Lush Cosmetics Ltd: Social Issues, Marketing and Campaign Planning

This report analyzes the social issues within Lush Cosmetics Ltd., focusing on animal testing, and evaluates them using marketing strategic tools. It examines Lush's background, social marketing environment, 4P analysis, and segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies. The target audience is identified as educated, upper-middle-class individuals who prioritize environmental and ethical values. The report also includes a campaign plan to enhance Lush's sustainability efforts, emphasizing ethical behavior in social marketing programs. Key elements discussed include Lush's commitment to animal rights, waste reduction through minimal packaging, and innovative products like shampoo bars. The analysis highlights Lush's unique marketing approach, which avoids traditional advertising in favor of demonstrating product quality and supporting social causes through campaigns like the Charity Pot.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Executive summary
The purpose of this report is to analyse a social issues detected in the lush Cosmetics Ltd. And
evaluate the same with the help of marketing strategic tools. The social sustainability issue that
will be discussed in this report includes testing of cosmetics on animals. In this report, analysis
of the mentioned social issue of the Lush Cosmetics will be performed. . The target audience of
the company belongs to the higher middle class or elite class of the society and is well educated.
Lush has strong values, for this reason its audience tends to be very specific. The company bases
all its products on organic and natural ingredients so they can be considered as environmental
sustainable and social responsible. Therefore, its target is composed by people that care about the
environment, the wildlife and their health. The report will contain background analysis of the
company, its social marketing experience, its 4P analysis, social marketing experience and
segmentation, targeting and positioning of the brand. Additionally, this report will also include a
campaign plan that will help Lush to create a more sustainable environment.

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Table of Contents
Summary..........................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of the background.........................................................................................................4
Social marketing environment.....................................................................................................5
4P analysis of the Lush cosmetics...............................................................................................5
Social marketing campaigns........................................................................................................8
Importance of ethical behaviour while delivering social marketing programme........................9
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................11
Segmentation and Targeting strategy of Lush cosmetics..........................................................11
Positioning of Lush cosmetics...............................................................................................12
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................14
Campaign planning....................................................................................................................14
Reference list.................................................................................................................................17

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Summary
In this era of modernization, it has become highly crucial for the organizations to ensure
environmental sustainability. However, when it comes to the sustainability of the cosmetic
industry, very few organizations are found to be implementing sustainable beauty practices to
demonstrate their social awareness. In this report, analysis of the mentioned social issue of the
Lush Cosmetics will be performed. Lush is a cosmetics retailer headquartered in Poole, Dorset,
United Kingdom. The company was founded by Mark Constantine, a trichologist, and Liz Weir,
a beauty therapist. The company evidenced worldwide sales of £723 million in 2016 along with
the increment of 26 percent in the revenue over the previous year1. Lush operates 105 stores
across the UK and more than 900 stores in 50 countries around the world. The company
produces creams, soaps, shampoos, shower gels, lotions, moisturizers, scrubs, masks and other
skin care and cosmetic products for the face, hair, and body using only vegetarian or vegan
recipes. One of the major competitors of the Lush Cosmetics includes of Sephora which is a
Paris, France–based multinational chain of personal care and beauty stores. The main target
audience of Lush Cosmetics is working women between 18 and 45 years old2. The target
audience of the company belongs to the higher middle class or elite class of the society and is
well educated. Lush has strong values, for this reason its audience tends to be very specific. The
company bases all its products on organic and natural ingredients so they can be considered as
1 Aronczyk, Melissa. "Market (ing) activism: Lush Cosmetics, Ethical Oil, and the self-mediation of
protest." JOMEC Journal4 (2016).
2 Rao, Sruthi P. "Conundrums in Commercial Cosmetics: Interrogating the Effectiveness of Market-Based Strategies
for Poverty Alleviation and Women’s Empowerment in Argan Oil and Shea Butter Economies." Undergraduate
Journal of Global Citizenship 2.2 (2017): 7.

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environmental sustainable and social responsible. Therefore, its target is composed by people
that care about the environment, the wildlife and their health.
Lush has many contemporary issues, one of it is that Lush strongly supports is animal
rights. The company does not test on animals and does not use materials that contain animal
derivatives that are unsuitable for vegetarians. Raw materials are bought from companies that are
not involved in the use of or commission the use of, animals for testing and have no plans to do
so in the future. The company strongly that it is possible to invent, manufacture and bring to the
market an entire range of products without any involvement in animal testing. Lush is also aware
of environmental issues and has tackle ways to decreases its waste. In order to deal with the
wastage that is caused by packaging, Lush use very limited amount of product for packaging3.
Not only this, consumers possess the freedom of buying Lush products without packaging. Apart
from this, the company has invented several numbers of innovative products like its shampoo
bars. According to a survey, by selling shampoo bars, the company saves the sale of
approximately 6 million plastic bottles per year.
Task 1
Analysis of the background
From time immemorial, cosmetics and skin care companies are using animals to test the
effectiveness of their products. Cosmetics testing on animals are generally used for testing the
hypoallergenic as well as safety properties of products for the use of humans. Considering the act
3 Blythe, Jim, and Jane Martin. Essentials of marketing. Pearson UK, 2019.

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that during the testing process, a good number of animals get harmed or even get killed, this
process of testing cosmetics is strongly opposed by animal rights activists. Relying on animal
research and testing to protect and improve human health is not only unsafe, but also expensive,
time-consuming, and unreliable. Hence, the mentioned issue is a ,ajor social issue in the global
cosmetic industry.
Social marketing environment
With the increasing adverse effect of environmental issues on the society, consumers are
getting more and more concerned about social and environmental sustainability. In the cosmetics
industry, the consumers of UK, specially, consumers who belong to the upper middle class as
well as elite class of the society, are getting inclined towards green cosmetics. Hence, the
demand for green cosmetic brands like Lush is increasing in the cosmetics industry of UK4.
From the first of its business, Lush has been demonstrating high commitment when it comes to
animal rights. The company is strongly against testing their products on animals. In addition to
this, the management of Lush also ensures that their supplier chain is not involving suppliers
who uses the animal testing process for testing their products. Raw materials are bought from
companies that are not involved in the use of or commission the use of, animals for testing and
have no plans to do so in the future.
4P analysis of the Lush cosmetics
Product mix
The products of the company are defined by its consumers in three simple words, namely,
green, fresh and verdant. The Company manufactures body and skin care products using only
4 Lundberg, Elinor, Ronja Geel, and Malin Hornebrant. "An Experience A Day Keeps The E-Commerce Away:
Exploring experiential marketing within the body cosmetics retail industry." (2018).

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vegetarian as well as vegan recipes. The products manufactured by Lush are 100 percent
vegetarian and contains vegetable and fruits and chief ingredients like coconut, papaya, rosemary
oil, avocado butter, vanilla beans grapefruit juice, beeswax, honey, eggs, milk and lanolin. The
chief products offered by the company include face products like teeth Products, Shaving Items,
Lip Care, Masks, Steamers, Toners, Moisturizers and Cleansers along with shower, hair products
and cosmetics5. Another major offering of the company to the consumers includes its
transparency. All the ingredients use in products is shown with the help of two colours. Green is
for fresh and natural and black for are synthetics. By this way they ensure that they do not trick
customers and are honest with their ingredients list. Lush market themselves as an eco-friendly
company and attract customer that are environmentally conscious.
Place mix
As being discussed earlier the company id a highly popular global brand and possess
more than 900 stores in 50 countries6. Manufacturing facilities of the products of the company
have been set up at a good number of places like Dorset and Poole in the United Kingdom,
Zagreb in Croatia, Ontario, Toronto, British Columbia and Vancouver in Canada and Dusseldorf
in Germany. In order to ensure the freshness in their products all the products offered t the
consumers by Lush are made with the help of hands instead of machines. . This is one of the
main attributes that attracts customer to purchase lush products
Price Mix
5 Lin, Yifeng, et al. "An Exploratory Study of Consumer Attitudes Toward Green Cosmetics in the UK
Market." Administrative Sciences 8.4 (2018): 71.
6 Ramli, Nur Suhaili. "Green marketing: a new prospect in the cosmetics industry." Sustainable entrepreneurship
and investments in the green economy. IGI Global, 2017. 200-230.

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When it comes to the product range of the products offered to the consumers by the
company, Lush price themselves with using the premium pricing strategy. Since all of its
products are handmade and natural, it tends to be a little costly. The manufacturing cost of the
organic products is more than chemically produced products. The company target customers who
are interested and wants to adopt a natural and vegan lifestyle. Customers located in populated
cities do not hesitate to pay higher cost for products that are 100 percent natural, organic and
when the company is supporting good causes. Lush also manage to cut cost with their packaging.
They recycle used containers and established packaging-free products where customers bring
their own containers to further cut costs.
Promotion Mix
Being a popular organic brand, Lush has adopted a good number of marketing polices for
promoting its products in the consumer market. On the promotion side, Lush is known for its
high and unique quality products and in order to maintain this reputation, the company offers the
products to the consumers in its signature black tub that contains its unique trademark7. Lush
uses an unconventional marketing approach, they do now abide to the traditional rules on
marketing such as displaying ads on television or big billboards ads. They do not want to
promote consumerism and belief that their products are the only testament they need to show
their quality. Considering the fact that ensuring sustainable environment is the chief aim of the
brand, Lush always uses its sustainable techniques to grab the attention of the consumers. For
instance, as a part of its marketing policy, Lush offered the consumers with a fresh face mask in
7 Vu, Khanh. "From design thinking to commercialisation of innovation-Case: Bio-Xylitol production technology in
cosmetics and skin care market." (2017).

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return of 5 black pots8. The chief aim of this marketing policy is t o gain the good will of the
consumers by demonstration of sustainability. The brands prefer using social media to interact
with their customers about social campaign with good causes. Considering the fact that lush is
strictly against testing of cosmetic products on animals, the company tests its products on human
volunteers in order to ensure that the products are dermatologically safe.
Social marketing campaigns
Lush has strongly advocate against animal testing and has made several campaign to back
support. In the year 2007, a Charity pot Campaign was launched by Lush. The aim of the
campaign was to enhance the financial resources of small scale organizations that are working
for human rights, animal welfare as well as environmental conservation. The company donated
100 percent of its revenue gained from selling each and every product of its outlets to the
mentioned organizations. Since it launch, the company donated an amount of 10 billion dollars to
approximately 850 charity organizations located at 42 different countries. They had a prolific
campaign on 24th of April 20129. A young woman was dragged through the streets of London to
the flagship Regent Street store where she was placed in the window on a bench, like a
laboratory animal, and experimented on in the full view of horrified shoppers. The audience was
then encouraged to sign the cosmetics testing directive petition to ban the sale of all animal
tested products in the EU. The petition was available in all Lush shops and online at the Lush
website and all Lush stores were encouraged to hold their own demonstrations as the 24th of
8 Voigt, Kai-Ingo, Oana Buliga, and Kathrin Michl. "Pure Beauty: The Case of The Body Shop." Business Model
Pioneers. Springer, Cham, 2017. 25-39.
9 Borges, Amanda Espósito, Lucas Ferrari Pinto dos Santos, and João Luiz de Moraes Hoefel. "Socioenvironmental
Policies in Brazil and England in a Cosmetics Industry—A Comparative Study." Social Responsibility and
Sustainability. Springer, Cham, 2019. 357-372.

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April is World Animals in laboratories day. The idea of this campaign was to show how horrific
animal testing is to the public eye.
Apart from the above discussed campaigns, Lush is a major supporter of the Sea
Shepherd, an organization that works in order to protect the aquatic animals. In order to
demonstrate is support, the company has participated in a good number of Corporate Social
Responsibility Campaigns that includes No Nukes, Stop the Tar Sands and Save the Seals. The
company strongly believes in content marketing. In order to gain the attention of its consumers
as well as to stay in direct touch with them, Lush offers stories, videos as well as products
information through its official websites.
In addition to this, the company, gathers feedback from its consumers and uses the same
in a constructive way by making healthy changes towards the betterment of its brands as well as
products. It is also works for cutting environmental wastes with the help of using minimum
packaging along with recycling its products10. The company has launched a new application for
dealing directly with its consumer. In addition to this, the brand also promotes heavily with the
help of its shop windows that are designed to educate its consumers.
Importance of ethical behaviour while delivering social marketing programme
Lush strongly supports ethical behavior from the core of its business. The company
believes in ethical buying of its raw materials. Lush source the finest essential oils and absolutes,
the best natural raw materials, safe synthetics, 100% recycled packaging and removing palm oil
from their products. Some of the ethical consideration when they buy are, employees rights-
health and safety, freedom to leave, fair pay, working hours, discrimination, no child labour,
10 Wilson, Nicholas, Evan Theodorus, and Pauline Tan. "Analysis of factors Influencing green purchase behavior: A
case study of the cosmetics industry In Indonesia." Jurnal Muara Ilmu Sosial, Humaniora, dan Seni 2.1 (2018).

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environment- organic and sustainability11. Lush has also stopped using approximately 250 tonnes
of palm oil in an effort to save the Orangutan and its threatened habitat in Indonesia’s rainforests.
Lush has countless records of good ethical behavior, it is important to them as they want to
promote a sustainable lifestyle and gain customers trust and loyalty by making a positive impact.
This shows that Lush applies cause-related marketing which is a communications tool for
increasing customer loyalty and building reputation. The expected change in a company's image
because of CRM campaigns appears to depend a great deal upon how customers perceive the
reasons for a company's involvement in cause-related programs and the amount of help given to
the cause through a company's involvement (Webb and Mohr, 1998). It is important for Lush to
help and support good causes type campaign as it strengthens their belief and values as brand. As
Lush has established as an environmental friendly brand, they have to demonstrate in what
capacity they support the environment. This way customer will be confident in purchasing lush
products when they see the programs the brand supports. Ethical behavior of a brand can bring
significant benefits to Lush. One is it attracts customers to products, Lush has used this to their
advantage with attracting customer that are eco conscious when buying. Lush is trusted among
those buyers and will likely tell the friends and family to purchase at lush too. This will result in
boost of sales and profits for the company and it long term build a longer relationship. Ethical
behavior also has its benefit internally of a business. Companies, who are fair, treat equally and
honest will retain good employees. It enables the company to get talented staffs that want to
work with business in long term which results in reduced recruitments cutting costs.
11 Ali, Saqib, Fairol Halim, and Norzieiriani Ahmad. "Beauty Premium and Halal Cosmetics Industry." Journal of
Marketing Management and Consumer Behavior 1.4 (2016).

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Task 2
Segmentation and Targeting strategy of Lush cosmetics
When it comes to the demographic segmentation of Lush cosmetics, Lush targets a
specific demographic. They tend to be mostly female as their products include make up. But they
are open to both male and female. The demographic age is 18-35 years old, they market to this
age with colorful design and funny products name. The income of demographic is middle to high
income levels as Lush set their prices fairly higher than similar average products. The education
of demography is varied but consumers have knowledge on sustainability and animal right
issues. The lifestyle of consumer is people who are looking for ethical and eco-friendly products
and natural quality products12.
Lush have many effective social marketing campaign. An example is the “charity pot”
campaign. Lush made a product called charity pot which is a hand and body lotion. Every
purchases of the product through their store and online is donated 100% to variety of small
grassroots charities including environmental conservation, animal welfare, and human rights,
Lush has donated more than $33,000,000 to over 2450 grassroots charities in 42 countries. This
was a effective social marketing campaign as their customers are already inclined toward a
greener lifestyle and gain more trust as they showed support toward that lifestyle. Lush also gain
new potential customers that maybe weren’t aware of the good cause that lush is supporting
When it comes to the behavioural segmentation, the target consumers of the mentioned
organization include vegetarians/vegans, and animal rights activists. Usually, marketers consider
12 Amos, Chloé Felicity, et al. "The Virtuous Circle: Hard Sustainable Science Versus Soft Unsustainable Science
Within Marketing Functions of Fashion and Luxury Sectors and How to Prevent ‘Soylent Green’from
Happening." Textiles and Clothing Sustainability. Springer, Singapore, 2017. 75-87.