Marketing Management: Head and Shoulders Brand Positioning and Consumer-Adoption Process

This Marketing Management assignment discusses the brand positioning of Head and Shoulders and the consumer-adoption process.

qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe
rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyu
iopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopa
sdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg
hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjkl
zxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv
bnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe
rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyu
iopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopa
sdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg
hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjkl
zxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv
bnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe
rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmrtyuiopa
Marketing management
[Type the document subtitle]
9/19/2019
student name

Marketing management 1
Contents
Head and Shoulders brand positioning............................................................................................2
Market leaders.................................................................................................................................2
Head and Shoulders Consumer-adoption process...........................................................................4
Product awareness.......................................................................................................................4
Product interest............................................................................................................................5
Product evaluation.......................................................................................................................5
Product trial.................................................................................................................................5
Product adoption..........................................................................................................................5
Head and Shoulders Pricing strategy decisions...............................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

Marketing management 2
Head and Shoulders brand positioning
The company is offering the shampoo for the young age group to cure the dandruff as the key
problem area. The cool head is the positioning approach for the company. The company is aware
that the customers are suffering from various hair problems due to increase in environmental
damage of nutrition deficiency. This reflects targeting the customer group who are suffering
from dandruff, which is one of the general problems in hair care (Bruns, 2013). The company
positioning the brand with product differentiated through usefulness and the key reason to
believe in brand is due to assurance of 100 percent elimination of dandruff. The emotional need
that has been targeted by the brand is need for more concentration and confidence to attempt the
activities in everyday life win challenges without hesitating pertaining to the discomfort of being
socially confident with no hair problems (Andersson, 2016).
Market leaders
Global shampoo market is bifurcated into various product types like kids shampoo, anti-dandruff
shampoo, medicated shampoo, standard shampoo. Considering the key market leaders in the
shampoo industry are L’Oreal, P & G, Shiseido Company limited, and Unilever. Considering
these market leaders in the industry, head and shoulders is the part of Procter and Gamble
Company providing the product to target the niche market (Gong & Yi, 2018). The niche market
selected by the brand is the anti-dandruff shampoo, thus the focus of the brand within the P & G
company is one of the hair and scalp issues, that is very common in young people and
individuals to change in environment and the eating habits and changing lifestyle of the
customers in western nations (Calboli, 2015).

Marketing management 3
Figure 1: (Source: (mordorintelligence, 2019)
Other than the current performance of the industry, the future forecast of the shampoo industry
reflect increase in sale and demand of the products, which could be beneficial for head and
shoulders by targeting the niche market of anti-dandruff shampoo. Other than this, the organic
products demand is found to be growing considering it as the primary concern in the health
issues (Pappas, 2016). Unilever can be the major market leader which could be threat for head
and shoulders as the company strategy includes investing in new product development, which
could include range of product targeting the same niche market in near future. Moreover, Dove
Dermacare is the product that is targeting the dandruff issues while offering shampoo and
conditioner for the issue. Other than this the medicated shampoos and oil can be the products that
can be competition for head and shoulders in near future (Wel, 2012).

Marketing management 4
Head and Shoulders Consumer-adoption process
When a new product enters into the market there is the major risk of adoption of the product by
consumer. There have been various researches conducted, which reflect that there are five key
stages that reflect the process of consumer adoption of the product (Wel, 2012).
Figure 2: (source: (iedunote, 2019)
Product awareness
As per this first stage of the adoption process, the products offered by head and shoulder will be
increasing out to the customer regarding their name, quality, their uses and the consumer
perception regarding the product is created. The company uses various promotional tools in order
to get information about the product to potential customers (Boncinelli et al., 2016). This is one
of the crucial stages as this reflects the brand image and companies strategy to reach out to the
customer. This may include tools like launching event of the company, initial advertisements,
and most importantly brand ambassador (Zhang, 2015).

Marketing management 5
Product interest
This stage includes turning the awareness and perception of the customer regarding the product
towards the willingness to purchase. The interest of the customer is the next step towards the
purchase of the products. This reflects if the customer is willing towards the use of the product
(Hudson & Roth, 2016).
Product evaluation
This stage involves that the customer will research for the product, either through discussion in
social groups, or checking products review on different sites, and understanding the relevance of
use of the product (Chung & Fiore, 2017).
Product trial
In case the evaluation done by the customer is in the positive direction, then the customer will try
the first bottle of shampoo, which would generally be of the smallest packaging like sachet
packing (if available) so as to check if the product does what it claims that is removing dandruff
from first wash (Kaplan, 2015).
Product adoption
This is the last stages, which will occur once the customers are satisfied with the trial of the
product. This stage includes repurchase of eh product and makes the product use into the lifestyle
of the customer. This reflects the customer loyalty and customer satisfaction from head and
shoulders product. The adoption time for head and shoulders product is around 3- 6 months of
the launch (Kumar et al., 2018).
The product will be targeted to the early adopters, the reason being people facing dandruff issue
are looking for the quick solution to the problem, and in case they found a new product, which is

Marketing management 6
also by the known brand, the customer would prefer to try the product. The full adoption time for
the products would be six months for head and shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo (Mills, 2015).
Head and Shoulders Pricing strategy decisions
Figure 3: (Source: (Bruns, 2013)
The pricing strategy is one of the major decisions by the company as this will be dependable on
the target market and segment. Head and shoulders are targeting the middle income group, so the
pricing strategy considering the pricing matrix presented above, penetration pricing strategy. The
matrix includes four major pricing strategy that the company can adopt on the basis of the quality
and price range of the product (Pappas, 2016). Thus the most suitable strategy for head and
shoulder reflect the high quality product that is curing what is claimed by the company that is to
remove dandruff, for which the company is not asking for very high or premium price, the
company has been offering the nominal range for the product, so as to target large number of
middle income group and young individuals. This seems to be effective strategy for the

Marketing management 7
company, as the key market of the products is the Asian market, which reflects that the large
population is of middle income group (Petersen & Kumar, 2015). Moreover, the company can go
for the discount offers for the large packaging so as to increase the use of the products and
increase the sale of the goods (Zhang, 2015).
Other than this, ahead shoulder is able to target lower income group by introducing the
packaging of the products. As per the human sociology, the individual may not be ready to spend
a large amount of the consumer goods for large quantity but would be able to spend small
amount for the sachet packing that they have to spend on regular basis (Aksoy, 2018). Moreover
the company is also focused towards the cost minimization, which is one of the reasons that the
company is able to implement and work with the penetration pricing strategy effectively.
However, this may reduce the opportunity for the company to gain higher profit in near future
(Mohd & Sasmita, 2015).

Marketing management 8
Conclusion
The head and shoulder report concluded that Head and Shoulders Brand positioning is offering
the shampoo for the young age group to cure dandruff as the key problem area. The cool head is
the positioning approach for the company. The key market leaders in the shampoo industry are
L’Oreal, P & G, Shiseido Company limited, and Unilever.
The future forecast of the shampoo industry reflects an increase in sale and demand of the
products, Unilever can be the major market leader which could be threat for head and shoulders.
Moreover, Dove Dermacare is the product that is targeting the dandruff issues while offering
shampoo and conditioner for the issue that can be competition for head and shoulders in near
future.
There have been various researches conducted, which reflect that there are five key stages that
reflect the process of consumer adoption of the product. The stages include Product awareness,
Product interest, Product evaluation, Product trial, and Product adoption. The full adoption time
for the products would be six months for head and shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo. Head and
shoulders are targeting the middle income group, so the pricing strategy considering the pricing
matrix presented above, penetration pricing strategy.

Marketing management 9
References
Aksoy, S., 2018. Applying Ansoff’S Growth Strategy Matrix To Innovation Classification.
International Journal of Innovation Management, p.1850039.
Andersson, R., 2016. Communication professionals: Important Internal Agents for Realizing
Strategy Processes within the Organization. In ECREA, p.1.
Boncinelli, F., Dominici, A., Gerini, F. & Marone, F., 2016. Consumers wine preferences
according to purchase occasion: Personal consumption and gift-giving. Food quality and
preference, 27, p.77.
Bruns, P., 2013. Corporate Entrepreneurship: Innovation and Strategy in large organisations.
3rd ed. london: Palgrave MacMillan.
Calboli, I., 2015. Geographical indications of origin at the crossroads of local development,
consumer protection and marketing strategies. IIC-International Review of Intellectual Property
and Competition Law, 46(7), p.760.
Chung, J.E. & Fiore, A.M., 2017. The Effects of Shopping Motivation and an Experiential
Marketing Approach on Consumer Responses toward Small Apparel Retailers. Fashion, Industry
and Education, 15(2), p.11.
Gong, T. & Yi, Y., 2018. The effect of service quality on customer satisfaction, loyalty, and
happiness in five Asian countries. Psychology & Marketing, p.472.
Hudson, S. & Roth, M.S., 2016. The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand
relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors. International
Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), p.27.
iedunote, 2019. consumer-adoption-process. [Online] Available at:
https://iedunote.com/consumer-adoption-process.
Kaplan, B., 2015. Marketing Strategies For The Generation “C” Consumer Behavior: An
Overview For The GSM Market in Turkey. In Handbook of Research on Developing Sustainable
Value in Economics, Finance, and Marketing, pp.463-75. Available at: https://www.igi-
global.com/chapter/marketing-strategies-for-the-generation-c-consumer-behavior/121375.
Kumar, V., Harmeling, C.M. & Palmatier, R.W., 2018. Customer Engagement Marketing. In
Customer Engagement Marketing, pp.1-27.
Mills, A.J., 2015. Everyone loves a secret: Why consumers value marketing secrets. Business
Horizons.

Marketing management 10
Mohd, N. & Sasmita, J., 2015. Young consumers’ insights on brand equity: Effects of brand
association, brand loyalty, brand awareness, and brand image. International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management, 43(3), pp.276-92.
mordorintelligence, 2019. industry-reports/hair-care-market-industry. [Online] Available at:
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/hair-care-market-industry.
Pappas, N., 2016. Marketing strategies, perceived risks, and consumer trust in online buying
behaviour. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 29, p.92.
Petersen, J.A. & Kumar, V., 2015. Marketing communication strategies and consumer financial
decision making: The role of national culture. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), p.44.
Wel, C.A.C., 2012. Important determinant of consumers’ retail selection decision in Malaysia.
World Review of Business Research, 2(2), pp.164-75.
Zhang, Y., 2015. The impact of brand image on consumer behavior: a literature review. Open
journal of business and management, 3(1), p.1.