Pantene Pro V: Secondary Data Analysis of Marketing, Branding & Users

This case study provides a secondary data analysis of Pantene Pro V, a hair care product line owned by Procter and Gamble. It examines the brand's marketing strategies since its acquisition in 1985, focusing on its target audience of females aged 18-34. The analysis explores the brand's positioning as a provider of shiny, healthy hair, its strengths such as its anti-dandruff formula and focus on product worthiness, and weaknesses including consumer feedback about hair loss and feminist criticism. The study also identifies key consumer criteria for purchasing hair care products, including packaging, brand name recognition, and product placement, highlighting Pantene Pro V's presence in various retail channels. The analysis concludes with references to support the findings.

Running head: PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 1
Pantene Pro V: Secondary Data Analysis
By (Student’s Name)
Institution

PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 2
Introduction
Pantene Pro V is a hair care product line based in America. Procter and Gamble
own the hair care line. It was first introduced in 1945 by Hoffman-La Roche in Europe but later
was bought by Procter and Gamble in 1985. The brand is famously known for its two in one
shampoo and conditioner known as the Pantene Pro-Vitamin.
Secondary data analysis
When Procter and Gamble bought Pantene Pro V in 1985, their primary goal was
to make it a beauty product brand rather than a brand that sold functional products.
Method
The method used for the content analysis is qualitative analysis from the Pantene
websites and published articles.
Intended target market
When Procter and Gamble purchased Pantene Pro V, they based their marketing
strategies on females. Therefore their primary target audience was the females. They analyzed
what women wanted with their hair and used this as a marketing strategy to reach this audience.
They realized that most women regarded shiny hair as that which was healthy (Procter and
Gamble, 2018). They realized that women considered shiny hair as healthy hair and therefore
used it in their taglines to attract this audience.
Also, the brand has continuously used female brand ambassadors such as
Priyanka Chopra to advertise the brand. By using women, the brand believes that they can be
able to relate to their target audience and thus acquire the market. The brand has received
criticism from feminists that consider the using of females for the advertising as narcissist.

PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 3
The brand's female target audience consists of those between the ages of 18 to 34
years. The brand has different strategies for the females above 25 and those above 20 years of
age.
Current user profile
The current user profile of Pantene Pro V consists of females that want healthy
and shiny hair. The users usually buy their product at a local supermarket or superstore and
mostly using cash. The users typically buy one or two bottles of shampoos at a time. Most of the
users like to change their hair color especially in a country like Thai. This purchase usually has a
two month period (Dawes, 2017).
A lot of the users use the products that have no hair breakage and that relieve hair
loss. They also went for products that nourish and those that prevented dry hair. Bottom line,
most of the users were looking for healthy hair.
Marketing standing and performance
Pantene Pro V had a market standing of 14% as of 2009 coming in third after
Sunsilk and Clear. It is a brand that is recognized globally and coming in third means it is
performing well. As of 2015, the brand had a total basket share of 16%. The brand is generally
performing well as more and more women are purchasing it (Mendes, 2016).
Brand positioning
Pantene has positioned itself as a brand that provides shiny hair which most of its
target audience consider as healthy hair. Their target line is that the outer shine reflects in a
woman's inner shine. They decided to reposition so that the branding will stick into a person's
mind (Hsu, 2017). Their goal is that shiny hair will be associated with Pantene and therefore if a

PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 4
female sees a fellow female with shiny hair then they automatically think Pantene. The brand has
also come up with new packaging and logo that goes with the new brand.
Top strength
Some of the strengths that Pantene Pro V has are:
 It has an anti-dandruff formula
 The brand focuses on the worthiness of the product and not its price
 The brand has won an award for being the most admired brand
 The brand relates to the females who want to have long shiny hair by
focusing on this aspect
 The brand is the best selling in the market for shampoo products
 The brand contains vitamins that nourish people's hair
Top weakness
Some of the weaknesses of the Pantene Pro V brand are:
 Consumer feedback says that the Pantene shampoo is too strong and
causes hair loss
 There is a high saturation of hair products in the market which affects
Pantene
 The brand does not appeal to the feminists as they view it as a narcissist
brand
Method

PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 5
These weaknesses have been identified through content analysis of the brands
website as well as articles about the weaknesses of the brand.
Criteria that consumers use
When purchasing products, the consumer uses the following top three criteria to
select them:
Packaging
The consumers usually look at the packaging of the product as a factor that will
influence their purchase decision. This is a tangible characteristic. They will look at the physical
appearance of the packaging if it is attractive or if they can relate to it. For instance, in Pantene,
most of the packaging usually has a female showing shiny long healthy hair. The consumer will
most likely be attracted to this package due to the healthy hair, and they will also relate to it as
that is what they want for their hair (Schmidt, 2016).
Brand name
When making purchases consumers usually tend to look for brands that they are
familiar with. This is because the brand that they know has a high reputation and has been
recommended to them by a friend. For instance, the 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner Pantene
Vitamin Pro is widely recognized, and therefore more people are more likely to buy it as they
can associate with the brand.
Consumers purchase most of the products at Pantene Pro V because the brand is
recognized globally and has a good reputation.
Product placement

PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 6
This plays an essential role in purchasing decisions. Most people are likely to buy
products that are placed within reach and can be found easily. Pantene Pro V products are found
everywhere and within reach so that people can purchase them. They are located in local stores,
supermarkets as well as on social media for example Amazon (Steenkamp, 2014). On sites such
as Amazon, the product placement is on the first page which is convenient for the buyer as they
do not have to go to the second page.
References

PANTENE PROV V: SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS 7
Dawes, J. G. (2017). Three Discussion Points on the Route to Brand Growth: Acquiring More
Buyers vs. Higher Loyalty, Brand Positioning, and Building Brand Equity.
Hsu, C. K. J. (2017). Selling products by selling brand purpose. Journal of Brand Strategy, 5(4),
373-394.
Mendes, M. D. O. (2016). The effect of social media and celebrities on Millennials’ Consumers:
the Pantene example (Doctoral dissertation).
Procter and Gamble. (2018). Retrieved from https://pantene.com/en-us
Schmidt, K. (2016). Standardization of International Advertising Strategies: A Content Analysis
of Pantene Pro-V. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 7(1).
Steenkamp, J. B. (2014). How global brands create firm value: the 4V model. International
Marketing Review, 31(1), 5-29.