Mini Project

On
A Study on Consumer Behavior for lifebuoy, A special case
of Lifebuoy in Lucknow
In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Business Administration

Project Submitted By
Ruchi Yadav

Under the Guidance of

Mr. Ashish Kumar
Asst. Professor

SRM BUSINESS SCHOOL, LUCKNOW (666)

(Approved By AICTE, Ministry of HRD, Govt of India and Affiliated to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Technical University, Lucknow)

NH-24 SITAPUR ROAD, BAKSHI KA TALAB, LUCKNOW

(2020-21)

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TABLE OF CONTENT

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 PARTICULARS Page No.

1. Certificate by Institute 2

2. Acknowledgement 4

3. Declaration 5

4. Preface 6

5. Introduction of Company 7

6. History of the company 10

7. Introduction of Product 13

8. Objective of the project 22

9. Literature review 23

10. Research Methodology

I. Data Collection 27

ii. SWOT analysis of the product 28

11. Competitor analysis 31

12. Advantages of the product 35

13. Disadvantages of product 36

14. Limitation of the study / Research 36

15. Suggestion 38

16. Conclusion 41

17. Reference 42

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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With all most sincerity, I would like to cease this opportunity to express my heartfelt
gratitude to Mr. Ashish Kumar my college guide, for his insightful guidance for all his
endeavors in supervising my entire project who had lend a helping hand on various occasions
throughout the duration of internship. Without his guidance, support and valuable suggestions
during my entire duration, my project would not have been completed.
I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the contribution of all the people who have given
their precious time and have participated actively during the course of my entire project .

DECLARATION
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I the undersigned solemnly declare that the mini project report “A Study on Consumer
Behavior for lifebuoy, A special case of lifebuoy in Lucknow” is based on my own
work carried out during the course of MBA.
I assert the statements made and conclusions drawn are an outcome of my project work.
I further certify that the work contained in the report is original and best of my knowledge.
This work has not been submitted to any other university for any examination.

Ruchi Yadav

PREFACE

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In our two year degree program of M.B.A, there is a provision for doing this work in the
specialization in last semester. The essential purpose of this project is to give an exposure and
detailed outlook of the practical concepts. For this purpose I was assigned the project on “A
Study on Consumer Behavior for lifebuoy, A special case of lifebuoy in Lucknow” This
has given me an altogether new experience, which I believe, would be immense help in my days
to come. The project was Informative, interesting and inspiring.
I hope the readers would find the information found in this report useful and interesting.

INTRODUCTION OF COMPANY
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Indian advertising industry is talking business today and has evolved from being a small-
scale business to a full-fledged industry. It has emerged as one of the major industries and
tertiary sectors and has broadened its horizons be it the creative aspect, the capital employed
or the number of personnel involved. Indian advertising industry in a short span of time has
carved a niche for itself and placed itself on the global map.
Indian advertising Industry which has an estimated value of Rs.13, 200-crore has made jaws
drop and set eyeballs gazing with some astonishing pieces of work that it has given in the
recent past. The creative minds of the Indian advertising industry incorporates have come
up with some mind-boggling concepts and work that can be termed as masterpieces in the
field of advertising.
In the year 2009 the industries attrition rate is as high as 20-25 % which was sober in that
sense. According to industry executives the attrition rate is below 5 %, implying that most
had to stay put and deliver on their briefs in their respective agencies.
The ads shown to us are sometimes innovative and sometimes they really get on your
nerves, especially when they are repeated time and again and especially when they are
repeated twice. This happens when there is something sponsored by them say a tennis match
or an award ceremony, etc. Advertisements usually amaze people with their creativity and
presentation whereas some are really horrible in the depiction of their ideas. Most of the
times however we find quite interesting and appealing ads. The Indian ad agencies have
some of the most creative and talented people around which is attested by the fact that
global companies are approaching Indian ad agencies to handle their media campaigns.

Market capitalization

At the last Cannes Awards, the president of the Jury was Piyush Pandey, Group President
and National Creative Director of Ogilvy and Mather conveyed that India is quickly
becoming a viable online advertising center. There is expectation that the online advertising
market in India to heat up. As Lionel Lim, Sun's VP and MD (Asia South), recently stated,
"Over the next three to four years, we want to help create up to 100 dot-com companies in
India, each with a market cap of around $10 billion. That is, perhaps, the biggest investment
we can make in this country.

Size of the industry

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The size of Indian Advertising Industry depends on the following factors and industries.

Television Current size: Rs 148 billion Projected size by 2010: Rs 427 billion; CAGR: 24%

Filmed entertainment: Current size: Rs 68 Billion: Projected size by 2010: Rs 153 billion;
CAGR: 18% Print Media: Current size: Rs 109 Billion: Projected size by 2010: Rs 195
billion; CAGR: 12% Radio: Current size: Rs 3 billion: Projected size by 2010: Rs 12
billion; CAGR: 32%. Music Current size: Rs 7,000 million crore projected size by 2010: Rs
7,400 million; CAGR: 1%. Live entertainment: Current size: Rs 8,000 million, Projected
size by 2010: Rs 18,000 million; CAGR: 18%
Out-of-home Advertising: Current size: 9000 million, Projected size by 2010: 17,500
million; CAGR: 14%.
Internet Advertising: Current size: Rs 1.6 Billion, Projected size by 2010: Rs 7.5 billion;
CAGR: 50%.

Total contribution to the economy/ sales

The turnover of Indian Advertising Industry is less than 1% of the national GDP of the
country as compared to 2.3% of share of US to the GDP which indicates the tremendous
growth potential for India. The Indian advertising industry is expected to grow by 13 %in
2010 to Rs 21,145 crore. According to the PITCH-Madison Media Advertising Outlook
2010 analysis, the Indian advertising pie is expected to be worth about Rs 21,145 crore this
year, a 13 % increase over the previous one. The Indian media and advertising industry
clocked a size of Rs 18,670 crore in 2009 and that saw a dramatic drop of 10 percentage
points compared to 2008, where the industry was worth Rs 20,717 crore. Total advertising
market grew 17% in 2008 and is projected to increase. Contract Advertising India Ltd
Employment opportunities There are tremendous opportunities in Indian Advertising
Industries in the country and abroad. The opportunities include that of account planner,
executive, copywriter, visualizer, creative art director, animator, multimedia expert,
photographer, printer, TV producer, media planner, web developer jobs, web planner, and
marketing professional. Candidates qualified in Commercial Art have great opportunities.
MBAs can also play a significant role in client servicing. However, individual creativity and
ability for innovation are more important than academic degrees. The advertising industry

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always has a perennial demand of talent.
Latest developments

The global Advertising Industry as far as scale of operations and scope is concerned the
turnover is close to USD 450 billion annually. Indian Advertising Industry contributes less
than 1.5% which is next to China and Russia. The Global Ad Industry is expected to reach a
growth rate of 2% in 2010 which is better than 2009 while Indian Ad Industry in contrast
estimates to reach the growth rate of 10% figuring about Rs.23700 crores. The reasons are
because of the IPL, Foot ball World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.
India contributes to 17 % of the world population but is only 0.7% of the world advertising
market so it has huge potential to grow in future.
Experts reveal that total advertisement spending by the political parties would be around Rs
800 crore. The Congress and the BJP alone could spend over Rs 400 crore on ads on
television, radio and newspapers. Most of the ads appear on going to general entertainment
and regional TV channels and hardly a small proportion in News channels.
Worldwide Partne rInc are the Ninth largest global network of more than 90 marketing and
communication agencies in about 50 countries which has recently tied up with Indian
Pressman Advertising and Marketing Ltd following repeated enquires about India.

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) (BSE: 500696) is India's largest consumer
goods company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by the British-Dutch
company Unilever which controls 52% majority stake in HUL. Its products include foods,
beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.
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 company was renamed in June 2007 as ―Hindustan Unilever Limited‖.
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 harbour and it began an era of marketing branded Fast Moving
Consumer Goods (FMCG)
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 research data, two out of three Indians use HUL products.

Unilever was created in 1930 by the amalgamation of the operations of British soap maker
Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, a merger as palm oil was a
major raw material for both margarines and soaps and could be imported more efficiently in
larger quantities. In the late 19th century the businesses that would later become Unilever
were among the most philanthropic of their time. They set up projects to improve the lot of
their workers and created products with a positive social impact, making hygiene and
personal care commonplace and improving nutrition through adding vitamins to foods that
were already daily staples.

Today, Unilever still believes that success means acting with 'the highest standards of
corporate behavior towards our employees, consumers and the societies and world in which
we live'. Over the years we've launched or participated in an ever-growing range of initiatives
to source sustainable supplies of raw materials, protect environments, support local
communities and much more.

Through this timeline you'll see how our brand portfolio has evolved. At the beginning of the

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21st century, our Path to Growth strategy focused us on global high-potential brands and our
Vitality mission is taking us into a new phase of development. More than ever, our brands are
helping people 'feel good, look good and get more out of life' – a sentiment close to Lord
Leverhulme's heart over a hundred years ago.

In 19th century Although Unilever wasn't formed until 1930, the companies that joined forces
to create the business we know today were already well established before the start of the
20th century.

1900s Unilever's founding companies produced products made of oils and fats, principally
soap and margarine. At the beginning of the 20th century their expansion nearly outstrips the
supply of raw materials.

1910s Tough economic conditions and the First World War make trading difficult for
everyone, so many businesses form trade associations to protect their shared interests.

1920s With businesses expanding fast, companies set up negotiations intending to stop others
producing the same types of products. But instead they agree to merge - and so Unilever is
created.

1930s Unilever's first decade is no easy ride: it starts with the Great Depression and ends with
the Second World War. But while the business rationalizes operations, it also continues to
diversify.

1940s Unilever's operations around the world begin to fragment, but the business continues to
expand further into the foods market and increase investment in research and development.

1950s Business booms as new technology and the European Economic Community lead to
rising standards of living in the West, while new markets open up in emerging economies
around the globe.

1960s As the world economy expands so does Unilever and it sets about developing new
products, entering new markets and running a highly ambitious acquisition programmed.

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1970s Hard economic conditions and high inflation make the '70s a tough time for everyone,
but things are particularly difficult in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector as
the big retailers start to flex their muscles.

1980s Unilever is now one of the world's biggest companies, but takes the decision to focus
its portfolio, and rationalize its businesses to focus on core products and brands.

1990s The business expands into Central and Eastern Europe and further sharpens its focus
on fewer product categories, leading to the sale or withdrawal of two-thirds of its brands.

The 21st century The decade starts with the launch of Path to Growth, a five-year strategic
plan, and in 2004 further sharpens its focus on the needs of 21st century-consumers with its
Vitality mission.

INTRODUCTION OF PRODUCT

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Lifebuoy is a brand of soap containing phenol marketed originally by Lever Brothers in
England beginning in 1895.
History:
Popular for over 100 years, the light red soap is still available in the United States, in
specialty shops that import it through Jupiter Imports (UK) in England. Though Lifebuoy has
ceased to be produced in the U.S. and the UK, it is still being mass produced by Unilever in
Cyprus (for the UK, EU and USA). In India, it is the main value brand there as well as in
some other South Asian and South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, India,
India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Objectives and Goals:

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.
Improving health & hygiene for over 100 years:
Lifebuoy is one of Unilever's oldest brands, a brand that was truly 'global' before the term
'global brand' was invented. Lifebuoy Royal Disinfectant Soap was launched in 1894 as an
affordable new product in the UK, to support people in their quest for better personal
hygiene. Soon after launch, Lifebuoy soap travelled across the world, reaching countries such
as India, where even today it is still the market leading brand.
Lifebuoy saves lives:
Consistent in Lifebuoy's 110+ year history has been its championing of health through
hygiene. The brand's core promise of protection and a commitment to support life through
unbeatable protection is at the heart of the brand name itself – Lifebuoy, the guarantee of
protection when you are threatened. For example, a 1930's campaign in the US was titled
'Clean hands help guard health', encouraging the use of Lifebuoy soap to kill the germs on
hands that can cause health issues. A similar campaign continues today, with Lifebuoy
hygiene education programmes ongoing in countries including India, Bangladesh, India, Sri
Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Innovation:
Since 2000, major changes have been made to the classic Lifebuoy soap bar to ensure that it
provides improved hygiene protection and a more enjoyable healthy washing experience
for its billions of consumers.

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 Lifebuoy's classic hard
red brick shape has
been replaced with a
new signature Lifebuoy
shape. The new shape
makes the bar easier to
grip and use
 The Lifebuoy team
have developed a new
formulation providing
even better germ
protection which
creates a rich lather on
the skin
 Lifebuoy's
characteristic
medicated, carbolic
smell has been replaced with a more enjoyable and contemporary 'health' fragrance
 Lifebuoy has become more than just a red bar of soap – today the brand provides
hygiene and health solutions for families, including a range of bar soaps, hand wash
liquids and liquid shower gels. The most recent Lifebuoy innovation addresses the
number one skin hygiene and health concern for teens and tweens: oily and acne
prone skin. Lifebuoy Clear Skin is a bar soap formulated using radical new
technology that is clinically proven to reduce even severe acne, by 70% in 6 weeks.
Regular use, twice a day is proven to prevent and reduce the recurrence of
acne             

Key Facts:
 Today Lifebuoy is sold in Asia and parts of Africa. It is market leader in every Asian
market where it is sold
 Lifebuoy soap has been proven in laboratories to provide 100% more effective germ
protection than ordinary soaps

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  To date, 70 million people in rural India alone have experienced Lifebuoy's
pioneering Health Education programme – the single largest private hygiene
education programme in the world
 In 2005, Lifebuoy was awarded a 'Citizen Brand' accolade in Indonesia in recognition
of the work the brand has undertaken in hand wash education
 Nearly half of the Lifebuoy brand's consumption is in rural Asia, where most of the
population live on less than US$1 per day 

LIFEBUOY’S MARKETING STRATEGY

Life buoy’s Market Segmentation and Targeting:

The targeting market for lifebuoy is all households who can afford buying soap and who want
to fulfill everyday need that provides them and their family with a 100 anti bacterial solution
and complete protection from all germs bacteria and cleanliness from dirt
Lifebuoy belief that children are the potential agent for change and imparting education on
the importance of hand washing with soap will enable them to adopt early habit in life

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Lifebuoy’s Repositioning 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, life buoy gained a
number of customers with this positioning, but then there comes the competition first the
Safeguard and then Dettol soap, these two soaps are from very strong companies especially
safeguard is on P&G which is one of the largest consumer products companies in the world,
Safeguard offers better quality soap with good fragrance, apart from these features, Safeguard
adopted fear strategy in its advertisements and it helped it in gaining more customers and
soon Safeguard became the first choice in antibacterial soaps. Safeguards effective campaigns
including character of Commander Safeguard outturned every competition, only Dettol soap
was competing head to head with safeguard. 
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
needed to reposition itself on quality rather than price. Repositioning Campaign:

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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 India” 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
case of repositioning the brand.

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
India and in India as is done by Unilever, this suggest that Lifebuoy is considering India and
India as the similar market segment. 

The paper focuses on content analysis of commercials of Lifebuoy brand over a period of
last ten years within the context of changes in the marketing environment post
liberalization. The researcher has used narrative analysis and the case study method to
conduct a qualitative content analysis of television commercials of “Lifebuoy” and has
done triangulation by in-depth interview of a senior management employee from the
advertising agency who worked on the brand to get an expert view.

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Introduction to the Category and the Brand – Lifebuoy:

The soap industry in India is classified into premium, popular and carbolic brand of soaps.
Premium constituted of Lux International, Mysore sandal, Pears and some international
brands. Popular brands were Cinthol, Hamam, and Lux and carbolic were brands like
Lifebuoy and Nirma bath. In the mid-1990s, this structure altered a bit when vegetable oil
prices slid 40 to 50 per cent, giving manufacturers a huge cost advantage. The result of this
was the creation of the "discount segment", which offered soaps 10 to 15 per cent cheaper
than the popular segment. Popular segment has witnessed maximum growth within toilet
soaps and it is the category driver. Consumers down grade from the premium segment as
and when they see better value in the popular category; at the same time consumer’s
upgrade from the economy segment due to increased aspirations & affordability (Shahra,
2006)1. Hindustan Lever Ltd, Wipro Ltd, Godrej Soaps Ltd, Nirma, Procter & Gamble are
the major players in the Rs.4800 crore toilet soap industry. Hindustan Unilever Limited
(HUL) has a strong presence in the toilet soap category with

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brands like Lux, Lifebuoy, Pears, Liril, Hamam, Breeze, Dove, and Rexona. All brands are
targeted at different segments of consumers and therefore accordingly positioned. With the
major power branding exercise being undertaken by HUL to manage its product portfolio,
many brands were repositioned and portfolios were restructured (Singh, 2003). While the
Liril brand saw variants and a drastic change in its advertising strategy, Lux celebrated its
75 years of existence through innovative flavours and celebrities.

Launched in 1895, Lifebuoy, for over 100 years has been synonymous with health and
value. The brick red soap, with its perfume and popular Lifebuoy jingle, has carried the
Lifebuoy message of health across the length and breadth of the country, making it the
largest selling soap brand in the world. Lifebuoy one of the power brands of HUL, is being
used by about 600 million consumers, with about 2 million tablets sold every day 2. HUL`s
107-year-old brand, Lifebuoy, was re-launched with a new formulation as a milled toilet
soap and a completely new positioning as a family health soap. The strategy, to maintain
the leadership of India`s largest selling soap and extend its health equity beyond its 60
crore existing consumers restored the growth of Lifebuoy3. The 100 plus years old brand
Lifebuoy, which was positioned purely as a health soap targeted at a male population, has
now got rid of its carbolic nature, smells different and is positioned as a family soap. This
was a conscious move from HUL in 2002 to do away with the carbolic soap. In order to
launch the new Lifebuoy soap in rural markets, HUL had a massive social marketing
program called “Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna4”, a consumer contact program to spread the
health and hygiene awareness and make a dent into the rural markets (Business Standard,
2002). The repositioning exercise resulted in Lifebuoy featuring as a family soap but
managed to keep the core of the brand intact. Right from those days when it addressed the
macho Indian male, in the form of a bright red chunky soap cake, until early 2000, when it
started targeting the Indian woman as a soap that would help her family fight germs and
keep illnesses at bay, its core positioning has always been health and hygiene. Advertising
and brand gurus say it is this consistency in

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the core positioning that has helped the brand retain its glory and given it the status of a
heritage brand (Shashidhar and Srinivasan, 2002).

Only 30 percent of the total sales volume of Lifebuoy comes from urban markets and that’s
a challenge for the brand. The new look and shape, variants, shift in the protagonist in ads
and many other such changes have been made in order to penetrate further in the urban
markets and among premium segment households (Shatrujeet and Shukla, 2005).

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 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

2.1 Primary objective:

The primary objective of doing this research is to “examine the influencing factors of
consumers buying pattern towards soap market in bangladesh”. The objective is set to
identify the influencing factors that influence the consumers’ buying decision on a case
study of Lifebuoy in Bangladesh.

2.2 Secondary objective:

More broadly other objectives are:
 To identify the influencing factors and its impact on consumers buying decision of
Lifebuoy in Bangladesh.
 To identify the buying decision process of consumersof Lifebuoy in Bangladesh.
 To find out the marketing programs which make Lifebuoy a pioneer in the
Bangladesh market
 To recommend a sound conclusion based on the findings

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

This may be an attempt to summaries or comment on what is already known about a

particular topic. By collecting different sources together, synthesizing and analyzing
critically, it essentially creates new knowledge or perspectives. There are a number of
different forms a literature review might take.
Modern times reflect key changes in the marketing strategies employed by companies
seeking to sustain competitive advantage. The financial health of these companies is now
dependent on the amount of information that is collected in regards to consumer purchasing
habits so the companies have resorted to the adoption of behavioral and sociological studies
in order to collect this pertinent data. Companies shifting their focus from a product/market
driven line of attack to consumer driven marketing activities reflect this evolution of
marketing (Kotler, 1999).
As a direct consequence interest in consumer behavior has been going on since when buyers
and sellers became existent (Nunes, 2003). Consumer behavior is a subcategory of marketing
that merges elements from economics, psychology, sociology, social psychology,
anthropology and other sciences, such as physiological psychology, biochemistry, and
genetics (Demirdjian and Senguder, 2004). As presented by Kotler et al. (2005) the buyer
decision process consists of five stages; namely need recognition, information search, and
evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior.Consumers’
purchase process is affected by a number of different factors, some of which are
uncontrollable, such as cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors. However, these
factors must be taken into account in order to reach target consumers effectively (Kotleret al.
2005).
Soap market in Bangladesh has been very competitive where marketing at all levels is of
immense importance. Here Unilever commands more than 50% share of local soap market,
has seen further advancement in recent years on the back of aggressive and skilled marketing
efforts. Though growth in soap market is encouraging, stiff competition has squeezed the
profit margin thus efficient marketing is the key to success. The soap industry in Bangladesh
is parted in two categories Health Soap and Beauty soap. Lux is the largest brand in market
share for upper and middle class in the Beauty Soap Category, other brands are Aromatic,
Meril, Keya and Tibbat. Lifebuoy one of Unilever's oldest brands is the market leader in
health soap made especially for rural area and the poorest population and the biggest

22
competitors are - Protex, Dettol and Safeguard though they all have market shares below 10
% each. Upgraded life style in villages, with soap being the first preferred body care input
affordable to all, has led to the tremendous growth of soap market. Lifebuoy has a rich
heritage in rural market in Bangladesh. With changing marketing environment, the brand has
responded through various initiatives like new product variants, repositioning, rechristened
advertising content, targeting rural markets and so on and so forth.
Anti-bacterial soaps have been targeting mothers for their businesses worldwide. The
traditional strategy of selling and sales management of many companies faces many
challenges to meet the demand of the customers who want to stay healthy and keep
themselves germ free. Advertisements focus on mothers who are concerned about their
family’s health and this is the reason why their sales have manifold.
In a Case Study Series from the department of Corporate Strategy and International Business,
it is showed that a research on preventive behaviors for diarrheal disease shows that washing
hands with soap could significantly reduce incidences of infection. In 1988, research
conducted by the World Health Organization showed that washing hands with soap reduced
diarrhea attacks by 48%. [ CITATION Sel03 \l 1033 ]
Initially, the ads targeted children that included children’s hero Commander Safeguard in
Safeguard ads and children as ‘Germ Busters’ in Lifebuoy’s ads.
At the global scale, however, the developed markets are becoming saturated. Market growth
has been mainly attributed to new product developments and extensions into anti-bacterial
and moisturizing products, liquid and shower soaps, and products “focusing on added value
and convenience”. These markets are expected to tighten in the next few years due to
increased price competition and consolidation between soap manufacturers, leaving multi-
nationals to seek out new markets in developing countries.[ CITATION Sel03 \l 1033 ]
Due to low expertise and comparatively low startup costs required to start a soap business, it
is necessary to have unique and imperative marketing strategies in order to reach new
customers and differentiate the business you have with that of your competitor. The natural
products are considered to be having a niche market therefore it is important to focus on the
customers targeted and in turn develop marketing strategies to reach them.

MARKETING STRATEGIES

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Partnership Marketing
It is a kind of marketing in which the target organizations tend to reach the target market for
instance the restaurant that use natural and organic products for making their food are
considered to have a profound liking for herbal soaps that they mostly use for their restrooms.
Or consider the office parks that have a very eco-friendly environment are also more likely to
target those employees who like buying naturally made soaps. The restaurants on the other
hand also provide samples of the soaps that the customers can take home. This can be done
by wrapping the soap in cellophane in turn tying it with the help of a ribbon and by attaching
the business card of the shop from where the customer can by that soap. Many firms do
partnership with local organizations in order to promote their soaps during important events
like festivals and conferences.

Social Media Photo Marketing

Many companies use the social media marketing to publicize their soaps. According to
Facebook the pictures and photo albums receive 120 and 180 % more assurance then
promotions done via texting. High quality photos of the soaps can be easily shared with many
customers via social media. Social networks for instance Instagram and Pinterest are picture-
driven networks that are also used these days to promote soaps.

Direct Party Marketing

In 2009, according to the Direct Selling Association, U.S.-based direct-sales representatives

generated more than $28.3 billion in revenue. This profit is made by the help of using the
party or the one-on-one marketing strategy. People arrange for parties in either rented spaces
or their homes where they lounge their products like soaps etc. Their companions and
acquaintances come and learn about these products. One big advantage of using this
marketing technique is that we can easily market to a large group of potential customers at
once, earn enough sales there and then and also meet a few people who might be ready to
help you host more such parties in the near future.

Online Affiliate Marketing

Establishing an online affiliate marketing program is also another way of advertising and
promoting soaps. Affiliate programs allow people who are directly responsible for people
purchasing from you to receive a small percentage of sales. Linkshare and Ejunkie are the

24
services that helps set up online affiliate programs that keep track of sales and affiliate
members. The best candidates for affiliate partnerships are people who are already advocates
for your brand, so start with existing customers. To help people refer to the products sample
images for promotion and affiliates simple instructions are provided to them.
Brand strategy
Brand is the promise made to your customer and thus by building a brand for our product is
an important task. For instance; “gentle, all-natural cleaning without animal testing for the
same price as commercial brands." The brand should communicate with your customers
through packaging, point-of- sale and advertising as well. Thus it is vital to understand that
your brand promise should be congruent with the needs and desires of the customers. Also it
should be kept in mind that only those people should be targeted who care about your product
for example if you are promoting an herbal soap one doesn’t needs to market it to those who
are least bothered about natural ingredients.
Direct mail strategy
Direct mail is yet another strategy used to strengthen relationships and prompt an action, like
visiting any store or going to any website. You tend to keep your costs down as compared to
mass mailing by focusing on the customers. It also allows you to get creative, which makes
your direct mail piece more effective and less likely to be thrown away. For example, you can
package a small washcloth imprinted with a special discount until a certain date. The
washcloth is compatible with your soap, and the dated discount prompts action within a
specific time period.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
DATA COLLECTION

Data collection is a term used to describe a process of preparing and collecting

data - for example as part of a process improvement or similar project. A method of data
collection in which the situation of interest is watched and the relevant facts, actions
and behaviors are recorded.

SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION METHODS

All methods of data collection can supply quantitative data (numbers, statistics
or financial) or qualitative data (usually words or text). Quantitative data may often be
presented in tabular or graphical form. Secondary data is data that has already been
collected by someone else for a different purpose to yours. For example, this could
mean using:

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 SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCT

Strengths

Kotler (2003) says that strengths are usually the core competence of an organisation and these
are the capabilities and resources that permit it to get involved in activities to enable
economic value and perhaps competitive advantages. Lifebuoy’s strengths:
a) A decent quality, affordable germ protection agent for the middle and lower middle class
b) Lesser-priced packs to increase affordability
c) Packaging in smaller units and localized design that attracts consumers
d) Continuously evolving social marketing campaign
e) Strong emotional touch
f) Convenience of storage while use
g) Thorough knowledge of the village psyche
h) Sound and experienced management and excellent marketing department
i) R&D and financial support from parent company i.e. Unilever
j) Strong brand image and brand awareness of ‘Lifebuoy’
k) Robust Supply Chain and Distribution Network
A SWOT analysis divides the company’s environment into two specific areas. Strengths and
weaknesses are considered internal items; conversely, opportunities and threats are
considered external.

1. Lifebuoy Company is using advanced technology.

2. It is well skilled performance

3. It has good distribution network all over the world.

4. Unilever provide creation strategies.

5. It has high market share.

6. Wide distribution channels in both national and internal market.

7. Largest organization and strong reputation.

8. Strong good marketing and good image creation.

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 9. Global innovation centers.

10. Promote its product in new geographic areas.

Weaknesses
Kotler (2003) denotes that a company's weaknesses are lack of resources or capabilities
that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if
used to enact the company's strategy. Lifebuoy’s strengths:
a) Minimum profit margin since increasing Input Costs 
b) Highly Competitive Environment such different antibacterial competitors such Dettol and
safeguard are trying to own a higher ground by building on already present germ-kill equity.
c) Small awareness of variants
d) Lack focus on urban people, only 30% of the total sales volume of Lifebuoy comes from
them

OPPORTUNITIES
• Large domestic market in India – over abillion population

• More potential in rural markets

• Changing Lifestyles & Risingincome levels, i.e. increasing per capital income of
consumers
• The Lifebuoy ‘Swasthya Chetana programme’ uses a‘direct consumer contact’
methodology, and touches the lives of 70 million people in 18,000villages
• Imparting education about importance of hand washing to prevent spread of ger

• Used global epidemics like swine flu to further promote products for better
hygiene and protection

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THREATS

• Tax and regulatory structure

• Mimic of brands

• Entry of ITC in FMCG sector

• Increasing cost of raw material

• Competitor brands offering similar levels of protection

• Considered to be a low-end product, and may find it difficult to move up in the

segment

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 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

In many parts of the world we lead the home care market, with brands such as Omo, Surf,
Comfort and Cif. It's more than just hygiene – with homes and clothes that are clean and
cared for, we help you get more out of life.

Comfort

Comfort was launched in India in July 2007 and is

available in 3 variants: Comfort Floral Pink,
Comfort Classic Blue and Comfort Pure White. 

Rin

Consumer insight shows that one of the leading drivers that

indicate a good wash is the level of whiteness and brightness
that clothes have after the use of a detergent powder. Rin is
formulated to offer whiteness and bring back life in your
everyday clothes.

Surf excel

Remember when you were a child? How you were

free to explore, returning home covered in dirt and
other stains that you wore like the badges of an
intrepid discoverer?

PERSONAL CARE BRANDS

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Our personal care brands, including Dove, Lifebuoy, Lux, Pond's, Rexona and Sunsilk, are
recognized and respected around the world. They help consumers to look good and feel good
– and in turn get more out of life.

      

Clear

Clear spells confidence for the young Indiais of today.

Close Up

Our mouths are our gateway to life. We use them to eat, drink,
talk, laugh, smile and what not!

Fair & Lovely

Asia’s leading fairness brand.

Lux

Lux brings out the star in you! 

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 Pond's

Making a real difference to women's skin and the way they live their
lives.

Rexona

With Rexona you know your deodorant won’t let you down.

Sunsilk

Sunsilk provides real solutions to women's everyday hair needs

everywhere.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRODUCT

The new Lifebuoy range now includes Lifebuoy Active and Lifebuoy Active
Orange.Lifebuoy Active Orange offers the consumer a differentiated health perfume while

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offering the health benefit of Lifebuoy.Lifebuoy offers specific health benefits through
Lifebuoy International (Plus and Gold). Lifebuoy International Plus offers protection against
germs which cause body odour. Lifebuoy International Gold helps protect against germs
which cause skin blemishes. Lifebuoy has also launched Total, Lifebuoy DeoFresh, Lifebuoy
Nature and Lifebuoy Gold Care.The latest one is launched, called Lifebuoy Skin Guard.
 Launched as Carbolic Red Soap
 Symbolize health & hygiene.
 Rechanilised its product cycle by introducing new variants like-–Lifebuoy Active
Red–Lifebuoy Active Orange–Lifebuoy International Plus–Lifebuoy International
Gold–Lifebuoy Nature (Neem&Tulsi)
 Recently it has launched talcum powder under the brand name of lifebuoy.

DISADVANTAGES OF PRODUCT

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 1. Competitors offer better alternative product
2. Dual co –chair approach and dual company create problem
3. Lack of high volume brands
4. The high competitors for market share increases rapidly.
5. High cost of restructuring
6. Focus on term short strategy.
7. High cost limit promotion in company.
8. Sometimes some product innovation is ineffective.
Low cash flow and slow sales growth rate compared with other competitor

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY / RESEARCH

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This study will reveal is to examine the influencing factors of consumers buying pattern
towards soap market from the perspective of Lifebuoyin india the topic is much specified and
many other important variables e.g. marketing strategies, industry analysis etcare ignored.
Other limitations are
 The sample size for the research is relatively small. A larger sample size would yield
more accurate results
 There was a serious time constraint.
 It is realized prior the survey that not everybody will be willing to participate in the
interview.
 The employees of Unilever Bangladesh Limited were too busy of their work. For this,
they did not spend sufficient time to fulfill required queries and some of them
neglected to converse.

We have tried to fully analyze the existing strategies of Lifebuoy, what we find from this
detail analysis are discussed as improved version of Lifebuoy where suggestions are given
from our side and what adjustments can be made in the present strategies to improve the
product performance and overall image of the product in the customer’s mind.
In evaluating the position of the Pakistani market, Lifebuoy is lacking in its market
Geography strategy as it is more common in rural areas of the country where more of
the urban citizens keep it as a low level brand.

The major challenge Unilever has to face is its commitment to its old brand of
Lifebuoy. Unilever got a major setback when P&G introduced Safeguard through a
heavy media campaign. Unilever has tried to compensate that through promotional
program of “Healthy Hoga Pakistan” but still it needs a strong and continuous
commitment to this product.

Lifebuoy has well repositioned itself but still there is need to change the image that it
is a low quality low price product.

In penetrating the market through price, Lifebuoy has to compete with brands of P&G
and Colgate-Palmolive which are a good name of quality, so accordingly Lifebuoy
has to adjust its prices at that level where it creates dominance among the existing
brands.

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 In promoting the worth of the Lifebuoy, it has to modify its promotional campaigns
base on traditional heroism and fantasy; one is to come up with new realistic
approaches highlighting the need of an antibacterial soap in most hygienic
environment.

While deciding about the selection of Channel Company should consider customer
buying patterns and the nature of the market.

A general distribution pattern with distributors and retailers are the agents in the urban
areas to remove lag time in delivery of the product. Since in rural areas the places are
diversified so to improve the distribution there is an inclusion of the whole seller to
make the distribution extensive.

These are some suggestions from our side identified through complete analysis and view of
Lifebuoy. We hope that these suggestions can make a difference in the Lifebuoy by
proper implementation and planning.

SUGGESTION
1. Improve the quality of the product

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 2. Improve brand packaging and labeling

3. More innovation is required in making bar design beautiful.

4. The brand image is not up to the mark and there should be some effort to improve the
brand image.

5. Some people suggest that it has a bad smell and there is need to add a new fragrance.

6. Since it has passed a long time in the market, it has lost its significance, so go for the
product development and try to recapture the market with a new marketing strategy.

7. A lot of people think that Lifebuoy has to initiate better marketing and advertising
campaign.

8. Some people think that Lifebuoy has not developed its target market properly, some
time advertise itself through children campaign and some time targeting health
conscious families, so it is quite confusing. It is however necessary for Lifebuoy to
target each segment with its respective 4P’s.

9. There is a lack of celebrity endorsement in Lifebuoy‘s campaign so initiate

advertisements by endorsing celebrities to be the “opinion leader” in the market.

10. In the last, many of the correspondents think that Lifebuoy has now become a cultural
part of the society and to adjust its marketing strategies according to the cultural
norms of the society.

Suggested Distribution Strategy:

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We have suggested that Unilever for life buoy should introduce a new kind of distribution
strategy that will be a strategic fit between its productions to consumptions. Unilever should
identify its larger, medium and small consumption areas and design the channel accordingly.
According to my sense and survey lifebuoy must go for intensive distribution with wholesaler
and retailers in the areas where rate of consumption is usually very greater than that of the
other areas where comparatively rate of consumption is not so attractive.
Lifebuoy is available at every outlet and at every big, medium and even at very small
stores(hatti).Now we want to save the cost of per Tikki soap in Urban areas by reducing
intensive approach and turning to a new strategy that a more easily applicable and sensible.
We have discussed the following diagrammatic distribution method of Unilever for Lifebuoy
in the both Rural and Urban Market as well.

We have eliminated the existence of wholesaler from in the Urban market as of many reasons
 It is a lower consumption area for Lifebuoy

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 Warehousing cost can be a big trouble for wholesalers as they did not purchase extra
quantity from distributors and company and definitely it increases cost of contacting
to wholesaler and managing relationship.

 While the selection of channel company considers customer buying patterns and the
nature of the market.

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 CONCLUSION

After the analysis of data collection in Moradabad city following conclusions were
drawn:

 Customers are price sensitive

 50% customers are affected by advertisement.

 70% of the consumers are affected by T.V., 20% Newspaper, 4% through

their own choice & wish, and 6% through hoardings.
 Traditional advertising is about to over now i.e. 64% people likes multimedia
advertisement and 36% traditional advertisement.
 Almost all the respondents said that advertisement increases the cost of
product i.e.

70%.

 84% of people said that they wait for market responses and that is the reason
for delay between their purchase decision and actual purchase.

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 REFERENCE

Google.com

Wikipedia.com

Scribd.com

Marketing teachers .com

Marketingprofs.com

Dostoc.com

Slideshare.com

Principle of marketing “Philip kotler”.

Comsats Students Survey

Outsiders Survey

Group Meetings

Seniors

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