Marketing plan for Dove anti-dandruff shampoo by Unilever

Marketing Plan for New Product

Marketing Plan: Dove Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

Marketing is an incredibly important function for any company (McCarthy, Perreault, & Saphiro, 2002). Whether the company is a small, sole proprietorship or a large corporation like Unilever, proper marketing is what will set a company (and a product) apart and keep it fresh in the minds of consumers. In order to have good marketing, a company has to have a plan on which it can focus. That plan may need adjustment occasionally, but the most important thing is to get that plan started and moving forward. Once that has been done, a company can focus on getting the product to market and convincing people that they should buy it. In order to do that, the company must consider the 4 Ps - place, product, price, and promotion (Cateora & Graham, 2002). There are other issues that will also be addressed here, such as the time and target audience for the product. All of these issues are important when creating a marketing plan.

For this paper, the company will be Unilever and the product will be an anti-dandruff shampoo that is part of the Dove product line. Because Unilever is such a large company and because Dove is such a well-known brand name, it may be somewhat easier for the company to make strong sales, at least at first. However, the product also needs staying power, and if the product is not good or the marketing is not strong, that staying power may not be available. Even good products can be forgotten by consumers who have so many options from which to choose (Cateora & Graham, 2002). That is the basis of a marketing plan - to keep the product's information in front of consumers as much as possible in order to make sure that they keep buying those products (Cateora & Graham, 2002). Not all companies do that, but Unilever should not rely on its Dove brand name or rest on its laurels. If it wants to make sure this new anti-dandruff shampoo is a success, it has to have a marketing plan that will appeal to consumers.

Place

Where will the product be sold? How available will it really be? If it is only sold at a single store - even a single chain retailer - it will be much more difficult for consumers to acquire it. They may not be interested in going out of their way to find the product, which can really hurt a company in the sales department (Pride & Ferrell, 2003). For Unilever to see success with this new product, they have to make it available, and they have to decide where it should be available. Products that are already on the shelves and that come from the same company are selling. Where are they selling? Do they do better at retailers? At drug stores? Somewhere else? Most likely, wherever other Dove products are sold is where Unilever will want to sell its new anti-dandruff shampoo. That way, people who are used to buying products from the company will be able to get everything in one place. Even stores that do not have other Dove products may be good places in which to sell this product, though, if those stores carry shampoos - and specifically if they carry anti-dandruff shampoos. The size of the Unilever company and the Dove offering means that there are many options.

Overall, place is not as relevant to Unilever as it would be to some other kinds of companies, mostly because there are so many stores that already carry the company's products. It will not be that difficult to make sure that they are carried at other stores. The more stores that carry them, the more likely they will be seen (and bought) by consumers, all other factors being equal. Unilever should focus on getting the new Dove anti-dandruff shampoo into as many stores as possible, of course, but only if those stores have track records of selling Dove products or of selling a high volume of shampoos. If the company does not have the shampoos available in the right place, consumers are not going to be able to find the shampoos and might not know about them or go out of their way to look for them.

Price

When the economy is down and people are struggling, the price of a product matters more than ever (Sommers & Barnes, 2001). Of course, even when the economy is booming there are people who do not have a lot of money, and people who are comfortable with their income but who choose to be frugal because they do not want to overspend and get themselves into trouble. Unilever has to be aware of the fact that people care deeply about the price of much of what they buy - and that includes their anti-dandruff shampoo. Carrying the Dove name helps, but it is not an open invitation to charge as much as possible. Research into the current market when it comes to what is being charged for other anti-dandruff shampoos is very necessary. If Unilever plans to charge more than the average for its Dove anti-dandruff shampoo, there needs to be a reason for that and consumers need to be able to accept that reason. If the company thinks the reason is good but consumers do not, there will not be many sales and Unilever will have spent a lot of money to launch a product that will not perform well. That could cost the company a great deal of money and waste a lot of time.

The market sets the price when it comes to just about any retail good (McCarthy, Perreault, & Saphiro, 2002). Unilever must remember that the consumers who will buy the anti-dandruff shampoo may like and want the Dove name, but they also only have so much money that they can spend. If all of the other anti-dandruff shampoos on the market are less expensive than Dove, it is likely that those lower-priced options will be the ones that consumers buy. There will be some people who will spend more - especially if the product is exceptional - but those people are few and far between. To do well, Unilever needs to capture a large portion of the market. That will not be accomplished with an anti-dandruff shampoo that is grossly overpriced because consumers will not think that it offers a good value for the money.

Promotion

How will the company market this product? It has to be promoted, or people will not know it exists. Many people have gone to the store and spotted a new product on the shelves. It leaves them wondering how long that product has been out, why they have not seen it before, and why they did not hear about its release into the marketplace. If it is a product they think they might like, they have two options: buy it now and take a chance on it, or go home and do some research before they make a purchase, to see if the product will meet their needs. For all of those people who go home without buying, how many will remember the product, check into it, like it, and come back to buy it? Unilever does not want the consumer's first encounter with their Dove anti-dandruff shampoo to be on the store shelves. Customers should know about the product long before they ever get to the store - and before the product is even available. That way they will be actively looking for the product when it comes out and they will be ready to buy it and see if it meets their needs.

Too much promotion too early will not work because people will get tired of looking for a product that is not on the shelves (Sommers & Barnes, 2001). However, starting an advertising campaign shortly before stores begin to carry the product is a great way to make sure that there is some interest in the product before it is readily available. That way, people who want the product will be aware of it and be looking for it. As soon as they find it, they will buy and try. Unilever has successfully marketed many products before, and the company knows that there are several outlets it can use. Television commercials are expensive but they reach many people (Sommers & Barnes, 2001). Advertising over the Internet is also a good choice, because it costs less than television but has the potential to reach even more people. Radio also works, but it is not as popular of a format for advertising as it was before the Internet appeared.

Time

The timing of a new product matters (Coughlan & Connolly, 2001). With anti-dandruff shampoo, however, this timing is not as critical. People will use this product all year round, because dandruff is not something that generally goes away in a particular month or season. However, people do often see more of a problem with dandruff during the winter months, because the air is drier and their scalp is drier. That can lead to more itching and more flakes, which can be both embarrassing and annoying. Because that is the case, Unilever may want to consider offering its new anti-dandruff shampoo in the fall, when people who have persistent dandruff are starting to think more about it because the weather is changing. Even though this product is not completely time-sensitive, the dry air component can make a difference and is something that should be considered. People want to look good and to feel good about themselves, and they have a hard time doing that if they have dandruff. If that problem is worse for them in the winter, they will be more open to trying something new during that time, in an effort to find a product that will really work for them and make them feel better.

For those without persistent dandruff, but who occasionally use an anti-dandruff shampoo, any time is a good time for a launch of this product. These people are not as particular about when they would be most likely to buy an anti-dandruff shampoo. They may simply purchase it on an as-needed basis, and then stop using it when their dandruff clears up. However, if they really like Unilever's new product, they may keep using it even if they no longer see any evidence of dandruff, just because it is convenient to continue to do so. If the timing is good and everything else falls into place, Unilever could do very well with their Dove anti-dandruff shampoo. The market is a fickle place, though, and there are no guarantees with any product or any company.

Target Audience

Anyone could use dandruff shampoo, but most people do not because they either do not have dandruff or they do not see it as enough of a problem to warrant a specific kind of shampoo. Some people may be embarrassed to buy any kind of product that is for a specific "problem," too, and that is a consideration. If Unilever markets its product to everyone, people who have significant dandruff may not feel that the shampoo will be strong enough to treat their problem. If the company only markets to those with persistent, severe dandruff, people who do not have that problem may see no need to buy the product. There is a delicate balancing act that is needed with this kind of product, because it is important to get a large target audience so that sales can stay high. It is not good to alienate any group of people who might buy a product and see a benefit from it, but Unilever needs to focus on the most important group for its anti-dandruff shampoo.

Studying the market to see who the largest consumers of anti-dandruff shampoo really are is one of the best things that Unilever can do. That will allow the company to get a good read on its target market and really be aware how it needs to market the product effectively (McCarthy, Perreault, & Saphiro, 2002). The target audience will obviously be people with dandruff, but there are other questions to be answered. What level of dandruff? What kind of campaign will reach that market, and how does that market need to hear the message in order to be interested in buying? These are the kinds of questions that have to be asked and answered so that Unilever can be successful with the launch of its Dove anti-dandruff shampoo. If the target market is ignored and not catered to, Unilever could miss out on a golden opportunity to see high sales numbers from its new anti-dandruff shampoo. That would be unfortunate for the company, and also unfortunate for the people who need the product.

Conclusion

There are always limitations to any marketing plan. Even when a company plans things out as well as it possibly can, there is the chance that something will go wrong. Things that seem simple and unimportant can actually become game-changers quite quickly. Unfortunately, there is no way to completely avoid those kinds of things. The best way to avoid as many problems as possible is to thoroughly study the market and be sure what the target audience needs and wants. How does that market make its choices? What kind of income does that market have? There are many questions that have to be answered. Fortunately for Unilever, it already has an "in" in the market, because Dove is a popular brand. By using the Dove name, Unilever will be more likely to attract a larger number of consumers for its anti-dandruff shampoo. That is good news, but the shampoo also needs to live up to the Dove name. If it fails to do that, Dove's image could be tainted, and that would be bad for the company. Making the product the best it can be is highly important.

Marketing plans are not set in stone, and they need to be able to be adjusted somewhat when it comes to price, promotion, and other issues. Because Unilever has done this before, it will have a better chance at doing it again - but there are no guarantees with any product. Almost every large corporation has put out at least one product that has under-performed and that has made the company look bad. Consumers have short memories about these kinds of things for the most part, however, which means that they will usually overlook at bad product and be willing to try something from that same company again in the future. Hopefully, Unilever can avoid any of that by providing a great anti-dandruff shampoo that carries the Dove product name and offers consumers a good option for fighting their dandruff at a price the consumers can appreciate. If so, everyone wins.