Student No: 260319626

McGill University Desautels Faculty of Management

Markets and Globalization: Take Home Assignment Marketing Section

Section 1 Rehan Ali 260319626

Student No: 260319626 1) Clorox company employ House Blend architecture. Companys main product i.e

Bleach is being marketed and sold as Clorox Bleach ( constituting over $2.0Bn in revenues out of total $ 5.0Bn). Since the company is using its name Clorox in combination with other brand names for e.g Clorox Bleach, Clorox Green Works, the architecture coincides with that of House Blend. However it is pertinent to mention not all products are sold with company names for e.g Burt Bee, Brita, etc.
2) Clorox has established its brand through series of successful products like Clorox bleach

which constitutes over $ 2.0 billion in revenues out of total revenues of $ 5.5 billion (2010). The idea of using Clorox is to communicate with the customer that the product will get work done since to customers Clorox means power and efficacy, which as a result deals with customers suspicions and doubts about the product effectiveness very efficiently and hence establishes customers trust in the product. This trust helps the company to charge premium pricing for its products from customers whose concern is only about the effectiveness of the product and whose demand is inelastic to price, thereby improving companys margins and hence profitability. Furthermore, this association with company name also helps the company to gain larger market share of relatively new products at a relatively shorter period of time at a relatively lower promotion costs since the brand Clorox automatically attracts the customer attention. 3) Research over the years showed that some consumers wanted clean and healthy homes, but had some aversion to traditional cleaning ingredients or chemical as they tended to call them. We determined that a lot of the competing natural or sustainable cleaners suffered from a number of challenges, including the perception that they didnt work, they werent very natural, they were very expensive, and they werent widely available

Student No: 260319626

For the natural cleaning product like Green Works to be successful, the cleaning product should be natural and it should work. The advantage by using Clorox with Green Works, company made sure that the product works since the name Clorox resonates with efficacy. However at the same time the disadvantage of using Clorox is that customers were confused whether the product is natural or not since consumers equate Clorox with chemicals. Furthermore Clorox is much more reputable brand and by using the same with Green Works ( relatively new and less popular) suppresses the idea or meaning behind Green Works which is natural. This as a result creates a problem for a customer to learn or connect with the product ( in a customer journey) but once the customer uses the product, it does not face problem in experiencing the product, hence explaining the reason why the repeat with customers who value green products is high, but trial rate among more mainstream consumers is not high enough yet. By using Clorox with Green works, company was able to gain some coverage on CSR, thus improving the overall image of the brand Clorox, which may have helped the company to improve its sales in the traditional cleaning products but it also pushed the company to declare ingredients of its traditional or less clean products (which may have hurt the companys sales) and raised the question as to where company as a whole stands on sustainability issue or its complete and firm commitment to cleaner products which may have been hurting the sales of Green Works also. By using Clorox with Green Works, company was able to differentiate the product in the sense it works, thereby justifying the premium pricing on the same. However at the same time it may have raised the question that whether the premium pricing is being charged because the product is by Clorox or because it is green.

Student No: 260319626 4) Currently Clorox is using Green Works products with Clorox name/logo on it. In my

view this combination is not serving the purpose of effective brand elements. Even though the brand element is memorable, meaningful, protectable, adoptable and transferable ( in the sense that company can introduce other products in the cleaning category with the same brand name), it fails in connotations and overall liking criterias. By using Clorox with Green Works, the products are not being taken green in the pure sense since Clorox is associated with chemicals and bleach. I would suggest using Green Works only without Clorox since it communicates clearly that the product is green or natural and it works or is effective and it will enable the brand to stand on its own without its true connotations being suppressed by Clorox. Brand association is something that is deep seated in customers mind about the brand. Brands should be associated with something positive so that customers relate the brand with something positive. In case of Green Works, the association with Sierra Club does the job of promoting the fact that the product is green and natural. However at the same time the brand is endorsed by Clorox quite does the opposite since Clorox is associated with chemicals. However in order to emphasize the fact that Green Works is effective and natural, company should emphasize more on system of benefits by focusing on core benefits ( i.e the product works and is effective). It can establish this by establishing and publicizing the results of Green Works products against that of its competitors. Alliance with Sierra Club and by active advertising company will be able to establish emotional benefits (The product is natural and green), thereby enhancing the experiential benefits. Together it will create a positive brand association. Every stop/phase in a customer journey is a touch point opportunity. Since the case mentions that Green Works products is having an issue to attract first time customers but the customers who

Student No: 260319626

buy the Green Works products usually keep on buying the products. Hence it seems that customers are having problem in learning, connecting and buying the products and there are minimal issues with the experience of the products. Furthermore the inconsistent pattern in the revenues of the Green Works products ( increase in revenues followed by the fall in the revenues) indicate that the product is at the end of intro phase and near to growth phase. Hence company should first focus on learning, connecting and buying components of customer journey, which as a result will help the Green Works products to enter mainstream growth phase of the product life cycle. Learning: Through advertising company should emphasize the greenness and effectiveness of the products, while at the same time it should encourage its customers and environmental organizations (for e.g Sierra Club) to promote word of mouth recommendation of the products. Since most of the sales of Green Works has been due to switching of customers from competitors to Clorox, therefore in order for company to increase its sales, it should focus its advertising on creating the awareness about the products among mainstream customers ( which will be new customers), however caution should be made that its doesnt cannibalize the sales of Clorox traditional cleaning products. Connect: In connecting phase, Clorox should maximize the rewards such as lower

environmental impact, greater well being, etc and minimize the risks such as high price of the Green Works products. Buy: Currently Green Works products are widely accessible and are placed with traditional cleaning products and with that those of competitors products. However, I suggest that the placement should be changed in a way that it should be placed in different shelf and should have its own space ( like Burt Bee products) reflecting that its a differentiated product.

Student No: 260319626

Experience: Since most of the sales of Green Works currently are from repeat customers, I believe that the company doesnt need to make major changes in the experience phase and hence should continue with its current strategy.