Lifebouys Marketing Strategies free essay sample

Lifebuoy is a product of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. The brands core promise is protection and a commitment to support life . Lifebuoys programmes aims to educate people about the benefits of handwash with soap, and how handwash can help kill invisible, disease causing germs. It guarantee’s protection to everyone . this brand has established it self as the disinfectant soap , and has achieved immense success in all its campaign. Lifebuoy is one of the leading soaps in the market , thus my study will show a detailed study of its market strategies INTRODUCTION MARKETING STRATEGIES Marketing strategy is defined by David Aaker as a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its resources on the optimal opportunities with the goals of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategy includes all basic and long-term activities in the field of marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation of a company and the formulation, evaluation and selection of market-oriented strategies and therefore contribute to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives. We will write a custom essay sample on Lifebouys Marketing Strategies or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page FMCG INDUSTRY OF HUL IN INDIA FMCG came into in existence in 1888 when Sun Light soap was firstly seen at KOLKATA harbor. It was made by Lever brothers in England. After that in 1895 Lifebuoy and after that Lux, Pears and Vim bar Hindustan Unilever Limited (‘HUL’), formerly Hindustan Lever Limited (it was renamed in late June 2007 as HUL), is Indias largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home Personal Care Products and Foods Beverages. These products endow the company with a scale of combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and sales of nearly Rs 13718 crores. HUL is also one of the countrys largest exporters; it has been recognized as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India. The mission that inspires HULs over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to add vitality to life. HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 52. 10% of the equity. The rest of the shareholding is distributed among 360,675 individual shareholders and financial institutions. LIFEBOUY Lifebuoy is a product of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. , India, which was earlier called the Unilever ltd. Lifebuoy is actually a brand which was invented globally before the term global branding itself was invented. It was invented in 1894 in UK as the royal disinfectant soap by William Hesketh Lever. In India Lever brothers introduced Lifebuoy in 1895 with the set up of offices for sales and marketing in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Karachi. Consistent in Lifebuoys 110+ year history has been its championing of health through hygiene. The brands core promise of protection and a commitment to support life through unbeatable protection is at the heart of the brand name itself – Lifebuoy, the guarantee of protection when you are threatened. While brands have managed to upgrade their image and evolve together with their consumers – Lifebuoy is a great example, having moved from a carbolic, sweaty association to desirable health imagery – there has been no example of a brand that has moved to the top of the pole after residing at the bottom. The relaunch of the soap in 2002, 2004 again in 2006 have been turning points in its history. In 2004, Lifebuoy’s product offering was revamped with contemporary packaging and an upmarket look. While that went down well with existing users, new users were still elusive; they continued to perceive the product as a ‘cheap soap for poor people’. That perception had to be changed without alienating the Lifebuoy loyalists. The objective for HUL was to launch a campaign that helped the soap shed its old-fashioned image and gain an entry into two million urban households. Lifebuoy before the end of the first quarter of 2011 was the leader in soap market in India after which they lost the competition to Reckitt Benckisers Dettol. Dettol is now the market leader with 42% of the market share whereas lifebuoy has 41% of the market share in the same market. OBJECTIVE OF STUDY REASON for selecting this topic Lifebuoy makes a moving appeal with Muthu’s story: Hindustan Unilever’s soap brand Lifebuoy has launched a social media campaign ‘Saving Lives’, inviting people to pledge support for the health initiatives it has undertaken on ground. The three-minute film has been created by Lowe Lintas and Partners and is currently on YouTube and Facebook. The film set in a village starts with a small boy (Muthu) spotting handprints in the mud outside his house. Curious, he sets out to follow the trail. He then spots his father who is walking on his hands across the town. He begins to walk along and very soon other villagers join them. His father continues his journey across the fields with the size of the procession increasing with musicians too walking along. A young lady, who seems like a tourist from the city, sees the procession from a bus and is intrigued. She joins them, trying to find out what is happening. The procession climbs on top of a hill, the man still walking on his hands over the rocky terrain. Finally, they reach their destination a temple. The man pays his respects to God before finally putting his feet on the ground. He explains to the priest that his son Muthu has turned five. The young lady asks the bystander what the big deal about turning five was. The bystander explains that Muthu is the man’s only child to have survived till the age of five. The film ends with the super announcing: On the initiative, Samir Singh, global vice president, Lifebuoy, said: â€Å"Lifebuoy’s goal is to change the hand-washing behaviours of a billion people by 2015 in order to help save lives and reduce disease. On top of the work we have been doing on ground for the last 10 years, we needed people to support our cause in huge numbers to reach our goal. † There are other HYGIENE EDUCATION AND DISASTER RELIEF measures that Lifebouy has takes in times of natural disaster. In 2004 after a Tsunami hit Asia, Lifebuoy bars were sent in relief packages to India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to help prevent the spread of disease. The brand also provided aid after earthquakes hit Pakistan and Northern India in 2005. Lifebuoy donated over 200,000 bars of soap to the International Committee of the Red Cross to support the recovery effort. Lifebouy’s campaign continues today, with Lifebuoy hygiene education programmes ongoing in countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam. These are the few reasons which motivated me to make this project . The main OBJECTIVE of the project is to find: The strategies used to market its world famous soap, LIFEBUOY, in India ;the process of using market segmentation, target marketing, the product, pricing, promotional and distribution strategies. To analyse how it has established itself as the disinfectant soap . To study its competitors strategies and lifebouy’s relationship with them. LITERATURE REVIEW: Article 1: Brand story: Lifebuoy’s journey that is in the spotlight. Sruthi Radhakrishnan, ET Bureau Mar 23, 2011, 05. 08am IST When you go to a doctor, there are some very strict, disciplinarian ones and there are some who make light of the illness. Lifebuoy is the second kind of doctor, says Amer Jaleel, NCD, Lowe Lintas. Lifebuoy, for long, has been associated with a big, red, chunky bar of soap that keeps one healthy. The heritage brand, which has been around for more than a 100 years now (the first container with Lifebuoy soaps landed on Indian shores in 1895 at Bombay Harbour), was once touted to be the soap that was everything male and sporty. It has now become a family brand. Article 2: HULs advertising on rotis at the Kumbh Mela Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya? February 8, 2013 | Sagar Malviya , ET Bureau. At Kumbh Mela, the largest congregation on earth where all big marketers are vying to sell their wares and boost their brands, one promotion that stands out is Hindustan Unilevers Roti Reminder for its Lifebuoy soap brand, ET reports. The countrys largest consumer products firm, along with creative agency Ogilvy, has partnered more than 100 dhabas and hotels at the mela site to serve rotis that are stamped with Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya? (Have you washed your hand with Lifebuoy? ) The Roti Reminder gets a consumers attention at the exact time when hand washing is critical, Sudhir Sitapati, general manager, skin cleansing, at HUL, says. That is, right when she sits down to eat roti with her hand. At Kumbh Mela, the largest congregation on earth where all big marketers are vying to sell their wares and boost their brands, one promotion that stands out is Hindustan Unilevers Roti Reminder for its Lifebuoy soap brand, ET reports. The countrys largest consumer products firm, along with creative agency Ogilvy, has partnered more than 100 dhabas and hotels at the mela site to serve rotis that are stamped with Lifebuoy se haath dhoye kya? (Have you washed your hand with Lifebuoy? ) The Roti Reminder gets a consumers attention at the exact time when hand washing is critical, Sudhir Sitapati, general manager, skin cleansing, at HUL, says. That is, right when she sits down to eat roti with her hand. Article 3 Hindustan Unilever celebrates Global Handwashing Day Ahona Ghosh, ET Bureau Oct 15, 2012, 05. 06PM IST Hindustan Unilever is celebrating its 5th annual Global Handwashing Day across the country today. An initiative of the companys Lifebuoy brand of soap the campaign has been designed to raise awareness of handwashing with soap as a simple but lifesaving habit. At Mumbais Municipal Corporation School in Worli today the companys CEO, Nitin Paranjpe, film actress Kajol and Dr. Nirupam Bajpai, Director of the Columbia Global Centers, South Asia, and a Senior Development Advisor at the Earth Institute at Columbia University,spent two hours this morning with the children in an interactive session on benefits of handwashing. Article 4 Lifebuoy to get a facelift Rajas Kelkar, TNN Feb 9, 2002, 01. 00am IST Mumbai : Hindustan Lever, the countrys largest consumer goods company, will relaunch its 107-year old lifebuoy brand in an attempt to upgrade its image and positioning. this will be the first major relaunch of the soap and it will transform lifebuoy from a low-end, mass product into a brand new soap with a new price, packaging and positioning. sources said the company is reducing the size of the normal lifebuoy soap to 125 gms from 150 gms and increasing the price to rs 9 from rs 8. 50, an effective hike of 27 per cent. the company will make a formal announcement on february 12. company officials remained tightlipped about the issue. when contacted, a hll spokesman declined to comment. analysts say lever is attempting to revive the brands fortunes which have declined recently due to falling volumes in the overall soap segment. lifebuoy commands a volume market share of 18 per cent and is one of the most successful brands in the lever stable. but it has recently lost market share in a declining soaps market and its value dipped to rs 450 crore in 2001 from rs 595 crore in 2000. the price hike will come close on the heels of similar moves by lever in other products in the personal wash category. they believe that the current stock price of hll has already taken into account the price revision to be announced by hll. the current price factors in the increase in prices of key brands like lifebuoy and lux. the company is making an effort to boost its margins through the strategy. we do not believe that the price hike will result in a significant boost in sales or margins in the short-term. a large part of the earnings will be spent on promotions and marketing efforts required for relaunches, a dealer at a leading institutional brokerage commented. the hll stock rose 3. 59 per cent to rs 231 from rs 223, the third straight day of gains. the personal care wash category accounts for 18 per cent of the companys total sales revenues. Article 5 The FMCG and Retail Marketing blog Posted on December 18, 2010 Great Sales Promotion Strategy: Haath Dhoye Kya (Lifebuoy Hand Sanitizers) Was sitting in Coffee Cafe Day having a cup of coffee with a friend at santacruz east incidentally when I entered in the coffee shop I saw every table being displayed with a Lifebuoy Hand Sanitizer with a tag line â€Å"Haath Dooye Kya†. Great Sales Promotion Strategy: Haath Dhoye Kya (Lifebuoy Hand sanitizer) Now this is such a smart marketing where you are making consumer getting addicted to the consumption of the product by providing them live sample of the product with the freedom of using the product without paying for it. Now this is generating intense consumption need of the product which is already being consumed for instance take the example of those tooth paste companies who educated their present consumer who used to brush their teeth once in a day by just letting â€Å"consumer aware that you should brush your teeth twice in a day or every 12 hrs† rather than once in 24 hrs. Now in this case they have segmented it very well they have taken the Promotion spot as Coffee cafe day where most of the people who visit are middle and upper middle class and most of them are really hygiene conscious and with such a attacking tag line â€Å"Haath dhoya kya† will unnecessary will remind you that dude I need to wash my hand and I think while using this sanitizer he will think of buying a hand sanitizer for himself because of the fact that most of the people carry bag along with them in Mumbai so will think of buying it after using it . Think Buddy â€Å"Haath dhoya kya†. Article 6 Sanitizer cos cashing in on swine flu scare Ratna Bhushan, ET Bureau Dec 24, 2009, 02. 11am IST NEW DELHI: For decades, personal hygiene for Indians started and ended with Lifebuoy soaps and Dettol hand wash. Not any more. With swine flu scare sweeping across the country and spreading consciousness about hygiene like never before, a bunch of consumer product makers including Godrej Consumer Products, Paras Pharmaceuticals and Wipro Consumer Care have jumped into this market with hand sanitizers. Hindustan Unilever too has launched its hand sanitizer in select markets under the Lifebuoy brand alright, but its facing competition from Himalaya Herbal Healthcare, one of the few existing players that had so long restricted its sales mostly to hospitals, and a spate of new regional brands Article 7 The Indian Express Lifebuoy told to pay Dettol for ‘slanderous’ ad Krishnadas Rajagopal : New Delhi, July 19, Sun Jul 20 2008, 00:14 hrs A doctor husbands advice to his wife on a television ad to use Lifebuoy instead of a green-covered antiseptic soap cost the 110-year-old UK-launched brand name Rs 5 lakh in damages to competitor Dettol. The almost 10-second clip beamed on several TV channels features a man and his wife back home on a rain-soaked day. The woman decides to take a bath with an ordinary antiseptic soap in a green-white cover, drawing ridicule from her doctor sahib. Naadaan ko aql dena, ham sab ko bachaa lena (Oh God save her†¦ show reason to the naive†¦ he sings with their children on TV to rubbish an orange coloured bar soap. The Delhi High Court restrained Hindustan Lever Limited, the manufacturers of brand Lifebuoy, from issuing or telecasting the advertisement and slapped punitive damages of Rs 5 lakh on the company. Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed termed the video clip a deliberate act to reduce the sales of brand Dettol through the device of slander. The ad, Dettol claimed, had caused a severe dent in the image of Dettol Original soap. Lifebuoy said Dettol had no exclusive right or monopoly over the colour, shape or packaging. Justice Ahmed said the yardstick to judge if the advertisement was defamatory lay in the image of Dettol soap that the public at large carried in their minds. METHODOLOGY: My Methodology would be primarily secondary material. These are the readily available sources of the data which hasalready been collected by some researchers, experts and specialties . The secondary sources helpful for the study was mainly the internet. I would analyse and give my information based on these materials. DISCUSSION : FINDINGS :- LIFEBUOY PORTFOLIO:- Today, the Lifebuoy brand is more than the quintessential bar of red soap, and provides hygiene and health for the entire family through a range of products like liquid hand wash and specially designed body wash. Beyond ensuring daily hygiene and freshness, Lifebuoy products also address special needs like anti-acne and skin fortification for an all around cleansing experience. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE : Lifebuoy Bar is in the maturity stage of its life cycle Products HAND SANITIZER Lifebuoy Hand Sanitizer effectively disrupts bacteria’s cell membrane virus’s outer coat thereby kills germs viruses on your hands. Proven that it can instantly kill 99. 99% germs and H1N1 virus . Dries quickly, is non-sticky and has soothing fragrance. Has Moisturizer and Vitamin E to keep your hands soft and smooth. BAR SOAP Lifebuoy bar soaps support children’s health and growth by providing extended germ protection for up to 12 hours after a bath thanks to enhanced ingredients. Lifebuoy Body Wash provides deep cleansing of pores, protecting against the three root causes of skin health problems – clogged pores, over-drying, and infection-causing germs. HAND WASH Clean, germ-free hands are the key to good health, as ingestion of germs from unhygienic hands at mealtimes is the most likely cause for common diseases. Lifebuoy Hand Soaps offer hospital-strength germ protection, with a unique formulation that generates a rich lather. This provides an effective and hygienic wash in every corner of the hands and nails, at the same time leaving your hands pleasantly fragrant. MEN’S BODYWASH Male skin is more oily and sweaty, making it more prone to attacks from germs that cause skin problems and body odour. Lifebuoy Mens Body Washes are specially formulated to wash away excess oil and sweat, protecting against body odour and other problems caused by germs. Two variants provide the most important benefits to mens skin: CLEAR SKIN Lifebuoy Clear Skin provides specialist protection from acne, which results from oil and dirt coming together. Mineral clay or multani mitti absorbs the oil from your skin, while washing away germs and dirt to greatly reduce the incidence of acne. In fact, Lifebuoy Clear Skin has been shown to reduce acne up to 70 per cent in six weeks, guaranteeing visibly clearer skin MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR LIFEBUOY INTRODUCTION: Lifebuoy has always been marketed as ‘a tough cleaning soap for a tough man. ’ (Of course, the 2002 re-launch targeted Lifebuoy as a soap that brought good health to the entire family). Lifebuoy has been seen as a valuefor- money product, a soap that is long-lasting. In a very smart TV ad campaign, children are shown cleaning a street. The message put across is that since these children are secure from ailments that are caused by a lack of proper sanitation and hygiene, thanks to the fact that they use Lifebuoy, they are in a position to ensure cleanliness and hygiene for the entire community. Thus, Lifebuoy not only ensures good health and cleanliness for individuals, but healthy and productive communities as well. The ‘Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetana’ programme uses a‘direct consumer contact’methodology, and touches the lives of 70 million people in 18,000 villages. A unique feature of this campaign is that it utilizes multiple contacts, as opposed toother programmes which are single contact’ in nature. Gushes the HLL spokesman, â€Å"This programme aims to educate people about the benefits of handwash with soap, and how handwash can help kill invisible,disease causing germs. It is thus a marketing programme with a strong social cause of improving the health and hygiene of rural India. The brand USP is, ‘Lifebuoy provides 100% better protection from germs as compared to ordinary soaps. ’ LIFEBUOY’S MARKET SEGMENTATION AND TARGETING: The targeting market for lifebuoy is all households who can afford buying soap and who want to fulfill everyday need that provides them and their family with a 100 anti bacterial solution and complete protection from all germs bacteria and cleanliness from dirt Lifebuoy belief that children are the potential agent for change and impartingeducation on the importance of hand washing with soap will enable them to adopt early habit in life LIFEBUOY’S REPOSITIONING STRATEGY: Lifebuoy soap is a very old brand of bath soap in India, Life Buoy is an anti bacterial soap and in the beginning it positioned itself on its antibacterial qualities, lifebuoy gained a number of customers with this positioning, but then there comes the competition with the Dettol soap.. All this put Lifebuoy out of lime light and to survive in market, Lifebuoy positioned itself on price it became low price antibacterial soap. This strategy may have boosted short term sales of Lifebuoy but it lost its brand value and credibility in the minds of customers. Lifebuoy needed to reposition itself on quality ratherthan price. REPOSITIONING CAMPAIGN: The repositioning campaign of Lifebuoy was started at 2008, but it became more prominent and became effective in 2009, Lifebuoy along with the advertisement has improved its quality and fragrance, most of the people had shifted from lifebuoy because it was low quality and it smelled terribly, as Lifebuoy has improved its quality all it needed to run an effective advertisement campaign to get the customers attention. The advertisement team of Lifebuoy came up with excellent theme â€Å"Healthy Hoga Hindustan†and it is targeting parents which is their target market, Lifebuoy made very effective ad and it also used fear strategy (which is effective in case of antibacterial soap). This has enabled Lifebuoy to get more and more customers. Now a days, Lifebuoy is everywhere in Television, Radio, Newspapers and Billboards, Lifebuoy is running a huge campaign to promote itself which is very necessary in case of repositioning the brand. With the help of marketing department and advertisement, Lifebuoy has successfully repositioned itself as a quality antibacterial soap with better fragrance and more durability. Many companies try to reposition themselves when they see market trend shifting but most fail to do so. In case of Lifebuoy it has been successful. The interesting thing about this campaign is that Lifebuoy is running the same campaign in Pakistan and in India as is done by Unilever, this suggest that lifeboay is considering India and Pakistan as the similar market segment. MARKET STRATEGIES: Here in marketing strategies we will discuss the existing strategy of Lifebuoy along with some adjustments in the strategies to improve our selected product. The discussion of these market strategies are hereunder. MARKET SCOPE STRATEGY: Although Unilever itself is a part of a Multi market, but since we are talking about the product Lifebuoy we can say that it is using a multi market strategy as well because it has both soap and shampoo, not these two only but they have others antibacterial liquid baths as well opening a way for Lifebuoy to be a multiple product. MARKET ENTRY STRATERGY Lifebouy is one of the old products of uniliver which has more than 100years of successful journey ,we can simply say that Lifebuoy is the early entrants internationally and in India it is the first-in in its kind of soaps. By adopting the first-in strategy, Lifebuoy has captured the maximum share of the market. Over 60 years in India we guess there is not a single home that didn’t use it. Lifebuoy has taken the risk of the first-in and consequently got one of the biggest markets in Asian countries by providing its quality and sustained priced product to both rural and urban areas of India. MARKET COMMITMENT STRATEGY: Being the first-in in the market Unilever has shown strong commitment with its brand of life time i. e. Lifebuoy and that commitment to its brand has really foster the growth of Unilever as well as its brand of Lifebuoy. But from the recent decade Unilever is no more showing the strong commitment to Lifebuoy because over the period of time many of the competitors came in the market with new innovative product, better market strategies and stronger commitment. In the present scenario, Unilever is just showing an average commitment to its brand of Lifebuoy which has really put its brand on the back foot. STRATEGIES WITH RESPECT TO 4P’S: PRODUCT STRATEGIES: A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a need or want. Products that are marketed include physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information and ideas. PRODUCT POSITIONING STRATEGY: â€Å"Placing a brand in that part of the market where it will have a favorable reception compare with other brands†. Unilever position Lifebuoy when come in red colors as a brand of low income group. They choose their segment and position their brand according to the needs and wants of the segments. This segment wants long life of the soap and the chemical formula of Lifebuoy enables it to have long life. PRODUCT REPOSITIONING STRATEGY: Due to competition, Unilever has to reposition its brand Lifebuoy because the needs and wants of people are changed. Unilever should revise its marketing mix to reposition Lifebuoy. Now they are targeting whole India by the advertisement â€Å"Healthy Hoga Hindustan†. They position their brand for the health conscious people. In repositioning they changed the shape, color and the attributes of the Lifebuoy because want this kind of changes and they do this through environmental scanning. PRODUCT SCOPE STRATEGY: Single Brand: Unilever is using single brand strategy when Lifebuoy came in traditional red color and use by lower income group. Multiple Brands :In order to attain the whole market Unilever has introduced Lifebuoy shampoo to capture more growth and profits. PRODUCT DESIGN STRATEGY: Deals with the standardization of the product. Unilever is using two of product development strategies. Standard product: Unilever is offering a standard product of Lifebuoy soap and shampoo by standardized packaged product. Customized product: In case of Lifebuoy shampoo different sizes are available, customers use according to its requirements from 200ml bottle to 5ml sachet pack since there is no one time consumption PRICING STRATEGIES: MARKET PENETRATION : Market penetration is the name given to a growth strategy where the business focuses on selling existing products into existing markets. Market penetration has four main objectives: Maintain or increase the market share of current products this can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling. Secure dominance of growth market. Restructure a mature market by driving out competitors; this would require a much more aggressive promotional campaign, supported by a pricing strategy designed to make the market unattractive for competitors. Increase usage by existing customers – for example by introducing loyalty schemes. Ansoff Matrix : Current Product New Product Current Market Market Penetration Product Development New Market Market Development Diversification Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like lifebuoy shop has fullfil requirements for making an impression in the market for penetrating: Strong distribution channel Minimum profit margin Simple marketing message Lesser-priced packs to increase affordability Packaging in smaller units and localized design that attracts consumers Convenience of storage while use Thorough knowledge of the village psyche In brief, the strategy revolves around what attracts consumers to a product PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES: Successful promotion campaigns dont happen by chance. To realize goals, promotional products programs must be carefully planned, taking into consideration the audience, budget and, of course, the ultimate result to be gained. Sales promotions are non-personal promotional efforts that are designed to have an immediate impact on sales. Media and non-media marketing communications are employed for a pre-determined limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Lifebuoy is promoting its product using these kinds of promotional techniques Consumer sales promotion techniques: The different consumer sales promotion techniques used by Lifebuoy are: Price deal: A temporary reduction in the price, such as happy hour. Cents-off deal: Offers a brand at a lower price. Price reduction may be a percentage marked on the package. Price-pack deal: The packaging offers a consumer a certain percentage more of the product for the same price (for example, 25 percent extra). Coupons: coupons have become a standard mechanism for sales promotions. Free-standing insert (FSI): A coupon booklet is inserted into the local newspaper for delivery. Rebates: Consumers are offered money back if the receipt and barcode are mailed to the producer. Contests/sweepstakes/games: The consumer is automatically entered into the event by purchasing the product DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES: Movement of goods and services from the source through the distribution channel, right up to the final consumer or user and the movement of payment in the opposite direction, right up to the original producer or supplier Chanel of Distribution: A distribution channel can be as short as being direct from the vendor to the consumer or may include several inter-connected (usually independent but mutually dependent) intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors , agents, retailers. Each intermediary got the items at one pricing point and moves it to the next higher pricing point until it reaches the final buyer also called channel of distribution or marketing channel. Existing strategy: Unilever uses a lot of distributors and retailers to supply its products in each market where the final customer might reasonably look for it. While appointing a distributor for a particular area, management uses its own judgment to select such a person that has a potential to operate effectively. Unilever uses an intensive distribution strategy for lifebuoy soap while at the same brand but in shampoos category it introduces only extensive strategy. Unilever did not fight for the better shelf space for lifebuoy soap as Lifebuoy is targeting middle and low income consumers so shelf space is not important their main focus is on intensive distribution and ideal price with some innovation SWOT ANALYSIS OF LIFEBOUY COMPARASION : DETTOL AND LIFEBOUY PRODUCT: When we start talking about the products of Dettol, the first thing that strikes a chord in our mind is that â€Å"Dettol means secure† and we are â€Å"100% sure† about that. Dettol entered the soap market only with one soap,Dettol Original. And then diversified into 4 different soaps namely- Dettol original, Dettol skin care, Dettol cool and Dettol Fresh. Dettol soaps always come with a recommendation from IMA- Indian Medical Association. This sign makes Dettol more secure and safer. And the diversification of dettols products increased the customer base of the company because each one of its product is quality-wise different and caters the needs of different people in a much diversified country like India where preferences differs vividly. Dettol is a very old brand in India and is always considered as the 3rd most trusted brand in India. The success story of lifebuoy is in having moved from a carbolic, sweaty association to desirable health imagery. And when we discuss about the quality of lifebuoy, it stands as the soap with most durability in India. Long lasting life of the soap itself is USP for the brand. And coming to the next parameter in product category for lifebuoy, design, the design of the earlier bars of the royal disinfectant soap had been carried over for years by the company. The red color that really marked the brand name went under changes in yea