Comparison of Marketing Mix between Head and Shoulders and Pantene

This report compares the marketing mix of Head and Shoulders and Pantene, including product, price, place, and promotion. It also analyzes the target market of both brands and provides recommendations for each.

4P MARKETING MIX_
COMPARE BETWEEN
TWO BRANDS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The marketing mix is defined as the combination of different factors which supports the selling
of the product and services within the competitive market. It is very necessary for the company
to have an effective and efficient marketing mix as it includes the decision of what product to
bring in the market, what price needs to be charged form the consumer and in what way. Also, it
includes how to provide the goods and services to the ultimate consumers and also how the
promotion of the products and services will take place by the company.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Comparison of target market..................................................................................................3
Marketing mix........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The marketing mix is a combination of different factors and component which are used
by the company in order to influence and encourage consumers to buy the product and services
(Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015). This is very important for the companies to have very effective and
efficient marketing mix because the competition is also tough and to overcome this company
needs to have an appropriate marketing mix. The present report is based on comparison of two
different companies that is Head and Shoulders and Pantene Lady’s Shampoo.
Both the companies are the competitor of each other and that is the reason of choosing
these two strong competitors for the comparison of the marketing mix. In the present report first
the analysis of the target market of both the shampoo brand will be done. And in the next
segment the comparison of all the elements of marketing mix will be done that is product, price,
place and promotion.
MAIN BODY
Comparison of target market
Analysing the target market is very necessary for the company in order to know its position
within the target market. For analysing this model of STP is applied which includes
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. The STP for both the companies is as follows-
Elements Head and Shoulders Pantene Lady’s
Segmentation This is defined as dividing the
consumers in certain group on
the basis of some common
characteristics. This is done in
order to group the consumers
together and this helps
company in focusing that
particular group only. The
segmentation used by Head and
Shoulders is geographical and
demographic (Datta, Ailawadi
and Van Heerde, 2017). This
The segmentation strategy
used by Pantene is the
psychographic and
behavioural. This has been
opted by the company
because of the reason that
every person is different
and their hair types are
also different and thus the
company mainly focuses
on the needs and
requirements of the person

has been used by the company
as this segmentation helps in
covering large areas at the same
time.
according to their
behaviour and psychology
(Sulaiman, 2016).
Targeting This is defined as targeting a
particular group of people so
that the main focus of the
company is on those consumer
groups only. The target market
is the specific segment of the
society for which the product is
made. The major target of Head
and Shoulder is the females.
This is majorly because of the
reason that they are very
conscious about their look and
in look the first thing comes are
the hairs.
The major target group for
Pantene is the females and
in females also the main
focus is on the working
females. This is majorly
because of the reason that
these people do not have
much time to give to their
appearance and for this the
company has provided
much product range for
such target group (Bahadir,
Bharadwaj and Srivastava,
2015).
Positioning Positioning refers to as the act
of position the product in the
eyes of the consumers. This is
very necessary because of the
reason that if the product is not
placed correctly then the
consumers will not know about
the features of the product in
the correct way (Shaw, 2016).
The positioning strategy used
by Head and Shoulders is the
functional positioning that is
the company mainly focuses in
For the competitor that is
Pantene the positioning
strategy is the experiential
position. It means that the
company majorly focuses
on the fact that the
consumers must first
experience the product and
then must decide that
whether the product was
useful or not.

the functions of the product to
attract the consumers.
Marketing mix
The marketing mix is defined as the art of placing the right product in the right place and along
with right prices so that it attracts more of the consumers and the sales of the company increases.
(Stead and Hastings, 2018) The marketing mix is a very important aspect in the success of the
company. The underlying reason is that if the product is not placed correctly then there will not
be any success. Thus, the comparison between the marketing mix of two brands that is Head and
Shoulders and Pantene is as follows-
Elements Head and Shoulders Pantene Lady’s
Product The Head and Shoulders
provide a wide variety of
products. The product here is
the shampoo only but the
variety pertains to the different
options and flavours which are
added in the shampoo for the
different person such as anti hair
fall, anti- dandruff, menthol,
hair rejuvenating and many
others (Išoraitė, 2016).
Similarly, Pantene is also
having a wide range of
products that is variety of
flavours and choices in the
shampoo. This is mainly
focussed by the company
because every person has
different types of hairs and
their requirement of
shampoo is different and
this gives Pantene an
opportunity to develop
different type of choices for
catering to the needs of
different person and
consumers.
Price The pricing strategy used by the
company is the penetrating
pricing (Massingham and
Pomering, 2017). This is used
The pricing strategy used
by this company is the
competitors pricing
strategy. Under this type of

by the company because of the
reason that this strategy helps
the company in penetrating
within the market. Here the
company first start the product
with lower price and this
strategy helps the people in
getting used to the product and
after that the company increases
the prices of the product slightly
and this little difference does
not affect the consumer.
strategy first the company
analyses the strategy of the
competitors and then they
design their own pricing
strategy keeping in mind
the strategy of other similar
business.
Place The place of the product is both
that is physical stores and also
these products are sold with
help of wholesalers and other
intermediaries. This is because
of the reason that the
intermediary has strong
channels of distribution which is
beneficial for the company to
expand the market.
The place of distribution
for Pantene is the physical
stores and the online mode
of selling. This is majorly
because of the reason that
online purchasing is very
much in trend and this
needs to be followed to be
in the intense competition
(Sinapuelas, Wang and
Bohlmann, 2015).
Promotion This is the most essential part of
the marketing mix without
which the company cannot
succeed in its business. The
promotional strategy used by
Head and Shoulders is the
advertisement in television and
also online. The major focus is
The promotional tool used
by this company is the
online marketing. This
marketing is done with the
help of the advertisement
provided on the different
social media networking
sites such as Facebook,

on the television commercial
featuring big celebrities. This is
majorly because of the reason
that this attracts more of the
consumers and most of the
females are non- working and
the television is the most
common thing which they do
most (Ramani and Srinivasan,
2019).
Instagram, Twitter and
many other different social
media platforms. This si
used majorly because of the
reason that this attracts
more of the consumers at a
single time and involves a
less cost as compared to
other marketing tools.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be concluded that for running the business successfully in the
highly competitive market it is very necessary for the company to use an effective marketing
strategy and marketing mix. Along with the marketing mix it is also essential for the company to
use an effective STP because this is base for marketing mix. This is majorly because of the
reason that the STP first outlines the target market and then only keeping the target market in
mind the other strategies that is what price to be levied, which ways of promotion to be used to
attract the target market is decided. The present report first compares the STP of both the
companies that is Head and Shoulder and Pantene. In the next the comparison of both the
companies marketing mix is done to identify the different strategies used by the company to sell
their product.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The major recommendation for Head and Shoulders is to give more focus on the online
method of marketing. This is majorly because of the reason that there is a great influence in the
online marketing over the consumers. It is so due to the fact that the people use much of the
social media networking sites and this can increase the consumer base for the company.
Another recommendation for Pantene is to use the price skimming method of the pricing.
This is because of the reason that under this pricing strategy the company first sets a high price
and then lowers the prices eventually. This sis done because of the reason that high prices attract
the high income group and when the high income group is attracted towards the product then the

company lowers the price to attract medium class people and after catering to the needs of this
group the further price is dropped.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bahadir, S.C., Bharadwaj, S.G. and Srivastava, R.K., 2015. Marketing mix and brand sales in
global markets: Examining the contingent role of country-market characteristics. Journal
of International Business Studies. 46(5). pp.596-619.
Datta, H., Ailawadi, K.L. and Van Heerde, H.J., 2017. How well does consumer-based brand
equity align with sales-based brand equity and marketing-mix response?. Journal of
Marketing. 81(3). pp.1-20.
Fan, S., Lau, R.Y. and Zhao, J.L., 2015. Demystifying big data analytics for business intelligence
through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research. 2(1). pp.28-32.
Išoraitė, M., 2016. Marketing mix theoretical aspects. International Journal of Research–
Granthaalayah. 4(6). pp.25-37.
Massingham, P.R. and Pomering, A.A., 2017. Introducing Knowledge Management to the
Marketing Mix.
Ramani, N. and Srinivasan, R., 2019. Effects of Liberalization on Incumbent Firms’ Marketing-
Mix Responses and Performance: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment. Journal of
Marketing. 83(5). pp.97-114.
Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. Routledge.
Sinapuelas, I.C.S., Wang, H.M.D. and Bohlmann, J.D., 2015. The interplay of innovation, brand,
and marketing mix variables in line extensions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 43(5). pp.558-573.
Stead, M. and Hastings, G., 2018. Advertising in the social marketing mix: getting the balance
right. In Social Marketing (pp. 29-43). Psychology Press.
Sulaiman, J.A., 2016. THE INFLUENCE OF MARKETING MIX 4A AND HEALTH
CONCIOUSNESS TOWARDS ETHICAL CONSUMPTION (Doctoral dissertation,
President University).