Two Major Competing Brands under the Same Parent Corporation - Essay Example

? Two Major Competing Brands under the Same Parent Corporation  Dove & Axe (College) Two Major Competing Brands under the Same Parent Corporation  Dove & Axe Introduction Unilever Global has a very successful history of marketing more than one competing brands simultaneously by maintaining a social mission at its promotional strategies for every brand. The mode and concept of marketing generally have undergone tremendous changes for the recent decades. Traditional way of seller oriented marketing gave way to customer focused marketing strategies as customers today experience easy access to wide ranges of quality products and services. Hence firms today are cognizant of the unique characteristics of services such as intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. Subsequently, international expansion has become a significant strategy in addition to firms’ fundamental objective of wealth maximization. In order to achieve international expansion, global firms including Unilever usually maintain more than one competing brands. Dove and Axe are the two competing brands under the same parent corporation, Unilever. Dove is Unilever’s personal care brand that offers products for both women and men and has business interests in more than 35 countries across the globe. At the same time, Axe is a brand that deals with male grooming products under the parent company Unilever. This paper will critically evaluate the marketing programs and strategies of the two brands Dove and Axe in terms of various business concepts. Literature review While dealing with more than one competing brands, an organization might face several challenges. In contrast, Unilever has succeeded in its promotional tactics for Dove and Axe in the international market. Although the success could be attributed to several competitive advantages, as per the reports (The Economist), globalization greatly contributed to the faster growth of Dove and Axe in the international market. Globalization refers to a process by which national economies and cultures are integrated into an international economy so as to enhance international trade, direct foreign investment, migration, and technology sharing. According to Devetak and Hughes (2008, p.34), globalization connects nations through a global network and it assists a nation to get access into foreign markets and customers. In the case of Unilever, globalization assisted the two competing brands to overcome cross-border trade regulations. To illustrate, both Dove and Axe get the opportunity to attain benefits from foreign markets since the offshore countries provide better business conditions such as cheap raw materials and labor, liberal government laws, and large number of potential customers. In addition to Dove and Axe, Unilever has a number of other personal care brands such as Lifebuoy, Lux, Pond’s, Rexona, and Signal Close up, Sunsilk, Tigi, and Vaseline. Thus Unilever maintains a number of personal care brands which compete with each other in the market under its common regulations. The company highly encourages fair competition so that brands like Dove and Axe vehemently dominate the market in which they operate. The designed purpose and principles of the company state that it always works with integrity, which is also applicable to Dove and Axe (Personal care brands). Both the Dove and Axe brands practice the concept of market segmentation. It is obvious that both these brands target people between the age 18 and 24; and hence they focus their business to areas where youngster highly indulge. Since the two brands deal with almost similar products, they are forced to compete with each other in the same market segments. Kapferer (2008, p.403) opine, under such market conditions, both brands must avoid all references to the parent company when they operate under the same corporation because this practice would help to maximize the perceived difference between the two. As per the Unilever code of conduct, both Dove and Axe managements continuously try to improve the environmental safety. These brands have undertaken environmental safety as their key objective in addition to its long-term goal of business sustainability. For instance, Dove and Axe jointly co-operate with others in order to promote environmental care (Personal care brands). In the opinion of Kotler, Keller, Koshy, and Jha (2009, p. 330), while marketing two brands, each brand must have separate brand equity, effective brand awareness, and a reputed brand image for successful brand operation. Each Unilever brand possesses a management team which is responsible for dealing with various requirements of the brand including purchase, distribution, and decision taking. In addition to their unique traditional distribution channels, both these brands deploy the scope of internet to market their products. Dove employs pulling strategy that “attempts to promote a product by generating consumer demand for it, primarily through advertising and sales promotion appeals” (Boone & Kurtz, 2009, p. 478). Dove could successfully practice this strategy when they launched the “Campaign for Real Beauty” advertising program. At the same time, the Axe adopts online advertising, viral campaign, digital marketing, social media and public relations to promote its sales volume and thereby profitability. The pricing strategy of Axe varies from country to country. For instance; in Indian market, many of Axe’s products are imported from eastern factories and thus they are compelled to set high prices in India. Subsequent to the initial dissatisfaction from market, Dove tends to formulate a price reduction strategy. It seems that both brands comply with the accepted ethical notions of Unilever global company. Analysis The detailed evaluation reflects that Dove and Axe fairly compete with each other in the market under the principles and regulations of the parent company Unilever. Obviously both these personal care brands follow Unilever’s basic code of conduct, environmental safety policies, and ethical standards. In the case of other business processes such as segmentation, purchasing, pricing, distribution, and promotion; each of these brands follows its own tactics and policies. In short, each brand operates as a separate legal entity so that one brand would not interfere with the organizational activities of the other. Application of marketing concepts Marketing mix is a concept which constitutes product strategies, place strategies, price strategies, and promotion strategies (generally 4 P’s) which determine the marketing tactics for a particular brand (Lecture note. chapter 1, slide 40). It is obvious that marketing mix and thereby 4 P’s vary from Dove to Axe as they are operated under the views and concepts of two distinct management teams. According to Solomon, Marshall, and Stuart, the various phases in the target marketing process are segmentation, targeting, and positioning (slide 5, lecture note). Dove and Axe: Facts and figures As discussed, both the brands are interested in target marketing and they formulate distinct strategies. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund framed by the Dove claims to be “an agent of change to educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves” (Dove: The creamiest soap). This argument is a direct indication of Dove’s target market concept. The advertisement program launched by Axe in 2004 for the promotion of Pulse fragrance could portray various ways the products assisted men to attract women (Design Your Way). These examples point out how both brands apply modern promotional strategies in marketing. As per the annual report, the Dove was rolled across 37 markets at the end of 2009 whereas it was 56 in the case of Axe dark temptation deodorant. Recommendations and Conclusions Although Dove and Axe function under the corporate strategies of the parent company Unilever, they have the autonomy and freedom to manage their own organizational activities. The Unilever believes that fair market competition would assist both Dove and Axe to contribute to its overall economic growth. However, when two brands compete under the same parent corporation, often unhealthy business practices and thereby financial losses occur. Hence, in order to avert any such conflict, both brands must strictly comply with the terms and regulations of the parent company. It is recommendable for these brands to jointly operate certain business processes such as distribution to minimize operational expenses. Evidently, both Dove and Axe grow globally because of their effective marketing strategies. References “66 Axe Print advertisements and TV commercials”. Design Your Way. Retrieved from http://www.designyourway.net/blog/tag/advertising/page/4/ Boone, L. E. & Kurtz, D. L. (2009). Contemporary Business 2010 Update. 13th Edition, US: John Wiley and Sons. Devetak, R & Hughes, C. W. (2008). The globalization of political violence: Globalization’s shadow. Abingdon: Routledge. “Dove: The creamiest soap”. Popsop: Brand Magazine Online. Retrieved from http://popsop.com/33199 Kotler P., Keller, K. L., Koshy, A & Jha, M. (2009). Marketing management: A South Asian perspective. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. Kapferer, J. N. (2008). The new strategic brand management: Creating and sustaining brand equity long term. London: Kogan Page Publishers. “Personal care brands”. Unilever website. Retrieved from http://www.unilever.com/brands/personalcarebrands/ “Unilever and the emerging markets: The legacy that got left on the shelf”. (Jan 31, 2008). The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/10601552 Unilever annual report. Unilever.com. Retrieved from http://www.unilever.com.sg/Images/ir_Unilever_AR09_tcm205-214535.pdf Lecture Notes. Read More