Ankit Sarkar

Roll No. 20MBACSR05

Specialization: MBA – CSR Finance

Marketing Management
Case No. 4

Introduction
This case focuses on educating us on the Product Life Cycle of Sunsilk. It focuses and
explains the various strategies that were implemented by Sunsilk to be the global leader in
the Shampoo Industry, it also states the various facts about Sunsilk and its presence in
various Countries.
Product life cycle (PLC) is a portrayal of the life of a product in the market attempting to
capture the dynamics of a brand from the perspective of business/commercial costs and
sales measures. Product Lifecycle has 5 stages through which a product or its category
bypass, from its development to introduction to the marketing, growth, maturity to its
decline or reduction in demand in the market.
Facts
• Sunsilk was launched in UK in 1954, and by 159 it was available in 18 different
countries worldwide.
• In 2008 an advertising campaign, “Life Can’t Wait” was launched featuring Madonna,
Natalia Oreiro, Shakira and Marilyn Monroe.
• Sunsilk is a hair care brand aimed at women, produced by Unilever Group, which is
now world’s leading company in hair conditioning and second largest in shampoo.

Q1. Identify and discuss different Strategies adopted by Sunsilk at various stages of
its Product Life Cycle.
➢ Sunsilk has introduced different strategies in its Product Life Cycle Stage and are as
follows:
1. Introduction Stage: It introduced itself as a cosmetic beauty shampoo brand thereby
having a totally different segment created in various countries it was launched,
Unilever also made sure that its efforts were specifically targeted towards the Hair
“issues” faced by people and aimed to rectify them by its products.
2. Growth Stage: Growth: During the growth stage, Sunsilk made and sold various new
products that cured various hair related problems amongst which Anti-dandruff
shampoo stood out, and attracted and huge customer base, thus attracting more
buyers. Sunsilk also advertised its products under a new tagline “All you need is
 Sunsilk”, which played an important role for the new product range of Conditioners
which was offered by Unilever.
3. Maturity Stage: When Sunsilk reached it Maturity, it was already being sold in 69
countries. In 2003, they came out as Sunsilk Naturals, which attracted the then health-
conscious consumers. And in 2009, Sunsilk started making specific shampoos which
were targeted towards the various issues by teaming up with the various professionals
of that issue.
4. Decline Stage: These were the various strategies which were adopted by Sunsilk. As
most items are eliminated of the market now because of the lessening in deals and due
to serious pressing factor. Sunsilk is still in its Maturity Stage, there are no Strategies
for the Decline stage of Product Life Cycle.

Q2. What are the challenges in front of Sunsilk? In your opinion how Sunsilk should
overcome those challenges?
Answer: According to me, following are the challenges waiting for Sunsilk:
1. Sunsilk lacks innovation in its product which is why it’s not able to tap on to a new
customer base.
2. Other than this, Sunsilk’s advertisement are very women centric that usually targets the
youthful women of the country, which in my opinion limits its reach. Even though it
might be a strategy, but it still constitutes to be a small segment.
3. There is high brand switching in the hair care segment therefore resulting in the cost of
customer acquisition to remain higher.
In my opinion, Sunsilk can over-come these challenges by using various strategies, like:
1. Sunsilk should consider rebranding itself and make the products appealing to all age
groups.
2. Sunsilk should also consider aiming at the male segment of the market, which would
make the sales go high.
3. The advertisements shouldn’t be focused on only women and should be advertised for
all.
4. And analyze the promotional strategies adopted by Unilever to promote the Sunsilk
brand in India, particularly the ‘Haircap’ and the global ‘Life Can’t Wait’ campaign.