MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Brand: VASELINE

INTRODUCTION TO UNILEVER
Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employs more than 206,000 people and had worldwide revenue of 39.67 billion (just over US$50 billion) in 2005. Unilever has two parent companies: Unilever NV in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. This arrangement is similar to that of Reed Elsevier and that of Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structure. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Antony Burgmans while Patrick Cescau is Group Chief Executive. Unilever's major competitors include Procter & Gamble, Nestl, Mars Incorporated, and Reckitt Benckiser to name but a few.

HISTORY
Unilever was created in 1930 by the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, a logical merger as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarines and soaps and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities. In the 1930s, the business of Unilever grew and new ventures were launched in Latin America. By 1980, soap and edible fats contributed just 40% of profits, compared with an original 90%. In 1984 the company bought the brands Brooke Bond (maker of PG Tips tea), Faberg and Elizabeth Arden, but the latter was later sold (in 2000) to FFI Fragrances. Unilever acquired Chesebrough-Ponds, the maker of Ragu, Ponds and Vaseline, in 1987, which strengthened its position in the world skin care market. The company later absorbed the American business Best Foods, strengthening its presence in North America and extending its portfolio of foods brands.

Brands
After some recent pruning, Unilever now has a portfolio of about 400 brands, many of them local that can only be found in certain countries. The brands fall almost entirely into two categories: Food and Beverages, and Home and Personal Care. Our brand is located in the Home and Personal Care segment in the Skin Care strategic business unit under the brand name Vaseline.

UNILEVERS MISSION

Unilever's mission is to add vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

Distribution Network:
HLL's distribution network, comprising about 7,000 redistribution stockists, directly covers the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers. HLL's distribution network in rural India already directly covers about 50,000 villages, reaching about 250 million consumers, through about 6000 substockists.

Skin Is Amazing
It's an incredibly complex and miraculous creation of nature a set of interdependent systems and elements that even today we don't fully understand. It protects us from adverse climate and from infection. It recreates and regenerates itself through our lives. It stretches, yet retains its form. It is waterproof, yet it can emit water. And yet most of us take our skin for granted. If we were to respect our skin more, and think about what we were doing to it, we would surely treat it better by, for example, drinking plenty of water or avoiding the sun. And when we put products on our skin, wed ensure that we chose a brand that had a long and renowned history of developing products that cared for skin, a brand that has been curious and passionate about skin for over 130 years. The Vaseline brand offers us the distilled wisdom of this learning in wonderfully absorbent, beautiful to touch, delicately fragranced, everyday products that care for your body like no others.

Protecting your skin in winter

Harsh winds and cold spells that come with winter can strip away our skin's moisture levels leaving our skin feeling tight and dry. Indoors, central heating and the extra layers of clothes we wear can prevent our skin from getting the air it needs to properly breathe.

Hindustan Lever Ltd

Food and Beverages

Home and Personal Care

Skin Care Products

Hair Care Products

Soaps, Detergents

Deodorants & Fragrances

Vaseline

Ponds

Fair & Lovely

VASELINE

INTRODUCTION Vaseline is a well-known brand of petrolatum (petroleum jelly) originally produced by Chesebrough-Ponds, which was purchased by Unilever in 1987.Vaseline Petroleum Jelly - the 'Wonder Jelly' introduced in 1870 and Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion has helped deliver healthy-looking, moisturized skin for 135 years. In 1869, Robert Chesebrough, a dispensing chemist, discovered something amazing. He discovered a 100% natural product, rich in minerals from deep within the earth yet totally pure, which had remarkable healing properties when applied to cuts, burns and abrasions of the skin. That product was branded Vaseline Petroleum Jelly.The Vaseline brand has been the skin care expert for generations that provides quality skin care products to help you have softer, healthier-looking skin everyday. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly was patented by Robert Chesebrough in 1872, and launched across 5 regions between 1890-1960. Vaseline and Vasenol products are available in over 60 countries around the world (Vasenol is the alternative name for Vaseline in Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries) History The raw material for petroleum jelly was discovered in 1859 in Titusville, Pennsylvania where it was sticking to some of the first oil rigs in the U.S. The riggers hated the paraffin-like material because it caused the rigs to seize up, but they used it on cuts and burns because it hastened healing. Robert Chesebrough, a young chemist whose previous work, distilling fuel from the oil of sperm whales, had been rendered obsolete by petroleum, went to Titusville to see what new materials might be created from the new fuel. Chesebrough took the unrefined black "rod wax", as the drillers called it, back to his laboratory in Brooklyn to refine it and explore its medicinal possibilities. Chesebrough discovered that by distilling the lighter, thinner oil products from the rod wax, he could create a light-colored gel. Chesebrough patented the process of making petroleum jelly (U.S. Patent 127,568) in 1872. The process involved vacuum distillation of the crude material followed by filtration of the still residue through bone char. Before Chesebrough could try to sell it, he had to test it to see if it really worked on cuts and burns by using himself as the guinea pig. Having demonstrated the products efficacy on himself, Chesebrough was unable to sell any to drug stores until he travelled around New York State demonstrating his miracle vaseline. Before a rapt audience he'd burn his skin with acid or an open flame, and then spread the clear jelly on his injuries, showing at the same time his past injuries, healed, he claimed, by his miracle product. To further stimulate demand, he gave out free samples.

Chesebrough opened his first factory in 1870. The term Vaseline was coined, according to some accounts, as a combination of the German word for water, Wasser (pronounced Vahser), and the Greek word for oil, elaion. Robert Chesebrough lived to the age of 96 and claimed to have eaten a spoonful of Vaseline every day. He was such a believer in Vaseline that during a bout of pleurisy, he had his body completely covered with it from head to toe. He soon recovered.

Uses Uses mentioned in Chesebrough's patent include: currying, stuffing, and oiling all kinds of leather. The finest grade of petroleum jelly is also adapted for use as pomade for the hair. It is also used for treating chapped hands or lips, toenail fungus, and nosebleeds. Because the oil protects skin from the atmosphere and airborne bacteria it may shorten healing time. Petroleum jelly may also be used as a lubricant when shaving with a razor. It is not recommended for use as a safe sexual lubricant; being oil-based, Vaseline destroys the effectiveness of latex condoms. It is, however, popularly used by males as a personal lubricant.

Variants Hindustan Lever introduced Vaseline Aloe Fresh a variant aimed at pushing up summer sales. The exercise of introducing variants of existing products to cater to a specific need is the current flavour of the season. Since the product caters to a consumer segment different from that of the mother brand, it doesnt eat into the latters performance. Carbolated Petroleum Jelly was once a popular first aid application for scrapes and burns. Marketed under the name Vaseline First Aid Petroleum Jelly the brand has been discontinued. Though not available in retail stores the product can still be found on the internet. The carbolic acid gave the jelly an anti-bacterial effect.

From our Range

Vaseline Intensive Care Aloe

Vaseline Manicure

Vaseline Lip Therapy Resistant

Vaseline Water

Vaseline Body Lotion Lotion

Vaseline Hand

Vaseline Petroleum Jelly Guard Vaseline Talcum Powder

Vaseline Lip

HLL withdraws Vaseline talc Tuesday, 30 March, 2004, 08:50. The Vaseline powder was launched specifically to handle summer related problems such as

prickly heat. But consumers did not see it as a distinctive product. Vaseline talcum was treated as a national brand and has been in the market for the past two years. "Vaseline talcum powder did not do well in the market as there was no point of differentiation compared with other brands.

PRODUCT
Brand Positioning Positioning is the act of communicating companys offer so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the customers mind so as to create an enduring competitive advantage. Vaseline is positioned on the healthcare platform with a body lotion and a petroleum jelly cream. The customer always see the tangible attributes like performance level, price, packaging, product components before buying the product. Vaseline being the winter cream posses many uses such as pomade for the hair, it is also used by males as a personal lubricant. Vaseline prices are less as compared to Ponds, Lakme & Nivea. The brand's range was expanded to Talcum Powder, but was later withdrawn. A seasonal brand, unlike Pond's, Vaseline also has a foot care cream, which has remained a niche product with limited demand during winter. The Unique Selling Proportion of Vaseline is its 100% White Petrolatum.

Segmentation
Market segmentation is the process of disaggregating the total market for a given product into the number of sub-markets. The hetrogeneous market is broken up in the process into a number of relatively homogeneous units. Different ways of Market Segmentation are as follows: 1. Geographic Segmentation. 2. Demographic Segmentation. 3. Psychographic Segmentation. 4. Buyer Behaviour Segmentation. 5. Volume Segmentation. 6. It can also be done by mixing any of the following. Vaseline targets women in their mid-20s onwards for the brand, combination of mass and prestige. The focus will be to tap the segment in between the mass and the premium end of the segment. They also focus on family uses of Vaseline.

Differentiation
1. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly :

It is the core product of Vaseline brand. Its active ingredient is Petrolatum. It comes in bottles. 2. Vaseline Lip Care : It is specially designed for lips .It comes in small tubes. It can be squeezed and easily applied. 3. Vaseline Body Lotion : It provides moisture for healthy skin. Most of its products are seasonal and Vaseline body lotion also comes in this category. 4. Vaseline Aloe Fresh Body Lotion: However, Vaseline aloe fresh body lotion is brought into the market which repositions Vaseline as a 12 month body lotion. It specifies it as to discover freshness in this summer.

Price of Vaseline, Ponds, Lakme & Nivea.

Winter Cream Grams 8gms 25gms 50gms Vaseline Rs. 4 Rs.14 Rs. 24 Ponds Rs. 5 Nivea Rs. 45

Body Lotion Vaseline Body Lotion Aloe Fresh 100ml = Rs. 32 (1ml = Rs. 0.32) Lakme Sun Cream Lotion 120ml = Rs.110 (1 ml = Rs.0.91) Lip Care Vaseline Lip Guard 10gms = Rs. 15 Dr Lips 10gms = Rs. 14

Share Of Vaseline In Lip Care Products

PLACE
1. Rural Market: The rural India offers a tremendous market potential. A mere one percent increase in Indias rural income translates to a mind-boggling Rs 10,000 crore of buying power. Nearly two-thirds of all middle-income households in the country are in rural India. And close to half of Indias buying potential lies in its villages. Thus for the countrys marketers, small and big, rural reach is on the rise and is fast becoming their most important route to growth. Of the expenditure on consumer goods in rural household 10% are on cosmetics. Meanwhile, HLL has been introducing new SKUs in its skincare brands to penetrate the rural market. Last year, it introduced the Vaseline body lotion and petroleum jelly in the Rs-5 category. "We have decided to introduce smaller packs in the skincare category to penetrate the rural markets," 2. Urban Market: Vaseline is easily available in urban markets like Chemist, General Stores because of effective distribution channel. HLL believe in Jo Dikhta Hai, Woh Bikhta Hai

Barrier Matrix

Worst High Exit Barrier Low Stable Low Return Low Risk High Low Low Return Low Risk

Gamble High Return High Risk

Best High Return Low Risk

Entry Barrier

Vaseline comes under Stable position in the Barrier Matrix chart

COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
The major players in skin care segment are Lakme, Ponds, Fair and Lovely and Vaseline of HLL group with a 50 per cent market share followed by players like J and L Morison marketing Nivea range of productions, Godrej, Revlon etc. Vaseline is a seasonal brand, which has remained a niche product with limited demand during winter. Thus, it follows the strategies of niche and comes under Product or product-line specialist since Vaseline produces only one product line except Vaseline Talcum powder.

INNOVATIVE WAYS TO REACH THE CUSTOMER

1. Seminars in Rural Market: We will conduct a seminar and make people aware of the additional uses and benefits of the product Vaseline. As one know that from satellite and television people are aware of the several brands but in order to embed our brand trust in them we will distribute free sachet of Vaseline (costing Rs. 1 - 2) during the seminar. Through demonstration will show them how to apply Vaseline in order to get its maximum benefits. This seminar can be conducted during Melas. i. ii. Cross Promotion: A small pack of Vaseline can be given free with lifebuoy pack as lifebuoy has a good mass market in rural areas. Arrangement providing small Vaseline pack with other toiletries can be made with hospitality firms.

2. Tag line: It is for those who care enough to look best. 3. Radio Ad:

Think & Win!

Any guesses Thakur kyun ro raha hai aur keh raha hai ki mujhe mere haath lauta de Gabbar? Win a goody bag full of product that will care enough for your skin to look best. 4. Experience Magical Moment in Manali: Buy Vaseline Winter Cream of 50gms and collect the whole word FAMILY from the bottle cap .If you are a lucky winner you could get a chance to win a trip to Manali of 1 night 2 days stay.