Principles of Marketing: Head & Shoulders vs Pantene

This report compares the marketing mix of Head & Shoulders and Pantene Lady's Shampoo, analyzing their target market, product, price, place, and promotion strategies.

Principle of Marketing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is about the principles of marketing which includes the different elements of
marketing mix. The objective of the report is to conduct a detailed analysis of marketing mix of
Head & Shoulders and Pantene Lady's Shampoo. After conducting analysis, the result came out
the both the brands have effectively used 4Ps of marketing mix which has helped it in achieving
success.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................................4
Comparison of target market.......................................................................................................4
Comparing the marketing mix of both the brands.......................................................................5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION...............................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The basic principle of marketing is the marketing mix which consists of product, price,
place and promotion mix. For making a marketing strategy successful, all the four components
need to used correctly. This report aims at comparing the marketing mix used by Head And
Shoulders Shampoo and Pantene Lady's Shampoo (P&G in £15m Head & Shoulders push.
2020). The market share of Head & Shoulder shampoo is 12 % as compared 13% of Pantene,
also both the brands has seen a fall in sales up-t 7.9% from last year.
FINDINGS
Comparison of target market
To know the target market STP is carried out for both the brands. A detailed analysis is
given below.
STP of Head & Shoulder shampoo
Segmentation: Head & Shoulders shampoo is based on the psychographic factor. It has
targeted the lifestyle of the people as well as their taste and preferences (Capon and Go, 2016).
The core segments of it is based on the needs which are anti-dandruff, black hair, shiny hair and
low price. It has also started working on smooth hair.
Targeting: The target market of Head & Shoulders shampoo are upper middle class
people who are brand conscious and also those who care more about the health of their hair. It
also targeted college going youth with the features like volume boost, hair-fall therapy, menthol
etc. It also took the advantage of consumer mentality by adopting the prominent actors in the
advertisements.
Positioning: It has mainly positioned itself as anti-dandruff product which clears the
scalp in one wash. It has successfully acquired the niche market and its effective distribution
channel has also boosted its sales.
STP of Pantene Lady's Shampoo
Segmentation: Pantene targets those customer segments who are looking for more
affordable hair career. It offers its product to middle and upper class people. Pantene Lady's
shampoo uses psychographic segmentation style to target people with high preference to lifestyle
and are very conscious about their hair.
Targeting: Pantene has targeted mainly the women in their mid to early 40s who are
more interested in living a healthy lifestyle and wants to feel happy about their looks (Percy,

2016). It has brought different product ranges like deep cleanser, repair and protect and curl
perfection by understanding the different buyer types and their needs.
Positioning: It has positioned itself as an affordable brand as an alternative to salon
brands. It then repositioned that helps women bring out inner shine with the help of outer shine.
The target market of both the brand is almost similar as they have targeted psychographic
factor which includes the psychological attributes that drives the needs and trends. It includes
belief, attitude, lifestyle, income level etc.
Comparing the marketing mix of both the brands
Marketing mix is a combination of tactics that an organization uses in order to promote
its brand and product in the market (Armstrong and et.al, 2018). All these elements or tactics
needs to work together and should be connected in order to be successful. It has four elements
which are discussed below in detail.
Marketing mix of Head & Shoulders shampoo
Product
To evaluate the product mix Levitt's model of brand can be used. It is based on the idea
of product stratification of levels. It has four levels. The first is basic product, which is having
the characteristics to satisfy the core benefits (Anees-ur-Rehman, Wong and Hossain, 2016). It
refers to the benefit that the customer is actually buying. In Head & Shoulders, the core benefit is
the shiny and dandruff free hairs whereas Pantene is providing the benefit of healthy and
protective hairs. Second is expected product, in this marketer prepares the product by adding a
new set of attributes (Festa, 2019). Head & Shoulders has provided additional benefits that
shampoo with conditioner which gives additional benefit to the customer to not buy any separate
product. Also, Pantene has done the same. Third is augmented product, which refers to
exceeding the customer expectation (Tong, Su and Xu, 2018). The Head & Shoulders shampoo
has provided varied offers to its customers and the wide range of product categories like purely
gentle shampoo, instant oil control shampoo, old spice 2-in -1 for men, smooth and silky
conditioner etc.
In the same way, Pantene has also provided variety of products which has exceeded the
expectation of customer such as shampoos, conditioners, 2-in-1 and hair treatment products
(Balica and Ionescu, 2018). The last is the potential product which includes all the possible
transformation that the product might go through in the future. This prompts organizations to

find a new way to satisfy the customer. Both Head & Shoulders and Pantene is working
continuously to finding innovative ways to meet the expectation of the customers by bring
product transformation.
Thus, as per Aaker's brand of personality, Head & Shoulders is having the personality
type of sophistication and ruggedness whereas Pantene Lady's Shampoo has the personality type
of excitement, competence and sophistication (Kumar, 2018).
Price
There are different types of pricing strategies that are adopted by the organization. It
includes competition based pricing, cost plus pricing, high low pricing, skimming pricing and
penetration pricing. There has been a tough competition in the FMCG market in UK with
different other brands such as Dove, L'Oreal, Tresemme etc. Both Head & Shoulder and Pantene
is using competitive pricing strategy. Also, the products offered by them are similar in terms of
benefits. The objective of both the brand is to provide quality product at the best price to retain
the customers (Pantene Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy. 2020). There always exists a brand
loyalty among the customers towards a particular brand but customers will not mind in shifting
to other competitors or brand because of low switching cost. Head & Shoulder relies on
reasonable pricing with the aim of attracting and maintaining the customer loyalty by making its
products pocket friendly. Both Head & Shoulder and Pantene uses promotional pricing method
during the peak season by offering heavy discounts which results in higher revenue and large
volume sales.
Place (Distribution)
Head & Shoulder is big brand with global presence. Its penetration policy is its strength
to capture the international market. It has wide distribution network which includes services
provided by distributors and retailers in order to reach customers through stores, supermarket,
local market and other corner shops (Dağlı, 2017). Also, its products are available online. On the
other hand, Pantene also has an extensive distribution network globally with wide range of
products. Its aim is to make its Pantene products available at all the retail stores, markets and
shops. Its product passes from manufacturing site to forwarding agents. From there it goes to
regional stockist to the wholesalers and retailers and finally reach to the end consumers. It sells
its products through online sites as well.
Promotion

Head & Shoulders is relied heavily on its marketing team for implementing various
marketing and promotional activities. It uses aggressive policy that is creative and informative. It
has used several advertisement campaigns to maintain its brand visibility (Bhasin, 2019). From
the days of its brand creation it has used television, radio, newspaper, posters, hoarding to
advertise its products. It also believed in celebrity endorsement and has roped in most famous
and renowned personality like Jenson Button, formula one driver, Nauheed Cyrusi to be its brand
ambassador. On the other hand, Pantene covers all aspects of marketing which includes
television, radio, billboards and social media. Its TV advertisements were focussed on targeting
young women, also it telecast its advertisements on mostly entertainment channels. It also used
celebrity endorsement to effectively promote its product. It also has its presence on social media
which is growing at a high rate. It connects its users and followers with the hair experts and
celebrities. Pantene also uses YouTube to provide expert tips in the form of videos and
interviews of various stylists and celebrity sharing expert advice and their experience. It also
uses poster to advertise its products in order to create its visibility at the retailers and
supermarket.
Based on the above comparison, it can be said that both Head & Shoulder and Pantene
Lady's Shampoo are effectively using different elements of marketing mix in order to make its
marketing strategy successful.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that both the brands have applied the 4Ps of
marketing mix in a systematic and organized way. Both has taken into consideration their target
market based on which marketing strategy has been formulated. They have applied 4Ps in this
way to attract their target customers for their wide range of products. It has used pricing and
promotional content in such away that it will influence the needs of the customers and becomes
their desire to have it. After comparing the two brands, Head & Shoulder and Pantene Lady's
Shampoo, it can be said that Pantene has more effectively used the marketing mix and is
successful in it. Still being successful in the marketing strategy but still there are ways to further
improve it which includes both the brands can use advance technology to attract customers, also
it can open their own brand store which will increase its physical presence. Apart from this, they
need to utilize more online platforms in promoting the product.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Anees-ur-Rehman, M., Wong, H. Y. and Hossain, M., 2016. The progression of brand
orientation literature in twenty years: A systematic literature review. Journal of brand
management. 23(6). pp.612-630.
Armstrong, G. M. and et.al, 2018. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson UK.
Balica, M. and Ionescu, S., 2018. Perception of the Organizations Reputation. FAIMA Business
& Management Journal. 6(4). pp.42-54.
Capon, N. and Go, F., 2016. Frameworks for Market Strategy: European Edition. Taylor &
Francis.
Dağlı, Ö., 2017. Personalities of Brands Using Social Media Efficiently. Online Journal of
Communication and Media Technologies, 7(4).
Festa, G., 2019. GLOBAL BRANDING. Contemporary Issues in Branding.
Kumar, A., 2018. Story of Aaker’s brand Personality scale criticism. Spanish Journal of
Marketing-ESIC.
Percy, L., 2016. Strategic advertising management. Oxford University Press.
Tong, X., Su, J. and Xu, Y., 2018. Brand personality and its impact on brand trust and brand
commitment: an empirical study of luxury fashion brands. International journal of
fashion design, technology and education. 11(2). pp.196-209.
Online
Bhasin, H., 2019. Marketing Mix Of Head & Shoulders – Head & Shoulders Marketing Mix.
[Online]. Available Through:<https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-head-
shoulders-head-shoulders-marketing-mix/>.
P&G in £15m Head & Shoulders push. 2020. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.marketingweek.com/p15m-head-shoulders-push/>.
Pantene Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy. 2020. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/16891-pantene.html>.
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