Gillette Companys Marketing Plan - Case Study Example

Market Overview Gillette is a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble Company. The latter is a fortune 500 company that is listed in New York Stock Exchange (Ferrell 23). It is a multinational corporation that deals with a variety of consumer products. It is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It has a total of approximately twenty four consumer brands (Paley 89). Some of them include the famous female sanitary pad, Always. Others are Ariel, a washing agent, Duracell, a brand of dry cells amongst others. All of these brands rake in millions of dollars in revenue for the corporation. Gillette is such one brand of this corporation. It is a brand of safety razors and other personal hygiene range of products. The razors of this company protect the skin from all parts of the razor except the edge alone. The skin is in contact with the edge of the razor alone. This is as opposed to cut-throat razors also called straight razors. Here, the skin is contact with the whole of the razor. A safety razor reduces the risk of injury to the skin. That is the reason why they are preferred by men for shaving. Gillette used to be a company on its own. It was started in 1895 (Bonoma 56). The founder was King C. Gillette. He named the company after himself. It used to deal with a range of consumer goods, the safety razors included. However, in the year 2005, more than a century after been founded, the company was acquired by Procter & Gamble (Bonoma 57). That is how it ended up been a brand of this multinational corporation. It is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It no longer exists as a company now, but as a brand. Not only does Gillette produce safety razors for shaving, it also has a range of other products. It produces antiperspirants, hair care and body products. Its products are aimed for grooming, especially in males. It has Gillette shave gel and after shave (Cundiff 98). These products are designed to make the shaving experience for the man as comfortable as possible. Gillette's anti-deodorant is said to be of clinical status. The hair products are also designed for the man (Bonoma 25). They include stylers, shampoos and hair conditioners. It also has a wide range of shower gels for men (Ferrell 56). They include those aimed for dry skin, oily and normal skin. They also include face wash gels for men. The gels were hitherto thought to be the preserve of women. Target Market for Gillette Products The target market for Gillette Company products is the young men aged between sixteen and thirty-four years (Cundiff 36). The grooming products especially are targeted at this age bracket. Gillette has aggressive promotional campaigns aimed at this group. The challenge is to convince these men that grooming is not the preserve of women. It used to sponsor a soccer game every Saturday in the 1990's. This was called Soccer Saturday. It was aired by Sky Sports Channel (Ferrell 98). An average of one million young males watched this program in the year 2005-2006. This was an average of one million every month. This made up around a quarter of the target population for the Gillette products (Bonoma 98). Gillette has used Soccer Saturday to not only market the existing brands, but also as a launching pad for new products (Ferrell 78). This is what happened when the company introduced Mach3, Turbo and M3Power range of products. In terms of market growth, the company's products continue to enjoy popularity amongst the target population. They are the most famous. Gillette is likely to remain the leader in this market. A SWOT Analysis of Gillette Company Strengths Gillette Company has obvious strengths that work to its advantage. These are internal factors that help it to remain the most popular company in this area. First, the company is managed by qualified professionals (Cundiff 45). The staffs are also highly qualified professionals in their field. For a company to be productive, every sector must be headed by a qualified person. Every department in this company is headed by a qualified person in that field. From the publicity to production department. The company has carried out an aggressive and successful campaign to promote the goods (Cundiff 67). The campaigns have been carried out in a very well orchestrated manner. Gillette has sponsored soccer, which it knows that many young men view. Another strength of the company is its revenue (Paley 12). This makes it possible to develop other products and manage the campaigns. In 1997, it had revenues of approximately ten billion (Ferrell 67). That was how it was able to launch Sensor Excel razor. It also invests considerably in research. That is why it is capable of coming up with products that satisfy its customers. Another strength is that the brand is already well known (Paley 56). It is easier then to launch new products using the brand name. Weaknesses These are the internal factors that make the company risk losing its customers. The first one is when it merged with Procter and Gamble (Paley 67). The customers lost faith with the products. The company now was under the control of another big one. This was a problem since the executives of Gillette could not make individual decisions about the company. They had to consult with the bigger corporation. This increases bureaucracy and leads to inefficiency. The controversy that was associated with Procter's logo and its products tended to stain the name of Gillette. This is because Gillette, been under this big multinational, will be affected by controversies associated with it. Opportunities These are the external factors that can help Gillette to grow. It can take advantage of the merger with Procter. It now has large source of finance to enable it develop the new products (Bonoma 23). Procter is a multinational which is well known for its products. Gillette can ride on its back and penetrate more markets. The products of Gillette also enjoy massive goodwill and loyalty from customers (Cundiff 80). They can use this well developed good will to launch even more new products and increase their sales. Gillette is also a well known brand. They can use this reputation and fame to maintain their share of the market (Ferrell 123). It has a large revenue base. In 1999, it was worth around forty billion US Dollars (Paley 45). It can use this revenue to develop new products and enter new markets. Threats These are the external factors that threaten the survival of Gillette Company. Like all multinational companies, it faces trade barriers erected by various governments in an effort to preserve the local industry (Bonoma 78). Some countries also view the products as foreign material and so their citizens will not buy them. They face the uphill task of convincing men to use grooming products, like the face gels, that are considered unmanly. It also faces stiff competition abroad and at home. For example, Eversharp is their biggest local competitor (Bonoma 23). The latter have developed Schick blades that are giving Gillette products a stiff competition. Competitive and industry analysis The company is well poised to weather the competition leveled at it. The major competitors are Colgate-Palmolive (Paley 51). These are the manufacturers of other famous products for men's grooming. They produce shower gels and anti-deodorant for men. The other is Societe BIC. These are the producers of identical safety razors for shaving by men. They are a danger to the company. Others include Eversharp. The company counters this threat by aggressive promotional campaigns, like that of Soccer Saturday. It also strives to produce better and safer products. Product overview Gillette produces many products. It has a range of disposable razors. These include Good News, Blue II, and Mach3 amongst others. Others are anti-perspirant, also named Gillette. The others are Gillette wash gels for men. These come in several ranges, starting with that for dry skin to oily skin. The others are hair stylers, shampoos and conditioners. All these products are aimed at men aged between the ages of sixteen and thirty four (Cundiff 23). Keys to success and critical issues The key to Gillette products' success is its aggressive campaign. It has reached well the target market. It has handed out promotional shaving gears to men in campuses and universities (Paley 23). This is a sure way of making the young men become aware of the products as they grow up and start earning. Another key to success is the diversification in products (Ferrell 100). It has a wide range of shaving razors for all types of skin. This makes every customer satisfied and also captures a wider base market. It has specialized in the products for young men (Cundiff 86). This way, it is able to concentrate on this segment of the market. It has also continued to develop new products that are in keeping with the changing times. For example the face gels for men. Summary Gillette Company continues to be a major player in the market of grooming products for men. It has a long history in this line of production. Its success can be attributed to many factors within and without the company. But it has also faced a lot of challenges, amongst them stiff competition. But with all these challenges, the company, now a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, continues to grow. References Bonoma, Suzanne. Marketing strategies in the international arena. Boston: Randomn House, 2008. pp 20-100. Cundiff, Daniel. Case studies of successful companies' strategic plans. Houston: Mitchell & Irwin, 2008. pp 15-110. Ferrell, Franklin. A case study of Procter & Gamble and Gillette Company merger. Boston: Randomn House, 2006. pp 20-161 Paley, G. Success story of Gillette Company. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2005. pp 21-89 Read More