Unilever’s Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability

Plan
Individual Submission

Unilever's new CEO, Paul Polman, unveiled the Unilever Sustainable Living Program (USLP),
a set of ambitious environmental and social goals that he has included into the company's
global strategy, affecting the health of one billion people worldwide. Unlike other corporate
social responsibility initiatives, USLP's measurable objectives are well-defined, precise, and
audited independently. Managers were held to a high standard of accountability for their
accomplishments. 

The case describes Sudir Sitapiti, Lifebuoy's category manager in India, who has done a
commendable job of reviving sales and profitability. However, he has slipped behind on his
USLP challenge to transform the handwashing habits of 450 million people in poor, remote
Indian communities. The case concludes with Sitapati reviewing some specific marketing
investment decisions, which Samir Singh, Lifebuoy's newly appointed Global Brand VP,
hopes to try to reverse the company's declining sales and profit performance.

The consequences of implementing a 'sustainability-based' strategy for Lifebuoy across the

4Ps of the marketing mix- Product, Price, Promotion and Place are as follows:

Product: Lifebuoy's quality is well-liked by the public. Lifebuoy has evolved to meet the
demands of its customers. Since its introduction, the soap has undergone various quality
enhancements to provide the highest hygiene outcomes. A new trademark Lifebuoy shape
has replaced the old chunky red brick shape of Lifebuoy soap with a shaped, milled toilet
bar. The redesigned shape makes it easier to hold and operate the bar. The traditional
Lifebuoy soap bar has undergone significant adjustments in recent years to ensure that it
provides excellent hygiene protection and a more joyful, healthy washing experience for its
billions of customers. The traditional medicated, carbolic scent of Lifebuoy soap was
replaced with a contemporary health fragrance. The four varieties assist in protecting the
family from 10 infections, from flu to Diarrhea.

When the worldwide swine flu pandemic broke and public health officials stressed the
importance of handwashing, a widespread switch from beauty bars to health soaps
happened. Lifebuoy was also working on a new liquid soap formulation. In 2010, it was
relaunched with futuristic packaging and germ-killing abilities.

Product development innovations like Clincare 10, a premium product claiming germ
protection ten times better than any other soap, and Lifebuoy Colour Changing Handwash,
aimed at encouraging children to wash their hands for 10 seconds, were also introduced.

Place/Distribution: Lifebuoy's strategy is that customers will find them in any small or large
store and examine the item. Its distribution network reaches around 635,000 villages and
reaches 635 million customers. People in rural, semi-urban, and metropolitan areas were
primarily targeted because nearly 50% of the population lives in rural areas and nearly half
of all soap is sold there. In remote communities, the company recruited women as local
distributors, appointing them as "Shakti Ammas." Training, microfinance, and products in
smaller SKUs were offered to reach people on low incomes.

Price: Unilever's Lifebuoy is a low-cost soap. The attention has been on the country's lower-
income and rural populations. Because a large portion of the population is low-income, this
is a significant target market that must be addressed. This portion of the population has very
elastic demand. Hence, a less expensive soap like Lifebuoy is in high demand. Because of its
low cost, the Lifebuoy is often utilised as a public toiletry item in public restrooms, schools,
colleges, and hospitals. Unilever's Lifebuoy approach is a penetrative one. The goal is
to maximize quantity by lowering prices. It makes sense because if the prices for the
intended market segment are kept low, the quantity requested will rise. The goal of pricing
is to maximize quantity. As the number of units sold increases, the cost of production
decreases. As a result, the Lifebuoy is made using the cost-plus pricing technique.

Although prices remained unchanged at affordable price brackets, the lifebuoy team
discovered that consumers become price-insensitive when germ protection is insured.

Promotion: Lifebuoy's mission is to create affordable, accessible hygiene solutions that

allow individuals to live a life free of hygiene-related problems. Lifebuoy has gone a long
way since it was primarily aimed at the underprivileged. Changing its earlier position to a
pure soap through which families can protect themselves from many ailments, the labor
class (lowest income) to middle-income bracket consumers. 

Lifebuoy's commercials have undergone significant alterations. It is now positioned as an

"advanced lifebuoy" capable of combating ten infection-causing bacteria. The focus was on
bringing the brand's educational approach to consumers in innovative ways to create long-
term behavior change. Also, on developing partnerships to expand outreach programs to
new frontiers in the years that followed. Lifebuoy promotions visit schools and 72 villages
quarterly across its marketplaces to urge communities to clean their hands with soap at
critical times throughout the day.

Lifebuoy shifted its focus from male-oriented personal hygiene to family health soap in
2001.Advertising and promotion were aimed at women. The new package featured a family
on the wrapper. In addition to reaching new markets, the company also launched a rural
outreach called Swasthya Chetna, which aimed to reduce major public health problems
like Diarrhea. The objective was to contact remote, media-inaccessible communities and
grow sales through education like the Glo-Germ demonstration, impacting 120 million
people in 50,600 villages.

In 2005, it again repositioned the brand image with the "Life without Fear" campaign, built
around the theme that mothers need not worry about sending their children to get dirty.
The TV commercials were emotionally engaging, but they failed to communicate product
advantage, and market share fell from 18.45 to 17.6%.
In 2007, they relaunched another campaign backed by data rather than emotions, which
showed children who practiced handwashing had 26% fewer days of school absence
because of diarrhea events, respiratory infections, and eye infections. It proved challenging
to communicate research results, and the market share fell to 15.5% by 2009.

In 2010, Lifebuoy relaunched Liquid handwash, highlighting its germ-killing capability and
futuristic package.

After the company unveiled its USLP, In 2010, Singh, the Global Brand VP, made the brand
return to its roots of offering protection from diseases spread by germs. The promotional
activities were customized to each country's specific calendar when infection risk was high,
such as monsoon seasons and festivals. The activities were supported by product
development innovation. From 2009 to 2012, global sales increased by 17% p.a. and gross
profits by 22% per annum.