Unilever's Oats Launch Strategy

This assignment examines Unilever's marketing strategy for its new line of oat products. It highlights the competitive landscape with brands like Kellogg's and Quaker, suggesting a low-price strategy for initial customer attraction. The analysis emphasizes the high potential of the target market, presenting opportunities for growth and development.

Marketing
Management
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
INNOVATIVE STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN.....................................................................3
Vision...........................................................................................................................................3
Objectives....................................................................................................................................3
Target markets.............................................................................................................................3
Market segmentation....................................................................................................................4
Strategy for target market segment..............................................................................................4
Need and requirements of target market......................................................................................5
Distribution channels...................................................................................................................5
Competitive forces.......................................................................................................................5
Communication with customers..................................................................................................6
Resources required.......................................................................................................................7
Monitoring...................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
2

INTRODUCTION
Now-a-days, marketing management has become very important for growth and success
of business enterprise. Further, it can be defined as the process in which companies oversee and
plan activities such as products development, sales, promotion and advertisement (Hutt and
Speh, 2005). One of the core purposes of marketing is to increase sales and profitability by
creating more awareness of products among people in the market. The present report is based on
Unilever which is a multinational company having headquarter in London UK. Its products range
includes personal care products, beverages, food and cleaning agents. This report highlights
innovative strategic marketing plan for the new range of oats as a product developed by
Unilever.
INNOVATIVE STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN
Vision
Vision of Unilever behind launching of new product is to provide healthy food products
to all its customers. Further, it also wants to increase its positive impact on society.
Objectives
 Sale new range of oats to more than 50,000 customers in first 6 months.
 Increase sales of oats by 25% every year.
Target markets
It can be stated that defining target market is one of the important and most crucial
aspects of every marketing plan (Cravens and Piercy, 2006). Now-a-days, people have become
more conscious towards their health and are looking forward to consuming healthier and more
nutritious breakfast. Oats have emerged as the healthiest food products as compared to other
products (Meydani, 2009). Further, oats consumption is the best way to gain strength and energy
for the whole day. Unilever is now developing new range of oats to meet the needs of people in
market. The ideal customers of its new range of oats will be people between the age group of 18-
50 years. Unilever has an opportunity to satisfy this identified need of people in market.
Therefore, in more specific terms, the brand will target people which are health conscious. Other
than this, students, gym members and working professionals will be mainly targeted.
3

Market segmentation
Market segmentation can be termed as the process in which organizations divide their
broad target market into various subsets (Lambert, García Dastugue and Croxton, 2005).
Unilever will segment its entire target market on the basis of demographic variables. In addition
to this, in streamline to its new products, oats will be introduced in four flavours which are
strawberry, chocolate, banana and normal one. All these flavours will help in attracting men and
women from the entire market segments. Market segmentation for the brand is provided below
as:
 Students- School and college going individuals will be targeted by Unilever for its new
range of oats. Students are young and it has become very important for them to stay fit
and healthy. Therefore, these products will help them to have more healthy and nutritious
breakfast in order to stay fit.
 Gym members- Unilever will also target people who are member of gym or other fitness
club. Further, the brand will communicate these people that after working out,
consumption of Unilever’s oat are going to be extra beneficial for their health.
 Working professionals- It is going to be one of the major target market segments for new
product. The life of these people have become so engaged in work that sometimes they
do not have time to make and have breakfast. This affects their entire health and also has
negative impact on their body. Unilever's oats will be easy to cook which means that it
will be prepared in 5 minutes. Its different flavours will attract both men and women
which fall in this market segment.
Strategy for target market segment
In order to interact and communicate with target market, Unilever will be using variety of
online and offline strategies. The brand is going to promote its new oats on social media sites
such as Facebook and Twitter. In the present scenario, internet has emerged as one of the most
potential sources of marketing and promoting products (Sheth and Sisodia, 2015). Thus, this
organization will use this platform to make people aware about its new product in the market.
The brand is very active on social media sites and it will display the features of oats on both
Facebook and Twitter. Other than this, advertisements will be also displayed on television,
newspapers and health related magazines. This will support in reaching mass audience within a
4

short span of time. Promotional events will be also carried out by the brand in schools, colleges
and corporate offices. Unilever is also going to distribute free sample of its oats to people who
belongs to its target market segments.
Need and requirements of target market
People in the market are in search of product which can meet their needs of having more
nutritious and healthier breakfast. Many brands are providing variety of products such as cereals,
noodles etc. but they contain added preservatives which are not beneficial for health (Anderson
and et.al., 2009). This means that the available brands in market are also not able to meet the
needs and requirements of people at its best. It can be also stated that many people underestimate
the importance of breakfast. Sometimes, they only have a cup of coffee or glass of juice in terms
of breakfast (Williams, 2009). New oats launched by Unilever will consist of features such as
low sugar along with more carbohydrates and fibers which are very good for health. The product
can be consumed with milk in order to provide protein and calcium to body. Thus, it can be
stated that new oats of Unilever will be able to satisfy the needs and requirements of people in
market in the best possible manner.
Distribution channels
Determining effective channels of distributions is also a very important part of marketing
plans. Further, it can be defined as the process in which businesses determine how it is going to
provide products to people in market (Richards and Jones, 2008). Unilever will distribute its new
range of oats with the help of all retail stores. Customers will be able to buy oats from all the
major stores which can provide other products of Unilever as well. Majority of its products are
being disturbed and sold by Unilever's own sales force (Our strategy, 2016). Along with this,
independent agents, brokers, grocery retailers, food service distributors will be also taking care
of distribution of its new products which are oats. Being a multinational organization, the brand
sales its products in more than 150 countries all across the globe (Lingard, 2006). Thus, its new
product will be sold in various countries with the help of manufacturing and exports.
Competitive forces
Present food market possesses intense competition as there are number of large and small
organizations that are competing with each other (Hollensen, 2015). Oats of Unilever will be
facing tough competition from brands like Kellogg and Quaker. Both the above stated names are
5

considered as renowned brands in the breakfast market of the entire world. It is going to be very
hard for Unilever to attract customers for its new products and capture market share from the
above mentioned brands. In order to gain competitive advantage, Unilever is required to adopt
strategies such as cost leadership or product differentiation. It can be stated that the oats will be
provided at low prices during the initial stages. This will encourage people in market to buy and
consume oats at-least once. Further, with the help of unique features and healthy nutrients, the
brand will be able to gain customers loyalty and satisfaction. In order to make its product
successful in long run, the organization will need to take care of all major competitive forces and
frame strategies according to the same.
Communication with customers
In the modern era, it has become very important for businesses to communicate with their
customers at regular intervals (Cravens and Piercy, 2006). This supports in developing good
relations and also helps in increasing customer loyalty. Unilever will use various kind of online
and offline sources to interact with people and make them aware about its new products. It sales
teams will be responsible for carrying out various kind of promotional events in schools,
colleges, universities, corporate offices and fitness centers. Further, people will be informed
about the benefit which is associated with the consumption of new oats launched by Unilever.
On the other hand, ads and promotional activities will also be carried on social networking sites.
Regular and loyal customers of the brand will be provided with emails and mobile messages
regarding new products. This will not only result in attracting high number of customers but will
also support Unilever in enhancing the degree of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Marketing plan strategy
Before launching its new oats, Unilever will be carrying out activities such as test
marketing. In this process, sample product will be distributed to some people from the entire
target market segments (Sin and et.al., 2005). These people will be asked to consume the product
and give their reviews for the same. Those reviews will be regarding taste of oats, its quality,
prices, packaging, differentiation etc. This will help Unilever in identifying whether its new
product will be accepted in the market or not. On the basis of feedbacks and reviews, the brand is
also going to make some changes in its product. A low pricing strategy will be adopted by
Unilever and it will be also taking care of its packaging. Other than this, the brand is going to
6

position its new oats in market by its nutritional values and health benefits. These all factors will
support in getting the best possible and desired outcomes regarding products launch. Along with
this, the brand is also going to attend strategy of relationship marketing. Sales forces will be
encouraged for developing effective relationship with people in market at the time of promoting
product. This will result in increasing sales as customers will love to spend money on oats
launched by Unilever. On the other hand, the taste and ingredients of oats are going to be so
unique that it will also encourage word of mouth marketing from all customers. Sales force of
the organization is going to work with media in order to create awareness of new products and
state benefit of oats to people in marketplace.
Resources required
In order to implement and carry out the plan, various resources will be required by
organization. Human resources are needed to carry out events and marketing of the new oats
launched by Unilever. These individuals need to be highly skilled and should have knowledge
regarding the current market trends. On the other hand, the organization will also need
technological resources to carry out promotion and advertisements via email and social media.
At last, financial resources are also necessary to implement the plan in the best possible manner
and get desired results. The organization will require finance in activities such as test marketing,
events, promotions, advertisement etc. Unilever will make sure that it arranges all the required
resources within a given time-frame in order to get the best possible results.
Monitoring
Monitoring of all activities and processes is going to be an important stage in the entire
marketing plan (Hutt and Speh, 2005). A team will be developed to monitor the effectiveness
and results of all the activities carried out to market the new range of oats. One of the main roles
of monitoring will be to determine gap between desired outcomes and actual ones. This will
support in identification of loop holes in existing marketing plan. Further, corrective measures
will be taken to eliminate those identified constraints and get the desired outcomes.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the above stated marketing plan will help
Unilever in attracting customers for its new products which are oats. It can be asserted that the
7

brand is going to face intense competition from market players such as Kellogg's and Quaker.
Low price strategy will support Unilever in attracting adequate number of customers during
initial stage. It can be concluded that Unilever's target and segmented market is highly potential.
Therefore, it will provide adequate opportunity for growth and development for its new product
in the market.
8

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, J. W. and et.al., 2009. Health benefits of dietary fiber. Nutrition reviews. 67(4).
pp.188-205.
Cravens, D. W. and Piercy, N., 2006. Strategic marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Grunert, K. G. and Traill, B., 2012. Products and process innovation in the food industry.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Hutt, M. D. and Speh, T. W., 2005. & Edition: Business Marketing Management. South-Western
Publishing Company.
Lambert, D. M., García Dastugue, S. J. and Croxton, K. L., 2005. An evaluation of process‐
oriented supply chain management frameworks. Journal of business Logistics. 26(1).
pp.25-51.
Lingard, T., 2006. Creating a corporate responsibility culture: The approach of Unilever UK. In
Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 217-230). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Meydani, M., 2009. Potential health benefits of avenanthramides of oats. Nutrition reviews.
67(12). pp.731-735.
Richards, K. A. and Jones, E., 2008. Customer relationship management: Finding value drivers.
Industrial marketing management. 37(2). pp.120-130.
Sheth, J. N. and Sisodia, R. S., 2015. Does marketing need reform?: Fresh perspectives on the
future. Routledge.
Sin, L.Y. and et.al., 2005. Relationship marketing orientation: scale development and cross-
cultural validation. Journal of Business Research. 58(2). pp.185-194.
Wilson, R. M. and Gilligan, C., 2012. Strategic marketing management. Routledge.
Online
Our strategy. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-
are/our-strategy/>. [Accessed on 22nd February, 2016].
9