Sunsilk gang of girls

“Sun silk Gang of Girls”

ASHA PRIYA GOUDGITAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

GITAM UNIVERSITY

• Unilever 1930 , British soap maker• Hindustan Vanaspati manufacturing company• Former name: HLL• Merged to form HUL

Hindustan Unilever

Industry - Consumer goodsFounded 1932Headquarter-MumbaiKey people- Harish Manwani (Chairman), Nitin Paranjpe (CEO and MD)

• Sunsilk India launched a social networking site called Gang of Girls

• offered its users to access to a variety of local and global experts 

•  various hair care needs through its content, blogs and live chat room.

Launch-17th June 2006

What’s unique about this initiative

• Topics of interest• Presence in college festivals• Hair problems solutions from popular hair

experts• 1st company to take such a initiative of taking

the brand name in social networking.

Meant for: girls1.Various feature including blogs2.Advice on hair care and fashion from experts3.Job sites4.Upload photograph and get an online

makeover on fashion5.Engage in a group activities

Popularity: registered crossed the half million mark ,with about 30,000 gangs

Sunsilk - Gang of Girls

Sunsilk - Gang of Girls

• Interactive Micro site

• Updated very regularly

• ‘Girls’ hang out as the topics are relevant to their lives

• Contest and Games/Chatting/ Blogging

• Celebration section

HIGH POINTS of Sunsilk - Gang of Girls

GOG

Large portion of youth have moved from traditional channels due to reasons like…

1. Increase in disposable income2. Double income families3. Booming in BPO sector ‘Catch them young’ More time on internet, mobile phone,

hanging in malls. Youth make up 2/3 of 37millions surfers in

India.

Surveys in 2006…

BW Hansa Youth survey 53.25% of youth buy products by

referenceIAMAI(Internet and Mobile

Association of India) report12mill women logged on to the

internet 2.5 of 30 mill members in Orkut are

from India.

Shampoo market in India…

Life style productMisconceptions(harsh chemicals) Later …Aggressive marketingDecrease in excise duty( 120-16%)

Statistics

• 85 mill(2001)• Urban and rural market(36 & 12%)• Market share HUL(68%)• 2005 HUL(52%) & P&G (22%) of 120 mill

market.• 2006(142.5 mill market)• 2007(180 mill market)

HUL vs P&G

HUL(Sun silk, clinicplus, all clear) P&G(pantene, Head & shoulders) 70% of market on sachets HUL(1+1 clinic plus) Pantene(16% price cut) Clinic plus( 23% price cut) HUL dove P&G Rejoice( competitive price) 50 p sachet Cavin care ltd(chik and Nyle) Dabur(Ayur and Vatika)

Segmentation…

• Beauty( Sun silk)• Health ( Clinic plus, Pantene)• Anti-dandruff( Head & shoulder,

Clinic All Clear)• Natural Shampoo( Ayur, Vatika)

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths:

1.Creative and innovative

2.Big brand name3.User friendly site.4.Strong R&D

department.5.360 degree

communication.

Weaknesses:

• 1.competitor has strong promotional activities.

• 2.customers are offered better alternatives by competition.

• 3.absences of cult appeal.

Opportunities:1.Penetration level of

shampoos in India was 38%.

2.Rural areas still a large prospective market.

3.Growing importance of print media and internet to show explosive growth.

Threats:1.competitors-In house :clinicplus &

AllclearOther:P&G,Cavin

Care, Dabur2.Price war3.Frequent changes

in consumer behaviours.

Case findings

• Sunsilk, renowned for its product development initiatives, saw stiff competition from new players in the shampoo market.

• Therefore the Sunsilk planned to adopt new strategy for promoting its Brand.• On June 17, 2006, HLL launchedSunsilkgangofgirls.com which it claimed was 

India's first "online all-girl community". The site was a branded space promoting Sunsilk while at the same time providing a social networking space for girls.

• Social networking sites had become very popular with young adults. Sites such as Orkut, hi5,Facebook, and MySpace etc., were all dominated by this age group.

• Gang of Girls is a sucessful online girls‘ community created by Sunsilk in India.

Criticism

• It could not attract most of the girls in India.• It was unable to reach the girls in rural area

where the consumer of Sunsilk shampoo were more.

• It targeted only girls between 16-24 age &neglected the other group.

• Every girl may not have the facility of Internet.

GOG outlook…

Brand awarenessYouth was the targeted segmentUnique thought Hair treatment ideasAdv(hair experts for promotion)Sponsership(Miss India events)

Suggestions

• Promoting by mobile phones• Social networks • Target customers

Conclusion

Changing behavior Determining & Measuring requirementsInnovative MediumUpdating accordingly