. Most of the dermatologists in
Canada, France and the United States of America advice and endorse dove as a recommended brand.

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MISSION
Dove is committed to helping all women realize their personal beauty potential by creating products
that deliver real care. Dove believes that beauty should be for everyone, because when you look and feel
your best you feel better about yourself.(Unilever 2014)

MARKETINGGOALOFDOVE
Dove marketing goal is to build self-esteem in women. It targets women of all color, ages and/or sizes and
with extensive marketing and promotion of its products it tries to make them believe that beauty lies
inside them not in other factors. Doves marketing objective is to magnify the concept of beauty for all
users of its products (kasi 2011.) This objective is developed after a lot of planning and research and
requires prudent thinking. Because of Doves successful implementation of its marketing strategies more
than 10 million women use Dove products every week. Doves marketing objective also include to
increase the number of sales of its different products, always finding itself in the spotlight of media i.e.
rigorous advertising of its products and try to remain the pioneersof innovation in the field of natural
beauty.

BUSINESSOBJECTIVES
Dove has a business objective of sustainable andprofitable growth. Dove strives to reach more consumers
by increasing the number of retail stores or outlets and by transforming its supply chain and go-to-market
strategy. Dove through its close relationship with the costumers and exceptionally simplified operational
performance try to improve its earnings. Dove also strives to bring the non-existing consumers to its
consumer base by building brand awareness in the consumers(Unilevers Annual Report 2013).

TARGET MARKET
Dove has positioned itself mainly towards women;nearly 57% of its users are women. The primary target
market is women and secondary target market is men. The main focus is on the primary target audience
and for this Dove identifies females who likes using personal care especially beauty products, females
who love to take care of the beauty and health of the skin and females who are unwilling to buy expensive
beauty products because of less purchasing power.(Kasi, 2011) Dove has selected women as a target
audience because of the consumer buying trend and its own products features. The selection of target
market is a very critical process, it requires a lot of research and analysis and this work is carried out by
the Research and Development (R&D) of Unilever.

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MARKETING STRATEGIES
Doves marketing strategy is to provide product and services to consumer of all sizes with a competitive
price, extensive workforce to get profits in a sustainable and systematic way. Following are the marketing
strategies of Dove

MARKET PENETRATION
To improve the market penetration Dove have a unique strategy, Dove sends its representative to different
market segments and give them a task to identify the needs and wants of the different market segments,
the most famous technique used for this is sampling(kasi 2011) . This helps the company to let the
costumers think that the company cares for them and hence the company penetrates into a new market
segments.

MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Dove heavily focuses on the marketing development and educating the existing costumers about the
products that are being made according to the needs and wants of the existing and prospective
customers(kasi 2014). To accomplish this strategy, Dove usually in an advertising campaignhas a
demonstrator in every outlet that performs and educates the costumers about the products.

DIVERSIFICATION
Dove believes that diversification in its product line is an integral part for the success of its business. For
that Dove has specializes itself in bringing new developments in its product line for different types of
skin. This diversification of product line brings new customers from different market segments.

BRAND POSITIONING
Unilever positions its brand Dove with a point of differentiation that beauty is not just about attraction
but it is something more beyond that thing instead it is about every women and the inner beauty which is
the market segment for Dove. This thing is well catered by Dove thats why most of the women relate
their skin with dove(Elliot, R and Larry P 2011).

MARKETING MIX
PRODUCT
Dove came with a new idea of moisturizing of skin which was not there before its inception. The products
line of Dove is developed after carefully examining the traits and behaviors of women when it comes to
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beauty and personal care. The product line of dove has a lot of products ranging from variety of skin care
soaps, body wash, moisturizing lotions and hair care products to dove for men which was launched in
2010. Unilever has reached every single individual by producing a range of products according to the
needs of current and prospective consumers(ukessays 2014).Dove has five different classes of product i.e.
Hair care Products, Men care,Lotions,Beauty Bars/body wash and Deodorants. Dove has a range of
products in its each main category i.e. in Hare Care Products it has 44 different products, in men care, in
lotion, in beauty Bars/Body Wash and deodorants has sub products.

PRICE
Soon after the establishment of Dove soap, it was highly priced because of its high quality and most of
the consumers at that time did not consider buying it because of its high price but later on Unilever
changed its pricing strategy and made its products inexpensive and caught the attention of upper middle
and middle class consumers. Dove shampoo is a good option for repair and maintenance of hair in a low
price(ukessays 2014). The soaps produced by Dove are packed in a similar way as other brands soaps are
packaged therefore bringing its packaging costs low. Dove before launching a product always does a
detailed research and analysis on competitors pricing strategies and produce its own pricing strategies by
keeping in mind the sustainable growth and brands image which helps it in gaining a competitive
advantage.

PROMOTION
The promotion strategy of Dove is to make the brand famous in the market for its personal care
specifically beauty products. Dove promotes its products in the market as the products which enhance and
maintain the beauty of women.Doves markets its products heavily on print media, banners, signboards,
social media and the most important TV commercials that makes Dove the strongest advertiser of its
products in the market (ukessays 2014). To grab the attention of more buyers Dove rigorously take
advantage of some marketing tools like promotion counters, previous recommendations from costumers
and over-the-counter advertising which is very common in recent times. Poster campaigns, flyers,
magazines and face-to-face marketing are the strategies which are used by Dove to show the target market
that Dove is the only brand which cares for your skin and try to solve skin problems(Kotler, P and keller,
K).Unilever also amalgamate its promotional strategy with social responsibility, in many educational
projects in schools in different countries Unilever promoted its products like Dove and toothpaste.
Specifically for promotion of Dove, Unilever joined hands with GS of United States of America and EDA
of United Kingdom to help raise fund for the project Self Esteem Fund to raise some money for deprived
women (Mohammedfikri'sBlog, 2010). Unilever is among the top 5 companies which spend
billions of dollars on advertising every year and personal care products accounts for 75% of that. Doves
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Campaign for Real Beauty was a successful promotional campaign and the main idea behind this
campaign was to build self-esteem and confidence in women. Dove always produces and promotes those
products which feel good, look good and get more out of life.

PLACEMENT
Unilever utilizes its own distribution network to distribute its products. Unilever has an extensive supply
chain management system which means that it does not rely on outsourcing and does all the activities
from bringing raw material to manufacturing facilities i.e. procurement to selling the finished goods to the
end consumer on its own. Unilever has several warehouses to accommodate such a large quantity of
products (Mohammedfikri'sBlog, 2010). Unilevers global presence and incredibly good supply
chain management create a lot of opportunities for Unilever to take advantage of profit sanctuaries in the
emerging markets and developing countries. Unilever because of its economies of scale can enter any
market and gain substantial market share from domestic producers. Unilevers strategy when entering a
market is to compete on low prices while providing the customers with high quality products and
services.

SUSTAINABILITYSTRATEGIES
UnileverSustainable living plan (USLP) was formed in November 2010 to achieve the long term goal of
achieving double growth in business while reducing the adverse impact of the growth on environment.
Unilever plan of sustainability includes helping 1 billion people to improve the standards of health by
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2020, reduce the environment footprint of Unilevers product to half and buying raw materials which are
produced sustainably. As the population of the world is expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050 its
the need of the hour to respond strategically to the effects that the world is and will be facing in the future.
Unilever is focusing on the sustainable development of its products which will help in reducing the costs
and risks and minimize the waste generated from production. Sustainable innovation is the key factor in
developing products that leads to better environment for the future generations. In order to cut the use of
water and electricity, Unilever in all of its US operations has shifted to renewable energy resources and
50% of its worldwide production facilities have zero level of hazardous waste production. Unilever has
helped around 224 million people by reducing the chances of diarrhea by changing their hygiene habits.
Atleast 18% of the products of Unilever have met the criteria for highest Nutritional Standards. 6% is the
number by which greenhouse gas per customer use has reduced since 2010. Waste impact per customer
has been decreased by almost 7% and more than 450,000 farmers were trained by Unilever for the benefit
of the society and environment (Unilevers Sustainabilty Living Plan 2012).

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SWOTANALYSIS
POSITIVE
STRENGTHS

NEGATIVE
WEAKNESSES

No significant patent of

technology
Huge spending on

industry and high market

advertising and marketing

Women are considered to

share
Successful Restructuring

be the only target market

Talks about beauty not

Worlds leading and

internationally recognized

INTERNAL

Brand
Market leader in soap

program like One

specifically about the

product

Unilever
Extensive Research &

Development
Fast product development
Use of real people in
advertisements

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

Expanding customer base

Presence in prospective

Big competitors
Slowing down economy in

consumer sector
Increasing demand of

the developed countries

Growing power and

authority of large retailers

Increasing demand for

niche brands unlike Dove

Use of animal testing

products for ageing

EXTERNAL

population
Catering the booming and
emerging economies

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Unilevers main competitors in consumer good are Proctor and Gamble (P&G), KRAFT Foods and
Johnson and Johnsons and Nestle. In the case of Dove there are mainly three competitors P&Gs Olay,
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Johnson and Johnsons Neutrogena and Beiersdorfs Nivea. There is an intense competition with P&G in
the hair care in developed regions like US and Europe. P&Gs market share is always above Unilevers
hair care but it has a declining trend after 2007 on the contrary Unilevers market share is increasing
because of its rigorous spending on R&D and advertising.

POSITIONING CHART

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Unilever has established its brand name very successfully and have a good amount of market share of
different products but still P&G and LOreal in personal care products have a market share greater than
Unilevers market share. Unilever has to invest in total factor productivity and innovation in technology
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instead of spending a huge amount of money on marketing and advertising of a product like dove which
is a market leader. Unilever should also make some strategies to pull the male costumers toward it.
Unilever does not own a patent it should buy patent for the new technologies and innovations like P&Gs
Pentene Pro-V.

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REFERENCES
o

Mohammed fikri 2010, Unilevers Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets

, Mohammedfikri's Blog,
http://mohammedfikri.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/unilever%E2%80%99s-

strategies-for-competing-in-foreign-markets/
Unilever 2014, Annual report 2013, Unilever N.V. and Unilever PLC,

o
o

www.unilever.com
Unilever 2014, Dove 2014, Unilever N.V. and Unilever PLC, doveus.com
Kasi 2011, Marketing Plan of dove, Marketing Mixx,

http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-plan-2/181-marketing-plan-of-dove.html
Kasi 2011, Unilever Marketing Plan, Marketing Mixx,

http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-plan-2/201-unilever-marketing-plan.html
UK essays 2014, Marketing mix and strategies of Unilever,
http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-mix-and-strategies-of-

unilever-marketing-essay.php
Unilever 2014, Unilevers Sustainable living plan (USLP) progress report

2012,Unilever N.V. and Unilever PLC, www.unilever.com

Unmanabarkakati 2013, Product Mix of Unilever, Marketing Blog:

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

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

press, Oxford.
Kotler, P and keller, K 2009, Marketing Management, Pearson, Singapore

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