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How Unilever’s brands connect with consumers From soap to soup, Unilever markets a wide range of personal care products, foods and household cleaners under popular brands such as Dove, Bertolli, Lipton, Lux, Axe (Lynx), Sunsilk, Surf and OMO. Two billion consumers buy its products every day, adding up to annual revenue of $62 billion. The Anglo-Dutch company constantly conducts research to learn more about what consumers want and need, identifying even seemingly small changes that can make a big difference in the daily lives of people worldwide. One of the company’s most memorable marketing initiatives has been Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’. Based on extensive consumer research into women’s attitudes and emotions, the campaign uses ads, YouTube videos, special events and other communications to counter beauty stereotypes and make the point that real beauty is more than skin deep. By linking its soap brand to messages reinforcing positive self-esteem for women of all ages, races, sizes and shapes, Dove has won the admiration and loyalty of consumers in many countries. Unilever’s Ragú food brand has been courting parents with Facebook and YouTube communications that encourage ongoing conversations with marketers and among its brand fans. For example, marketers recently used the brand’s Facebook page (which has more than one million ‘likes’) to start a dialogue about getting children to eat. Its Facebook fans responded with dozens of additional ideas, which Ragú’s ad agency turned into helpful online videos that dish up tips with a sense of humour. Heavy use of social media is one way that Ragú aims to create an emotional connection with its customers and understand their ever-changing needs and interests. Campaigns combining Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and special websites have helped Unilever market its food and personal care brands to highly targeted segments such as Latin American families in the United States. Unilever’s http://www.vivemejor.com, the Spanish-language website, and Facebook page provide brand-oriented recipes, coupons, holiday ideas, household hints and other information that Latino families can use. The company also holds Disfruita la Pasión de la Vida events outside supermarkets to attract and engage Latin American consumers. In planning such events, the company turns to its Multicultural Consumer Marketing Insights research team for guidance. Unilever is looking beyond immediate acquisition behaviour to encourage healthy, environmentally sustainable behaviour all over the world. Through research, it has determined that the first step is to help consumers understand why they should do something (such as wash with soap to prevent the spread of disease). The next step is to show them how easy it is to take action (buy bars of soap and use them). Then, they must make the new behaviour desirable (washing can keep the family safe from germs). Next, it is important to make consumers feel good about doing this action (for themselves, their family and society). Finally, find a way to continue the behaviour over time (ask children to wash before every meal). With these five steps, Unilever has convinced millions of consumers in developing countries to adopt the healthy habit of washing their hands – promoting the company’s Lifebuoy soap brand at the same time. Unilever also sells laundry products in developing nations where water is a scarce resource, yet consumers are accustomed to rinsing clothes several times to get them clean. To address both consumer needs and environmental issues, CEO Paul Polman explains, ‘We’ve put products out in the market – fabric softeners – that only need one rinse’. Even then, ‘consumers were still doing two or three rinses, so we had to be very creative in educating them,’ he says. Clearly, Unilever wants to build strong relationships with its customers by making sure its brands are down-to-earth and ‘real’. CASE QUESTIONS 1. How is Unilever applying its understanding of internal consumer processes in the psychological core to market its products? 2. Which of the four external processes in the consumer’s culture do you think have been the most important to the success of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty? Why? 3. Do you agree with Unilever’s decision to link its brands with efforts to encourage healthy and sustainable behaviours? Explain your answer. IKEA’s household appeal No matter where you live, no matter what kind of household you live in – married with children, same-sex couple, single, single parent or just roommates – IKEA wants to be ‘your partner in better living’. The Swedish retailer rings up $33 billion in sales through 284 stores in 26 countries, offering stylishly designed furniture and quality housewares at affordable prices. In fact, IKEA continues to lower prices year by year on popular items so it can both attract new customers and stimulate repeat business, even among consumers whose household incomes are stalled or falling. Offering a range of goodbetter-best products widens the store’s appeal to consumers setting up new households, families getting ready for new babies, families where children regularly travel from one parent’s household to another and households that are buying on a limited budget. Also, consumers who might have bought IKEA’s top-of-the-line items now have more choices if they’re trading down to less-expensive products. Shopping at IKEA is deliberately family-friendly. Many of its stores feature a play area where youngsters can be dropped off while parents browse the store for adult or children’s furniture and make purchases without their children. The stores also are equipped with restaurants that serve Swedish-style foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner and have high chairs for the youngest shoppers. When the IKEA store in Wednesbury, England, added a children’s play area and expanded the restaurant, it saw an immediate sales increase and found that the length of the average customer visit had doubled, to about four hours. Yet not every family member looks forward to an IKEA shopping trip. For Father’s Day weekend in Australia, the IKEA store in Sydney set up a temporary Manland, a room where men could watch sports programming and play video games while their wives or girlfriends shopped. ‘Manland is the perfect solution for both the blokes who find shopping a chore and the ladies who are forced to drag their partners around,’ said IKEA’s PR manager in Australia. Although targeting singles and couples with advertising that appeals to their needs and wants is nothing new, IKEA was among the pioneers of mainstream advertisers to target gay couples. Its TV commercial showing two men shopping for furniture together caused a stir in part because the men were depicted as a committed couple. A recent – and controversial – billboard for IKEA in Italy features two men holding hands (and a shopping bag) under the headline: ‘We are open to all families.’ The ad goes on to say: ‘With us, you will feel at home. What we want to do is make life easier for everyone, every family, every couple, whoever they are.’ IKEA’s word-of-mouth reputation for quality and value gives the company an advantage in expanding to new markets. Before the first IKEA store opened in Bangkok, Thailand, the marketing manager acknowledged the presence of competition but also noted that many locals ‘have travelled abroad or learned from friends about IKEA furniture’. In advance of this store opening, IKEA distributed one million copies of a special 16-page catalogue featuring items chosen specifically for the Thai market. IKEA’s full 370-page catalogue is available to consumers worldwide for ideas as well as for shopping. IKEA prints more than 200 million copies each year and makes the catalogue available online and via an app. Consumers in the United Kingdom who use Facebook were recently invited to create a 3D IKEA bedroom on YouTube and click on items from the company’s catalogue to furnish it as they wish. IKEA adds the finishing touch by hanging photos from each user’s Facebook wall in the bedroom. ‘We want to be the experts in truly understanding people’s needs, wants and dreams to help them live a happier life at home,’ explains an executive. Of course, any merchandise chosen for the virtual bedroom can be easily ordered for delivery in the real world. CASE QUESTIONS 1. The Manland experiment lasted only one weekend in one store. What are the marketing advantages and disadvantages of expanding it to other stores? Do you think IKEA should do more with this idea? Why or why not? 2. Would you classify IKEA’s products as suitable for conspicuous consumption, voluntary simplicity and/or compensatory consumption? Explain your answer. 3. IKEA’s ads targeting gay couples have drawn criticism as well as acclaim. What effect do you think such controversy has on the retailer’s image and appeal? 4. Why would IKEA continue to print millions of catalogues every year, while other retailers are eliminating printed catalogues in favour of online and instore shopping? Microsoft Word - Rubric_Case Study Report_ECON 318_S13.docx CASE STUDY REPORT RUBRIC CRITERION STRONG AVERAGE WEAK Identification of Main Issues/Problems Identifies and demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the main issues/problems in the case study. Identifies and demonstrates an accomplished understanding of most of the issues/problems. Identifies and demonstrates acceptable understanding of some of the issues/problems in the case study. Analysis and Evaluation of Issues/Problems Presents an insightful and thorough analysis of all identified issues/problems; includes all necessary calculations. Presents a thorough analysis of most of the issues identified; missing some necessary calculations. Presents a superficial or incomplete analysis of some of the identified issues; omits necessary calculations. Recommendations on Effective Solutions/Strategies Supports diagnosis and opinions with strong arguments and well-‐ documented evidence; presents a balanced and critical view; interpretation is both reasonable and objective. Supports diagnosis and opinions with limited reasoning and evidence; presents a somewhat one-‐ sided argument; demonstrates little engagement with ideas presented. Little or no action suggested and/or inappropriate solutions proposed to the issues in the case study. Links to Course Readings and Additional Research Makes appropriate and powerful connections between identified issues/ problems and the strategic concepts studied in the course readings and lectures; supplements case study with relevant and thoughtful research and documents all sources of information. Makes appropriate but somewhat vague connections between identified issues/problems and concepts studied in readings and lectures; demonstrates limited command of the analytical tools studied; supplements case study with limited research. Makes inappropriate or little connection between issues identified and the concepts studied in the readings; supplements case study, if at all, with incomplete research and documentation. Writing Mechanics and Formatting Guidelines Demonstrates clarity, conciseness and correctness; formatting is appropriate and writing is free of grammar