Lifebuoy Soap

The brand chosen by us is LIFEBUOY SOAP. Lifebuoy is the product of UNILEVER.

Lifebuoy gives you perfect washing hands with soap. Lifebuoy contains unique
ingredients that cannot be found in other soap, thus it is a worthy product to remove
germs filled in hands better. In these days Lifebuoy has become more than just a bar
of soap for washing hands – the brand provides hygiene and health solutions for
families.

1. History of Lifebuoy:-

Lifebuoy is a brand of soap marketed by Unilever. Lifebuoy was originally, and for
much of its history, a carbolic soap containing phenol (carbolic acid, a compound
extracted from coal tar). The soaps manufactured today under the Lifebuoy brand do
not contain phenol. Currently there are many variants of Lifebuoy.
Lifebuoy was introduced by Lever Brothers in 1895 in England. Originally a carbolic
soap containing phenol, different varieties were later introduced without the
medicinal carbolic smell, such as the coral-colored Lifebuoy during the late 1950s
and Lifebuoy Minty Refresher in 1966. Lifebuoy was one of the most popular soaps
in the United States from approximately 1923 to the mid-50's, when perfumed soaps
took over the market. It was the best selling medicated/health soap in North America
until roughly 1951. It was well known for its red and yellow packaging, red colour and
octagonal shape, as well as its carbolic aroma. Sometime in 1951 or 1952, due to
declining sales, Lever Bros. experimented with adding perfumes to the soap, and
made the changes permanent in 1954.

Earlier experiments in 1936, 1938, 1939 and 1940 also added an artificial scent to
the soap, but generally lasted only one batch. Sales, however, continued to decline
until 2006, when Lifebuoy was officially completely pulled from the American market.
Lifebuoy's popularity reached its peak between 1932 and 1948. After World War
Two, when more materials were available and rationing was over, other more
appealing soaps began to take hold of the market. Its popularity waned steadily
through the 1950s.

In the mid/late 1960's it saw a popularity surge which would last through 1973. This
was, in part, caused by the introduction and success of Lifebuoy White in the
American market. After this decline, the Lifebuoy brand was seen less and less in
the American market. It was pulled from American shelves starting in 2003 and was
completely phased out of the American market by 2006. Sometime in 2008 or 2009,
Unilever released Lifebuoy Classic, a modern soap with retro packaging and a
medicated scent intended to be similar to that of the 1950s product.

It saw novelty success but was never embraced as a staple product in the American
home. It is now primarily manufactured as a gift intended to be reminiscent of A
Christmas Story and is currently sold in the official A Christmas Story website gift
shop.

Although Lifebuoy is no longer produced in the US and UK, it is still being mass-
produced by Unilever in Cyprus for the UK, EU, US and Brazil markets, in Trinidad
and Tobago for the Caribbean market, and in India for the Asia market. Unilever in
Cyprus and Trinidad and Tobago is manufacturing the Red Lifebuoy Soap with a
carbolic fragrance, but as of 1976 it no longer contains phenol. The Lifebuoy soap
manufactured in India and Indonesia for other markets including South and South
East Asia has been updated to use red and other colours with ‘modern’ aromas.
 Consumer Behaviour Concepts:-

2. COLORS:
In all four varieties of soap, Lifebuoy’s logo is of Red color and Lifebuoy is written in
white color in its logo. Lifebuoy Total pack is of Red color in which soap bar color is
Red. Lifebuoy Nature pack is of green color in which soap bar color is also Green
color. Lifebuoy Care pack is of Blue color in which soap bar color is white, while in
Lifebuoy Active fresh pack is of yellow color and soap bar color is yellow. Green is
the color of nature, fertility, life. Green symbolizes secure, natural relaxed, self-
respect and well being. It also means learning, growth, balance and harmony. Red is
the warmest of all colors. Red is the color most chosen by extroverts. On the
negative side red can mean temper or anger. Yellow is the color of Caution, novelty,
temporary, warmth. White is the color of purity. White means kindness while Blue
Commands respect authority. Lifebuoy uses all these colors to give a correct
impression of the product in the minds of the consumers.

3. SEGMENTATION:
Lifebuoy soap is segmented on the basis of Demographics, Geographic’s and
Psychographics.

 DEMOGRAPHICS:
 Age: no specific age limit, all age group can buy this soap for hygiene
purpose.
 Gender: Male and female both
 Income: 7000 and above
 Religion: all
 Nationality: all

 GEOGRAPHICS:
 Climate: all 4 seasons
 Population: Rural mostly but cater urban as well

 PSYCHOGRAPHICS
 It means segmenting a market into different groups based on social class,
lifestyle, or personality characteristics. Lifebuoy soap is being segmented
on the basis of Social Class (middle-lower, upper lowers, middle class and
upper class). It caters to different classes with different sizes of it. As
people belonging to lower-lower class do not make a more profitable
segment so they are not being considered much.
4. TARGETING:

Institute of Business Management --– Consumer Behavior Page 4 Children and

Women are the target market of Lifebuoy soap. The Women are the main buyers of
the soap in Pakistan and they are the one usually do shopping for their families &
their decision is regarded as final in choosing a Soap.

Lifebuoy belief that children are the potential agent for hand washing with soap will
make them enable to adopt early habit in life.

5. POSITIONING:
Lifebuoy is well positioned as “Health & Hygiene” soap, which is used to keep the
germs away from human body, so people buy it to keep their families safe from
germs.

6. PERSUASION ROUTES:
The Lifebuoy advertisement in which child says “Paanch ka pahaara” which gives
you protection against five diseases then there is a voice over follows central route
persuasion. It makes a consumer think that would it make my hands cleaner and
gives me protection against diseases. Here there is no celebrity used in this
advertisement. Consumers then can compare whether their current soap is better
than Lifebuoy or not.

Lifebuoy advertisement featuring Waseem Akram uses peripheral route of

persuasion. Lifebuoy targets children & housewives, and Waseem Akram is very
popular among them. Housewives believe on the credibility of the communicator
which is Waseem Akram and do believe what he is saying. He says in the ad that
Lifebuoy Soap cleans your hands in one wash so keep you safe against five
diseases where as other soaps can’t so that. Lifebuoy soap has used a celebrity
endorser in the ad to persuade the consumers to make them buy.
7. MASLOW’s THEORY:
Lifebuoy’s Position in Maslow’s Pyramid

Lifebuoy satisfies the second level needs which are Safety needs and the third level
needs which are Social needs.

Safety needs are the second level needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy, which comes after
fulfilling the basic physiological needs. Lifebuoy satisfies this need as it removes
germs from hands and saves us from spreading the number of diseases.

Social needs are need for belonging to society and become a part of society. One
wants to be associated with the community and people among which he lives. As
one cannot go to work having dirty hands (lack of overall personal hygiene), so one
uses Soap to wash his hands and clean them. Lifebuoy satisfies social needs in this
way.
8. Consumer Behaviour, Change and Communication:
The dynamic interaction of cognition, behaviour and environmental events by which
human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives
(American Marketing Association)

A discipline dealing with how and why consumers consumers purchase (or don’t
purchase) products and services.

Consumer behaviour is affected by a lot of variables, ranging from personal

motivations, needs, attitudes and values, personality characteristics, socio-economic
and cultural background, age, sex, professional status to social influences of various
kinds exerted by family, friends, colleagues and society as a whole. The
combinations of these various factors produce a different impact on each one of us
as manifested in our different behaviour as consumers. The various factors that
affect buying behaviour of in rural India are:

1. Environment of the consumer

2. Geographic influences.
3. Influence of occupation.
4. Place of purchase.
5. Creative use of product.

 Inspiring people to adopt new behaviours is central to the Unilever

Sustainable Living Plan.

With this in mind, Lifebuoy brand teams have devised a new methodology to drive
sustained behaviour change. Developed using the Lifebuoy brand’s experience
gained over many years through its programmes in Asia and Africa, the new
approach ensures that people not only understand why washing hands with soap is
important but also rewards them for practising the new habit over 21 days.

Launched in 2010 using the new methodology the Lifebuoy Hand washing Behaviour
Change Programme is designed to drive behaviour change through the 4-step
model: awareness, commitment, reinforcement and reward.

It is being communicated to children through schools and to mothers through health

clinics and women’s groups. Experience and research shows that the individuals
reached with the programme will influence up to five others in their household.

The aims of the programme are to promote the practice of hand washing with soap
at five key occasions: before meals (breakfast / lunch / dinner), during bath-time and
after using the toilet. In each country, a famous and popular local celebrity has been
chosen to spearhead the programme and to act as an ambassador for the Lifebuoy
brand, communicating the handwashing message appropriately in each market.
 Changing behaviour

•What are the occasions, why is it so important?

•Basic awareness and relevance for why the habit is so important.
Awareness

•Get people to commit to practising the 5 moments.

•For the behaviour change journey to start, consumers need to internally commit to driving
Commitment the habit. If thir commitment is made in a public setting, it is even more powerful.

•Get them to practise the behaviour.

•Research shows that consumers need to constantly practise the behaviour for it to take
Reinforcement root. Ideally consumers must practise for 21-50 days.

•Give positive strokes to encourage them to continue the behaviour.

•It is important to reward / recognise consumers for following a habit to ensure the
behaviour continues. One powerful form of reward is social recognition. Inspiring people to
Reward adopt new behaviours is central to the Unilever Sustainable Liv

 Mass Media: to drive awareness and benefits.

 School Programme: to drive commitment to active behaviour change.

Driving health behaviour change in Nigeria and rural India

In Nigeria, the Lifebuoy brand is partnering with Unilever brands Close Up and
Blue Band on a comprehensive Health Behaviour Change pilot programme.
The overall programme goal is to encourage the adoption of healthy
behaviours by schoolchildren in order to optimise the physical and mental
development of these future leaders of Nigeria.

By brands partnering together, Unilever is able to offer key stakeholders, such as

schools, governments and NGOs, a comprehensive and cost-effective package of
behaviour change to address the fundamental health needs of schoolchildren.

The Nigerian pilot programme extends from the traditional awareness building
activities to secure the commitment of participants to practice the desired
behaviours: handwashing with soap on five key occasions daily, brushing [teeth] day
and night, and eating well to grow well.
These messages and behaviours are then reinforced using multiple classroom
contacts over the course of a 21-day programme, including final reward. Scaling up
of this programme will be determined following a thorough evaluation of pilot results
in the second half of 2012.

In India, the Lifebuoy brand is taking handwashing messages to remote areas

of the country as part of a new multi-brand rural outreach programme,
Khushiyon Ki Doli (‘Caravan of Happiness’), using the programme to educate
consumers on the relevance of germ protection.

The benefits of partnering with Unilever brands in the rural context allows the
Lifebuoy brand to directly contact consumers who are otherwise unreachable due to
lack of media and normal consumer communication channels.

The direct consumer contact programme has delivered strong results on both input
parameters (such as change in awareness, endorsement on key attributes) as well
as output parameters where growth in consumption of Lifebuoy has been
significantly better than other comparable geographies.

 Mothers Programme: to drive commitment to active behaviour change,

involving doctors / medical staff, as well as mothers and children.
  Packaging: to increase involvement in the programme through reinforcement
and reward.

Digital channels and partnership activities are also leveraged across the programme,
where appropriate to the market.

The Non-Negotiable:

In every Lifebuoy Handwashing Behaviour Change Programme, there are five non-
negotiable elements:

i. Positive reinforcement - reward and recognition are strong motivators of social

change, and within Lifebuoy programmes help mothers and children feel good for
taking part;

ii. Mothers and children - mothers are key to reinforcing handwashing with soap
behaviour at home, together with their children encouraging household hygiene
habits to change;

iii. Pledges – making a commitment to an action in front of peers is a proven means

of turning the commitment or pledge into action, helping to form new habits;

iv. Glow germ demonstration – visual demonstration that both soap and water are
necessary to wash away invisible germs, communicating the vital message that
visibly clean is not necessarily clean from germs;

v. 21-day programme – with repetition, actions become a habit. The science behind
the 21-day programme is based on the need to reinforce the habit of handwashing
with soap through repeated behaviours.
9. CARL JUNG’s THEORY:

Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, & the founder of analytical psychology. He

emphasized understanding the psyche of customers through exploring the world of
dreams, art, mythology, religion and philosophy. Jung divided psyche into three
parts:

Ego: This identifies with the conscious mind

Personal unconscious: includes anything which is not presently conscious but can
be.

Collective unconscious: Jung believed this to be a storehouse of latent memory

traces or archetypes inherited from human ancestral past.

Lifebuoy’s Position in Carl Jung’s Theory

As far as my opinion is concerned, Lifebuoy does fall into the ego part.

Ego consist of conscious mind so Lifebuoy soap is targeting the people with this
frame of mind; i.e. those people who can weighs cost benefit analysis of the product
So Lifebuoy position in Carl Jung Theory is in the first category that is Ego par.
10. THE ARCHETYPES:
Lifebuoy can be regarded as THE CAREGIVER (Mother). The motto of this
archetype is Love your neighbour as yourself and the Core desire is to protect and
care for others with a goal to help others. It can be regarded as caregiver due
to………

Lifebuoy advertisements show mothers which are a symbol of love and care. Hence
in advertisements they are trying to portray their image as a caring brand and also at
the same time targeting their potential customers through this type of Ad.

Lifebuoy can also try to change its archetype to be regarded as THE CHILD. As the
child is the symbol of innocence, Recently Lifebuoy is sponsoring a new campaign in
the battle against germs is its "School of 5" Program which aims to educate and train
school children regarding the importance of hand washing with soap, which will also
create awareness among the people regarding the product.

11. SIGMUND FREUD’s THEORY:

Sigmund Freud proposed the theory of the personality. He described Id, Ego and
Superego. In my opinion, Lifebuoy does fall into ego part but not much, it is more
falling into the Superego part.

Since EGO is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with
reality. It operates on the reality principle. This principle weighs the costs & benefits
of an action before deciding to act upon something.
As Lifebuoy is a product that makes the consumer to think, analyse and then
conclude what is the true reality .It provides the facts and figures about the
requirement of good heath that is the reason due to which lies in the EGO part of this
theory.

Super Ego in a sense it represents traditional ideas & values of society. It attempts
to compel the ego to pursue goals.

12. INVOLVEMENT THEORY:

Generally soaps are low involvement product and consumers do not take much of
their time while making a buying decision. But as Consumers are very much
conscious about their health so they do search which soap. Hence lifebuoy is a high
involvement product it comes in left hemisphere because it includes cognitive,
reading about the product, asking people about it and so on. Lifebuoy believes that
by using it you can keep the germs away from body, so people buy it to keep their
families safe from germs.
13. MEMORY:
Lifebuoy is stored in Long term memory. When people watch the advertisement of
Lifebuoy they store it in their long term memory.

For example, when women and children view the latest Lifebuoy ad featuring
Waseem Akram; who is popular among women, the ad is given due attention by
women and they store it in their long term memory. Women, particularly housewives,
store the ad of Lifebuoy in mind will most probably remember and recall the Lifebuoy
ad when they buy it for personal hygiene.

14. KNOWLEDGE:
It is the amount of experience with and information a person has about particular
products or services.

Knowledge is of three types:

Objective knowledge is the correct information about a product class that a

consumer has stored in long-term memory

Subjective knowledge is the consumer’s perception of what or how much he or she

knows about a product class.

Knowledge of others is what information a consumer knows about another.

Women have Subjective Knowledge about Lifebuoy when they only consider about
the features being advertised. They might overestimate Lifebuoy quality based on its
promotion but as they keep on using it they might find out that the quality is superior
and this becomes Objective Knowledge. Also, when women use other Soaps they
have knowledge about other brands and they can easily make a comparison that
which soap is better.
15. COGNITIVE LEARNING:
Individuals not only respond to stimuli but also act on beliefs, thoughts, attitudes,
feelings and strive towards goals.

In other words, An individual creates a cognitive map in his mind, i.e. an image of the
external environment, preserves and organizes information gathered, as a result of
the consequences of events encountered during the learning process. Thus, the
organism learns about the event and objects on the basis of a meaning assigned to
stimuli.

Women engage in cognitive learning when they are viewing an advertisement of

Lifebuoy in which it is showed that it s usage can protect you from the germs which
can spread diseases. The Lifebuoy is daily advertised on television so that people
gain knowledge about it. When women use Lifebuoy, they know what the product is
like and whether it really protects from the germs or not.

The new Lifebuoy’s campaign in the battle against germs is its "School of 5"
Program which aims to educate and train school children regarding the importance
of hand washing with soap.
16. CONSUMER MOTIVATION:
It is basically the reason behind why we buy and what we buy. It is an inner drive
that leads to goal-directed behaviour. Motivation begins with the presence of a
stimulus that arouses the recognition of a need. Needs can be either innate or
learned So when Unilever conducted the research and planned to launch such a
soap it came to knew that there was a need and they have to give hype to this need
by making people aware of using hygiene soap and also make them aware of the
hazards of not using hygiene soap. So they are trying to motivate their target market
by telling them fact and making them realize the importance of using the Lifebuoy
soap.

17. REINFORCEMENT:
A positive or negative outcome that influences the likelihood that a specific behavior
will be repeated in the future in response to a particular cue or stimulus

The Lifebuoy advertisement in which child says “Paanch ka pahaara”. This Ad

showing dirty Hands which results can be the victim of five diseases as Negative
reinforcement to buy Lifebuoy soap.

18. CULTURE:
Culture can be defined as all the knowledge and values shared by a society.

Using hygiene soap to wash the hands/Body is becoming more and more common in
society. Cultural values are satisfied by Lifebuoy soap as washing hands means you
come from a respectable and a good family. This way Lifebuoy soap is also shaping
one’s behavior that in order to acquire a prominent place in society; one should wash
his hands with good quality soap like Lifebuoy soap.

19. APPEAL:
Creating advertising appeal for a good or service begins with identifying a reason for
people to buy it.

As far as my opinion is concerned, in Lifebuoy ads Fear Appeal are being used in
which it is showed that if you are not going to use Lifebuoy soap than your body can
get infected with number of germs. In this way the Target Market of Lifebuoy i.e.
Women feel fear; if they don’t use Lifebuoy soap then members in their families
could face diseases.