Report on Brand Development Strategy for Kiehl's LLC Cosmetics

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Kiehl's LLC's brand development strategy within the cosmetic industry. It begins with an introduction to Kiehl's LLC, its history, and its current market position, highlighting its unique marketing approach and product offerings. The report then delves into the brand's strengths and weaknesses, identifies opportunities and threats in the market, and examines the brand's decision-making process. Key aspects of the brand development strategy are discussed, including the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model, brand sustainability, and the integration of marketing communication. The report also explores the brand's portfolio, including its marketing mix (4Ps), and analyzes brand positioning, identity, personality, and culture. The analysis covers various aspects of the brand's marketing and strategic decisions, providing insights into how Kiehl's LLC aims to maintain its market position and achieve its business goals. The report also provides recommendations for improving the brand's strategies.

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BRAND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
BY
Name
Professor
Date

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KIEHLS BRAND
Introduction
The brand in question, Kiehl's LLC, is American and falls under the cosmetic industry.
Therefore, its area of specialization includes but not limited to premium hair, body, and skin care
products. Kiehl's LLC got started as a pharmacy in Manhattan in 1851 (Gronlund, 2013).
However, it later got acquired in 2000 by a group called L'Oréal. Kiehl's LLC currently operates
more than 250 global stores with close to 2,500 points of sale that are orchestrated through
particular airport locations, high-end sales department stores, and self-reliant stockists. Vis-à-vis
its competitors in the global market, Kiehl’s LLC gets recognised for the marketing approach
that it employs (Landy, Zedeck and Cleveland, 2017, pg. 151). Such “unorthodox” approach
helps Kiehl’s LLC in the creation of a base of male clienteles that is exceptionally large while
providing products that are simple and straightforwardly packaged. Therefore, the brand’s image
and reputation have been good and improved since its inception. In addition, the products
manufactured are provided in organic ingredients like hair foods that provide more quality
guarantee. The brand has maintained its global market position for a long time because
customers provide good reviews after using Kiehl’s products. By doing so, the company creates
brand endorsement through strong verbal utterings. Kiehl’s LLC also focuses on ensuring that
customers are provided with excellent retail experience and services thus, satisfactorily solving
client issues (Johansson and Carlson, 2015).
Brand Elements
i) Weaknesses

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Kiehl’s LLC as a company sells natural cosmetic products. Since the main ingredients are
organic, competitor companies could easily copy such ingredients and produce counterfeits.
Such could also get driven by the fact that customers’ purchasing behaviour has shifted towards
going for organic cosmetic products. Therefore, every company in the cosmetics niche is most
likely going to manufacture organic cosmetic products, even for the new entrants. In as much as
Kiehl’s LLC provides high-quality services and goods as well as having their products tailored to
meet customer requirements, their brand promotion strategies are poor and many individuals
interested in cosmetic products are not aware of the products Kiehl’s LLC offer (Jurevicius,
2014).
ii) Opportunities
The taste for the cosmetic product is slowly growing in young women and men. Currently, the
number of men buying cosmetic products has doubled compared to previous cases. Apart from
that, research findings show that the largest market segment for skin care products is that of
ladies between the ages of 16 and 21. The identified range makes 60% of the entire market. The
reason why ladies in the range of 16 to 21 years composes the largest market segment is because
these ladies value beauty and radiating skin and are thus, ‘the most obsessed’ when it comes to
craving for good looks. Such ladies would spend a lot to attain the goal of looking beautiful with
radiating skin. As a result, Kiehl’s LLC has the chance to venture into providing products that
target men and ladies between 16 and 21 years old. Men have improved their perceptions of
cosmetic products as well as skin and health concerns thus, increased their consumption of
cosmetic products (Kapferer, 2012, pg. 672).
iii) Threats

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Kiehl’s LLC faces stiff competition in the cosmetics industry. Some of the global competitors
include Skin Food and The Body Shop among others. The named companies are direct rivals
because they manufacture similar cosmetic products. Apart from that, the power of substitute
products in the global cosmetic market is high which would make clients go for contrary
products to Kiehl’s. Such alternative products include Skin Foods. Customers are at liberty to
compare and contrast a large array of cosmetic products before settling for their desired tastes
(Jurevicius, 2014).
Brand Decision
Over the past few years, Kiehl’s LLC has reorganized its marketing approaches, therefore,
making the company successful on several fronts in the cosmetics industry. The company,
however, decided to change its marketing strategies and mix because it has many direct
competitors in the market (Johansson and Carlson, 2015). Nevertheless, Kiehl’s LLC finds many
reasons to explain why its decision to develop its brand is vital. First and foremost, there are
several alternative cosmetic products in the market that fight for recognition as much as Kiehl’s
brand does. Second, almost every cosmetic product is simple and organic in nature leading to
reduced diversity and innovativeness. Customers then become bored with such products and
therefore, they have the luxury to compare and contrast finer details (Morejon, 2014). From
those two reasons, Kiehl’s insists that proper strategies for the promotion of its brand are the
only way of tackling product promotion concerns and reduce competition. Some of such
strategies include:
A. CBBE (Customer-Based Brand Equity) Model
Kiehl’s LLC has gone for this model because it promotes:

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- Salience
- Performance improvement
i) Salience
Kiehl’s LLC having realized that its products are manufactured from organic ingredients and that
a couple of people like organic products, coaxing the remaining customer base on the importance
of using organic products is an area that the company intends to improve on. Kiehl’s LLC will
only manage to do so by providing clients with concepts of how its products work as well as
what such products and services are all about. The company will also strive to capture the market
segment that does not care about organic products by encouraging them to be concerned about
organic products since they are healthy and recommendable for use (Johansson and Carlson,
2015). Such would be easy because most cosmetic, pharmaceutical products recommended for
use by physicians are natural. Apart from that, there are many skin and body infections and
complications and therefore, organic products are better considered than synthetic cosmetics.
Nevertheless, Kiehl’s LLC has an edge over its competitors because it offers products that are
specifically tailored to meet its target customers. These products are also easy to recall. On the
other hand, the company will continue offering quality products and services to customers to
enable them to meet their product and services goals. Kiehl’s LLC will employ social media
platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to solicit more reviews on its products and services as
well as create product awareness. By doing so, the company will have improved its relationship
with customers which would, in turn, translate to the increased customer base (Johansson and
Carlson, 2015).
ii) Performance Improvement

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To ensure that the company captures its intended markets, Kiehl’s LLC will improve on its
general performance by engaging stakeholders and customers in brand promotion processes.
However, customers and employee engagement would be the most important (Richard, Larry
and Simon, 2011, pg. 777). To engage such stakeholders, Kiehl’s LLC will:
- Make workers feel more involved in business operations deliver quality performance
- Initiate incentives of awarding best performers.
- Developing a strong client-worker relationship
- Ensuring that the company provides the best of what customers buy
- Offering better services and products to those of key competitors
- Ensure that workers use their preferred skills to reduce autonomy.
Brand Sustenance
Worldwide, the market segment of “consumer goods’ is the most aggressive and fast-moving
market segment. Since the “consumer goods” segment is that aggressiveness, it is worth noting
that switching of “product loyalty” would be easy. As a result, the availability of alternative
goods means that every brand is a threat (Morejon, 2014). Therefore, Kiehl’s LLC notes the
vitality of developing brand sustainability. One way of creating brand sustainability is
developing agile promotions so that market dynamics and dynamism is countered by the brand,
promotions, and add-ons. Otherwise, declining loyalty will be revived. The first process of
creating brand agility is the ease by which product promotions are designed. Therefore, Kiehl’s
will work on the aspects of brand imagery and judgment as well as resonance and feelings
(Koubova and Buchko, 2013, pg. 710).
i) Imagery and Judgement

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On imagery, Kiehl’s LLC understands that young ladies between 16 and 21 years consume
cosmetic products most. Apart from that, men have increased their consumption of cosmetic
products. Therefore, it will create an online system of purchase to capture those two most
significant consumer segments. On judgment, Kiehl’s LLC will continue working with its parent
company LOreal, to create a better impression of its brand since L’Oreal is a renowned
cosmetics company globally (Knudtzen and Bjerre, 2015, pg. 744).
ii) Resonance and Feelings
In this case, Kiehl’s LLC will continue working in close association with its customers by
improving its customer feedback policies and frameworks. By doing so, the company will
improve its customer trust and loyalty. The company will also advocate for customers to review
its products to as a way of endorsing its brand and increasing awareness (Platt, 2013, pg. 23).
Portfolio of the Brand
In this section, the table below will be vitally elaborating the portfolio of Kiehl’s. It provides an
evaluation of the company’s marketing mix (4P) and its role in ensuring brand development.
Price Place
Kiehl’s LLC products are mid-ranged in price
from BP. 25 to PB. 100 or anything above
that.
Among several price strategies that Kiehl’s
LLC have is the provision of products sample
on purchases.
Kiehl’s LLC also provides gift hampers to
The company has well established local and
online stores globally.
Kiehl’s LLC will ensure that the need of
customers is met by running smooth websites
for online buyers and efficient stores for local
customers as well.
The company uses a laboratory design to

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its customers (Richard, Klimoski and
Xiaoxiao, 2011).
attract its customers.
Promotion Product
The strategy for promoting products is non-
traditional in nature.
Customers are also provided with free
samples when they purchase goods.
Customers are requested to provide reviews
for the products they buy from the company.
This way, the company endorses its products.
Endorsement in this occasion takes the
traditional “word of mouth” approach towards
product marketing.
Kiehl’s LLC also employs an online
marketing platform to capture the
customer segment that is addicted to the
internet (Hair, et al., 2018).
The company has operated for more than 161
years providing skin care products (Richard,
Klimoski and Xiaoxiao, 2011).
Kiehl’s LLC also employs a product logo that
is simple which is dark font writings on a
white background making it easy to read.
The products’ design is also simple and
matches the same simplicity as the logo.
Products also have ingredients and
instructions on way of use attached to the
packets.
The company’s range of products includes
skin and face care, men’s care, body care,
sunburn protectors, and hair care.
Kiehl’s LLC uses organic ingredients to
manufacture its products.
Packaging is sustainable because the used
packaging materials are recycled (Hair, et al.,
2018).

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Integration of Marketing Communication
Organisational performance is likely to be improved if communication in general, is good. In our
case, the management of Kiehl’s LLC will ensure that stakeholders use simple formal marketing
language and principles to promote product interactions, creatively, and establish the business’
core daily marketing operations like:
- Ensuring the effectiveness of organisational and departmental performance.
- Meeting marketing targets
- Making brand development progress
- Clearing marketing obstacles and developing solutions (Keller, 2013, pg. 659)
Some of the organisational initiatives in line with brand development and marketing
communication would then include:
A. Brand Positioning and Identity
i) Nature
In this case, we shall consider two main products, the natural hair and natural skin care brand.
Since these are the most two most purchased products, the company intends to perform further
research on how to improve the outlook of the two products and thus, capture more customers.
Therefore, the company with repackaging the products to make them more simple looking yet
captivating to use. Kiehl’s LLC will also redesign its local stores to create more room for greater
customer experience. The company will budget more on advertising to try and create more brand
awareness (Hong, et al., 2013, pg. 24).
ii) Personality

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Kiehl’s LLC is keen on ensuring that its manufacturing processes meet the global sustainability
goals. The company, apart from recycling its packaging materials, will also use “green” fuel and
“green” packaging material to boost the image of the brand (IDC, 2016).
iii) Culture
Kiehl’s LLC encourages employee innovativeness and cooperation. Apart from that, workers are
provided with training and workshop sessions on how to handle customers and advocate for the
company’s brand. The first step was to manufacture products from organic ingredients.
However, Kiehl’s LLC is moving towards helping in the creation of awareness environmental
protection and conservation by collaborating with NGOs as well as companies that fight for the
same (FAO, 2014).
iv) Relationship
The brand is so close to consumers that competitors tend to worry. However, the management is
unsatisfied with the level of closeness of its brand. Therefore, Kiehl’s LLC intends to improve on
its products and service provision by keenly listening to the complaints customers raise then
create a relationship based on loyalty and trust (Elliot, Rundle-Thiele and Waller, 2014, pg. 276).
v) Self-image and Customer Reflection
On customer reflection, Kiehl’s LLC intends to increase its product diversity by manufacturing
new skin care products. Such is because the need for such products has been growing with
clients becoming more diverse on the products they need. On self-image, however, the company
intends to repackage its product as mentioned before. Such a strategy began with the designing
of a logo that is simple, elegant, and professional (Hall, 2017).

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Conclusion
As mentioned before, Kiehl’s LLC is recognised for adopting a marketing approach that is
“unorthodox” in nature. However, the approach has been helpful in the creation of a base of male
clienteles that is exceptionally large. The same has been the base, as well in manufacturing
products that are packaged using simple, straightforward methods (Claudio, 2015, pg. 115). By
so doing, the customer base of the organization has increased. However, the brand’s image and
reputation need improving since new entrants have come up with better, improved products.
Therefore, this paper has discussed a brand development strategy for Kiehl’s LLC. With the
strategy, Kiehl’s LLC intends to maintain its brand’s global market position. A lot of emphases
is put in marketing management and improvement of logistics (Chatman and Eunyoung, 2013,
pg. 11).
Recommendation
Apart from the discussed issues, this paper also recommends Kiehl’s LLC’s marketing
department should be able to:
- Comprehend global marketing management and logistics terms
- Recognise local and global demands of the cosmetics market
- Recognise outcomes of proper brand advocacy and sustainable sales performance
- Be in a position to spot marketing issues and trends and solve associated problems
(Kluckhohn and Henry, 2013).

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