Assignment

Marketing Management

Case Analysis on: SUPER SHAMPOO

PRODUCTS AND THE INDIAN
MASS MARKET

Submitted by:
Group 8
Ashish Tomer , Dorothy , Mehak Arora , Priyanka Mehar, Rahul Shah
1. What are the category beliefs among the non-users of shampoo? What are the cognitive
beliefs on the three brands of shampoos? (What are those advertising elements that match
with the cognitive beliefs?)

Answer: The non-users have their set of beliefs, understanding and myths relating to the usage
of shampoos. The market penetration for shampoos in rural areas is around 30%. This is because
of the following reasons (derived from exhibit 9):

1. Lifestyle choices: Some people believe that the chemicals in the product would harm their
natural hair hence they refuse to take the risk of using the product in spite of being aware about
the feature it possesses.

2. Alternatives/Substitutes availability: Soaps being the closest substitutes of shampoos are

also encouraging people for not investing or trying out the new product. Other than soaps, herbal
products also acted as a barrier for shampoo products as these natural products are cheaper,
easily available and very much a part of their culture. Hence they’re too reluctant to move out of
their comfort zone and try something new.

3. Purchasing power: Shampoos are viewed as luxury products and hence, people with low
incomes don’t get their hands on them thinking that it would be an unnecessary expenditure.

4. Communication: There are still places where such products lack awareness and hence
increasing the number of non-users.

Shampoo selection takes in account a number of attributes such as the fragrance, the feel
of it, appearance, results, promises made, etc. Understanding the importance of these factors,
shampoo marketers have started positioning and advertising the products accordingly.

The cognitive beliefs on the 3 brands of shampoos and their advertising components that match
with them are:

• Clinic plus: As mentioned in the case, it is a “family value and health foundation” brand.
Inferring from exhibits 4 and 10, the cognitive beliefs are that it keeps the hair healthy and strong
(as shown in the advertisement), they smell fresh and make the person look beautiful. The
advertising element produces a mean value of 3.9 (exhibit 10). Also, Clinic plus tops the list of
‘top unaided awareness in the survey (exhibit 9), which means the word of mouth for this brand
is relatively higher.

• Head & Shoulders: Being a premium tier brand, the consumers associate it to be an anti-
dandruff product. Inferring from exhibits 5 and 10, the cognitive beliefs on this brand are that it
gets rid of dandruff (as shown in the advertisement), suggested by experts (shown in
advertisement), keeps their hair strong and healthy, etc. The fact that it is clinically proven also
adds to the credibility of the product. The advertising element produces a mean value of 3.9
(exhibit 11).

• Chik : The shampoo fits in the economy tier of the consumers while promising soft, nourished,
beautiful hair, etc. Inferring from exhibits 5 and 10, the cognitive beliefs on this brand are that it
keeps the hair healthy and strong (as shown in the advertisement), they smell fresh and make the
person look beautiful. The advertising element produces a mean value of 3.7 (exhibit 12). Also,
Chik ranks second in the list of ‘top unaided awareness in the survey (exhibit 9), which means
the word of mouth for this brand is also relatively higher after clinic plus.

2. What are the affective aspects reflected by advertisements of the three brands
of shampoos? (What are those advertising elements that match with the affective aspects?)

Answer: The affective aspects reflected by advertisements of the three brands of shampoos are
as follows:

1. Clinic Plus

• The influencer is the mother; mothers are nurturing and provide what is best for their children;
therefore they would select the best shampoo for nurturing their children’s hair as well. Clinic
Plus promises to help them to do that

• It instills confidence in the mothers who may give themselves credit for giving their daughters
the freedom to experiment with her hair, without having to worry about their daughters’ hair fall

2. Head and Shoulders

• The endorsements may lead consumers to externalize the benefits experienced from using H&S
through sharing experiences with friends giving all the distinctive praises to the shampoo
• The H&S influencers such as Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan makes consumer believe that
after using the shampoo they would look like them (stylish and centre of attraction)

3. Chik

• Chik has used beautiful young urban women who are independent and ready to conquer the
world. This depicts the minds of the modern Indian women and that is how the target market can
relate with it

• Chic leads consumers to discover a new and beautiful side of themselves and along with it, the
confirmation that no goal is too far or unachievable

The advertising elements that matches the affective aspects of three brand of shampoo
as:
Clinic plus: In the advertisement, the central character is played by a young school-going girl.
Alongside her mother acting as the influencer. The ad film promotes gender equality and
attempts to breaking stereotype that girls can’t play sports and take care of their personal
grooming at the same time. They also highlight key ingredients like ‘milk protein lock’ that
nourishes and strengthen and prevents from dirt and split ends.

Head and Shoulder: Being posed as an anti-dandruff mainly targets young female and male
(between 18 to 25 years) as they influence the audience by sighting that dandruff leads to an
unkempt/unhygienic look resulting in negative impression. The brand has used the tagline, “You
never get a second chance to make your first impression”. Also, they try to convince the
audience through experts and celebrities in their ad which have a rather better impact on young
people.

Chick: This cosmetic shampoo of Cavin Kare, targets the young females by influencing them
via ad that shows that untidy hair-look can be difficult to tame. They showcase the power of
‘double conditioners’ which help manage hair better.
3. Are there differences between the cognitive and affective beliefs reflected by the
respondents based on their exposure to the ads of the three brands? Why are these
differences being observed?

Answer: Yes, there are square measure variations between the cognitive
feature and affective beliefs that square measure mirrored by the respondents and shopping
for patterns of customers, variations between the exposures & the ideas of shampoo. The reason
for difference is: In cognitive feature individuals square measure having totally
different perception supported their recognition whether or not they square measure positive or
negative. In affective belief varied ads tries to draw in the person to get the merchandise by the
assumption that it's going to be useful to them. In cognitive customers have different perception
based on the recognition from the advertisement. It might be negative or positive and in affective
using celebrity for trust or story plot in the ad the brands tries to attract the customer to have
positive affective belief.

4. How strong are the conative beliefs of respondents after they are motivated by the
cognitive and affective aspects of the three brands?

Answer: It clearly affects Demand for the merchandise. Conative belief are the likelihood or
tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with
regard to the attitude object .If each conative feature and affective aspect motivates the client to
shop for the merchandise and if the result's negative results, i.e. the shoppers square
measure disgruntled with the merchandise then they’re guaranteed to switch
to alternative product. Conative feature with double its value can have an effect on
the larger demand.

The conative belief of respondents is somewhat strong as many were ready to try out new
products though in small quantity like trying sachets first (mean value=3.8, Exhibit 8) after
comparing the prices. This is because, they believe in word of mouth especially from primary
reference groups like friends and relatives. As per the survey conducted many consumers have
also said that they will search the product and will ask about it from the retailer. It means that
they’ve inclination towards knowing more about the products. However, cognitive aspects
cannot be avoided either as most of the respondents enjoy watching TV (mean value=4.5,
Exhibit 8) and are aware about the new brands (TV- 96%, Exhibit 9).
5. What is the implication of some brands being rated high on conative aspects after
consumers are convinced about the respective cognitive and affective aspects of the
brand(s)?

Answer: Implications of some brands being rated high on conative aspects after consumers are
convinced about the respective cognitive and affective aspects of the brand(s):

Conative is the last stage in all three aspect where the action takes place

• So being rated high on conative aspect will increase the purchase intention

• Expensive product will decrease the purchase intention as given in the case

• The perception that the shampoo contains harmful chemicals will also result in low purchase
intention

6. How does each brand score on the cognitive, affective and conative aspects (each brand
can be marked as low, medium or high on each of these components)? How does each brad
score on the attitude towards the brand?

Answer: According to the tri component model of attitude by Hovland and Rosenberg (1960)
consists of three major components:

• Cognitive component • Affective component • Conative component

On the scale of 10 taking 1 as low going downward till 10 as unfavorable, on basis of their
positioning and demand

1. CLINIC PLUS: 4

2. HEAD AND SHOULDERS: 3

3. CHIC SHAMPOO: 6

Brand Cognitive Affective Conative

Clinic plus LOW (2.8) MEDIUM (3.52) HIGH (3.9)
Head & Shoulders MEDIUM (2.97) MEDIUM (3.30) LOW (2.7)
Chic Shampoo MEDIUM (2.95) MEDIUM (3.3) MEDIUM (3)