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Lifebuoy
1
Index
Sr no. Topics Page no.
(b) History 5
(c) Vision 6
(b) History 8
8 Bibliography 31
2
Acknowledgement
3
Chapter One
Introduction to HUL
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Company with a heritage of over 75 years in India and touches the lives of two out of three
Indians.
HUL works to create a better future every day and helps people feel good, look good and get
more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.
With over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories such as soaps, detergents, shampoos,
skin care, toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics, tea, coffee, packaged foods, ice cream, and
water purifiers, the Company is a part of the everyday life of millions of consumers across
India. Its portfolio includes leading household brands such as Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf Excel, Rin,
Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond’s, Vaseline, Lakmé, Dove, Clinic Plus, Sunsilk, Pepsodent,
Closeup, Axe, Brooke Bond, Bru, Knorr, Kissan, Kwality Wall’s and Pureit.
The Company has over 16,000 employees and has an annual turnover of around Rs. 21,736
crores (financial year 2011 - 2012). HUL is a subsidiary of Unilever, one of the world’s
leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100
countries across the globe with annual sales of about €46.5 billion in 2011. Unilever has
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History of HUL
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) India's largest consumer goods company based in
52% majority stake in HUL. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and
HUL was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as
Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co.
Ltd. and United Traders Ltd. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has employee strength
of over 16,500 employees and contributes to indirect employment of over 65,000 people. The
Lever Brothers started its actual operations in India in the summer of 1888, when crates full
of Sunlight soap bars, embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers" were
shipped to the Kolkata harbor and it began an era of marketing branded Fast Moving
Hindustan Unilever's distribution covers over 2 million retail outlets across India directly and
its products are available in over 6.4 million outlets in the country. As per Nielsen market
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Vision of HUL
Unilever products touch the lives of over 2 billion people every day – whether that's through
feeling great because they've got shiny hair and a brilliant smile, keeping their homes fresh
and clean, or by enjoying a great cup of tea, satisfying meal or healthy snack.
A clear direction
The four pillars of our vision set out the long term direction for the company – where we
We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services
We will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big
We will develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of our
We've always believed in the power of our brands to improve the quality of people’s lives
and in doing the right thing. As our business grows, so do our responsibilities. We recognise
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Since HUL has many brands under it, I will be focusing only on one of their brands
Chapter Two
Introduction
Lifebuoy is a famous and distinctive brand of soap that was created by the Lever Brothers
soap factory in 1894. It was the first soap to use carbolic acid, which gave it a red colour and
strong, medicinal scent. Lifebuoy is still manufacture d today and the leading brand of soap
in many developing countries including India. Today Lifebuoy is sold in all over the World.
It is market leader in every market where it is sold. The desire to be clean, active and healthy
is intrinsic to every one – irrespective of age or economic status. Lifebuoy understands this
need and champions the cause for hygiene and health around the world. An inspiring vision
for more hygienic, healthier and ultimately more vital communities is the driving force
behind the Lifebuoy brand. To realise this vision, Lifebuoy has looked to consistently
innovate and provide accessible hygiene and health products to a wide variety of consumers.
This vision also commits the Lifebuoy brand team to visible action, inspiring projects that
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History
Disinfectant Soap.
Lever grew up in industrialised Bolton, Lancashire, which was a typical English city
of the Industrial Revolution era, with thousands of people living in slums where
disease ran rampant. Epidemics of typhoid, dysentery andyellow fever were common
demanded hygiene education and improved living conditions for the poor and
working classes. They also demanded a preventative approach to reduce disease and
Lever was actively seeking the perfect formula for a soap product that couldcombat
germs and still be affordable to everyone. In what could be termed asa major
The Brand went global in 1911 and began distributing in countries such as US ,
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In India:
Sector: FMCG
Tagline/ Slogan:
SOAP: Healthy hoga Hindustan; Lifebuoy hai jaha tandurusti hai waha
USP
Lifebuoy provides 100% better protection from germs as compared to ordinary soaps
KEY FACTS
Awarded the Bronze Global Effie for the ‘Superfast Handwash’ campaign
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Chapter Three
Mission
“Lifebuoy, an undisputed market leader for 117 years, has a compelling vision “to make 5
billion people across the world, feel safe and secure by meeting their personal care hygiene &
health needs”
OBJECTIVE
Lifebuoy's goal is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health solutions that
enable people to lead a life without fear of hygiene anxieties and health consequences.
STP
Segment
Target Group
Positioning
Lifebuoy's goal is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health solutions
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Chapter Four
Product Portfolio
Today, the Lifebuoy brand is more than the quintessential bar of red soap, and provides
hygiene and health for the entire family through a range of products like liquid hand wash
and specially designed body wash. Beyond ensuring daily hygiene and freshness, Lifebuoy
products also address special needs like anti-acne and skin fortification for an all around
cleansing experience.
1. HAND SANITIZER:
virus’s outer coat thereby kills germs & viruses on your hands.
Has Moisturizer and Vitamin E to keep your hands soft and smooth
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2. BAR SOAP:
Has Moisturizer and Vitamin E to keep your hands soft and smooth. Lifebuoy Body
Wash provides deep cleansing of pores, protecting against the threeroot causes of skin
3. HAND WASH
Clean, germ-free hands are the key to good health, as ingestion of germs from
unhygienic hands at mealtimes is the most likely cause for common diseases.
formulation that generates a richlather. This provides an effective and hygienic wash
in everycorner of the hands and nails, at the same time leaving your hands pleasantly
fragrant.
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4. LIFEBUOY CLINI CARE
Germs may be getting stronger but Lifebuoy has also evolved in the fight against
infection. Clini-Care soaps have Activ Naturol Shield technology combined with superior
cleansing capabilities. These offer 10 times more germ protection than rival soaps as well
as providing 10 times more care to prevent skin damage and germ attack through
damaged skin
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Chapter Five
SWOT Analysis
STRENGHTHS
• First soap to use carbolic acid, which gave it a red color and strong, medicinal scent
• Wide portfolio for the Lifebuoy brand ranging which includes Soap, Hand Sanitizer
WEAKNESS
• Strong Competition
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• Initially positioned as a masculine soap, which was eventually turned as a family
soap.
• Not been perceived as a beauty soap, and is mainly used just for hand washing
OPPORTUNITIES
• Changing Lifestyles & Risingincome levels, i.e. increasing per capital income of
consumers
• Used global epidemics like swine flu to further promote products for better hygiene
and protection
THREATS
• Mimic of brands
segment
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Chapter Six
INTRODUCTION
Lifebuoy has always been marketed as ‘a tough cleaning soap for a tough man.’ (Of course,
the 2002 re-launch targeted Lifebuoy as a soap that brought good health to the entire family).
Lifebuoy has been seen as a value for-money product, a soap that is long-lasting. In a very
smart TV ad campaign, children are shown cleaning a street. The message put across is that
since these children are secure from ailments that are caused by a lack of proper sanitation
and hygiene, thanks to the fact that they use Lifebuoy, they are in a position to ensure
cleanliness and hygiene for the entire community. Thus, Lifebuoy not only ensures good
health and cleanliness for individuals, but healthy and productive communities as well.
and touches the lives of 70 million people in 18,000 villages. A unique feature of this
campaign is that it utilizes multiple contacts, as opposed to other programmes which are
single contact’ in nature. Gushes the HLL spokesman, “This programme aims to educate
people about the benefits of hand wash with soap, and how hand wash can help kill invisible,
disease causing germs. It is thus a marketing programme with a strong social cause of
improving the health and hygiene of rural India. The brand USP is, ‘Lifebuoy provides 100%
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1. Turnaround Strategy
Lifebuoy soap is a very old brand of bath soap in India, Life Buoy is an anti bacterial soap
and in the beginning it positioned itself on its antibacterial qualities, lifebuoy gained a
number of customers with this positioning, but then there comes the competition with the
Dettol soap.
All this put Lifebuoy out of lime light and to survive in market, Lifebuoy positioned itself on
price it became low price antibacterial soap. This strategy may have boosted short term sales
of Lifebuoy but it lost its brand value and credibility in the minds of customers. Lifebuoy
The repositioning campaign of Lifebuoy was started at 2008, but it became more prominent
and became effective in 2009, Lifebuoy along with the advertisement has improved its
quality and fragrance, most of the people had shifted from lifebuoy because it was low
quality and it smelled terribly, as Lifebuoy has improved its quality all it needed to run an
effective advertisement campaign to get the customers attention. The advertisement team of
Lifebuoy came up with excellent theme “Healthy Hoga Hindustan” and it is targeting parents
which is their target market, Lifebuoy made very effective ad and it also used fear strategy
(which is effective in case of antibacterial soap). This has enabled Lifebuoy to get more and
more customers. Now a days, Lifebuoy is everywhere in Television, Radio, Newspapers and
Billboards, Lifebuoy is running a huge campaign to promote itself which is very necessary in
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With the help of marketing department and advertisement, Lifebuoy has successfully
repositioned itself as a quality antibacterial soap with better fragrance and more durability.
Many companies try to reposition themselves when they see market trend shifting but most
fail to do so. In case of Lifebuoy it has been successful. The interesting thing about this
campaign is that Lifebuoy is running the same campaign in Pakistan and in India as is done
by Unilever, this suggest that Lifebuoy is considering India and Pakistan as the similar
market segment.
2. Diversification Strategy
Although Unilever itself is a part of a Multi market, but since we are talking about the
product Lifebuoy we can say that it is using a multi market strategy as well because it has
both soap and shampoo, not these two only but they have others anti bacterial liquid baths as
well opening a way for Lifebuoy to be a multiple product. Lifebuoy has expanded their
product range by launching closely related products, this is called horizontal diversification.
3. Stability Strategy
Lifebuoy is one of the old products of Unilever which has more than a 100 years
of successful journey, we can simply say that Lifebuoy is the early entrants
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By adopting the first-in strategy, Lifebuoy has captured the maximum share of
the market. Over 60 years in India we guess there is not a single home that didn’t
use it. Lifebuoy has taken the risk of the first-in and consequently got one of the
biggest markets in Asian countries by providing its quality and sustained priced
time i.e. Lifebuoy and that commitment to its brand has really foster the growth of Unilever
as well as its brand of Lifebuoy. But from the recent decade Unilever is no more showing the
strong commitment to Lifebuoy because over the period of time many of the competitors
came in the market with new innovative product, better market strategies and stronger
commitment. In the present scenario, Unilever is just showing an average commitment to its
brand of Lifebuoy which has really put its brand on the back foot
5. Modernisation Strategy
Lifebuoy has unveiled a breakthrough technology in germ protection - Activ Naturol Shield.
This technology has been launched in India through Lifebuoy clini-care10 with proven 10
The invention, attributed to an Indian scientist, Dr. Amit Chakrabortty, Global Head-
Research on Hygiene and Water, Hindustan Unilever, and his team. The HUL R&D centre in
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Bengaluru, India, was the lead research centre for this breakthrough technology. This
The ‘Activ Naturol Shield ‘technology is a combination of naturally occurring substances that
when combined with the best of technology in cleansing, provides Ten Times better
protection against disease causing pathogens. Lifebuoy clini-care10 addresses all the four
Faster and better reduction of a wide range of germs in real-life washing time
Milder and superior skin care to prevent skin damage and germ attack through damaged skin
Lifebuoy has always been at the forefront of R&D in health & hygiene. The Activ Naturol
Shield technology in Lifebuoy clini-care10 has also beenendorsed by the British Skin
Foundation (BSF) and tested and validated at various international (recognized and
accredited) laboratories.
Lifebuoy aims to bring safety, security and health to five billion people, through the active
By the end of 2011, our Lifebouy handwashing campaigns had reached 48 million people.
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Don’t forget the soap when washing your hands. It helps prevent the spread of germs and
LSHTM provides scientific, research and technical expertise on behaviour change and
Lifebuoy is proud to be one of the founding members of the global Public-Private Partnership
for Handwashing with Soap which aims to save children's lives by promoting the awareness
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USAID MCHIP (Maternal and Child Health Integrated Programme)
MCHIP focuses on the reduction of child mortality in the 30 USAID high priority countries.
Lifebuoy is working with them to promote hygiene behaviour change amongst new mothers
and birth attendants in these countries to reduce child mortality rates by 25%.
Our newest partner, the Millennium Villages Project teaches handwashing across rural Africa
in a bid to end extreme poverty. Using the latest research and technology, it helps some of the
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Healthmap & Boston Children’s Hospital
Lifebuoy is proud to partner with Healthmap and Boston Children’s Hospital, the world’s
largest pediatric medical centre. Healthmap delivers real-time global updates of emerging
public health threats, keeping you and your family one step ahead of infections.
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international NGO specialising in emergency and development work around the
world. Lifebuoy supports Oxfam in times of natural disaster by helping to distribute relief
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Partners in Health
Partners in Health are an NGO that provides effective medical care to all parts of the
developing world. Lifebuoy joined forces with PiH, donating hygiene products during the
2010 Haiti cholera outbreak and during times of natural disaster since.
PSI partners with Lifebuoy to deploy behaviour change schools programmes. The current
focus is deployment in sub-Saharan Africa. Lifebuoy also supports PSI at the time of natural
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Red Cross
The Red Cross is an international NGO which focuses on emergency and long-term relief in
disaster zones. Lifebuoy partnered with Red Cross during the 2011 Brazil landslides, and
Save the Children’s slogan is ‘No child born to die’. They protect children in 120 countries,
fighting for their rights and helping them fulfill their long-term potential. Lifebuoy helps
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UNICEF
UNICEF works with families, communities and governments in over 190 countries to protect
and promote children’s rights. Partnered with Lifebuoy, UNICEF runs Global Handwashing
Lifebuoy works with WSUP to expand the impact of its handwashing programmes through
promotional campaigns in Bangladesh and Kenya. WSUP and Lifebuoy have jointly
launched school programmes to change the handwashing habits of children and their families.
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Chapter Seven
the Unilever to again show strong commitment to its product. Although Unilever has well
realized the situation and make changes in its strategies which are making some changes
in the consumers mind but we think there is more need required to retrieve its image of
Diversification Strategy
Unilever is well using its product of Lifebuoy in promoting its business. It has diversified
that brand into different categories to capture every part of the market. This strategy is
helping Unilever in a way that due to variety of products it not only saves the existence of
a single product but also saving other products which are complement to it.
Comments
I have tried to fully analyze the existing strategies of Lifebuoy, what I find from this detail
analysis are discussed as improved version of Lifebuoy where suggestions are given from
my side and what adjustments can be made in the present strategies to improve the product
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In evaluating the position of the Indian market, Lifebuoy is lacking in its market
Geography strategy as it is more common in rural areas of the country where more of
The major challenge Unilever has to face is its commitment to its old brand
of Lifebuoy. Unilever got a major setback when Reckitt Benckiser introduced Dettol
through a heavy media campaign. Unilever has tried to compensate that through
promotional program of “Healthy Hoga India” but still it needs a strong and
Lifebuoy has well repositioned itself but still there is need to change the image that it
Lifebuoy is a century old brand and is now synonymous with health. In this case study, i have
analyzed the current position of its Hand wash version, in certain key markets such as India,
My basic idea was to create an emotional connect with people. Hence, i came up with a
revolutionary habit changing campaign. The basis of this idea is continuous trials for a
prolonged period of time, backed with prolonged visibility campaigns. I intend to get in direct
contact with the customers, and permanently convert them into Lifebuoy users. The consumer
today is more rational while choosing a product. If the consumer is not convinced with a
certain piece of information, he/she may just move on. Ample interaction is required to
To implement this, i have proposed two campaigns along with branding at key touch points.
With these efforts, i believe, i will be able to generate significant Word of mouth promotion
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(Evangelism Marketing) and revolutionise Lifebuoy. Apart from this, i have identified key
triggers and barriers to the category based on my consumer interaction. Talking about
barriers, a lot of consumers actually like the fragrance of Lifebuoy, but the fragrance of
Dettol reminds them of hospitals and gives them a sense of assurity. Another barrier is that
people perceive Lifebuoy to be an inferior product and consumers attributed this to its
packaging, but i believe there are certain underlying reasons for this perception, which i need
to understand. I have also managed to capture a key consumer insight, which i have tried to
For my first campaign, i decided schools as my location, since i needed a place where i could
address a significant number of women at the same time. As a part of this model, i have also
decided to target children, as i feel children these days are key influencers in a family, when
it comes to personal care products, apart from having an accurate brand recall ability. This
in 8 cities over a period of 8 months. This campaign will be associated with a cause, and the
basic idea is to significantly increase the brand recall value as against my competitors.
To back these campaigns, i believe , i need continual branding at key touch points like buses ,
malls and hospitals. To further back my efforts, i need to have strategic focus on promotions.
compared to trade promotions, and i have identified MTOs as a key channel for this.
extracts. I have chosen Lime because lime was the preferred fragrance during my consumer
research.
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Talking about the other Asian Nations, the penetration of Lifebuoy in Japan is very low. If i
consider liquid soap market share in Malaysia and Singapore, Lifebuoy’s share is 10% in
both the countries, viz a vis Dettol which has a share of 11% in Malaysia and 12% in
Singapore. (Source AC Neilson 2010). Major competitor is Johnson and Johnson and other
Malaysians are, on average, the world’s biggest users of social networks with more friends
than any other country in the world. Hence Social Media could be used aggressively for the
promotion of Lifebuoy. It is forecasted that the anti bacterial properties in soaps are the main
selection criteria when it comes to Singaporean consumers selecting a brand for the house
hold. Emphasis on the same would be a major boost to the promotion activities being carried
Overall, it is possible that the user of a particular brand may not be the one buying the
particular liquid soap. Therefore it is very important that marketing strategies cater to this
demographic change. Conversely, to retain and sustain customers whose families used these
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Bibliography
Books:
Websites:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_management
(2) http://www.hul.co.in/
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Unilever
(4) http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-23/news/29178563_1_lifebuoy-
global-brand-soap
(5) http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/keyword/lifebuoy
(6) http://www.lifebuoy.com/pagenotfound.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/gurudwara.html.aspx
(7) http://www.unileverme.com/brands/personalcarebrands/lifebuoy.aspx
(8) http://www.ibscdc.org/Case_Studies/Marketing/Marketing%20Strategies/MM0026.htm
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