Dove Shampoo's Marketing Communication And Distribution Process Essay.

About Dove Shampoo and Unilever

Question:

Write an essay on Dove Shampoo.

Dove Shampoo is one of the major products of Unilever that facilitates the organization to obtain profitable outcome from the business. Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch multinational organization. Dove Shampoo is a premium beauty product that takes care of hair. In the recent days, the particular product has been increasing its popularity due to its premium quality. However, the brand has huge competitors in the global market. In this context, the researcher has provided the marketing communication process along with its distribution process. Moreover, the researcher has provided the competitors analysis based on the current market statistics.

Dove is a personal care brand that is owned by Unilever. The origin of the brand is in the United Kingdom. Lever brothers first launched Dove in 1957. The popularity of the brand increased in the mid of 1970’s. In 2002, the organization started campaigning for real beauty. In the mid of 1990’s, the organization made footstep in 55 countries and by 1996, it expanded its business more than 80 countries.  The parent company of Dove is Unilever. Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch multinational brand and the co-head quarter of the brand is in London, United Kingdom, and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Dove includes a wide range of products including food, beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. However, the personal care products are increasingly popular in the market. Dove is the third-largest consumer goods company measured in 2012. The organization was founded in 1930 by the merger. In 2015, the organization has collected the revenue of €53,300,000,000. A total number of employees are 172,000. In 2004, Dove began its campaign for real beauty. Among beauty products, Dove shampoo has become increasingly popular in the market due to its premium quality. The organization has been trying to promote the particular product on the global platform.

Dove’s products line includes deodorants, body washes, beauty bars, lotions, hair care and facial care products. Dove is primarily made of surfactants, vegetable oils, salts and animal fats, etc. the organization has launched men’s toiletries ranged in 2010[3]. The organization has been leading in the market due to its hair care and facial care products.

Unilever, the parent company of Dove, offers a wide range of products including foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. The organization has more than 400 brands that are categorized into four sections including foods, refreshments, home care and personal care. Unilever is selling brands such as Dove; Ben & Jerry’s; Axe/Lynx; Heartbrand; Lipton; Lux/ Radox; Sunsilk. On the other hand, Unilever is one of the biggest ice cream manufacturers in the world. Moreover, the organization has a wide range of the food and beverages such as Aromat, Becel, Pot Noodles, and Chicken tonight, etc. the beauty care products of Unilever is increasing popularity, as the organization has been enhancing the particular products promotion in the global platform. The organization has been selling its products in more than 80 countries and the brand offers products for both men and women.

Competitors Analysis and Real Beauty Campaign

Dove’s logo is a silhouette profile of the brand’s namesake bird. The slogan of the Dove shampoo is “No Girl Should Need a Guy to Get that Fresh all over Tingly Feeling”. Dove is a premium care brands that facilitates to enhance the beauty of both men and women. With the involvement of this slogan, the organization attracts women for enhancing the brand value in the market. The packaging of the products is also an attractive part of the products. The stylish packaging of the products attracts customers obtain the particular product. Hence, it can be assessed that the brand elements of the products influence women to realize their potential personal beauty. Moreover, the organization has been trying to include more features to its brand elements in order to enhance its productivity in an effective manner.

Social media platform is one of the major platforms for product promotion. In recent days, the organization has been enhancing the social media engagement in order to enhance the productivity of the business. Dove shampoo is one of the favorite choices for the hair care to women. Hence, the organization involves several social media platforms including Facebook, twitter, and other online promotional activities for flashing their product messages to the global platform. On the other hand, the company has its website that contains all information regarding Dove products. Women often accumulate information on the Dove shampoo from the online platform and it facilities to increase the product knowledge in an effective manner. On the other hand, the social media facilities the company to communicate with customer across the globe and it contributes in accumulating feedback regarding products.

 The advertisement of Dove shampoo is conducted through various processes including social media, printing media, digital media, word of mouth, etc. among these mediums; the social media is one of the major platforms that facilitate the organization to enhance its sales in the global market. Although the social media advertising is a popular medium for promotion, Unilever has been focusing on the other promotional medium including printing medium and digital medium. Through the engagement of involving TV advertisement, Newspaper promotion, poster, and another medium, the organization expands the promotion in the large demographic market. On the other hand, the organization has engaged some of the celebrities for making the promotional face of the brand. Word of mouth is another traditional form of advertising that facilitates the company to enhance the products knowledge among societal people. Hence, it can be assessed that the enhanced advertisement process has been engaging a huge number of women to experience Company’s wide range of products.

The distribution of Dove shampoo consists of a network channel that facilitates the organization to distribute products among societal people. Nowadays, the dove has been marketing in more than 80 countries. Hence, it can be assessed that the distribution channel of the company follows a systematic process. Dove employs the pull strategy to persuade its customers in the market. The target market of dove includes upper and middle-class customers in the society. The distribution process of Dive begins with the manufacturer and then it moves down to the retail stores, modern trade and CSD through C&F (Cost and Freight) and stockiest. The activation managers (AM), Assistant Sales Managers (ASM), and Territory Sales in charge (TSI) coordinate the sales process. Re-stockiest Salesman (RSSM) coordinates the operations of the retailers and stockiest. The distribution channel falls under vertical marketing systems.

In the recent days, the organization has been focusing on enhancing the selling of the products through improving relations with the retailers including department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, kiosks, chemists and super stone. Dove offers different levels of services for the customers in the society. Marketing decisions of Dove include target marketing, channels, product assortment, communications, and locations. Hence, it can be assessed that the product distribution channels of the company facilitate in allocating products in a systematic method. The easy availability of the products facilitates the organization to engage a huge number of customers in an effective manner. Consequently, it contributes to enhancing the core sales of the company.

Dove Shampoo Products and Parent Company

By analyzing the market of Dove Shampoo, it can be assessed that the company has been facing huge challenges from competitors. The competitors of Dove can be categorized into two sections including the internal and external competitors.  In the Australian market, Dove has huge challenges for conducting the business in an effective manner. The external competitor of Dove shampoo is Pantene. Moreover, other shampoo brands including Garnier, Palmolive, and Head & Shoulders have left behind Dove in the market. Hence, the organization has been trying to uphold the business profit in the marketplace. On the other hand, the internal competitors of Dove include LUX, TRESemme. However, Dove’s prime competitors are the external brands that lead the market. In the global market, the brand has been focusing on the several promotional strategies in order to enhance the brand

The market share of Dove shampoo can be categorized in the similar products segmentation such as Pantene, Head & shoulders. Market share indicates that Pantene shampoo includes the largest share of the marketplace. On the other hand, the market share of Dove is 18%. Hence, it can be assessed that the Dove Shampoo is the second highest selling Shampoo brand in the global market. The market share of each brand is very close to others. It indicates the tough market challenges in the global platform.

 By analyzing the sales volume, it can be assessed that the Dove shampoo is leading the market due to its premium quality. Although the others hair care products including Pantene, Head & Shoulders and clear have been enhancing their sales volume, Dove has been focusing on expanding their sales through engaging the huge number of customers across the global platform.

Company	Sales	Demand
Dove Women Shampoo	83%	28%
Pantene	89%	30%
Head & Shoulder	74%	22%
Clear	60%	20%

Strength ·         The premium quality of the product facilitates consumers to maintain the hair care in an effective manner ·         The fragrance of the product attracts a huge number of customers for using product ·         Dove contains the 1/4 moisturizing cream which facilitates women to nourish hair properly ·         The flagship of product of HUL with strong brand awareness through branding and advertising ·         It promises to nourish the damage hairs

Opportunity ·         Although the brand has been targeting the female audience, the brand could have launched a wide range of products for men. It would facilitate the organization to enhance the business opportunities in the global platform ·         The strong brand assets could contribute to continuous innovation in the product department. New product innovation would facilitate the organization to enhance the customer’s base in an effective manner. ·         The organization can expand its market in the demographic large area. Hence, the market expansion would facilitate the organization to experience the profitable outcome in the business.

Weakness ·         The target marketing for the product is upper class and middle-class consumers in the society. Hence, the pricing model of the company is quite high. Low piecing model would facilitate them in engaging more customers in the business. ·         Dove Shampoo targets only Women. Consequently, the popularity of the product among men is low. ·         The brand innovation of Dove is quite low than other competitors in the market.

Threat ·         There are a huge number of competitor brands providing hair care solutions to women, and it indicates threat for the organizations. ·         Dove shampoo for women is popular only in urban society. ·         The product targets only higher and middle-class consumer in the market. ·         The other shampoo brand including Pantene, Head & Shoulder, Garnier are the threats of Dove.

 Conclusion and Recommendations:

 It can be concluded that Dove shampoo has been increasing the popularity in the global market, and it expands the brand to the large demographic area. Although the sales volume of the product is a bit higher than another shampoo brand, Dove has some strong competitors in the market that create challenges for conducting the business in an effective manner. The researcher has provided the following recommendations for enhancing the brand value in the global platform.

• Dove needs to focus on the brand innovation in order to enhance the sales volume in the business
• Dove could have focused on men hair care products so that the brand could be able to engage huge customer’s base in the business
• Dove should focus on the innovative promotional activities in order to attract women in the society
• Although the pricing of Dove shampoo is acceptable to the middle and higher class community, the brand needs to review their pricing system in order to engage the lower-middle class consumer.

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