The Process of Development of a New Product
The process of development of a new product needs to incorporate a marketing strategy through an integrated communication plan to help the organization reach out to the intended population to share their intended goals for the project.
Vaseline: A Recognized Brand
The Unilever Company has played a significant role in recognition of Vaseline as a brand in the market. Vaseline has become generic to refer to petroleum jelly because it was the first company to manufacture petroleum jelly. The company has been able to grow through diversification and still has room to grow to address product areas such as the development of deodorant and cosmetic products for children below the ages of thirteen.
The Strategic Communication Plan
The strategic communication plan will involve using social media as a tool to communicate and reach out to the different markets that they intend to reach with the new product.
Introduction
The integrated marketing communications plan is a roadmap to achieving communications that will help the business get better results from campaigns, reduce market costs, and interact more with its customer base through social media, direct marketing, promotional sales and direct mail. The tools when incorporated into a company’s communications plan results in the maximization of the impact of communication, and provision of clarity and consistency to the customer base. The traditional marketing approach is inefficient because it separates campaigns for press relations, sales promotions, advertising, and direct marketing instead of integrating them into one unit. An integrated plan helps communicate the same message simultaneously by using the available tools to reinforce the message to improve the efficiency of marketing (Arockiaraj and Baranidharan 2014, p. 479).
Integrated marketing tools can be used for converting potential customers to actual customers through the different channels available (Blakeman 2018. Creating consistency and using repetition in the advertisement where the same message and tagline are repeated can help the targeted audience receive consistent messages. Integration is important because of the cost benefits associated with it. Companies have reduced efforts for using different techniques across different media and elimination of agency fees due to direct communication capabilities by having integration from a single source. Integration also reduces costs through distribution via social channels such as email and social media, where there are no costs associated with printing. The means of marketing is also direct and can help spread information faster. Some customers can also develop a preference for the means of sharing information more than using other media to share similar information. The amounts the company spends on advertising efforts can be significantly reduced with an integrated marketing plan in place.
Background
Unilever is a transnational consumer goods company that is British-Dutch and has its headquarters in the Netherlands, in Rotterdam. The company produces more than 400 brands that comprise cleaning agents, food and beverages, and a wide range of personal care products. The company has been rated as the largest company manufacturing consumer goods based on the returns that were collected in 2012 (Gustafsson and Hailey 2016). Vaseline is a world-renowned brand of petroleum jelly based products that is a product manufactured by Unilever and originates from the United States of America. The main product is the plain petroleum jelly that has been used for decades before recent introductions of select creams, lotions, deodorants, and cleansers.
The term Vaseline has been coined to refer to petroleum jelly all over the world. The name was derived from the German word for water (Wasser) and the Greek word for olive oil (elaion) which are the core components. The product was invented and patented in 1872 by its creator, Robert Chesebrough. The discovery happened in 1859 when he went to the oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania where he learned of the rod wax, which was a residue that was periodically removed from pumps used in oil rigs. The workers in the field had been using the substance at the time to heal burns and cuts. He took samples for analysis and extracted the usable petroleum jelly to create the product and patented its manufacturing process. Vaseline is used as a lubricant, moisture insulator, and due to its high refinement process, it has been reported to be non-carcinogenic. The Chesebrough Manufacturing Company was acquired by Unilever in 1987 (Jayakumar and Micheletti 2017, p. 1157).
Unilever is one of the largest media buyers globally with an estimated $8 billion invested in promotions and advertising in 2010. The company faces competition from companies such as Procter and Gamble, Nestle, Reckitt Benckiser, ConAgra, Henkel, Mars, PepsiCo, and S. C. Johnson and Son. The product, Vaseline, faces competition from products such as Evonik, Nivea, Johnson " Johnson, Ponds, Lakme, and Versman. The current CEO of the company is Paul Polman who was named in 2009, and he succeeded Patrick Cescau. The Unilever Leadership Executive is the company’s highest executive body. Vaseline is both a medical and cosmetic product that is used by both adults and children.
Situational Analysis
Unilever is recognized as the largest spender on marketing efforts despite the company having a large customer base. The company has been able to overcome several hurdles over the years through making purchases and acquisitions and also having a strong legal action team in place to overcome legal challenges. The company, like other companies, are affected by factors such as the macro and microenvironments, and internal and external factors.
Macro-Environment Analysis
The macro-environment of Unilever comprises of the external issues that affect the company’s operations positively and negatively. The outcomes and other aspects of the macro-environment are best analyzed by using the PESTLE analysis method.
Political – The political factors that surround the company in operations in the various countries are strict and hold it liable which makes the company adhere to rules for product distribution and pricing. The company also adheres to the regulations and restrictions set by the Food and Drug Administration and the European Commission which would result in legal issues arising if the company does not comply.
Economic – The state of the economy determines the profits made by companies. Companies are rising to compete against the pricing of Vaseline as companies seek cheaper products. The consumer demand is affecting the demand for the products. The company due to having various skin care products under the Vaseline brand is able to achieve maximum efficiency from the products where it can realize profits despite the failure of one of the products.
Social – The parent company, Unilever, has developed a strong reputation which creates a strong brand image for Vaseline. Vaseline is one of the most used products for personal care that guarantees the improvement of the skin with its high rating being because of tests showing that it is non-carcinogenic.
Technological – The Unilever Company has changed the business model to incorporate online sales for products and to use automation to reach more customers. The company has also manufactured new products such as scented jellies to meet various user needs and a variety of lotions. The level of automation that the company has allows it to ship products across various countries faster than their competitors. The presence of Unilever, their parent company in multiple countries is advantageous for Vaseline because local production reduces manufacturing costs while increasing distribution and accessibility.
Legal – Vaseline is subjected to follow laws of different lands that they operate on and continuous development efforts are closely monitored to ensure that the company sticks within limits that allow production to continue in accordance to the Food and Drug Administration laws and other laws in various countries. Vaseline being non-carcinogenic is a key aspect that has helped it avert legal action.
Environmental – Vaseline is developed as a safe product in line with Unilever’s goals of development of safe consumer products while using eco-friendly packaging and product design. The company also promotes sustainable and renewable resources in their products.
Micro-Environment Analysis
Vaseline operates in North America, China, Europe, Middle East Africa, South America, and India among other countries. The operations of Vaseline are sustainable mainly based on the size of the parent organization and the extent to which the product is renown around the globe. The product is also widely used as compared to its competitors such as Evonik and Nivea which are higher-priced and in most cases less accessible. The product is non-carcinogenic which makes it a preferred solution for many of its users. The medicinal properties of Vaseline have also helped it gain its popularity and Vaseline has grown as an individually known brand with some of the customers not being aware that it is a product of the Unilever Company (Dahlén, Lange, and Smith 2010).
Internal Analysis
The Vaseline brand is strongly favored by the operations of the parent company, Unilever, which streamlines the processes to ensure that all its products are designed and developed in a manner that is environmentally friendly. The internal processes are enhanced to develop products that meet the market demand. Vaseline Jelly is the original product that has been used for skin care and treatment, and over time it has been developed to come up with new product alternatives such as Vaseline Intensive Care Lotions, Vaseline Lip Therapy, and Vaseline Healthy white (Bruhn and Schnebelen 2017). Continuous research and development is part of the internal processes attributing to the company’s growth.
SWOT Matrix
Vaseline has become generic for petroleum jelly which has made it a popular product. The acquisition by the Unilever Company has helped the company improve to incorporate new brand types that have facilitated its continuous growth.
Strengths
The brand recall for Vaseline is high due to its cosmetic and medicinal capabilities and the product being non-carcinogenic (Belch et al. 2014) The product has been tested and recommended for use across all skin types with the little or no known scenario of allergic reactions from using the product. Vaseline has grown to become one of the most used household products for personal and skin care. Apart from its capabilities to retain moisture in dry weather conditions, the product also helps in cold weather conditions to help people keep warm after application.
The presence of Unilever in multiple countries across the globe increases its global presence. The brand is also the longest known petroleum jelly to the extent of becoming the generic for petroleum jelly. The expansion of the product line to incorporate fifteen new products in different countries also increases its presence in the different markets. Vaseline also has little competition in the petroleum jelly market which helps the brand retain its position. The current position has also played a role in welcoming new products by consumers.
Weaknesses
The biggest challenge facing Vaseline is the counterfeiting of products which questions the credibility of the product. There are little efforts put in to counter the counterfeit products because of the differences in legislation in the different countries of operation. The product is also receiving competition from other companies making cold creams and lotions that users are developing a higher preference for. The new products also have capabilities for protection from ultraviolet light and sunlight. The new products are also enhanced to have better scents and are lighter as compared to Vaseline which can cause feelings of being too warm. Vaseline also does not have consistent and continuous communication with its target market.
Opportunities
Vaseline has an opportunity to increase its marketing communications by using integrated marketing communication efforts to reach a wider market and to create awareness of its new products. The product is highly consumed as a petroleum jelly but has new alternative products which have not been widely recognized by the target markets. The company also has opportunities for further differentiation in the product market by working together with the research and development departments to understand the needs of the different customer markets. Vaseline has an opportunity to develop a product that is favorable for use in dry and hot weather conditions without causing excessive heat.
Threats
The company’s biggest threat is the lack of capital all year round because of factors such as differences in seasons. The winter and cold seasons are when the product is mostly used due to its ability to retain warmth in the body. However, in the dry season, it is being used less because of the amount of heat that is generated from using the product can become unbearable and customers are switching to other alternatives that offer moisture retention without causing heat in the dry and hot weather. The company’s greatest competitors are Nivea, Evonik, and Johnson and Johnson who have a wider range of products which address some of the needs that Vaseline has been unable to fulfill (Holloway et al. 2016).
Critical Success Factors
The critical success factors for the company are the operations of the parent company, Unilever. The board of governors that controls the parent company puts efforts in research and development and other core processes to ensure the organization is successful in its operations. The brand has been successful also due to the generic reference to petroleum jelly because it was the earliest brand in the market. The product has been used for various purposes such as baby care, keeping warm, retaining skin moisture to prevent skin cracks, and skin repair. The product has been tested extensively and is refined to ensure that it is non-carcinogenic which makes it suitable for use across all ages and for all skin types. The main competitors have not created a product that works similar to Vaseline (Homan 2018, p. 5). Most products by competitors are cold creams that have been reported to work only for certain skin types because of the products being too harsh and the scents in the lotions too strong for use among some consumer groups.
Competitor Analysis
The competitors against the company are Nivea, Johnson " Johnson, Evonik, and Lakme. The differences in the brands are that they manufacture cold creams that are different from the petroleum jelly produced by Vaseline. The creams and lotions are also more expensive than the petroleum jelly and are not usable across all ages or skin types. Vaseline has a larger market share as compared to its competitors because of the differences in products, the price of products, and the market availability. Vaseline is a Unilever product, which is available in more than 190 countries across the globe while some of the products are only available in certain regions (Bruhn and Schnebelen 2017).
Company Mood Board
The Brand and its Customers
Each brand needs to understand who their customer base is: both the current and potential customers. Organizations need to determine how to meet the expectations of their current customer base by refining their products and align them with the goals of the customers. The mood board created can help the organization better understand their customers and their needs and to design products that are suitable as per their requirements.
Target Audience Analysis
The target audience of Vaseline is not limited to a certain age group, but the diversified products developed are targeted towards different market segments. The pure petroleum jelly has been used for the past more than 140 years for healing burns and scars. It has also been used as a baby care oil to help keep babies safe from nappy rush or heat rashes that can affect their skin. It has also been used to keep the children warm and retain moisture in their skin to ensure that their skin remains beautiful. However, a newer variant known as Gentle Protective Jelly has been developed specifically for baby skin (Jayakumar and Micheletti 2017, p. 157).
The pure petroleum jelly has also been embraced by women across ages as a solution for beautiful skin. It has been used to maintain a longer lasting blush and to restore moisture on the dry skin. The baby jelly has also been used by women for beauty. Rich conditioning cocoa butter and a variety of lotions have been developed for female users to help them achieve richer skin. A light hydrating jelly with aloe scent has been developed for men with a masculine smell and cooling aloe and cucumber extracts to give a tingly cooling effect, a refreshing feeling, and to hydrate the skin.
Vaseline Lip therapy is a lip balm variant that has been developed to heal dry lips and prevent the occurrence of dry lips by locking in moisture. The packaging of the product makes it easy and convenient to carry. The variant is part of the cosmetic range of products that have been designed for use on lips especially but can also be used on the body. The small packaging limits the use of the product for body applications but allows for ease of carrying. There are various flavors such as Aloe Vera, rose, cocoa butter, and original Vaseline aside some periodic limited edition versions.
Vaseline also has a range of deodorants, roll-ons, and antiperspirants. The products have been designed for women and men, but there are no alternative products for women. Vaseline should make efforts to create a product that is gentle for children by having a revised formula that does not affect them. Companies such as Nivea have products designed for kids such as sunscreen and deodorant. These products help create a new product market that the companies can target for increased sales and marketing opportunities. The creation of a children based product for cosmetic purposes would be an advantageous approach that the company can use to come up with better-placed products in the market (Blakeman 2018).
Communication Objectives
The communication strategy for marketing the new product will require that the company use an integrated marketing plan to achieve successful communication that will reach a wider audience and will have reduced costs associated with the marketing efforts. The objectives of the communication plan are to share the same message across multiple platforms to reach multiple people who are both customers and potential customers in the market to draw them into their customer base (Bruhn. and Schnebelen 2017). The communication strategy also has an objective of introducing a new product into the market and create awareness. The communication needs to be concise and clear to let the current and target markets become aware of the capabilities of the product and know what to and what not to expect from it.
IMC Strategy
The campaign will primarily use social media as the primary technique to run the campaign and create product awareness. The social media channels to be used will be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube because these are the most used social media channels across the different age groups. The objectives of using the technique are that the internet and social media channels have become one of the easiest ways to share information by sending links to others or following trending hashtags to be part of the conversation. The other techniques that will be used will be direct email marketing, advertising on billboards, and using television media. These techniques will appeal to an older generation who rely on traditional media to get notifications of new products and for the part of the population that is not entirely present on social media or those who are not actively involved in social media.
Creative Strategy
The creative strategy that Vaseline will use to deliver the new product in the market will feature a significant issue that needs to be addressed. The campaign to launch the new product will highlight the importance of having a good scent. The campaign will use a short advert showing a student who uses the new deodorant and how they draw positive attention to themselves and cause others to desire to know them (Bhupathi 2016). The advert will be done in slow motion and high quality to capture the emotions of the people around the young student who are appealed by the scent. The advert should end in people rushing to the supermarket or another retail outlet to purchase the deodorant.
The campaign will help create awareness for the product among children and their parents, and will also create awareness among adults on the need to use deodorant to ward off body odors. There is a large part of the population that has not adopted the use of deodorant and other products for cosmetics, and the campaign can help them adopt the use of deodorant. The company can also introduce the deodorant bundled with an additional product such as a lip balm or other product that is yet to resonate with the larger population to create awareness of the new product and market the existing product by bundling them in a manner that guarantees the buyer value for their money.
Media Strategy
The media strategy will use social media as the primary means of reaching the target audience for the marketing campaign. The additional strategies to be used will be direct emailing and using traditional forms of advertising such as billboards, and televisions. The purpose of having a diversified means of advertising is to reach out to a larger crowd to make them aware of the product and draw their attention to it (Dahlén, Lange, and Smith 2010).
Media Schedule
The media schedule will be different for various channels. The social media channels will attempt to take advantage of mid-morning hours when people are online to share interesting facts about the new product and the benefits it offers. Vaseline can also create a campaign where each hour of the midmorning for a month they share a fact about the company or their parent company and associate it with a hashtag that relates to the new product. The television campaign can be rolled out during news hour or other times when families are usually watching television when the audience reached will be the largest.
Evaluation and Control Measures
The campaigns will be measured based on the responses and outreach. Social media tools can be used to track outreach of marketing campaigns through different means such as using hashtags and checking the number of interactions with certain hashtags and company usernames. Analytics are measured to determine the trends on social media to see the topics that are most talked about. The company can compare their hashtags that relate to their products to determine the outreach of the campaign. Email campaigns are easy to respond to by analyzing the responses as well as the bounce back emails which are a sign of failure to deliver. Email marketing follows assumptions that the emails are delivered to the primary inbox, that there are no spam filters and that successful delivery of an email means the email is carefully read and understood (Arockiaraj and Baranidharan 2014).
Budget Allocation
The budget that will be allocated for the development of the marketing campaign is $45 million. The company has been going over budget excessively mainly due to relying on the traditional methods which are not beneficial to a company because they do not offer cost savings.
Recommendations
The suggested campaign is bound to have a positive impact on boosting operations for the company. The product created should have an age-appropriate theme that will increase awareness. Vaseline also needs to realize that modern cartoons are more attractive than older cartoons to most children. Therefore, instead of creating a Mickey Mouse theme, it would be more sensible using a SpongeBob theme. The deodorant and other cosmetic product bottles should also be designed in a manner that makes it easy to hold them during use.
References
Arockiaraj, G. and Baranidharan, D.K., 2014. Impact of social media on brand awareness for fast moving consumer goods. International Journal of Logistics " Supply Chain Management Perspectives, 2(4), pp.472-477.
Belch, G.E., Belch, M.A., Kerr, G.F. and Powell, I., 2014. Advertising: An integrated marketing communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education.
Bhupathi, M.M., 2016. Integrated Marketing Communications. In Strategic Marketing Management in Asia: Case Studies and Lessons across Industries (pp. 425-445). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Blakeman, R., 2018. Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to implementation. Rowman " Littlefield.
Bruhn, M. and Schnebelen, S., 2017. Integrated marketing communication–from an instrumental to a customer-centric perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 51(3), pp.464-489.
Dahlén, M., Lange, F. and Smith, T., 2010. Marketing communications: A brand narrative approach. John Wiley " Sons.
Gustafsson, S. and Hailey, V.H., 2016. Responsible leadership, trust, and the role of Human Resource Management. In Responsible Leadership (pp. 151-166). Routledge.
Holloway, D., Campo, P., Nahan, K., Donnell, A., Landero, J.A., Caruso, J.A. and Vonderheide, A.P., 2016. Investigation of the Elemental Profile of Petroleum Jelly-Based Personal Care Products by ICP-MS. Analytical Letters, 49(15), pp.2490-2500.
Homan, P., 2018. Vaseline: from trade mark to noun. Lung cancer, 15, p.05.
Jayakumar, K.L. and Micheletti, R.G., 2017. Robert Chesebrough and the Dermatologic Wonder of Petroleum Jelly. JAMA dermatology, 153(11), pp.1157-1157.
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