I. WHY DID X-MEN SUCCEED?

1. STRATEGIC VISION:

Several years ago, the shampoo market was mainly dominated by two giants
Unilever and P&G, along with some other brands such as Double Rich,
Enchanteur, Palmolive, etc. All of them mainly focused on female
customers, except Romano of Unza Ltd monopolizing Men’s shampoo
segment. However, Romano had not taken advantage of its strength and was
only considered as a side- brand next to Enchanteur. Budget and support for
Romano from the parent company did not match the potentials of this brand.
Therefore, Men’s shampoo market was so open.

At that time, X-men was born. This is a strategic vision of X-men. They not
only avoided competing directly with many giants in Women’s shampoo
battle field but also open their own potential market with one main rival,
Romano which is not considered as the important brand by Unza Ltd.

2. WISE AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGY:

1. Targeted customers:

They targeted completely new consumers, MEN. The consumption habit

of the marjority of VNese men is that they use everything bought by the
women in the family. This market is so potential.

2. Intelligent message:

X-men aimed two consumers group, BUYERS AND USERS.

To Buyers, “ If you love your husband, let him use his own shampoo”.
This message beat women’s love to their husband, brother, boyfriend…
 To Users, “The real men”, No men don’t want to prove who he is, right?

3. Wide range of product: to adapt wide demands of consumers. They

also want to increase market share and turnover and more importantly is
to defend and decrease the pressure on X- Men.

X-Men – the real man, is your solution. Designed with the modern men
in mind, the brand provides you with a wide range of specialized
products for personal care. Being “the man” now is within your reach.

X-Men for Boss will ensure that you stand out among others.

Dr. men anti-dandruff shampoo gives you smooth, clean and healthy hair

Teen-X brings you the dynamic and trendy spirit of for everyone who
utters the words, "I want to make a difference."

 With those brands X- men can break the competitor’s grip. On

the top, they have X- men for Boss, with a reasonable price for
low- income people, we have X- men, and for teenager, TeenX.

Hattrick target sporty people.

Shampoo

Hair Mousse

Hair Gel

Body Shower

Roll on

Deo Spray

4. Effective marketing campaign:

X-men advertising campaign just right after Romano’s Shower cream

advertising campaign ended. With such wise campaign, X- men can take
more advantage than Romano because they have time to correct
 mistakes Romano may make. They can also save money when Romano
couldn’t respond in time.

Conservative marketing campaign:

It can help X-men strengthen its image in consumers’ mind. The creative
X-mission has made fantastic impression in the consumers’ mind despite
limited marketing budget.

Attractive promotion ( Free trip to U.S), Discount to attract consumers.

5. Build brand image:

Mr. Phan Quoc Cong (CEO of ICPVN) often appears on TV, media
network to talk about X- men and ICP with their intelligent vision, this
is a way to make X- men brand name more and more popular.
Especially, in the recent time, the fact Mr. Cong having lunch with
Philip Kotler ( father of modern marketing) help enhance brand value.

II. WHERE IS X- MEN VULNERABLE?

1. The more rivals, the more challenge:

With the entrance of many giants not only in shampoo market but also
in others ( shaving cream, cleansing foam…), X- men are facing more
and more challenge than it used to.

We can’t miss Clear Man of Unilever with famous brand ambassador,

Bi Rain which is attracting so many female consumers ( one of two
majors consumers of X-men).

P& G with Head & Shoulder for men.

After a long time, Romano are now coming back with well- invested
plan to take dominating place in men’s shampoo market.

And other cosmetic brand name are planning to enter the market of
cosmetics for men (Biore, Gillette, Nivea, Rexona, Fa, Club…)
2. High pressure on X-men: Besides X- men, ICP also have other brands
however they are not as successful as X- men, that’s the reason why
ICP focus so much on X- men, and we all know the advantages and
Disadvantages of Product specialization.

3. Limited marketing budget: In March 2007, X- mission no longer aired

on Tv. Although they have an official websites and an advertising
website (danongdichthuc.com) but it’s so simple and not well-
invested, especially on TV we don’t often see X- men’s new
advertisement. Sometimes they air on TV but with the old
advertisements. In Vietnam, most people are not familiar with Internet
or online advertisements. How can they attract more and more
consumers?

4. The Dispute the name “X- men”

We all know “X- men” is the name of the famous comics and films
produced by Marvel, one of the biggest comic publishers in U.S.
Some year ago, Marvel request X- men to pay fee for using name “X-
men”. According to intellectual property law, X- men have to pay fee,
but VNese court decide X- men can use this name for free. How about
other countries? Especially EU and US, where intellectual property
law is highly respected. How can X- men solve this problem if they
want to enter the big market like EU and US?