Contemporary Marketing Plan for Unilever's BabyCare Shampoo in UK

This document presents a contemporary marketing plan for BabyCare Shampoo, a new product by Unilever targeting babies aged 0-3 years in the UK market. The plan includes a market analysis using PEST analysis, identification of potential barriers to entry, and an overview of consumer behavior trends. Key competitors like Johnson & Johnson are identified, and the rationale for Unilever's entry into the baby products market is explained. The marketing plan outlines specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed (SMART) marketing objectives, segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies. The marketing mix (4Ps) is detailed, covering product features, pricing strategy, distribution channels, and promotional activities. The plan also includes an implementation strategy involving the creation of a marketing team, market research, and continuous monitoring and controlling of the marketing mix. The document concludes with a list of references used in developing the marketing plan. Desklib provides access to similar marketing plans and solved assignments for students.

Contemporary
marketing plan for
BabyCare shampoo in
UK
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

 BabyCare Shampoo is a product for the babies, to be
launched by Unilever in the UK.
 The shampoo is suitable for the babies, in the age group
of 0 to 3 years.
 Unilever aims to provide a beautiful soothing experience
to the babies and their parents while they use a baby
shampoo for their infants and toddlers.
 The shampoo is free from any chemical and is produced
using organic ingredients that can take the best care of
the gentle skin of the babies. It is also a tear-free
shampoo.
 Price of a 50 ml bottle of BabyCare Shampoo will be
around £12.
BabyCare Shampoo

PEST Analysis for BabyCare Shampoo
Market analysis
Political • Politically stable country
• Proactive government and relatively fair system
(Kolios and Read 2013)
• Some well hidden corruption
• Uncertainty regarding Brexit
Economic • 5th highest GDP in the world and 2nd in Europe after
Germany
• Diversified economy with private and public sector
• Increasing FDI
• Slow recovery after 2008-09 global financial crisis
Social • High standard of living
• Dense population, including high migration
• Slower growth of income in the communities
Technologic
al
• Quality innovation skills
• Effective laws for protecting intellectual property
• High level of internal competition that stimulate
growth (Ho 2014)

 Competition from Johnson and Johnson and
many other established baby care brands
 Predatory pricing (Geroski and Jacquemin
2013)
 Limit pricing
 Predatory acquisition
 Switching costs
 Non-price competitions (Cubbin 2013)
 Government regulations
 Uncertainties regarding Brexit
Potential barriers to entry

Trend in consumer behavior
 Fig 1: Position of Unilever’s brand value among global brands, 2017
 (Source: Statista.com 2018)

 Fig 2: Share of Johnson & Johnson's baby care sales worldwide from 2011 to
2017
 (Source: Statista.com 2018)
Trend in consumer behavior
(Contd.)

 Johnson’s baby top-to-toe bath
 Weleda Baby calendula shampoo and body wash
 Aveeno Baby wash & shampoo
 Earth friendly baby Calming lavender shampoo and body
wash
 Burt’s bees baby bee shampoo and wash
 Childs farm hair & body wash for dirty rascals
 Organic babies baby wash & shampoo
 Earth mama angel baby shampoo and body wash
 Mummy’s miracle baby wash and shampoo
 Cussons mum & me baby shampoo
 Mustela foam shampoo for newborns (mamaunion.co.uk
2018)
Key competitors

 Unilever has been a giant in the consumers goods
industry, making products in food and beverages,
adult personal care products and cleaning products.
 It does not have any personal care product for the
kids.
 With BabyCare shampoo, Unilever wants to expand
its market in the UK.
 The company will enter the baby products market
with the new shampoo, which claims to have
organic ingredients, suitable for the babies.
 This is a growing market as the population in UK is
increasing steadily.
Rationale of the new
product

 Marketing plan of Unilever for launching
BabyCare shampoo in the UK market will
outline the advertising and marketing
strategies for the financial year.
 Unilever’s marketing plan contains
marketing objectives, marketing strategy,
marketing mix and implementation strategy
for BabyCare shampoo .
Marketing plan

Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timed
Unilever as
a parent
company
has
achieved
3.7%
underlying
sales
growth
excluding
spreads
with a
volume
3.6% and
price 0.1%
(unilever.co
m 2018).
The
company
aims to
increase
total sales
by 10% in
2018 with a
new product,
BabyCare
Shampoo in
the market.
Strong
marketing
promotions,
product
diversification
, brand
innovation
and new
target market,
make the goal
achievable.
With more
than 1
million
customers
in UK, the
increase in
market
share in the
UK with
BabyCare
Shampoo is
realistic.
BabyCare
Shampoo is
expected
to capture
the market
in the next
one year as
creating
brand
awareness
require
some time.
Marketing objectives

Marketing strategy for
BabyCare Shampoo
Segmentation Targeting Positioning
• Babies, aged 0 to3
years
• Parents of the
babies belonging to
this age group
• Customers
belonging to
groups with all
levels of income
• Offering assurance
of highest quality
• Information
regarding the
gentle organic
elements used to
take care of the
gentle skin of the
infants and
toddlers
• Affordable price, so
that people of
every income level
can purchase.
• Utilization of the
brand value and
brand name
already created for
adult personal care
products
• Increasing visibility
by shelving in the
supermarkets,
departmental
stores, medicine
stores and online
retail channels,
such as, amazon

Product Price Place Promotion
BabyCare
Shampoo,
by Unilever
• £12 for
50ml
• £22 for
100ml
• Supermarket
chains
• Departmental
stores
• Children’s
clothing and
accessories
stores
• Convenience
stores
• Medicine stores
• Online retail
channels, such
as, amazon
• Advertising,
including
billboards and
hoardings, print
media, digital
media and
online channels
• Sales
promotions with
discount offers
• Direct
marketing, that
is, interacting
with customers
Marketing mix 4P’s for
BabyCare Shampoo

 Unilever will create a new marketing team for
BabyCare Shampoo, containing experienced
members from the personal care marketing team
and fresh experts.
 A market research team will be developed.
 Rigorous promotion will be done one month prior
to the launch, through advertisements in
television, radio, YouTube, hoardings and print
media and during the launch too.
 After the launch, market research will be
conducted again to evaluate the consumer
responses .
Plan implementation

 Based on the consumer feedback, necessary
changes in the product can be made.
 Celebrity endorsements can be introduced to
promote the brand name.
 Monitoring and controlling of the marketing mix
will go on for another year, before making any
changes in the strategies or product feature or
packaging.
 Unilever must be ready in case any sudden
change needs to be made in the plan or in the
product.
Plan implementation
(Contd.)

 Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an
introduction. Pearson Education.
 Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.
 Cubbin, J., 2013. Market structure and performance: the empirical research.
Taylor & Francis.
 Geroski, P.G. and Jacquemin, A., 2013. Barriers to entry and strategic
competition. Routledge.
 Ho, J.K.K., 2014. Formulation of a systemic PEST analysis for strategic
analysis. European academic research, 2(5), pp.6478-6492.
 Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market
outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and
Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer, New York, NY.
 Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a
conceptual review paper). International journal of information, business and
management, 6(2), p.95.
 Kolios, A. and Read, G., 2013. A political, economic, social, technology, legal
and environmental (PESTLE) approach for risk identification of the tidal
industry in the United Kingdom. Energies, 6(10), pp.5023-5045.
References

 mamaunion.co.uk, 2018. 11 Best Baby Shampoo for Bath Time. [online] Mama
Union. Available at: http://mamaunion.co.uk/11-best-baby-shampoo-for-bath-
time/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].
 Morgan, N.A., Katsikeas, C.S. and Vorhies, D.W., 2012. Export marketing strategy
implementation, export marketing capabilities, and export venture
performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(2), pp.271-289.
 Ramaseshan, B., Ishak, A. and Rabbanee, F.K., 2013. The role of marketing
managers' commitment and involvement in marketing strategy
implementation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 21(6), pp.465-483.
 statista.com, 2018. Brand value of the leading personal care brands worldwide
2017. [online] Statista. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273236/brand-value-of-the-leading-personal-
care-brands-worldwide/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].
 statista.com, 2018. Johnson & Johnson's global baby care sales, 2017. [online]
Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/368854/johnson-and-
johnson-s-global-baby-care-sales/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].
 Tanner, J. and Raymond, M., 2015. Principles of marketing. University of
Minnesota Libraries Publishing.
 Tempest, E., 2012. How to draw up SMART objectives that will work. Nursing
times, 108(41), p.37.
 unilever.com, 2018. Unilever Global. [online] Unilever global company website.
Available at: https://www.unilever.com/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].
References (Contd.)

Thank you!