Marketing Strategy of Surf Excel-

Unilever
Introduction to Unilever

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company with a
heritage of over 80 years in India and touches the lives of two out of three Indians. HUL works to
create a better future every day and helps people feel good, look good and get more out of life with
brands and services that are good for them and good for others.With over 35 brands spanning 20
distinct categories such as soaps, detergents, shampoos, skin care, toothpastes, deodorants,
cosmetics, tea, coffee, packaged foods, ice cream, and water purifiers, the Company is a part of the
everyday life of millions of consumers across India. Its portfolio includes leading household brands
such as Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Ponds, Vaseline, Lakm, Dove, Clinic
Plus, Sunsilk, Pepsodent, Closeup, Axe, Brooke Bond, Bru, Knorr, Kissan, Kwality Walls and Pureit.
The Company has over 16,000 employees and has an annual turnover of INR 27408 crores
(financial year 2013 - 2014). HUL is a subsidiary of Unilever, one of the worlds leading suppliers of
fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100 countries across the globe with
annual sales of 49.8 billion in 2013. Unilever has 67.25% shareholding in HUL.

Brands in action

From long-established names like Lifebuoy, Sunlight and Ponds to new innovations such as the
Pureit affordable water purifier, the range of brands is as diverse as our worldwide consumer base.
Unilever has more than 400 brands, 14 of which generate sales in excess of 1 billion a year.
 Many of these brands have long-standing, strong social missions, including Lifebuoys drive to
promote hygiene through handwashing with soap, and Doves campaign for real beauty.

About Surf Excel

Surf Excel, launched in 1959,is one of the oldest detergent powders in India and Pakistan. Initially
the brand was positioned on the clean proposition of washes whitest. However, with the
emergence of numerous local detergent manufacturers and the entry of other global brands, Surf
Excel underwent various changes in its brand communication. This is in line with the global
communication platform of Dirt Is Good , which is a communication strategy of Unilever for its
premium detergent products, sold under various brand names; such as Omo in Brazil and Persil in
UK and France. Now the mothers have the freedom to let their kids experience life without worrying
about stains

Success strategies
Surf Excel, as a brand, defines its own winning strategies, as:-
Winning with brands & innovation.
Winning in the marketplace.
Winning through continuous improvement.
Winning with people.

Surf Excel Market Share in India

The synthetic detergent in India is carectorized into:-
Premium (Surf, Aerial)
Medium (Rin, Tide)
Economical (Nirma)
Among this premium category HUL leads market by 60%.

Marketing strategies
4 Stages of costumer lifecycle

Uniliver believes in customer attraction, retention, growth & survival. They identify the ideal
costumers, and group them as a separate costumer segment. In order to maintain & retain these
customers they usually adopt the following measures:
Customer segmentation;
Customer profitability objectives;
Customer lifetime value;
Generating profitable leads;
Low-cost acquisition of customers;
Effective onboarding to reduce churn.
 With this information an they develop both a targeted customer acquisition and
retention strategy and up-selling programs; furthermore, it also leverage the desired
communications channels in order to improve lifetime customer value.

In order to emphasize it they have generated their own 5 lever program; lets have a look at it.

4 Ps (of Services)

Product
Surf Excel came up with the idea of "Surfing along, par Excellence"!! It has a wide product range
which includes-
Surf Excel Top Matic
Surf Excel Front Matic
Surf Excel Blue
Surf Excel Quick wash
Surf Excel Bar
Surf Excel Gentle wash
Surf Excel Quick Wash Detergent Powder
Surf excel blue
Surf excel gentle wash
surf excel bar
Surf Excel Matic Top Load

Price
The pricing Strategy for Surf Excel have always been in accordance with its competitors.
 A change in pricing strategy for HULs Surf Excel brand, which dominates the 5000 crore detergent
powder market,seems to be on the cards.
The FMCG major conceded that its price reduction strategy has not yielded any value gains for the
brand and had,in fact, led to its commoditisation.
HUL has announced a drastic reduction in price by Rs. 20 per kilo on surf excel,its premium
detergent brand, making it equal to competing brand Ariel from P&G. Price cut from Rs 155 to Rs
135 per kg.
HUL is now reworking its Surf Excel Strategy by moving away from positioning the brand on
functional benefits to building an emotional connect.

COMBO OFFERS
Surf Excel quickwash 1 kg Rs. 146 + Comfort fabric conditioner 200ml Rs. 29 = Rs. 175
Pay Rs. 163*/- for the combi pack and save Rs. 12/- *(inclusive of all taxes)
16 litre bucket pack free with 3.3 kg surf excel blue, & so on.

Promotion
They started promoting via various means like Print media, Electronic media, Live Demonstrations,
Social Events etc.
Apart from these they made various catchy lines in order to gain customer attention & get promoted
like:-
Dirt is good: Daag achhe hain.
Phir waqt hai khelney ka
Kharay ko meetha banaye
The machine is not guilty,use the right detergent
Surf Excel hainna.
Surf Excel easy wash, now has power of 10 hands. Etc.
Lets have a look at a commercial used for promotion

Place and Distribution

HUL distribution network key strength (Which helps reach out its product across the length and
width of the vast country). Direct coverage in over 1 million retail outlets 7000 Stockist 2000+
Suppliers & Associates.

DistriBution Network
Factory Company warehouses Distributor Market.
Factory Wholesaler & Big retailers (Bulk orders) 30% Sales.
They follow HULs Distribution strategy. HULs distribution strategy has changed over time. Earlier
wholesalers andlarge retailers used to place orders directly to the company. The company salesmen
used to collect these orders and then deliver the goods to the concerned customers. This simple
system was good enough in the beginning. But then they changed things in order to provide quality
 service to its customers. They appointed one wholesaler in each market as a Registered Wholesaler.
This wholesaler was then theguy to whom all the salesmen went with the orders that they have
taken. He handed over the products to the salesmen who then distributed them to the customers.
This strategy helped they to reach more customers. As time went by and the competition got
tougher, HUL had to make its distribution network leaner and meaner than ever before. Also, Surf
Excel being a detergent powder is a FMCG. So they had to make sure that the retailers
shelveswere replenished in time. To do that, they had depots all over the country. These depots or
warehouses stocked finished products and acted as buffers in case of anincrease in demand. Earlier
the registered wholesalers used to get the goods direct from the company. Now the company sent
the goods to the depots from where the redistribution stockiest.

STP of Marketing
Marketing Segmentation
Surf Excel divided the market into 5 major segments
Quick wash
Easy stain removal and whitening
Travelling
Water conservation
Car washing.

Targeting
SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) Sachet packs (Rs.2) of Surf Excel are targeting mass market
consumer,convenience and affordability.
Targeting upwardly mobile group with increase in disposal incomes. They have basically divided
consumers into three groups- Rich, Aspirers and Strivers and have compared target sequences from
2003 to 2013 and it was seen that in 2003 Strivers were maximum in number then next came
aspirers and finally rich ones.

Positioning
Positioning of surf excel is due to:
Brand name
High quality
Attractive packing
Removes stains 10/10

Dirt is good (every child has the right to play and discover his own world)