13734411

Word Count- 4600

2011

[Study Centre- SLIM Business School (Sri Lanka) [Membership No- 13734411

[STAKEHODER MARKETING] Declaration statement I confirm that in forwarding this assignment for marking, I understand and have applied the CIM policies relating to word count, plagiarism and collusion for all tasks. This assignment is the result of my own independent work/ investigation except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged in the body of the text and/ or a bibliography is appended. The work that I have submitted has not previously been accepted in substance for any other award. I further confirm that I have not shared my work with other candidates.

Stakeholder Marketing 13734411

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Contents

1.0 Company profile ................................................................................................................................ 3

1.1 Competitive Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 3

1.2 Marketing Mix ............................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Stakeholders .................................................................................................................................. 5

2.0 New product development ................................................................................................................ 6

2.1Stages of developing a new product ............................................................................................... 6

3.0 Trends affected to NPD ...................................................................................................................... 7

4.0 Buyer behavior and DMU ................................................................................................................... 8

5.0 Suggestions & Justifications ............................................................................................................... 9

6.0 Coordinated Marketing Mix ............................................................................................................. 10

6.1Product ......................................................................................................................................... 10

6.2Pricing Strategy ............................................................................................................................. 14

6.3Distribution Process ...................................................................................................................... 15

6.4 Promotional Tools ............................................................................................................................. 16

7.0 Measuring Success of Marketing Mix ............................................................................................... 17

8.0References ....................................................................................................................................... 19

9.0 Appendix ......................................................................................................................................... 20

9.1 The Audit & Background .............................................................................................................. 20

9.2 Marketing Mix ............................................................................................................................. 21

9.3 Trends affected to NPD ................................................................................................................ 23

9.4 Stakeholders ................................................................................................................................ 24


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The Report

To- Marketing Manager

From- Marketing Assistant

Subject-New product launch

Date- 30th May 2011


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1.0 Company profile Unilever Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan branch of Mother Company. It offers 26 strong brands that are leaders in all the categories that they operate in. They are providing well suited products to the consumer in a way that maximizes the customer satisfaction. This is a Fast moving consumer goods company which has local manufacturing facilities, Hence they do not need to import and distribute everything. Basically they are operating under three categories such as Home Care, Personal Care and Foods. They have various product categories like Household care, fabric cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, tea, spreads, personal grooming. Unilever has following well known brands which is strongly kept in customer minds.

Astra, Axe, Bru, Ceylonta, Clear, Comfort, Flora, Dove, Fair & Lovely, Knorr, Laojee, Lipton, Lifebuoy, Lux, Marmite, Pears Baby, Ponds, Rexona, Rin,Signal, Sunsilk, Sunlight, Surf Excel, Vaseline, Vim and Wonderlight

1.1 Competitive Analysis

In the market of consumer goods Unilever Sri Lanka is considered as the market leader. As a market leader there is always a risk to be attacked by the market challengers. Unilever’s strategy is to defend their market share by being premium in service, having full-line strategy, extensive and efficient dealership system and good financing. In Sri Lanka the Unilever products come into the most widely distributed products. the major challengers for Unilever are Hemas Holdings Ltd,‘Proctor & Gamble Ltd’,Vendol Lanka(Pvt)Ltd, Delma Lanka(Pvt)Ltd and Swadeshi (Pvt)Ltd.

1.2 Marketing Mix

Unilever Sri Lanka, one of today’s leading fast moving consumer goods companies, who has not only revolutionized FMCG industry, with its creative marketing techniques and unforgettable quality, but for years has dominated the industry as well. Marketing puts the customer at the centre of the organization. The organizations, which choose to do so, reap the profits and benefits. There are two key distinctions which are central to marketing management: the selection of target markets where the firm will compete and the design of the marketing mix .

The Product

Product variety

Signal represents a range of toothpastes and tooth brushes offered by Unilever Signal being an oral care expert, has in its portfolio a range of products that address all oral care problems.


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Quality

Being a popular segment product and an offering by Signal quality parameters are thoroughly tested to ensure consumer satisfaction.

Features

This is the Sri Lanka's largest Oral Care brand - the Oral Care expert which is trusted by generations and endorsed by FDI and SLDA (Sri Lankan Dental Association)

Brand Name

• Winner of the Guinness Book of World Records

• Recipient of the Brand Icon Award in 2004.

Packaging

Both tooth brushes and toothpastes have very attractive and safe packaging.

Price

The typical prices of the toothpastes are Rs. 35.00 for the 40g pack, Rs. 65.00 for the 80g pack, and Rs.130.00 For the 180.00g pack. Tooth pastes in the popular segment which is priced higher to only the economy segment and lower than the gel and premium segments in the toothpaste market. Normal tooth rush is Rs.30.00.

Place

The products is sold in retail outlets , supermarkets, medical shops, co-operative stores etc. It is distributed through the supply chain of company distributor to wholesaler to retailer to final consumers.

Promotion

Sales Promotion – None at the retailer level apart from possible recommendation by the shopkeeper.

Advertising – Advertising is in the form of TVCs (television commercials) and news papers.

Sales Force – Sales force consists of the company’s distributor’[s who are instrumental I ensuring that the product is stocked by the retailers, which is made easier by the range of product offerings supplied by the same distributor of Unilever

Public Relations – PR campaigns were undertaken extensively during the launch of the brand in leading newspapers and magazines, though they were focused more directly on enhancing the image of the parent company in the eyes of stakeholders like shareholders potential investors.


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Direct Marketing – Direct marketing to the consumer was not done at this retail outlet

1.3 Stakeholders

Stakeholders are persons or groups who are directly or indirectly affected by a business, as well as those who may have interests in a business.

Owners

Owners are the people who put money into the business. They need to earn profits for their money, get dividends and increase the share prices.

Managers

They are the persons who responsible for operations of company. Unilever has various managers for the company’s several functions. Basically they have Marketing, human resource, finance and production managers. They are trying to improve the company so that they are given promotions, better salaries, bonuses and other fringe benefits. If they fail to do so, their jobs will be lost.

Employees

The success and failure of any organization is directly proportional to the labor put by each and every employee. The employees must share a good rapport with each other and strive hard to realize the goal of the organization. They should complement each other and work together as a single unit. Unilever has 1100 employees who work for the organizational goals. There is Trade Union look after the employees.

Suppliers Suppliers are individuals or businesses that provide goods or services to vendors in return for the agreed upon compensation. As such, suppliers do not generally interact with consumers directly, leaving that task to vendors or shop owners. It is not unusual for a supplier to provide volume discounts to vendors when they agree to sign long-term contracts or place orders for large quantities. If the company will succeed, suppliers get more orders and business. So they have an interest on the Business.

Customers

Customers are the heart of business. No customer means no business. So unilever has realized this situation and offering quality products in a way that maximize the customer satisfaction. Customers are normally looking for quality products for the lowest cost. Every sri lankan uses at least one Unilever product. You cannot find any person in Sri Lanka who has not used a Unilever product.


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Government

Since Unilever is a giant multi national conglomerate, the Sri Lankan government can earn a huge tax amount from it. So the government is supporting favourably towards the company’s activities. As a multinational player Unilever is doing a very ethical role in Sri Lanka.

2.0 New product development

A new product can be classified into three groups. They are innovative products, replacement products and imitative products. Innovative products are new to the both company and world. They show major breakthroughs in technological improvement and help the company to attain competitive advantage over its competitive players. So they generate more profits to the company. Introducing the existing products to the market with new features, new designs and packages is called replacing the product. Comparatively the innovative production, this process is required less marketing cost and incurring low risk. Imitative products (me-too) are another kind of new product. Once some organizations launched products, the other companies imitate them. Method allows the company to reduce the investment in new product development and it also reduces the nature of failing the product

In this scenario Unilever is launching an innovative product. Even though So many companies have various toothpastes and tooth brushes in order to clean teeth, they are unable increase the whiteness of teeth. Actually people, especially ladies like to keep their teeth whiny. So the introducing Signal teeth whitening machine is an ideal solution for keep the whiteness of teeth.

2.1Stages of developing a new product

� Idea generation Ideas can be generated from any source. Most of the time senior managers, customers, staff, research teams and development officers generate ideas. In Unilever there is a research and development department to generate new ideas and do innovations. In addition they have strategic research and development laboratories are located in the UK, the Netherlands, the US, China and India to carry out innovations.

� Screening All ideas are discussed and most better ones are taken to further development

� Concept Testing The idea behind product is presented to the potential customers and gets their comments towards the product. This is happened through the market research.

� Business Analysis Analyzing the product ability to fits the customer needs and marketing, management strategies.


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� Product Development

If the business analysis shows that the product is viable, the engineering process is started.

� Market testing The product is offered to a selected segment to the market and gets feedback from them.

� Commercialization & launch The product is launched to the market. There are few launching strategies, like sprinkler strategy, waterfall strategy, target market strategy. Unilever follows Waterfall method to launch their tooth whitening system. In waterfall method the product is launched into one or few areas and then little by little adding new areas. Unilever is first targeting the customers within Colombo city which is the capital of Sri Lanka.

3.0 Trends affected to NPD

Changing Customer needs

As time goes on, every customer changes his requirements and new generations of customers appear, bringing with them different ideas and specific needs.

Unilever has an iconic brand called Signal. It offers various toothpastes and tooth brushes under this brand. Brushing teeth using these toothpastes and brushes is a traditional way of cleaning teeth. There are lot of companies which produce toothpastes and brushes. So Unilever needs something new to compete for the market. On the other hand people want much better way of cleaning teeth properly and quickly. So the teeth whitening system is produced.

Product life cycle concept

All products are subjected to product life cycle concept. So when the product, comes it declining stage, it is essential to reproduce or modify or do some innovation. Unless the product will be dis appeared from the market. In order to retain signal customers, whitening system may be good solution.

Technological Changes

Changes and improvements of communication technology, internet and electronics is directly affected to develop new products. This whitening system is an evident for using new technology in oral care sector.


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4.0 Buyer behavior and DMU

Perceived risk

Perceived risk is something that the customer has to face by purchasing the product. This can be classified into three groups.

Functional Risk

Since this tooth whitening system is new to the customer, they might have a doubt about that product is performing their expectations.

Financial Risk

Customer may perceive that they are paying a high price to the product. But, since signal is a well reputed brand and it has its own customer base this risk is low.

Sometimes there may be people who do not care about their teeth and healthy living condition and do not familiar about the Signal brand. They might think that using this Signal this teeth whitening system is wastage of their time and effort.

Involvement Theory

According to Involvement theory, this product has a low involvement. Since this is a Low involvement product, it does not reflect buyers self concept. There may be alternatives for this product. So that customers will switch the brand. So the peripheral route needs to be used to persuade this Signal tooth whitening system. A Large number of advertisements should be launched. Unless the product will not be remain the consumers mind.

Attitudes

Attitudes are a person’s relatively consistent evaluations, feelings, and tendencies towards an object or idea. Consumer attitudes are built from consumer’s beliefs, feelings and behavioral intentions toward some product within the context of marketing. Attitudes show what we like or dislike and direct our behavior. Attitudes have several functions.

Utilitarian –People may think that the whitening system can provide what they need and is it appropriate to clean teeth. Value-expressive: People may perceive some value by using this product. So the value should be created through advertisements Ego-expressive: The product should convey that the customers of it have a good self image and


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confidence. Knowledge: summarizes the entire image that we are trying conveys to the consumer. Consumers may have various attitudes on our product, company, retailers, symbols, brands and our advertising. Since Unilever Sri Lanka is a very strong company, their brands and symbols are very powerful. And it is maintaining good retailer network and attractive advertisement campaigns. So the customers will have positive attitudes on our new Signal product.

Group Influences personal buying behavior & opinion leaders

Consumer wants, learning, motives ideas are influenced by opinion leaders, person's family, reference groups, social class and culture

Individual identifies with the group to the extent that he takes on many of the values, attitudes or behaviors of the group members.

There are Families, friends, sororities, civic and professional organizations. Each and every group is positively or negatively influence on a person’s attitude and behavior. Marketers get the groups to approve the product and communicate that approval to its members.

Signal is really appropriate to those people who are very look conscious. Because of their consciousness may be they will recognize their needs. By our marketing they can be aware about the product and search more information from dentists and also by surfing internet. If they are interested about our product consumer can buy the product from some of our outlets. And we are hoping this product will satisfy their needs opinion leaders can be used to attract people to our product they are actually used as spokespeople to market the products.

Organizational buying behavior Businesses' buying of products: the buying of goods or services by companies or business groups rather than by individual consumers.

This organizational buying process is very complicated than individual buying. Normally this is happened through buying centers.

The buying centre consists of those people in the organizational who are involved directly or indirectly in the buying process, the user, buyer influencer, decider and gatekeeper to who the role of ‘initiator’ has also been added.

5.0 Suggestions & Justifications Unilever is an established organization in our country so it have not that much problems .However, Signal tooth whitening system is a new product in Sri Lanka therefore it have some problems, some of them are given below-


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• Higher Price

• Lower purchase location

• Not aware about the product

• No segmentation We have come up with some recommendation and suggestion that will help to develop the product and make it more competitive. Our suggestions and recommendations are the following:

• Uni l ever shou ld t ake i n i t i a t i ve t o reduce the p r i ce. Because the p r i c ing fo r t he upper c lass people is unaffordable for other classes people.

• Unilever should increase their distribution in other cities as it only available in Colombo

• Unilever should make people aware by increasing their advertising, sales promotional and public relation events.

• Unilever should segment their customer by producing different flavored

gel like for male- mint, vanilla and for female-chocolate, strawberry.

6.0 Coordinated Marketing Mix

6.1Product

Signal - Teeth Whitening System: A product can be de f ined as anyth ing tha t can be o ffe red to a market fo r a t t en t i on , acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy want or need. In this scenario our concerning product is tooth whitening system. Signal teeth whitening system is a revolutionary new system that incorporates light technology to whiten our tooth fast. Light treatment is the latest whitening technique used by dentists. The unique, patent pending Signal is designed to be used at home and is extremely easy to use. The advanced light combined with the specially formulated gel, rapidly removes surface stains and penetrates deep to remove embedded stains. Works great on stains caused by coffee, tea, smoking, red wine, fruit juice, cola, aging and more. Signal tooth whitening system is a shopping product that people will buy less frequently at higher price and fewer purchase locations. Features: Whitens teeth in just few minutes


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Simple to operate Easy to maintain . Packaging: Packa ging i nvo lves des ign ing and p roduc ing the con ta iner o r w rapper fo r a p roduc t . Traditionally the function of packaging is to hold and protect the product. But in recent days it is recognized that packaging perform many sales task from attracting attention to describing the product and to make it to sale. For our new product we will do regular packaging, in this package we will keep the Signal - Tooth Whitening System independently. It will be packaged individually. Each package contents: 1 x White Light Tooth Whitening System 2 x tooth whitening gel 1 x tooth silicone set 2 x Lithium CR2025 Batteries 1 x "Secrets To A Beautiful Smile"-manual Note: There are two different color gels but both are the same .Packaging of ‘Signal - Tooth Whitening System’ will be done in such a way so that we can draw the attention of people. The packaging will be done in such a way so it will be differentiated from other type of products and can deliver the message very clearly. It will identify the brand and also convey some descriptive and persuasive information about the product.

Level of product: Five levels of Signal - Tooth Whitening System will be- Core Benefit of the Product: It is a teeth whitener that will help to keep the tooth white.


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Basic product: Bas ic p roduct w i l l be- the “S igna l - Teeth Wh i ten ing System” it’s self and its logo. Expected Product: Expec ted p roduc t w i l l be - i t s so lu t i on t o wh i te the too th gently and attractive packaging, reasonable price etc. Augmented Product: This whitener does white the tooth by using formulated gel, which cannot do any other product in Bangladesh. Potential product: If we will cut the price after having positive response, we give extra amount BCG Growth Matrix Analysis: As it’s a new product for Unilever, other products are popular and already achieve stars. Therefore comparatively we are hoping in the starting time we can gain Question marks for “Signal”. Though people are now more conscious about teeth; white teeth and bright smile is part ones personality. So we are assuming people are more comfortable to spend money on whitening teeth. When we will enter the growing market initially we will be able to grab small amount of market share so we should apply Build Strategy by injecting cash to increase market share and to make this product stars.


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Segmentation process: In this scenario we are producing same product to all consumers in several sizes, other than no segmentation by demographic, geographic, behavioral etc. Target market selection process: The target markets for our new product “Signal” Tooth whitening system is offered, The people who have teeth. We will focus big cities with urban areas. People who want to whiten teeth n an easy way. People who are not interested in go to the dentists for teeth whitening but comfortable spending money on tooth whitener. Though our product is totally new in Sri Lanka and not so much people are aware about the product therefore primarily we are focusing urban area people of some big cities.


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Product Life Cycle Stage:

Signal - Tooth Whitening System, which is a new product and not available in the market so it’s still in product development stage, however we expect that when it will enter the market it will in introduction stage where sales will low but a increasing rate, and our target is to go in maturity stage for higher sale and higher profit. Product Development: Initially now we are offering very basic facilities through our product but after several years we are planning to develop our product in following sectors- Different flavored formulated gel Rechargeable whitening machine though its now powered by battery Consumer Buying Behavior: In this situation consumer buying behavior can be Habitual Buying Behavior because in our country this product are not available from other brands therefore when they will decide to buy this product they will have low involvement.

6.2Pricing Strategy

Price setting: Price is the amounts of money customers have to pay to obtain the product. Generally insetting price companies follow the following steps: As Signal teeth whitening system is a new product in our country so we will follow the followings:

• Select the price objective • Determine demand • Estimate costs • Analyze competitor price mix


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• Select pricing method • Select final price

Our price objective will be – Maximize current profit and increase sell. It will be inelastic demand. Because people who are look conscious will use this product and actually price will not be an important matter to them. But also as most of our country people are price sensitive so we will try to keep lower and reasonable price. Total costs will depend on the price of the ingredients, cost of producing the product, costs of packaging, costs of promotion activities and the company’s fixed costs. In Sri Lanka no other company is selling this kind of tooth whitener, so we have no local competitors. After estimating costs we will add mark up value to get minimum profit. Then we will set the final price. For the premium package we will add less mark-up, as the gel and whitening machine will be packaged together. Pricing Method: As we mentioned that we will add mark-up value to determine the price by using mark-up method so our aim will be to keep the price in between 750LKR to 850LKR Pricing Strategy: Considering “Signal” as a new product in our country and this is already popular in other countries we will use “Market Skimming” pricing strategy. We hope that buyer willing to pay our settled price.

6.3Distribution Process

Unilever is doing this job quite efficiently for its existing products. For ‘Signal -Tooth Whitening System’, at first we will launch it in Colombo City and . Depending on the positive response in future gradually we will extend the market of this product in other divisions. The distribution process of Signal - Tooth Whitening System will be same as the company’s other products, Manufacturer We will produce this new product by our own and we will also make the formulated gel, whitening machine of the dental floss by our own.


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Wholesaler: Unilever has its own distributors who will buy the wholesale amount and sell these to the retailers. Retailers: Retailers will buy the products from distributors and sell these to the final consumers. Consumers: People can get it in superstores, big pharmacies etc. We will place this product mainly in urban areas w i t h exceptionally good channel of distribution. Level of Distribution Channel: As Unilever have their own distributors who are working as wholesaler, and they are sell the product to the retailers from them consumer buy the product. Therefore, we can say two level of distribution channel is followed by the Unilever. Distribution or marketing Channel systems: Uni l ever a re us ing conven t iona l d is t r ibu t ion channel as th is company Cons is t ing o f independent producer and one or more independent wholesalers and retailers and also they have no negotiation method to resolve the problem; if any problem arise. They are doing their individual work by their own.

6.4 Promotional Tools

Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the products and persuade consumers t o buy i t . So our t arge ted aud iences are ma in l y t he po tent i a l user o f ou r product. Though we especially target urban people. Our main promotional concern will go on them. We will do different types of promotional activities to introduce and create awareness about our “Signal” to the people. Advertising: TV advertising: For this product we will provide the information in such a way that will include that, “Using whiting toothpaste is not always effective for everyone and visiting to dentist for whiting is uncomfortable for some people and it takes a long time. But a sour “Signal” Tooth whitener is very small and light product and easy to use for anyone at home, it will be able to whiten our teeth quickly and safely and as the gel is of meant flavor, so it will also help us to have fresh breadth. So, we should use this Tooth whitener.”In these advertisements we will use either people or animation or both of them together. It will be decided according to the costs. We will also publish attractive, colorful and informative advertisements in radio , newspapers, internet, magazines and on billboards in regular basis. We can do sponsoring and event organizing and campaign as our promotional activity


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Testimonial advertising: It refers to use influential or believable people in advertising. In this case we will deal with dentists, as they are most believable to the people in case of the matters of teeth. We will make a deal with them and they will suggest people to use our Tooth whitener. We will also give free samples to the dentists, so that they can use it t o t he i r pat i en ts and they w i l l a l so sugges t ou r “S igna l ” Too th wh i tener in the prescriptions of their patients. Sales promotion: We will give free samples in dental clinic, educational institutions like dental college, hospital and also in super stores. The quality of those free samples will be smaller than the original one. Depending on the costs and future positive response we will plan to make more varieties of adver t i sements and w i l l g i ve at t rac t i ve sa les p romot ion to grab and re ta in customers . Public Relation: To extend market or to introduce the product to people marketers need to create public relationship. Un i leve r a lways t r i es t o c reate even ts and s to r i es , wh i ch au tomat i ca l l y come to p ress attention public gets to know about their product we will try to do the following activities for the new product. We will arrange press conferences and will try to have renowned dentists in those programs, so that the information and messages seems trustworthy to the people. We will try to arrange seminars in schools, colleges, universities and medical colleges about the usefulness and benefits of using Signal. We think it will bring positive response because now a day’s young people are more concern about their look. In these seminars we will give free samples. In fu tu re i f poss ib le we wi l l a l so t ry t o sponsor some even ts and show to a t t rac t mo re customers and to capture strong places in the minds of the consumers.

7.0 Measuring Success of Marketing Mix

Inquiry test

This look at the number of stakeholder inquiries was generated by particular campaign. We can This is ideally evaluating in sales promotion, direct marketing campaigns, demonstrations, and exhibitions and trade fairs. A measuring of the effectiveness of advertising based on responses such as requests for information, phone calls, or the number of coupons redeemed


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Recall test

Test of how much the viewers of an advertisement remembers the message. We can get into the customers suddenly and ask about their memory about the advertisement.

Spontaneous Recall – At this level, the respondents recall the message without any promotional campaigns of Unilever. For example a respondent may be asked to recall the names of any tooth whitening system. Aided Recall – In this level, respondents recall the message after the researcher gives those hints. In this case the researcher has to give some information or details first. An example of such a question is "Do you know about the signal tooth whitening system?" Top of the mind recall – If the Signal brand comes to the respondents mind, when we remind the particular product’s attribute called top of the mind recall level.

Financial Analysis

This helps to identify the financial figures of the company after launching “Signal” Tooth whitening system. The tooth whitener address break-even analysis, sales forecasts, expense forecasts, and how they link to the marketing strategy

Media evaluation

The effectiveness of the media campaigns is basically evaluated by market research. After market a research we will be able to identify how our message is taken by the customers.

Stakeholder satisfaction surveys

These researches are carried out directly talking to a particular stakeholder to gain a in-depth understanding about their satisfaction level with the organization. Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey will help our organization not only to see how effective promotion campaign, but also to identify problem areas for further action. We can carry out this method to evaluate the success of relationship with our trustee and customers. Therefore we can determine whether the requirements of our trustees/customers are met or not.


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8.0References

� Unilever Sri Lanka. 2011. Unilever Sri Lanka. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.unilever.com.lk/. [Accessed 12 May 2011

� Chapter 6. Consumer Buying Behavior Notes . 2011. Chapter 6. Consumer Buying Behavior Notes . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.udel.edu/alex/chapt6.html. [Accessed 15 May 2011]

� Attitudes. 2011. Attitudes. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Attitudes.html. [Accessed 20 May 2011].

� Teeth Whitening at Home with Teeth Whitening Kits vs Dental bleaching at the Dentist. 2011. Teeth Whitening at Home with Teeth Whitening Kits vs Dental bleaching at the Dentist. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.10minteethwhitening.com/. [Accessed 30 May 2011].

� ProvenModels - five product levels - Philip Kotler . 2011. ProvenModels - five product levels - Philip Kotler . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.provenmodels.com/16. [Accessed 30 March 2011]

� . 2011. . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/p_StakeholderEngagement_Full/$FILE/IFC_StakeholderEngagement.pdf. [Accessed 30 March 2011]

� Welcome to Toothpaste World. 2011. Welcome to Toothpaste World. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.toothpasteworld.com/location.php. [Accessed 30 April 2011].

� 2011. . [ONLINE] Available at:http://faculty.insead.edu/chandon/personal_page/Documents/Case_Unilever%20Brazil%201997-2007-corrected-w.pdf. [Accessed 30 April 2011]

� Fast Whiten White Light Tooth Teeth Whitening System,White Light Tooth Whitening System,. 2011. Fast Whiten White Light Tooth Teeth Whitening System,White Light Tooth Whitening System,. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.sourcingmap.com/fast-whiten-white-light-tooth-teeth-whitening-system-p-18089.html. [Accessed 14 March 2011].

� Unilever’s Canvas of Content | ReveNews. 2011. Unilever’s Canvas of Content | ReveNews. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.revenews.com/barrysilverstein/unilevers-canvas-of-content/. [Accessed 27 May 2011]


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9.0 Appendix

9.1 The Audit & Background

9.1.1Background of the company

Unilever is a European global giant that markets some 400 brands in 14 different categories to consumers. In the 1890s, William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Bros, wrote down his ideas for Sunlight Soap – his revolutionary new product that helped popularize cleanliness and hygiene in Victorian England. It was 'to make cleanliness commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness.

Unilever Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan branch of Mother Company. It offers 26 strong brands that are leaders in all the categories that they operate in. They are providing well suited products to the consumer in a way that maximizes the customer satisfaction. This is a Fast moving consumer goods company which has local manufacturing facilities, Hence they do not need to import and distribute everything. Basically they are operating under three categories such as Home Care, Personal Care and Foods. They have various product categories like Household care, fabric cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, tea, spreads, personal grooming. Unilever has following brands well known brands which is strongly kept in customer minds.

Astra, Axe, Bru, Ceylonta, Clear, Comfort, Flora, Dove, Fair & Lovely, Knorr, Laojee, Lipton, Lifebuoy, Lux, Marmite, Pears Baby, Ponds, Rexona, Rin,Signal, Sunsilk, Sunlight, Surf Excel, Vaseline, Vim and Wonderlight

Unilever Sri Lanka is employing 1100 people directly and many more people indirectly as their suppliers, distributors and service providers.

9.1.2Vision

Vitality is at the heart of everything we do. It's in our brands, our people and our values.

Vitality means different things to different people. Some see it as energy; others view it more broadly as a healthy state of body and mind – of feeling alive.

9.1.3Competitive Analysis

In the market of consumer goods Unilever Sri Lanka is considered as the market leader. As a market leader there is always a risk to be attacked by the market challengers. Unilever’s strategy is to defend their market share by being premium in service, having full-line strategy, extensive and efficient dealership system and good financing. In Sri Lanka the Unilever products come into the most widely distributed products. the major challengers for Unilever are Hemas Holdings Ltd,‘Proctor & Gamble Ltd’,Vendol Lanka(Pvt)Ltd, Delma Lanka(Pvt)Ltd and Swadeshi (Pvt)Ltd.


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9.2 Marketing Mix

Unilever Sri Lanka, one of today’s leading fast moving consumer goods companies, who has not only revolutionized FMCG industry, with its creative marketing techniques and unforgettable quality, but for years has dominated the industry as well. Marketing puts the customer at the centre of the organization. The organizations, which choose to do so, reap the profits and benefits. There are two key distinctions which are central to marketing management: the selection of target markets where the firm will compete and the design of the marketing mix. The marketing mix is defined as “The set of controllable tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market” (Kotler et)

Marketing as defined by many marketers as they start out in the industry is “Putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time.” Therefore in simple terms you need to create a product that a particular group or groups of customers want, price it at a level which matches the value of the product as perceived by them, deliver it in a manner in which it reaches out to your customer and do all that at a time they want to buy.

The Product

Product variety

Signal represents a range of toothpastes and tooth brushes offered by Unilever Signal being an oral care expert, has in its portfolio a range of products that address all oral care problems. The variants are as follows

Signal Toothpaste

• Signal Core - For strong healthy teeth

• Signal Herbal - Cooling relief from inner heat (For healthy teeth & gums)

• Signal Whitening - For strong white teeth

• Signal Triple Action - For complete al round protection

Signal Toothbrushes

• Signal Expert - Cleans germs even between teeth

• Signal Suraksha - For effective cleaning


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• Signal Junior - Specifically designed for children

• Signal Integral - For superior cleaning

• Signal Flexipic - Removes Food between teeth

• Signal Extra Clean - For superior all around cleaning

Quality

Being a popular segment product and an offering by Signal quality parameters are thoroughly tested to ensure consumer satisfaction.

Features

This is the Sri Lanka's largest Oral Care brand - the Oral Care expert which is trusted by generations and endorsed by FDI and SLDA (Sri Lankan Dental Association)

Brand Name

• Winner of the Guinness Book of World Records

• Recipient of the Brand Icon Award in 2004.

Packaging

Both tooth brushes and toothpastes have very attractive and safe packaging.

The green-colored packaging enhances the ‘henbanes’ of signal herbal, The colors red and the word ‘new’ in blue are the two colors researched to be the most eye-catching on the shop shelf and aid the choice of the product during the purchase decision process

Sizes – It is available in three sizes of pastes- 40g, 80g and 180g. and junior and large sizes of brushes.

Warranties and Returns – Are not offered on the product.

Price

The typical prices of the toothpastes are Rs. 35.00 for the 40g pack, Rs. 65.00 For the 80g pack, and Rs.130.00 For the 180.00g pack. Tooth pastes in the popular segment which is priced higher to only the economy segment and lower than the gel and premium segments in the toothpaste market. Normal tooth rush is Rs.30.00.


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Place

Channels – The products is sold in retail outlets , supermarkets, medical shops, co-operative stores etc. It is distributed through the supply chain of company distributor to wholesaler to retailer to final consumers.

Coverage – The product is available in island wide market, including a semi-urban and rural market which is their primary focus.

Locations – Toothpastes are normally placed at just below eye-level at most of the super markets. Toothbrushes are hanged in a wall.

Promotion

Sales Promotion – None at the retailer level apart from possible recommendation by the shopkeeper.

Advertising – Advertising is in the form of TVCs (television commercials) and news papers.

Sales Force – Sales force consists of the company’s distributor’[s who are instrumental I ensuring that the product is stocked by the retailers, which is made easier by the range of product offerings supplied by the same distributor of Unilever

Public Relations – PR campaigns were undertaken extensively during the launch of the brand in leading newspapers and magazines, though they were focused more directly on enhancing the image of the parent company in the eyes of stakeholders like shareholders potential investors.

Direct Marketing – Direct marketing to the consumer was not done at this retail outlet

9.3 Trends affected to NPD

Changing Customer needs

As time goes on, every customer changes his requirements and new generations of customers appear, bringing with them different ideas and specific needs.

Unilever has an iconic brand called Signal. It offers various toothpastes and tooth brushes under this brand. Brushing teeth using these toothpastes and brushes is a traditional way of cleaning teeth. There are lot of companies which produce toothpastes and brushes. So Unilever needs something new to compete for the market. On the other hand people want much better way of cleaning teeth properly and quickly. So the teeth whitening system is produced.

Product life cycle concept

All products are subjected to product life cycle concept. So when the product, comes it declining stage, it is essential to reproduce or modify or do some innovation. Unless the product will be dis


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appeared from the market. In order to retain signal customers, whitening system may be good solution.

Technological Changes

Changes and improvements of communication technology, internet and electronics is directly affected to develop new products. This whitening system is an evident for using new technology in oral care sector.

9.4 Stakeholders

Stakeholders are persons or groups who are directly or indirectly affected by a business, as well as those who may have interests in a business.

Internal stakeholders include managers and employees who are within the company and affect the ‘day-to-day’ running of the organization. Connected stakeholders are groups such as shareholders, suppliers and customers, and are parties which invest or have dealings with the firm. External stakeholders are those not directly linked to the organization but who can be influence. External stakeholders include the Government, neighbors, pressure groups, local councils and the surrounding community.

Owners

Owners are the people who put money into the business. They need to earn profits for their money, get dividends and increase the share prices.

Managers

They are the persons who responsible for operations of company. Unilever has various managers for the company’s several functions. Basically they have Marketing, human resource, finance and production managers. They are trying to improve the company so that they are given promotions, better salaries, bonuses and other fringe benefits. If they fail to do so, their jobs will be lost.

Employees

An organization can’t perform only with the help of chairs, tables, fans or other non living entities. It needs human beings who work together and perform to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. The human beings working together towards a common goal at a common place (organization) are called employees. In fact the employees are the major assets of an organization.

The success and failure of any organization is directly proportional to the labor put by each and every employee. The employees must share a good rapport with each other and strive hard to realize the goal of the organization. They should complement each other and work together as a


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single unit. Unilever has 1100 employees who work for the organizational goals. There is Trade Union look after the employees.

Suppliers Suppliers are individuals or businesses that provide goods or services to vendors in return for the agreed upon compensation. As such, suppliers do not generally interact with consumers directly, leaving that task to vendors or shop owners. It is not unusual for a supplier to provide volume discounts to vendors when they agree to sign long-term contracts or place orders for large quantities. If the company will succeed, suppliers get more orders and business. So they have an interest on the Business.

Customers

Customers are the heart of business. No customer means no business. So unilever has realized this situation and offering quality products in a way that maximize the customer satisfaction. Customers are normally looking for quality products for the lowest cost. Every sri lankan uses at least one Unilever product. You cannot find any person in Sri Lanka who has not used a Unilever product.

Government

Since Unilever is a giant multi national conglomerate, the Sri Lankan government can earn a huge tax amount from it. So the government is supporting favourably towards the company’s activities. As a multinational player Unilever is doing a very ethical role in Sri Lanka


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Mendelow’s Power-Interest matrix

Level of Interest

P O W E r

Low High

Low

Lower Level Customers. Neighboring Outlets.

Business partners and suppliers. Key Customers, Retailers Local Community. Professional bodies.

High

Government. Import and Export Control Department Sri Lanka. Consumer authority Non government organizations (NGOs).

Managing Directors & Management. Existing and potential shareholders. Owners .

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