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Proctor & Gamble's Head & Shoulders: Situation Analysis
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Examines the marketing position & opportunities for Proctor & Gamble's Head & Shoulders shampoo.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines the marketing position & opportunities for Proctor & Gamble's Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Paper Introduction:
Situation Analysis Market Trends Product Description Head & Shoulders Shampoo (HSS), is one of Procter & Gamble's oldest selling shampoo product lines (SKUs). It is also the nation's third best selling shampoo, controlling 7.67 percent of the $1.8 billion shampoo market (Enrico, 1997). Market Description The United States hair care market was worth $4.626 billion in 1995 and grew at just above the rate of the overall sector between 1991 and 1995. The hair care market has been driven by the success of niche products that were once found only in hair

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All of the above create hard times for those marketers who refuseto change and still rely on decision-making processes that were valid whenbrands were strong and mass marketing was viable. First, does theconsumer need the product desperately? Available: http://167.8.29.32/money/ index/ad154.html. Income should be in the $22, to $4 , range. Private-label branding,an overabundance of shopping channels, and a proliferation ofcommunications media have slashed brand profits even as they havediminished consumer loyalty. They were product-oriented instead of customer-oriented (Walker, 1997, 36).The techniques used to create brand awareness will be modified to fit thesecond objective of increasing foreign market share.Marketing Strategy A brand needs to stand for something larger than just a productbenefit if it is to pass the test of time. [On-line]. Drug & Cosmetic Industry. Brand leadership signifies emotional as well as rational benefits (Walker, 1997, 35).Consideration Set for Comparison A summary derived from various market research analysts provides a setof four basic elements, or questions, for comparison. Next, are there alternative sourcesfor getting rid of the problem? To this group, dandruff is perceivedmore as a social problem rather than a medical one. A fourth category, ethnic consumer issupposedly being started within Procter & Gamble's shampoo marketingdivision (Henkoff, 1996, 153) Aging baby boomers will become an even more important market for theindustry. And many brand-marketingcompanies still define success by short-term market penetration metrics.Marketing Opportunities and Threats These shifts in marketing attitudes and in buying decisions byconsumers suggest that there is a great opportunity for marketers who arewilling to consider niche markets and new distribution channels along withnew concepts in value pricing. (1996, October 14). Customer SegmentsCustomer Segments Head & Shoulders is marketed broadly to two general types ofcustomers: United States and Foreign. The perils of popularity: Think yourtroubles will be over once your brand is a household word? Foreign segments. Secondary target selection justification. typically, the brands are the first in their category, often having invented it (Walker, 1997, 35).The final threat comes from cost-cutting and lower margins resulting fromthose savings. Brand awareness techniques will emphasize that Head& Shoulders owns a consumer benefit and not just a product benefit: Well-known Harvard Business School professor Ted Levitt made this point clearly in his now-famous essay, Marketing Myopia, using the example of the railroads in 19th-century America. Dandruff shampoo ads get the brush-off. These are: foreign markets (mentionedabove); single men, 18-34, employed, single, with a strong desire to appealto prospective mates; working women 24-5 , who perceive that advancement isbased on many indefinable things, few of which can be controlled. Reasons for choosing a brand leader over other brands include feeling like I've made an intelligent choice and feeling I'm associated with the best. Marketing Tools.34(3), 4. Third, is price-peaking a consideration?Finally, will the problem (perceived or real) go away by itself?Typical Decision Strategies In the field of health-related problems, cost is seldom aconsideration, a situation that stays true up and down the economic ladder. . That aggressiveness is seen in a comparison of three recenttelevision commercials. products become so ubiquitous that their names became the generic terms for their categories, just as Kleenex is synonymous with facial tissue. The hair care market has been driven by the success of nicheproducts that were once found only in hair salons but are now widelyavailable in drug stores, supermarkets, and often, mass merchandisers. The consumer makes his or her choice among the point-of-purchase displays. Thisdemographic will be easily identified through census bureau statistics. The "before" shots show photos of models wearing dark shirtssprinkled with white snowflake-like dandruff particles. The main desire of this group is focused on purchasing those itemsthat make life better for the family. This means, forexample, that Alberto Culver's VO5 brand of shampoo, conditioner, and HotOil treatment would all be merchandised together. Shampoo dominatesthe hair care market, being by far the largest category ($1.791 billion in1995)(Smith, 1996).Product Classifications The shampoo market traditionally has general shampoos, shampoos withconditioners, conditioners only, volumizers, and special needs treatments.In the past, many of the larger retailers traditionally merchandised thehair care categories separately; for example, shampoo was merchandisedseparately from conditioner. However, as Walker (1997) notes, "whatever the cause,it is inarguable that the increasing market share of the private labels hasthreatened the industry's big players in a way that they were never capableof threatening one another." Recent social, competitive, political and physical environmentalchanges. . When shoppers switch shampoo beauty line. . (1996, June 1). This position differs from Head & Shoulders current positioningbecause it takes into consideration the cognitive and rationalcharacteristics of the consumer. Situation Analysis Market TrendsProduct Description Head & Shoulders Shampoo (HSS), is one of Procter & Gamble's oldestselling shampoo product lines (SKUs). However, they arenervous about "medicinal" shampoos like Desenex, and when push comes toshove in the supermarket or drugstore aisle, it is hoped they will opt forbrand quality and reliability. Judging, however, from the subject astreated in marketing and in commercials, this plays an important part.Shopping Patterns The author of a recent article notes that "in consumer polls, womenoften say they love a shampoo for the first week and then it doesn't seemto work as well. Theproduct offers quality at an affordable price. By blending these two concepts, itwill be possible to both increase brand awareness and sales, both in thetargeted market niche and all secondary markets so identified. That is because competitors caneasily copy product benefits, sometimes more cheaply than the leader can.This strategy will utilize the concept of identifying new market nichescomprised of people who prefer the traditional qualities of a brand name.The Target The primary target. Henkoff, R., Brown, E., & Faircloth, A. No quantifiable data werefound in available literature. The U.S. The reason they defined their industry wrong was because they were railroad-oriented instead of transportation-oriented. In a sense, leadership is itself a consumer benefit indicates that when consumers perceive a product as the leading brand, there is a halo effect of positive assumptions (Walker, 1997, 36).Postpurchase Processes Postpurchase processes are quite simple. They assume that brand leaders answer to more rigorous standards than other brands. These targets have strongsales potential, are noted consumers of health and beauty products, andhave old-fashioned values.Positioning Statement Head & Shoulders, as the first shampoo to recognize the importance ofboth good grooming and good health, is number one for a reason. Head on shoulders. Priced at Rs 51 for a 1 ml pack, Rs 97 for a 2 ml and Rs 3 for 6 ml sachet, the brand hopes to replicate the success of its predecessor, Pantene Pro V. All commercials for Ivory Shampoo follow the trail of allother Ivory Soap advertising. First is the rise of mass merchandisers such as Walmart and Costco. Wal-Mart was one of the first retailers to goagainst this tendency, and moved the "salon-inspired" and "professional"hair care products into a separate section (Smith, 1996). Private label in bath & shower products hasgained considerably from launches by major supermarkets and massmerchandisers of premium private label lines, such as the Wal-Mart SpaIndulgence range (Smith, 1996). [On-line]. . Chemical Week. These ads emphasize purity and reliability. The primary target for Head & Shoulders isfemale, between 35 to 5 , married, working as a housewife, with a family of3.2 people. Growth in private label cosmetics, shampoos and toiletries has beenstrong in the last five years, however, and it could pass $1 billion insales in the sector in 1996. Coeyman (1994) notes that "wringing excess cost out of thesystem has become the number one concern throughout the industry." Buyer BehaviorProblem Recognition The problem recognition phase of the buyer behavior is simple totrack, since it occurs within three to four weeks after noticing (eitherfrom self-inspection or comments from another person) that dandruff is aproblem. This November, 1997 product report from Indiasummarizes the worldwide response to the product: The Rs 3 -crore Indian shampoo market recently witnessed the launch of Head & Shoulders, the much-awaited international brand from the stables of Procter & Gamble India Ltd. Another P&G brand, Pantene, is the USA's best-sellingshampoo, with 13.5% of the market. There are two suggested causes for thistrend. It is important, hestates, to consider whether the product in question is a consumer need or aproduct need.Internal/External Search Process The search process for satisfaction begins internally at first, asevidenced by the number of TV ads for dandruff that treat it as a problemand emphasize its negative social aspects. (1997, November 1 ). (1994, January 26). P&G newand improved! (1997, November 11). The external search then takesplace when a brand search decision-making process begins.Attitudes Toward Brands As Walker (1997) points out, extensive quantitative research includingsurveys in 8 categories in 18 countries since 199 proves that consumersstill have strong feelings about brand names: They believe that the brand leader is more likely to stand behind its products (94 percent), to be of high quality (93 percent), to have performance you can trust (92 percent), to be available anywhere (92 percent), to be a good value (89 percent), and to have innovative features (71 percent). This term refers to the process by which, . Second is the general value-consciousness of the consumer, resulting in acutback in spending. 28(8), 155. References Coeyman, M. Head & Shoulders has gained a prominent positionin the consumer's mind as a "problem-solving" product, that is, a productwith one mission: curing dandruff, with all the attendant benefits that goalong with being dandruff-free.Competitive Positions:Comparison of Ads for Head & Shoulders, Panteen, and Ivory Head & Shoulders. Levitt wrote, The railroads failed because they assumed themselves to be in the railroad business rather than in the transportation business. As part of the estimated $25 million that P&Gspends advertising Head & Shoulders, the company has created ads which show"before-and-after" shots of actors portraying actors who use Head &Shoulders. Ivory. (1997, June 1). Opportunities and ThreatsRecent Market Trends The biggest trend affecting Head & Shoulders is the fact that privatelabel brands have burst onto the scene during the past few years and arebeing well-received by consumers. Walker, C. Driving down costs becomes industryimperative; private labels squeeze the market. Indian News on the Web. 35(2), 154. Brands that become category generics have a few things in common. This statement from a market watch survey suggeststhat switching shampoos is likely a life-long process.Salesperson/Customer Interaction Process Unless the shampoo product is bought in a beauty salon (2 percent ofsales) there is almost no interaction between the consumer and thesalesperson. Apart from giving dandruff free hair, the product promises great looking hair. A second threat to companies like Procter & Gamble, and specific productsfrom that company like Head & Shoulders, is fighting the battle of genericweakening. Fortune, 151+. Its ads also performed poorly in AdTrack for a different reason: The beautiful women in the Pantene adsappealed more to men than to women, the primary target (Enrico, 1997). 1997-1998 Marketing PlanMarketing Objectives There are two objectives: increase brand awareness and increaseforeign market share. Pantene. The threat is that a company as entrenchedin tradition as Procter & Gamble might not be able to shift with the winds. The "after" scenesshow the same models with bouncing, behaving, and flake-free hair.Although well-done, this series has had a negative consumer responseaccording to an Ad Track poll (Enrico, 1997). This may be because you're actually using the wrongshampoo for your hair type and need to find one that's a better match (Whento switch..., 1997). If the dandruff has gone away, the customer buys theproduct again. Most research literature on brand marketingstill addresses mass marketing concepts. Newproducts such as leave-in conditioners and color shampoos have been drivingmarket growth in value terms over the 1993-95 period. Since it is not conceived to be a medical problem, most consumersthink of buying a dandruff shampoo.Underlying Motivation Walker (1997) in discussing consumer choices points out that often theunderlying motive seldom matches the real motivation. Procter & Gamble, reactingto the criticism was still pleased, since shampoo revenue rose 12% last in1996 (Enrico, 1997). Pantene is currently the No. All of these products,even though owned by the same company, utilize aggressive marketingtechniques. 3 shampoo brand in India after HLL's Clinic and Sunsilk (Head on shoulders..., 1997).Competitive Positions In both the United States and foreign markets, the main competitionfor Head & Shoulders are Pantene, Pert Plus, Vidal Sassoon, Rejoice, andIvory, all products created by Procter & Gamble. If the dandruff stays, the customer makes new choices.Role Specialization as Related to Buying Process Influence of family members and society. cosmetics and toiletries sector in1995. USAToday, 4B. The shampoo is used, theresults tested. Enrico, D.(1996, May 28). These sections of the population, especially the 4 to 59 age range, are more likely to spend money on shampoo treatments, andthis will make up some of the value lost to the consumer (Smith, 1996). It is also the nation's third bestselling shampoo, controlling 7.67 percent of the $1.8 billion shampoomarket (Enrico, 1997).Market Description The United States hair care market was worth $4.626 billion in 1995and grew at just above the rate of the overall sector between 1991 and1995. The segments within the United Statesmarketing strategies are: Brand-Conscious consumer; Value-ConsciousConsumer; Generic consumer. Smith, J. It is similar philosophically, since itwill rely heavily on positioning Head & Shoulders as a reliable brand namethat has strong traditional values. For instance, when asked what specific aspects of a product choiceinfluenced their decisions, 11, executives, analysts, and directorslisted "quality of products or services" second (Fisher, 1997).HSS Brand Loyalty Brand leadership is one of marketing's most powerful and leastunderstood ideas: To begin with, consumers say they prefer the leading brands because they have stood the test of time, and because they are trustworthy. Younger women have been found to place less importance oncosmetics and clothes than their older counterparts did at the same age.However, a growing proportion of the population will, in the future, be inthe higher age groups. Within those two broad categories,segment differences are strong. United States segments. Available: http://www.pugrmarks.com/biz/brands/launch/brando12.html. Substantial secondary targets. First, they are brand leaders that dominate their categories by a wide margin. The venerable giant begins the long and risky struggle toreinvent itself.

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