LUX- An HUL Brand

- an HUL brand- an HUL brand

Contents:Contents:1) Statement by William Hesketh Lever 12) Unilever & HUL at a glance 23) List of HUL’s famous brands 34) Lux – an introduction 45) Origin of Lux 56) Advertising strategy 67) Brand ambassadors of Lux 78) Brand ambassadors of Lux of different countries 8 9) Product life cycle 910) Introduction stage 1011) Growth stage 1112) Maturity stage 1213) Decline stage 1314) Market captured by Lux & HUL 1415) SWOT analysis 15-1616) Competitors of Lux 17-1817) Conclusion 19

To make cleanliness commonplace, to lessen

work for women, to foster health and contribute

to personal attractiveness, that life may be more

enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use

our products.

William Hesketh Lever

Doing well and doing good.

Unilever & HUL at glanceUnilever & HUL at glance Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is a well-known and largest FMCG company in

India. HUL has always revamped its products to meet the changing needs of the consumer without compromising on the quality.

HUL leads the market in the toilet soap category with 54.3% market share. Lux has inched up to be on par with Lifebuoy in HUL's soaps portfolio. The Lux brand now has an almost equal market share as Hindustan Lever's largest selling soap brand - Lifebuoy.

Unilever is one of the world’s largest & leading MNCs in India. Unilever commenced their activities on a large scale by setting up their first factory in Netherlands in the year1872.

The usage of Unilever products by over 90% of people in Bangladesh stands a testimony to their successful operation.

The FMCG category is always a battleground for all the competing firms and the bathing soap category is no different. With more firms entering the market, maintaining the customer base is not very easy. Within six months, ITC's soap products have been able to capture 1.75% of the market share.

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 52%-owned subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, has been working its way into India since 1888. Formerly known as Hindustan Lever Limited. The Group's principal activities are to manufacture and market consumer products. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a subsidiary of Unilever, is a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company based in India. The company focuses on efficient delivery to consumers with an improved supply chain, brand building initiatives and innovation, which has helped the company to sustain its leadership position in the overall FMCG category in India.

HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India.

List of HUL’s famous List of HUL’s famous brands:brands: The array of products show that they produce household care, fabric cleaning, skin cleansing,

skin care, oral care, hair care, personal grooming & tea-based beverage product under following famous brands:

Lux Wheel Lifebuoy Dove Pears Hamam Breeze Liril Vaseline Fair & Lovely Ayush Ponds Close Up Sunsilk Lipton Lipton Taaza Bru Pepsodent All Clear Vim Surf Excel Rexona Lakme Kissan Brooke Bond Knorr Kwality walls

LUX- IntroductionLUX- Introduction

Lux stands for promise of beauty & glamour as one of India’s most trusted personal care brands.

Lux soap was launched in India in 1929. Lux is the largest personal wash brand in the country with a

value share of 15%. Three in every five Indian consumers enjoy the luxurious

bathing pleasure of Lux during the course of a year. It has been winning hearts of Indian consumers for last 80

years. It is considered as reliable & trustworthy. It ranks first in the list of India’s most trusted brands & the

others are Colgate, Rin, Thums Up, Dettol, Fair & Lovely, Surf, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Horlicks in the order from second to tenth.

Origin of Lux:Origin of Lux: Lux soap was launched in India in 1929. The name "Lux" was chosen as the

Latin word for "light" and because it was suggestive of "luxury.“ Lux soap was first launched in the UK in 1899 as a flaked version of Sunlight

soap. Subsequently it was launched in the US in 1916, and marketed as a laundry soap targeted specifically at 'delicates'. Lever Brothers encouraged women to home launder their clothes without fear of satins and silks being turned yellow by harsh lyes that were often used in soaps at the time. The flake-type soap allowed the manufacturer some leeway from lye because it did not need to be shaped into traditional cake-shaped loaves as other soaps were. The result was a gentler soap that dissolved more readily and was advertised as suitable for home laundry use. Lux is currently a product of Unilever.

Lux was first introduced as a toilet soap in 1925 in U.S.A. Produced by Lever Brothers, it arrived in the UK in 1928, offering people a chance to pamper themselves for a modest price.

From the 1930s right through to the 1970s, Lux soap colours and packaging were altered several times to reflect fashion trends. In 1958 five colours made up the range: pink, white, blue, green and yellow. People enjoyed matching their soap with their bathroom colours. This updation was because of establishment of HURC in Mumbai & Bangalore

  Lux toilet soap was introduced as a bathroom soap in the US in 1925, and in the UK in 1928 as a brand extension of Lux soap flakes. Subsequently Lux soap has been marketed in several forms, including handwash, shower gel and cream bath soap.

In the early 1990s, Lux responded to the growing trend away from traditional soap bars by launching its own range of shower gels, liquid soaps and moisturising bars. Lux beauty facial wash, Lux beauty bath and Lux beauty shower were launched in 1992.

In 2004, the entire Lux range was relaunched in the UK to include five shower gels, three bath products and two new soap bars. 2005 saw the launch of three exciting new variants with dreamy names such as “Wine & Roses” bath cream, “Glowing Touch” and “Sparkling Morning” shower gels.

Lux has recently launched its two fruit extract variants – New Lux Strawberry & Cream and Lux Peach & Cream contain a blend of succulent fruits & luscious Chantilly cream. The most recent addition in the brand is Lux Crystal Shine.

Advertising Strategy:Advertising Strategy: Lux star tradition started in 1934,with actress Leena

Chitnis. Bollywood filmstars also promotes its beauty soap. Har star Lucky star offer. The beauty soap of film stars. Lux celebrating range. Chocolate seduction. Aromatic glow. Lux white star body wash. SRK-first Indian male brand ambassador. Win 22-carat gold coin. Win a lucky date with Aish.

Present & future plan: Penetrate in rural segment. Increase in market share. Trap the untrapped category.

Brand Ambassadors of LuxBrand Ambassadors of Lux

Brand ambassadors of Lux for Brand ambassadors of Lux for different countries:different countries:

Hollywood

Dorothy Lamour, Joan Crawford, Laurette Luez, Judy Garland, Cheryl Ladd, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Taylor, Demi Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rachel Weisz, Anne Hathaway, Marilyn Monroe & Paul Newman.

Bollywood

Madhubala, Mala Sinha, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Karisma Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Aishwarya Rai, Amisha

Patel, Kareena Kapoor , Tabu, Priyanka Chopra, Shahrukh Khan.

Pakistan Reema Khan, Meera, Aaminah Haq, Babra sharif, Ali Zafar.

Nepal Jharana Bajracharya

NigeriaNorway

Genevieve Nnaji, Patti Boulaye.

Iman Ali.

Product life cycleProduct life cycle The course of a products sales and profits over its lifetime is called the

product life cycle.

PLC shows the stages that products go through from development to withdrawal from the market.

Product Life Cycle (PLC): Each product may have a different life cycle.

PLC determines revenue earned.

Contributes to strategic marketing planning

To identify when a product needs support, redesign, renovating , withdrawal, etc.

Introduction stageIntroduction stage Lux launched the world’s first mass-market beauty soap in the US in 1925 & had been

launched in India in 1929.

At that time there was only one competitor of Lux, which was from its own brand “LIFEBUOY”.

In the initial stages Lux was introduced in the major cities of INDIA like Kolkata, Mumbai etc.

MARKETING OBJECTIVES - was to create the product awareness and to attract the

customers towards the product.

The Lux MARKETING STRATEGIES in the initial stages : Product = They offer only one product in the market. They did not come up with the

differentiated product.

Price = In the initial stages of the product, they offer the relatively higher price than their competitor (LIFEBUOY). Because, they want to recover their initial cost of making the product.

Advertising = In the initial stages, they allocate more advertising budget so that more and

more customers could be attracted towards the product. In ads they targeted the early adopters, who were readiest to buy the product. The first ambassador, Leela Chitnis.

Distribution = was selective and only covers the major cities of INDIA to get recognition in those cities.

Their distribution channel was through: Manufacturer Wholesaler & Retailer

Growth stageGrowth stage In the growth stage, their sales rapidly started rising. They have expanded their market to the other cities of INDIA. MARKETING OBJECTIVES = The marketing objectives of the Lux were to

expand their market to the other cities of INDIA. Another objective was to maximize more market share.  In the growth stage, company had the following MARKETING STRATEGIES :

Product = In the growth stage, the company had offered the same product in the market.

Price = In this stage, the company had changed their price to some extent because of maximizing the market share. ( Slightly cut down the prices )

Advertising = In the growth stage, they had increased their advertising

budget as in the initial stages because of attracting the new customers or to retain the existing customers.

Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Zeenat Amaan, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi.

Distribution = In this stage, company had expanded their market to the other cities of INDIA. Their distribution channel was the same as in the initial stages of the product.

Promotion = In the growth stage, the company had also used the different

proportioning strategies to attract the new and the existing customers.

Maturity stageMaturity stage They modified the product by adding some changes in the product. In this stage, few competitors enter into the market like ( CINTHOL, FAIRGLOW,

SANTOOR, CHANDRIKA, FIAMA DI WILLS and VIVEL ). The company has expanded their market to almost all the cities of INDIA.  MARKETING OBJECTIVES = The marketing objective of Lux is to maximize

more profit while defending the market share and to expand the market to all the cities of INDIA.

  MARKETING STRATEGIES In this stage are based on: Product = The Lux has made the modification in the product by introducing: Lux Almond, Lux Orchid , Lux Fruit, Lux Saffron, Lux Sandalwood,

Lux Rose, Lux International, Lux Chocolate, Lux Aromatic Extracts, Lux Oil and Honey etc

  Price = The Lux products are now available at higher prices in the market, the

reason behind is that the company’s marketing objectives is to maximize more profit.

Distribution = Now Lux products are available in almost all the cities of INDIA.

Their distribution channel is same as in the initial stage.

Advertising = In this stage Lux advertising has been reduced to some extent because of the more brand awareness in the minds of customers.

Recently, they have shown Aishwarya Rai , Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra & Shah Rukh khan .

PROMOTIONAL OFFERS : Like buy 3 get 1 free.

Decline stageDecline stage Besides of all campaigns for the sales promotion of Lux .The reasons

for its decline are :

1. Currency fluctuations: Unilever products are in over 100 countries worldwide, As a result, it is exposed to adverse currency fluctuations.

2. SLOWDOWN: In year 2008 - 09 due to hard economic conditions in INDIA and other countries the sales were highly affected as the consumer started looking for some alternate products with a cheaper price than Lux.

3. Competition: Lux has been facing competition from HUL itself (Lifebuoy) & from other companies like:-

Godrej Consumer Products : GCPL, India’s second largest soap maker with 9.2% market share with leading brands such as CINTHOL, FAIRGLOW & NIKHAR. Fairglow brand, India's first Fairness soap, has created marketing history as one of the most successful innovations.

Wipro : The presence of Wipro in the toilet soap industry can be seen through their brands such as SANTOOR and CHANDRIKA. In the southern market of India, it is a major market player in toilet soap.

ITC : It entered the segment last year and has made a strong headway in a short time by growing to 1.75% in just five months. With the brands like: Superia, Fiama Di Wills and Vivel.

Market captured globally by Market captured globally by LuxLux

Asia:33.40% Latin America:5.30% Africa:2% North America:22% East & Central Europe:2.30% Western Europe:31% Middle East:3% Australia& Pacific:1.10%

Market share of HULMarket share of HUL

SWOT Analysis of LuxSWOT Analysis of Lux STRENGTHS Strong Market Research (door to door sampling is done once a year in Urban

and Rural areas) Many variants (Almond Oil, Orchid Extracts, Milk Cream, Fruit Extracts, Saffron,

Sandalwood Oil, and Honey to name a few) Strong sales and distribution network backed by HUL. Strong brand image Positioning focuses on the attractive beauty segment Dynamically continuous innovation of the product and brand rejuvenation –

new variants (Aromatic Glow and Chocolate Seduction and Lux White Spa body wash) and innovative promotions (22 carat gold coin promotion – ‘Chance Hai’)

Perceived to have high value for money (strong brand promotion but relatively lower price which is a winning combination in the popular segment)

Though it is in popular segment, it is having mass appeal/market presence across all segments (15% of the soap market captured by Lux (sales / volume).

Unique advantage of having access to resources and assets of HUL.

WEAKNESSES Lux is mainly positioned as beauty soap targeted towards women, hence it

lacks unisex appeal. Usage rate/ wear rate is high and is generally mushy and soggy. Some variants like the sunscreen, International variant did not do well in the

market . Certain advertisements like the recent one with Shah Rukh Khan resulted in

controversial interpretations of the message of the advertisement and lead to some loss of focus (of message of the advertisements).

Stock out problems - replenishment time is high in semi-urban/rural areas. Earlier positioning as the “soap of the stars” has somewhat alienated the brand

from a portion of the consumers especially in rural areas.

OPPORTUNITIES Soap industry growing by 10% in India. Beauty segment’s Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is very high.

An indication of this is that Fair and Lovely’s segment is increasing at a fast rate - Lux must reinforce its presence in the beauty segment.

More promotions like price-offs and samples. Retentive strategy required as the soap segment is in the mature stage of

its product life cycle. Line extension – probably with more variants catering to the beauty

segment like natural, herbal soap etc. Liquid body wash is currently in the growth stage – Lux should come out

with more variants in this segment. Level of servicing is high during sales promotion schemes – this could be

brought down. It has a large market share and hence has a strong hold over the market.

THREATS New entrants/local competitors/ MNCs would increase the competition

(Camay, P&G). High internal competition – Pears also catering the beauty segment (also

from HLL stable). Excessive dependence on beauty segment makes Lux vulnerable to

changing customer tastes. Technological change makes the existing products obsolete – Lux should

focus on technological innovations like Body Wash. Its in the maturity stage in the Product Life Cycle and has a threat of

slipping down to decline stage if constant reinvention of the brand is not carried out.

Competitors of LuxCompetitors of Lux

Godrej Consumer ProductsGCPL, India’s second largest soap maker after Hindustan Unilever Ltd, has nearly 9.2% market share. With 11% market share in value terms, it is the second largest soap maker after Hindustan Unilever. Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is a major player in the Indian FMCG market with leadership in personal, hair, household and fabric care segments. The company is one among the largest marketer of toilet soaps in the country with leading brands such as CINTHOL, FAIRGLOW, NIKHAR, & ALLCARE. Fairglow brand, India's first Fairness soap, has created marketing history as one of the most successful innovations. It is also the preferred supplier for contract manufacturing of toilet soaps, some of which are the most well-known brands in the country.

Wipro In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India. Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of infrastructure engineering, and consumer products & lighting.Wipro has made a large acquisition in the Consumer Care business. The presence of Wipro in the toilet soap industry can be seen through their brands such as SANTOOR and CHANDRIKA. With industry leading organic growth rates and the acquisition, Consumer care business has reached a Revenue run rate in excess of $100 million per quarter.

Procter & Gamble India Procter & Gamble India (PGHHCL) was incorporated in 1964 after Procter & Gamble, US, acquired Richardson Vicks, US. Formerly known as Richardson Hindustan (the Indian subsidiary), it was later named as P&G. It changed its name again in 1998 to Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care in order to reflect the nature and character of the business of the company. During 2004-05 the company has increased its installed capacity of Soaps & Detergents and Toilet Preparations etc by 36500 Tonnes and 263 Tonnes respectively. With this expansion the total installed capacity of Soaps & Detergents and Toilet Preparations etc has increased to 108500 Tonnes and 5875 Tonnes respectively.

NirmaIncorporated as a private limited company, Nirma was converted into a deemed public company and then to a public limited one in Nov.'93. Nirma has a leadership presence in Detergents, Soaps and Personal Care Products. To have a greater control on the quality and price of its raw materials, Nirma undertook backward integration into manufacture of Industrial Products like Soda Ash, Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB), Alfa Olefin Sulphonates (AOS), Fatty Acid, Glycerine and Sulphuric Acid. During 1996-97, Nilnita Chemicals, Nirma Detergents, Nirma Soaps and Detergents, and Shiva Soaps and Detergents were amalgamated with the company. The company created 'Nirma Consumer Care Ltd.' - a wholly owned subsidiary on 22nd Aug.'97, which is the sole licensee of the brand name 'Nirma' within India. Nirma enjoys a share of 6.74% in soaps.

ITCITC, the country’s largest cigarette maker, entered the segment last year and has made a strong headway in a short time. According to AC Nielsen, its share has grown to 1.75% in just five months despite the fact that many of its brands such as Superia, Fiama Di Wills and Vivel are currently sold in only six states.

Conclusion:Conclusion: Today, HUL is one of India’s Largest exporters of branded Fast Moving

Consumer Goods. It has been recognized by the Government of India as a Golden Super Star Trading House.

It must follow its current strategy in future too. Lux has high penetration in urban & semi-urban areas. However, it has only

19.8% penetration in rural areas. It enjoys sound financial position & high profits from this sector. Customers have 100% faith on this product.