BABS Project: Unilever's Marketing Mix, Branding, and Improvement

This report provides an analysis of Unilever's marketing strategies, focusing on the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) and branding techniques. It begins with a brief description of Unilever and its product chosen for revamping, followed by a PESTLE analysis to explore the competitive organizational environment, examining political, economic, sociological, technological, legal, and environmental factors. The report then evaluates Unilever's marketing mix, recommending improvements to enhance its effectiveness. Finally, it assesses how Unilever can improve its branding to enhance the image and reputation of its products, ultimately impacting brand positioning. The report also highlights the importance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability in strengthening Unilever's competitive advantage. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments to aid students in their studies.

BABS Project

Executive Summary
Marketing is the widest term used in the business organization which makes them to sell
their products in the competitive market. The present repost is based on the Unilever
organization which describes the brief of the organization and its product needed for revamping.
The report presents the PESTLE analysis of the organization which includes political, economic,
sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors which influence the company's
structure. Marketing mix of the company is expanded worldwide with wide range of consumer
products and prices according to various factors like competitor's prices. Lastly, the brand image
of company can be enhanced through various method, like, creating strong social media presence
to providing the best customer services.

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Brief description of organization and the product chosen for revamping...................................4
Exploring the competitive organizational environment by applying environmental analysis
tool...............................................................................................................................................5
Examining The Marketing Mix Of Unilever and Recommending Improvements......................7
Evaluating How Organization can Improve Branding of Product...............................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is the discipline of the organization which focuses on the
marketing orientation, methods and techniques inside the organization and management related
to the resources and activities. This report is based on the Unilever Plc which is the British
multinational consumer goods company having its headquarters in London. It used to produce
products which includes foods, minerals, ice-creams, tea, coffee, breakfast cereals, pet food,
beauty products, etc. and its products are available in around 190 countries in the world. This
report will outline the brief description of the organization and product chosen for revamping and
competitive organizational environment by applying the environmental analysis tools. Further
this report will outline the marketing mix focusing on the 4P's and recommendations to improve
marketing mix. At last this report will outline that hoe company can improve the branding and
enhance the image and reputation of the product and its impact on positioning of the brand.
MAIN BODY
Brief description of organization and the product chosen for revamping
Unilever Plc which is the British multinational consumers goods company and having its
headquarters in London. It basically produces the products which includes foods, minerals, ice-
creams, tea, coffee, breakfast cereals, pet food, beauty products, etc. and its products are
available in around 190 countries in the world. It is the largest producer of the soap in the world.
The company owns over 400 brands and having the turnover in the last year of around 50 billion
Euros. Unilever has organized its product division into three main categories which are food and
refreshments, home care products and beauty and personal care. The company has research and
development facilities in the countries like India, China, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and
the United States. The organization was found on 2 September 1929, by having the merging
between the two other companies. In the year 2010, the company was more focused on making
the healthy products and beauty brands products under the leadership of the Paul Polman. The
primary listing of the company is on the London Stock exchange which is the constituent of the
FTSE 100 Indexes. Unilever is the holding company with the Anglo-Dutch structure, having its
registered office at Port Sunlight in the United Kingdom. The company has restructured for the
many times and in year 2018, Unilever announces to simplify the structure by centralizing the
legal entities and having the one headquarter in Rotterdam. The company has 400 brands and its

mission is to do good in the market by providing the quality of products to the customers around
the world. Firm's vision is to work together in order to have the sustainability in the market.
Unilever product chosen for revamping is the ice-cream, which can be improved its
quality which can be sold and eaten by the health-conscious people as well. The ice cream of this
organization are sold in more than 40 countries having the different local names. It is the world's
biggest ice-cream manufacturer, which is operating under the heart brand and Kwality Wall's in
India from the year 1993. The company can revamp its products and can make better quality of
ice-creams which can be eaten by the diabetic people and health-conscious people in the market
(Ardani, 2019). The company is producing the different variety of the frozen candies which
makes the customers to buy that product.
Exploring the competitive organizational environment by applying environmental analysis tool
The competitive organizational environment can be explored by applying the
environmental analysis tool that is by using the PESTLE analysis. The PESTLE analysis consist
of the external factors which includes political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and
environmental factors which influence the company's structure (Fernando, Popadiuk and Santos,
2019). PESTLE analysis of the Unilever is as follows:
 Political factor: The political factors includes the increase in tax policy, tariff barriers,
rules and regulations, fiscal policy, etc. These factors determine to the extent to which the
government may affect the economy or the certain organization (Onifade, Opele and
Okafor, 2018). The political factor affects the performance of the Unilever. There are
some political factors which influence the Unilever's consumer goods business which are
stability of the politics in most country, having free trade relation which are the
opportunities for the organization to trade their products around the world. By grabbing
this opportunity the company can have the global growth which is based on expanding
the free trade relations with the developing countries. The company also has the threat
about the political issues in the European Union. The company must focus on this threat
in order to lead in the market.
 Economic factor: This factor determines the economy's performance which directly or
indirectly has an impact on the company's structure. It includes inflation rate, interest
rates, foreign exchange rates, economic growth rates, etc. The business performance of

the organization depends on the economies around the world (Christodoulou and
Cullinane, 2019). There are some economic external factors which has great influence on
company performance which are increasing the wage rates in the developing countries
which can be opportunity and threat for the company, high growth of the developing
countries and economic stability of the developed countries. The increase in the wage rate
is the opportunity for the organization in order to have more profit by selling the more
products.
 Sociological factor: This factor shows the social environment of the market which
includes trends, population, demographics, etc. Sociocultural trends and problems may
affect the performance of the Unilever in the external market. As the company has the
opportunity to rise health conscious in the market so it can revamp its products and make
sugar free ice-cream for the health conscious people. In addition to this the another
opportunity is having the company is rising environmentalist behaviours and gradual
dismantling of the gender discrimination. The organization can use the new and
innovative technology which could be cost-efficient by which company provides its
products at reasonable rates (Achinas and et.al., 2019). The company must do the product
innovation in order to grow in the market.
 Technological factor: This factors includes the innovation in the technology which may
affect the operations of the industry in the external market (Widya Yudha, Tjahjono and
Kolios, 2018). This includes the automated, research and development of the machines
adopted by the company. Rising in the automated business is the great opportunity for the
organization in order to increase its operational efficiency. This makes the business to
have the good supply chain and distribution of the products faster. However, it can be
threat also because it may increase the competitive advantage for the other organization
in producing the consumer goods. In order to do have the new technology it requires lots
of research and development which is the threat for the company. The company can
decrease its transportation cost by producing the goods at lower rates which increases the
profit of the company.
 Legal factor: This factor of the tool shows that certain laws which affect the business
activities in the organization. It includes the consumer laws, safety standards, labour
laws, health related laws, etc. The organization must minimize the barriers in order to

have good consumer goods business. Unilever has a great opportunity in order to enhance
its company image by having the good corporate social responsibility which strengthen
the laws of the company. The strong consumer rights creates an opportunity for the
company to focus on the laws and improve the service quality of the products. This
makes the customers attract with the products of the organization and makes the company
to grow in the tough market.
 Environmental factor: These factors includes all the determinants which affect the
company by the surroundings (PESTLE ANALYSIS, 2021). The factors include the
change in climatic condition, weather changes, environmental offsets, etc. Ecological
trends and conditions may influence the Unilever's external environment. There are some
external factors which may affect the business of the company which includes rising
interest in business environment which is the opportunity for the business to have a
growth in the competitive market. The company can enhance its sustainability
programmes in order to strengthen its competitiveness from the other organizations in the
consumer goods business. The corporate social responsibility of the organization must
greatly implement the programmes in their organization in order to manage the
contingent risk. This makes the company to have an opportunity to improve its
competitive advantage by having good corporate responsibility. The company can
improve its business performance by having and making the organization more
environmentally sustainable.
Examining The Marketing Mix Of Unilever and Recommending Improvements
Marketing mix is one of the significant technique which is helpful in gaining information
for promoting the brand into the market (The Marketing Mix and the 4Ps of Marketing, 2020).
Unilever is international organization which has strong marketing mix strategy which helps to
make relevant strategy regarding elements like product, price, place and promotion.
 Product: There are different kinds of products which are offered by the Unilever to its
targeted audience. This element of marketing mix includes having wide variety of
products under categories like foods, personal, home and refreshment. The company is
offering ice cream to its customers by adding different kind of characteristics. The one of
the significant aspect of product of the refreshment category is that it adds organic

flavour and avoids utilization of chemical. There are several types of flavours that can be
offered by organization which includes chocolate, mango, etc. there are several aspects
which are highly focused by Unilever for its products. In order to attract the customers
Unilever focus on ensuring health safety of using these products. Ice creams are specially
made with ensuring qualitative factor in turn proper standardization can be maintained.
 Price: The specified organization has good brand image and hold significant extent of
market share. There are different kinds of pricing strategies such as skimming,
penetration, economy, value based, dynamic, premium, etc. it is one of the important
element that require paying attention on having appropriate strategy so that attracting
customer and maintaining good profit margin can become possible (Wichmann, and et.al,
2021). Unilever focuses on using distinct kind of pricing approaches such as market
oriented, m premium and product bundle. For the specified product company give
emphasis on m premium pricing strategy for offering higher quality. It becomes
important for the organization to evaluate accurate kind of policy which can contribute in
attaining success. The current chosen approach is highly beneficial in maintaining good
image in the market as well achieving proper extent of profitability. It can permit
enterprise to ability to attract customers so that greater market share, financial position,
etc. can be achieved.
 Place: Place or distribution refers to the channels that transfers or deliver goods or
services from company to the customers at a price that both consumers and company
agrees on. Unilever has a wide reach to the audience all over the world. They provide the
distributions through three channels, retailers, kiosks and stores. Retailers are their
primary source of distribution through which they reach to their audience. Walmart is one
of the retailers that provides goods from Unilever. For new product line they would need
to strategies for appropriate distribution channel that would reach the demand of
consumers. They should opt for online distribution channels, as more and more
consumers are shifting to online shopping for small to small products too.
 Promotion: The level of competitors for Unilever are really high in numbers,
considering that, they need to strategies for those promotional strategies that make them
stand out in the market. Promotion helps the company to create brand image and
recognition among the audience (Hermiyenti, and Wardi, 2019). There are many

promotional activities undertaken by the firm, like television, print and radio
advertisements, sales promotions, public relations, direct marketing and personal selling.
They have also been creating their brand image through social media campaigns and
joining into CSR activities. For the new product line of ice-cream they could focus
mainly of video advertisements on applications like YouTube and digital marketing on
social media, blogs and other sites which is trending. The company also uses kiosks in
order to promote the brand which is also a great method to make the brand recognizable
for audience and interest them enough to try the product once.
Recommendations:
 The company is providing ice-cream as their product. They should consider who they
want to target as customers for their product and accordingly design its packaging, logos
and tag-line which will attract them.
 According to those potential consumers, cost of production, they should also consider
competitive price that could give them advantage against their competitors in terms of
price and quality. Although they focus on lower prices, they should consider giving out
those products which ensures value for the price even if its higher than before.
 Unilever also should opt for internet distribution channels for their product from their
own stores, it will give consumers an advantage for price and company would be able to
delete unnecessary medium (Hapsoro, and Hafidh, 2018).
Evaluating How Organization can Improve Branding of Product
Branding is a process companies opt to create a strong and positive perception of a
product/service or company itself (Truong, amd et.al, 2017). It is very essential for them retain
their positioning in the market and grow. There are many ways through which company can
leave their image in audience's mind, such as, logos, consisted theme, advertisements, marketing
campaigns and communication. Here is the evaluation to how an organization can improve their
product's branding and enhance the image and reputation:
 Focus on Great Customer Service: Every company has one purpose in common and
that is sustaining in market while making profit. And those are only possible if they have
loyal customers. There are times when they switch from one brand to another which will
only result in loss in profit as well as their image. To create improved branding and

image of the product, people must be satisfied with it. The company should focus on
improving their customer service which will make customers to come back.
 Improve Social Media Presence: The digitalization has created another source through
which brands can create their image and attract potential customers. It is fair to assume
that the potential customers of Unilever would be found on social media as almost
everyone is using social media nowadays and for a product like Ice cream, it won't be
difficult to find them. Through social media the company can interact with the audience
one-to-one and improve communication with the consumers. This will help them to
create a brand presence between the people, and they would be able to recognize the
product.
 Consistent Visual Identity: Consistency is the key when it comes to creating a brand
image and recognition. The first move a firm does to promote their brand is creating
logos designs and company image for the consumers and audience to recognize the
brand. It is rather difficult to create such visual identity that sums up everything a
company does and give their message to the people. Unilever has already created a visual
identity that is recognizable for everyone, and for the ice cream they could use it to create
trust.
 Branded Packaging: The first thing that consumers observe when coming in the contact
with the product is the packaging. Packaging could make promise for the quality of
product. It attracts the consumers and create a strong promotional point. It creates a first
impression of product and company should be mindful of it. Although it would add to the
production expense and rise the price, a branded packaging will make a promise of
branded quality which creates brand image (Išoraitė, 2018).
 Corporate Social Responsibility: Any company in the world, lives and exist in the
society, and enjoy the profit created through society. It is their responsibility to give back
to the society in forms of different practices, campaigns and activities. Although the
corporate social responsibility is not a promotional tool, it does create a good image of
the company in the audience's mind. They engage in welfare of people and environment
which shows their presence and concern for the society and people might remember those
practices and become loyal customer.

 Organic and Sustainable Products: People have been changing their lifestyle and
started demanding more organic and sustainable products which will be healthy as well
as environment friendly (Murdapa, 2020). Unilever can opt for this option which will not
only give people the option of healthier alternative but also help them create a brand
image that is sustainable and organic and care about the health of the consumers.
 Improve Credibility: Authority inspired by a brand has higher chances to turn potential
customers to loyal customers. Unilever has created an authority that inspires and attract
consumers, which did not happen overnight, instead took several years. With the
authority a brand offers credibility. Consumers purchase on the basis of trust they have in
the brand and that unbreakable trust creates and improves brand image.
The above points discussed how a company can create brand image and recognition
through different approaches. From giving better customer services to creating a strong presence
of brand on social media, every approach will work with only one factor, consistency (Plumeyer,
and et.al, 2019). Without consistency, they could lose the created credibility and image they
created for so long. It becomes forgettable if they do not pitch their ideas to the consumers from
time to time, hence, branding of product is subjected to the effort and consistency of the firm.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion of this report, Unilever is a British multinational consumer goods company
available in around 190 countries. The chosen product of Unilever was ice-cream which
available in different countries with different brand names. A PESTLE analysis on the product
line was applied and it was found that all these factors affect the business activities of the
organization, they create opportunities as well as threats for the operations of business. Further,
the marketing mix of Unilever discussed the products that are avail by the firm to the customers
which are demanded worldwide. The product prices are taken in consideration with all the
affecting factors and their distribution channel primarily depends on retailers. They have opted
for many promotional tactics creating the brand image. Lastly, different product branding ways
were discussed and evaluated that helps to create brand image and recognition.

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