Principles of Marketing: A Comparative Analysis of Dove and Sure

This report provides a comparative analysis of Dove and Sure, two market rivals, in terms of their target markets and marketing mix. It explores the differences between the two brands and why they work differently.

Principles of
Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Target Market..............................................................................................................................3
Product of Dove and Sure...........................................................................................................4
Price policy of Dove and Sure....................................................................................................5
Place / Distribution process of Dove and Sure............................................................................5
Promotion strategy of Dove and Sure.........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a phenomena of channelising consumers path towards the brand and its
offerings by being in close touch and communication through effective marketing and
promotional activities. Marketing plays a active role in building and maintaining a brands image
in market amongst other competitors and target audiences (Palmatier and Crecelius, 2019). The
report holds a tactical comparisons of two brands by using the 4P's of marketing. The considered
brands are Dove and Sure. The two are market rivals, Dove is an American personal care brand
which is owned by Unilever founded in 1957. Sure is an Australian organisation which was
founded in 1908 who is also owned by Unilever. The report covers a comparative analysis of the
two brands of their target markets and their marketing mix. The assignment will be looking over
the aspects which makes both the brand different and why they work differently.
MAIN BODY
Target Market
Target market is referred to the audiences of the firm for whom the offering of the brand
are aimed. It is a group of potential buyers and consumers to whom the brand is most suitable
and their preferences matches with firms offerings. The marketing and promotional plans of
company's are developed for attracting the target market and related audiences. One major task
that is involved in higher revenue and profitability of the firm is identifying the target audiences
and changing them into potential long term buyers. Thus, organisations have to develop their
target market profile and for which STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) tool is used.
STP is a framework with three major factors that enable firms to have a potential target
audiences and make their marketing efforts and strategies for gaining their attention. A target
market profile of Dove and Sure is presented below with the help of STP (Bernyte, 2018).
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING STRATEGY OF DOVE Segmentation- Dove is a personal care brand that covers a very large market around the
globe. The company divides its market by Demographic segmentation, through which it
focuses over women over age group of 18 and has high purchasing power. Targeting- The targeting stage is supported by segmentation as at this stage Dove targets
the receptive group form their segmented consumers. Dove targets for all ages of women
also of all shapes and sizes. The targeted audiences of Dove has to have high purchasing

power and income. Thus, they highly focus over upper and middle class women who
are willing to pay the price for company's products.
 Positioning- Dove is brand which position itself as a personal care beauty product
selling brand. The company makes use of its high moisturising content to stand aside
form other brands and competitors.
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING STRATEGY OF SURE Segmentation- Sure is also known as Rexona a brand which is offers number of variates
of deodorants for creating a strategic pre-emption from the rivals for entering the
industry. The company segments the market by Demographic segmentation as well
where it focus over age of customers to be between 13 to 35 (French and Gordon, 2019). Targeting- The target audience of Sure is the people who have a unique lifestyle and
wished to stay odourless. The company focuses over the customers who lives a separate
type of lifestyle like trendy, fashionable, athletic and active. Sure is a unisex company
which makes its target audience diverse as it concentrates on men and women both of
different age groups belonging to 13 to 35 and who live a unique lifestyles. The target
segment is of middle class men, women and teenagers (Cateora and et. al., 2020).
 Positioning- The positioning factor is where company places itself in market amongst
others. Sure presents itself on the basis of its strengths that is being a low cost producer
offering diversified products with customer with number of variants and by highly
concentrating on its USP of offering long lasting deodorants that can keep the user
odourless for 24 hours straight.
Product of Dove and Sure
Marketing mix is also known as 4P's a tool that includes major tactical areas needs to be
considered by organisation for developing a strong marketing strategies. The four elements are
Product, Price, Place and Promotions.
Product refers to the offering of a brand, these are in tangible and intangible forms which
are sold to customers to fulfil their needs and desires. Most firms manufacture goods by
considering the preferences and needs of people that is their target audiences. Thus the prodcuts
offering of Dove and Sure (Rexona)
Dove Sure (Rexona)

When its comes to product offering of Dove
the brand has a diversified product portfolio
which includes range of beauty products, hair
products, face care, deodorants, soaps and
many other.
The product mix of Sure includes range of
soaps, sprays, roll ons, deodorants and many
other. The brand maintains high standards of
hygiene by offering 24 hour long lasting
deodorants and other products like roll ons for
improving odour and keeping user refreshing.
Price policy of Dove and Sure
The Price factors is simple and refers to the amount organisations charge form their
buyers for the respective product or the service being offered to them. The pricing policies or
strategies are decided on the basis of the target audiences purchasing power and willingness to
pay for the good (DeLong and Elbeck, 2018).
Dove Sure (Rexona)
The company deals in a very competitive
environment and have its presence around the
world which exposes it to more rivalry and
competition. Thus, Dove make use of
competitive pricing policy. Initially it used
premium pricing but then due to lower demand
the company adopted competitive pricing
policy and reduced prices. Still the goods are
slightly higher in price than its competitors and
its demand is high due to high quality of
product offering.
The products portfolio is diversified of Rexona
thus, its products prices are variably priced
based on the consumers preferences and the
type of good they are buying. Hence, pricing of
Sure goods and specifically deodorants are
affordable and convenient as the company
targets middle class customer base who has
enough purchasing power to settle with
product price of Sure (Fuciu and Dumitrescu,
2018).
Place / Distribution process of Dove and Sure
Place refers to the distribution channels and the location through which customers can
reach to the product and service offering of a brand. The organisations are suggested to be more
accessible in market to buyers with huge market presence. The goal of this tactic is to make their
product present in market that are more likely to buy them by placing them in the right place, at
right time and in-front of the right audiences.
Dove Sure (Rexona)

The distribution channels of Dove are very
strong and wide spread. The company make
sale in more than 80 countries around the
world with presence worldwide. The parent
company that is Unilever's resources are used
by Dove for distribution. Dove make sales
through supermarkets, general stores, whole-
sellers and chemists.
Sure (Rexona) has its presence around the
globe which reflects over its huge market
presence. Sure make use of outsourcing for
distributing its offerings. The company unlike
using Unilever's distribution channels make its
path to market through local retailers and
general stores which enable them to be more
closer to their target audiences.
Promotion strategy of Dove and Sure
Once the other three tactical P's are optimised now it is the time for firm to promote its
offering in the market for attracting the general public for say and their target markets. There are
several aspects and practices involved in promotions like advertising, public relation, social
media presence, use of digital technologies, promotional strategies and many more. The major
aim of this tactical step is to make potential buyers realise why they need the particular good and
make them pay for it willingly and happily (Park, 2020).
Dove Sure
Dove offer beauty product range which is a
very competitive field. Dove make use of very
unique marketing campaigns which involves
aspirational for women. A campaign designed
and known a “Campaign for real beauty” that
concentrates over self esteem of women. Dove
make use of creative ideas and digital tools for
creating a unique and attractive advertisements
to flourish its brand in market.
On the contrary Sure (Rexona) adopts entirely
different approach. The company reaches out
to customers through magazines, pamphlets
and TV advertisements for reaching to more
and the larger customer base and the targeted
audiences. The company do have presence on
social media but in a minimal form.
CONCLUSION
The above report concludes the importance and need of marketing for different brand
belonging to similar or separate industries. Marketing tactics enable the organisations to make

strong and efficient market presence which induces their goodwill and loyalty of customer
towards the brand. Moreover, before making marketing efforts entities needs to evaluate and
determine their target audiences for taking more strategical actions.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bernyte, S., 2018. Sustainability marketing communications based on consumer values and
principles. Regional Formation and Development Studies, 26(3), pp.26-35.
Cateora, P. R. and et. al., 2020. International marketing. McGraw-Hill Education.
DeLong, D. and Elbeck, M., 2018. An exploratory study of the influence of soft and hard skills
on entry level marketing position interviews. Marketing Education Review, 28(3),
pp.159-169.
French, J. and Gordon, R., 2019. Strategic Social Marketing: For Behaviour and Social Change.
SAGE Publications Limited.
Fuciu, M. and Dumitrescu, L., 2018, June. From Marketing 1.0 To Marketing 4.0–The Evolution
of the Marketing Concept in the Context of the 21ST Century. In International
conference knowledge-based organization (Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 43-48). Sciendo.
Palmatier, R. W. and Crecelius, A. T., 2019. The “first principles” of marketing strategy. Ams
Review, 9(1-2), pp.5-26.
Park, S., 2020. Marketing management (Vol. 3). Seohee Academy.