Principles of Marketing

Term Project
Lux by Unilever

Submitted to: Dr. Saima Hussain.

Submitted by: Alina Ihsan 17348, Anas Shahid, Maheen Alam & Zara Imran 17488

Date: 28th November 2019.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................................2

Introduction..................................................................................................................................................4

History & Background...............................................................................................................................4

Evolution...................................................................................................................................................4

Current Market Performance...................................................................................................................4

Justification of Using this Brand...............................................................................................................5

Company’s Philosophy..................................................................................................................................7

About Unilever..........................................................................................................................................7

Company’s Vision......................................................................................................................................7

Company’s Mission...................................................................................................................................7

Objectives.................................................................................................................................................8

Position of the Brand in the Market.............................................................................................................8

Position of the Brand in the Company’s portfolio of Products and Brands.................................................9

Figure 1: Unilever’s Chain of Products........................................................................................................11

Pricing Strategy of the Brand......................................................................................................................12

Prices in the Current Market..................................................................................................................12

Price of Lux over the years & Brand Loyalty...........................................................................................12

Factors Affecting Price............................................................................................................................12

Distribution Strategy of the Brand.............................................................................................................13

Go-to Market Strategy............................................................................................................................13

Role of Distributor..................................................................................................................................13

The Coordination between brand’s sales team & distribution agency..................................................14

Promotional Strategy of the Brand............................................................................................................14

Promotional Mix.....................................................................................................................................14
 TV & Digital Media..............................................................................................................................14

Promotions in Stores...........................................................................................................................14

Positioning – Communication Strategy & Objective..............................................................................15

Brand Message, how it is communicated & interpreted.......................................................................15

Competitive Landscape Lux operates in.....................................................................................................16

Perceptual Map.......................................................................................................................................16

Appendix 1: Brand Manager Interview......................................................................................................16

List of References........................................................................................................................................22
Introduction
History & Background
Lux was initially known as “Sunlight Flakes” laundry soap and was marketed as a domestic brand in the
United Kingdom in 1899. Their early advertising campaigns aimed to educate consumers about its
credentials as a laundry product. The parent company eventually converted their soap’s name to “Lux”,
which is suggestive of "luxury.”

Evolution
Along several generations, the history of Lux soap has been synonymous with women of every
generation. As media evolved from print to audio and to visual, Lux subsequently gained immense
popularity and transcended all barriers of class as a product appealing to women of all ages and classes.

Despite its low-price points, Lux has positioned itself as a luxurious brand and is touted as “the beauty
soap of film stars”. Lux has been a consistent part of the Pakistani household as one the most trusted
personal care products. The range of products includes beauty soap and body wash.

Currently, Lux is available in 5 variants- Peach and Cream, Strawberry and Cream, Purple Lotus and
Cream, Fresh Splash, and Nature pure.

Product Life Cycle

The brand has evolved over the years. Starting in 1928, the brand experienced the introduction phase in
the UK. Over the years, from 1928 to 1940, Lux introduced itself into different markets throughout
Europe which helped them gain their brand image. After the years that followed, Lux matured itself and
achieved the deep positioning in the minds of the customers which has helped it ever since. In 1964, Lux
was introduced in Pakistan in its maturity stage where it was able to gain a huge market and has held it
ever since. Ever since that, Lux has maintained its status through continuous product development and
product extensions.
Current Market Performance
Their market performance as of 2018 has been staggering as compared to other local soap brands. Lux’s
gross sales amounted to a total of 3.2 billion rupees last year. Even though there has been only a 3%
annual growth in the market, the brand has still maintained its leading position for years. For instance,
there is no other brand in the beauty soap segment, other than LUX, with a double-digit share.

Lux began a sustained marketing effort to recall and maintain its sense of glamor. Ultimately, Lux was
able to reposition itself as a brand that recalls a feeling of luxury and glamour among its consumers.

The brand initially chose film stars in their advertisements to appeal their audiences. Only in recent years
has Lux included women in its advertising who do not belong to the film industry. Their marketing
strategy eventually evolved from the task of category creation and encouraging women to use soap
because their ads showcased celebrities to the brand taking on an aspirational positioning to ensure
brand loyalty and for women to embody “khubsurti” which the brand so frequently talks about.

Apart from the brand gaining attraction from local stars like Mahira Khan, Maya Ali and Saba Qamar.
Brand globalization has allowed Lux’s association with the likes of Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and
Madhuri Dixit. These measures have helped to drive up sales and make Lux the leading brand in Pakistan
and several other countries. Moreover, owing to Lux’s market penetration and popularity amongst
various socio-economic classes, Lux soap has come to be known as “the soap of the masses”

Justification of Using this Brand

What appealed to us the most about Lux is that it is a leading brand in Indo-Pakistan. With consistent
growth and margins, Lux has managed to retain its top position in the market for decades. Even with
several other brands emerging in the market, such as Capri, Palmolive, Tibet, and Dettol. Lux has
succeeded to be the only brand with a double-digit share value in this segment.

It would be interesting for us to be able to study marketing strategies and tactics through which the brand
has been able to retain such a massive chunk of share in a competitive and dynamic environment with
consumer wants evolving so rapidly.

Lux has also successfully positioned itself as a symbol of glamour and beauty in the minds of its customers
using brilliant marketing tactics, which also allows us to look in to and follow the different dimensions of
the company over the years which can also serve to be a source of valuable information to us.
The table below, and subsequent analysis, shows different brands’ SKUs, price points, and promotional
budget compared to Lux’s which shows how Lux stands out in the soap market and is the leading brand.

Weight 70 (gm) 115 (gm) 155 (gm) Promo Budget

LUX RS. 22 RS. 40 RS. 60 RS. 440m
Lifebuoy RS. 18 RS. 32 RS. 55 RS. 360m
Safeguard RS. 24 (75 gm) RS. 38 RS. 410m
Dettol RS. 27 RS. 43 RS. 290m
Company’s Philosophy
About Unilever
Unilever is a business founded on a sense of purpose. It was to make cleanliness a priority, to improve
health, to contribute to self-care and help people feel and look good about themselves.

Unilever’s philosophy revolves around their core values. They strive to achieve to connect and engage
their customers and consumers in a way that brings out the best in them. Their core values also revolve
around the promise to deliver value to their stakeholders.

Company’s Vision
Unilever believes that in a world where temperatures are rising, water is scarce, food supplies uncertain
and energy is expensive, its part their responsibility to address these issues and incorporate these
concerns while doing their business.

Their vision on the 2017 and 2018 annual report states “Our vision is to grow our business, while
decoupling our environmental footprint from our growth and increasing our positive social impact.”
[ CITATION Uni18 \l 1033 ]

Company’s Mission
Mission statement is a basic foundation for the success of the company’s consumer goods business. Their
corporate mission statement begins with the strategic approaches of the company, for instance how the
business addresses the needs of its target consumers.

Unilever gives importance to not only their consumers and customers but they partner with their
suppliers to have a positive influence across their value chain, for instance they affiliate with their
suppliers, distributors and third parties to not only raise the quality of their product but to act upon issues
such as human rights, unfair business practices and corruption.

One of many other Unilever’s main mission is focus on their integrity as. They strive to create an
environment where employees not only demonstrate the company’s values in their own work – integrity,
respect, responsibility and pioneering– but are better abled to engage and work collaboratively.
Objectives
Unilever has been providing the best of products around the world since 1925. Its main objectives
include; to improve health and well-being, to be sustainable and have an environmental footprint on its
products as well as to provide the best products to its consumers.

Position of the Brand in the Market

Lux is a leading brand by Unilever. It has won over the South Asian Market and is the market leader in
Pakistan for the soap's market. Lux comes with both a superior quality and competitive prices which
makes it the best option for customers. Lux has been able to differentiate itself from other similar priced
products in the market through its differentiated packaging, product designing and fragrances.
Lux’s target market includes socioeconomic class A and B – upper class and upper middle class - from the
urban and sub-urban as they form the country’s highest segment population. Lux charges a premium
owing to its superior brand image in the market and its deep positioning which is why its target market
includes consumers who can afford the premium price. Lux mainly aims to target females from age 16-35,
which is its bull’s eye target. Moreover, through the aforementioned target market, it is also able to
target women younger than 16 and older than 35 years of age, the ‘young and beautiful’ element of the
ages attract more women of all ages towards Lux’s soaps. [ CITATION Kar13 \l 1033 ]
Lux’s value proposition is that it promises its customers ‘beauty and glamour.’ It is one of Pakistan’s most
trusted personal care brand. The brand has associated itself with movie stars and celebrities which has
created a deep positioning in the minds of the customers that if they use Lux, they’ll have the same
glamour as said celebrities.

The brand then continued to expand its growth opportunities in Europe and Asia. From the very start, in
1931, the brand started associating itself with the world of media where it featured multiple film stars in
its advertising. Following this era, the brand shifted its focus onto the consumers by making references to
women not in the film industry and comparing them with popular female stars. This may have been the
most historical moment for Lux’s strategy as this caused customers to feel the most attached to the
brand.
Throughout 1970-1980s, Lux expanded its notion of beauty and brought different trends - natural beauty,
skin care - in the market to increase its customer base.
The brand matured in 1990s when it created a separate brand image and name throughout the world and
in Pakistan. The use of Bollywood stars such as Kareena Kapoor, Shahrukh Khan further improved the
brand image and the customer base of Lux in the Pakistani soap market. Lux became so successful in the
country that in 2002, Pakistan created the Lux Style Awards to celebrate the emerging Pakistani fashion
industry.
Lux has been trying to communicate continuously throughout the years through different channels –
Television, radio, social media - that Lux provides with 'endless beauty and glamour.'
Assessing Lux's position in the market now and its competitors, it goes without saying that Lux has been
leading the soap market in Pakistan as the value leader, owing to its superior brand performance and
deep imposition of quality in the minds of the customers. While this may be true, it still has a few
competitors in the market which occupy different markets.
Lux's main competitors include; Capri, Palmolive and Pears among others. Capri retails at Rs. 74,
Palmolive retails at Rs. 62, Pearls retails at Rs. 210, while Lux retails at Rs. 79. This shows that Palmolive
might be a much cheaper option for people from a lower income group while Capri comes shortly behind
Lux, occupying a segment of the same market. Pearls has a completely different market of high-income
group families who can afford to buy the product at price more than double than that of Lux's. While all
of this competition exists, Lux still manages to emerge as the leader and has the higher market share of
almost 50% owing to its continuous brand development, brand innovations, and advertising.

Position of the Brand in the Company’s portfolio of Products and

Brands.
Unilever is a huge brand with a bunch of brands under its name. The vast range of Unilever products can
be broadly classified into these categories: Food and Refreshments, Beauty and Personal Care, and Home
Care. Each category can be further divided into different sections, for instance the Beauty and Personal
Care category is split into products relating to Face and Body, Hair and Teeth.

Lux alongside Dove and Lifebuoy falls into the soap section of the Beauty and Personal Care division. Each
brand has its own marketing strategies and has successfully managed to position their brand in a way that
it is differentiated from the other brands in the same category. Hence internal cannibalization is
prevented.

Lux is positioned as a luxury, beauty soap in the market. Its association with celebrities reinforces the idea
in the minds of the customers of Lux being the “soap of the stars”. It has been segmented based on
demographic factors, and thus targets women with ages 16 to 40 from urban and semi-urban areas. Lux
has a couple of variants. Firstly, under its bar soap product line, it has Peach and Cream, Strawberry and
Cream, Purple Lotus and Cream, Fresh Splash and Nature Pure. It also has a line of body washes that
includes Magical Spell, French Rose and Almond Oil, and White Impress.

Dove on the other hand has positioned itself to be a premium, creamy bathing bar rather than a soap,
because of its moisturizing characteristics. In order to be positioned as a premium brand, Dove has
segmented and targeted the urban market. [ CITATION Rah19 \l 1033 ] After the popular Dove bar, the
brand also released its Moisturizing Body Wash.

Lifebuoy has positioned itself to be an affordable solution for hygiene related problems and thus
constantly highlights its anti-bacterial properties. After its range of bar soaps, Lifebuoy has now released a
line of hand washes which is available in 4 variants namely: Total 10 germ protection, Nature, Mild Care
and Cool Fresh.

Unilever has several brands under its Home Care section as well. It includes brands that offer cleaning
products such as Surf Excel, Domex, Rin, etc. Surf Excel is a premium brand of laundry detergent that has
now moved onto offering a vast range of laundry products. The company also caters to the masses by
including brands like Rin in its product portfolio. Rin is a detergent brand. However, Rin has positioned
itself as an affordable brand for the masses that offers quality to its customers at a reasonable price.

Domex is a powerful bleach that provides sanitation of the bathroom surfaces such as toilets, tubs, floors
etc. It is positioned in the market based on its “germ bursting” qualities and provides a solution to a need
that Unilever thought was unfulfilled by other brands in the market.

There are various brands under the Food and Refreshments section of Unilever. To name a few: Knorr,
Fruttare and Magnum.

Magnum is a premium ice-cream brand which makes use of its quality ingredients in its ice-cream bars to
maintain its position as a premium brand. It is the biggest ice-cream brand that Unilever offers.

Knorr is one of the largest food brands sold around the world. It has a wide range of products that include
dehydrated soups, stock cubes, bouillons, seasonings and sauces. [ CITATION Uni191 \l 1033 ]

Fruttare is a brand of frozen dessert bars. The brand tries to offer products that not only taste good but
has added health benefits. It does this by trying to retain the natural goodness of fruits without
incorporating too many calories.
Figure 1: Unilever’s Chain of Products

Unilever

Foods and Beauty and

Home Care
Refreshments Personal Care

Face and
Hair Teeth
Body

Soaps Creams

Dove Lux Lifebuoy

Pricing Strategy of the Brand
Prices in the Current Market
The pricing strategy of the brand is rather interesting. Lux charges the highest price in the beauty soap
market. Amongst the competitors identified in the market, Capri & Palmolive, Lux charges a premium
which others don’t. Lux is the most expensive out of its competitors which demonstrates the power of
imagery which means that the company has positioned itself as an expert in the category. This allows the
brand to charge the premium. The brand has a dominant position in the market, it has the credibility and
the experience in the market which also contributes to its higher pricing strategy. The premium charged
also gives customers the concept of ‘luxury,’ since we understand that a luxuries come with higher prices.

Price of Lux over the years & Brand Loyalty

Prices of Lux have increased significantly over the years. This is done due to two reasons; inflationary &
strategic reasons.

For inflationary reasons, prices have increased as per the general increase in the market which is
understood by customers who have continued to buy the product. Even if there are difficult economic
conditions, customers who are brand loyalist – which they are in most cases, continue to buy Lux.
However, they may switch to smaller SKUs that are affordable for their budget.

For strategic reasons, prices are increased as the company takes advantage of its brand equity. It has
continued to increase its heritage, its power in the market, its credibility & its experience. Prices have
increased with new variants, SKUs & new features in the market. Whenever there is a change, there has
been a change in the sales however it always evens out for the company as the customers get used to the
prices charged.

Factors Affecting Price

The price of lux depends upon several factors. From the brand manager interview in Appendix 1, we
analyze that prices depend upon the inflation rate in the market, and also depends upon the different
strategy for the brand. In strategic terms, the prices of Lux are affected by the benefit the brand is
offering such as an increased fragrance, skin benefits & etc. We also analyze that customer income or the
economic conditions is not a factor that affects price since Lux has SKUs available which are affordable by
all income groups. Lux targets all income groups and households. When it increases its prices for strategic
reasons, customers continue to buy the product since the value is promised to be justified. The customers
understand that Lux increases prices due to it mastering in the specific technology.
Moreover, the company also calculates an index and identifies a bracket which makes them stay inside
the price bracket. The company calculates the index based upon the consumer demand. For example, the
bracket tells them the limit they can increase the price before they start losing out on customers which
helps them stay in the bracket and increase their profitability while also retaining customers.

Distribution Strategy of the Brand

Go-to Market Strategy
Unilever has a multichannel distribution system, where it has not one, but several marketing channels
that it uses to get its product to different customer segments. The product is manufactured in the factory,
then distributed to the different depots located in many big cities of Pakistan. The product is then
transported from the depots to the retailers, by the help of distributors. Unilever has more than 500
different distributors, which does provide certain advantages.

Having multiple distributors, gives the brand a certain bargaining power that allows it to be able to better
negotiate with the distributor in terms of costs etc. The distributors realize that they can easily be
replaced by the brand and it is this competition amongst the distributors which reduces the indirect and
direct spend by the brand as they try to win business.

Role of Distributor
The distributor’s job is to get the product to the retailers. The strategy of the brand in stores, is where the
Sales team comes in. How the product is viewed in stores is decided by the Sales Team. It includes
everything, from the product placement to design. The brand prepares a planogram to plan and organize
the right placement and shelving of the products, which is then sent to the stores to be implemented.
Sales department ensures strategic use of promotional tools to maximize ales and brand equity. If a
gondola is being placed in store, it should be serving a purpose. Gondolas are usually placed to either
inform the shoppers of a new launch by the brand, inform about a new price offering that the brand may
be offering, or simply to remind customers about products the brand is offering. Lux usually makes use of
visual cues to grab customer attention. They make use of pretty and attractive tools to attract the
customer.

The Coordination between brand’s sales team & distribution agency

From the perspective of the brand manager, there is no coordination between the brand’s sales team &
the distribution agency. She emphasized on the point that distributing agency picks up the products and
delivers them to the specific stores in the market and in this time there is no need to coordinate with the
sales team. The sales team separately coordinates with the stores and visits in order to explain and
deliver different planograms and make sure that promotion is done correctly in the stores.

We, as a group, came into the consensus that the marketing concepts taught tell otherwise which implies
that the brand manager may have not understood the questions asked or may have provided wrong
information subconsciously.

Promotional Strategy of the Brand

Promotional Mix
TV & Digital Media
Lux uses both television & digital media to market its products. They use tools like price announcers,
advertisements, brand endorsements to market its product on the media.

The main set of promotion done for Lux is still through TV. Pakistan contains of several different types of
areas & customers which not just only live in urban Karachi, but also in metro cities. 60% of Lux’s market
is rural which contains its main audience for advertisements. While smart phone penetration has
increased in rural areas, they are still not common enough that promotions reach every relevant person
in the household which is why television covers most of the promotions done by Lux. Most of Lux’s
revenues from its core products come from rural areas which is why it will take a long time before Lux
ever rules out TV, if it does.

However, within Lux’s product offering, they advertise liquids through digital media more since the
market for that is present more on the internet; Facebook, twitter and other social media channels.

Promotions in Stores
A lot of Lux’s promotions is done through the stores its retails into. Lux considers it marketing and
displays in stores very seriously which is why there’s a vast sales & marketing team which are both
dedicated towards this task. Lux’s marketing department creates different planograms according to the
mission of the customer. For example; the promotions at stores like Metro & Carrefour consists of huge &
multiple gondolas and more than 60% of shelve share. Lux also offers promotions as bag of 6, discounted
prices on its shower gels which also makes the brand a lot more attractive to buy. This makes Lux the
easiest and most eye catching brand of soap to select while shopping. While, in shops like Kiryanas, the
planograms include only SKUs which households buy on a daily basis which promotes availability and
causes consumers buy it out of convenience.

Positioning – Communication Strategy & Objective

Lux has greatly position in the minds of the customers. This causes brand to do much less effort as people
believe Lux to have the credibility factor. The communication strategy is to always build up into a new,
relevant and exciting factor. This is done currently by introducing the newest “forever collection.” It is
also done by moving into liquids. All of its positioning strategies play with the equity of the brand, the
objective being to always keep the customer interested & loyal. Lux communicates this by positioning Lux
as a persona in the minds of the customer. The positioning is so well embodied that most people who use
Lux believe that Lux has the persona of a celebrity girl and using Lux relates them to that girl.

Lux Style awards has built the positioning and has become a platform to communicate that message, it is
acknowledging the film industry & its celebrities. Promotion of Lux is more than just a regular beauty soap
bar, it revolves around one look & what one feels, and what lux gives you.

Brand Message, how it is communicated & interpreted

The brand message that Lux tries to convey is a combination of two things; being the ‘soap of the stars’
and promotion women empowerment by encouraging ‘confidence & boldness.’ It does this by embodying
“khoobsurti,” and encouraging women to not be afraid of depicting that khoosburti. While the soap is
unisex and is advertised that way as well, the primary target towards which message is targeted is
females which has caused the message to become bolder. The brand message has changed over the years
where the new generation audience demands this kind of message. In this new era, Lux wants women to
embody and own their beauty, not just use Lux as a luxury soap to take home. This is what differentiates
Lux from others, its ability to change its brand message according to the change of customer needs. It has
been able to transition from a typical Marilyn Monroe which set beauty standards to a more confident
message which calls for women to own their own beauty and not confine to typical societal standards.

As mentioned before, Lux communicates two messages; being the soap of the stars and embodying
confidence. It communicates the former message by its wide spread use of celebrities’ in its
advertisements. Almost most of the leading Pakistani starts have been featured in Lux ads such as Mahira
Khan & Fawad Khan which has caused customers to interpret Lux with the glamour of celebrities and the
red carpet life. One of the most significant part of Lux’s communication of this message is also the Lux
Style Awards. Lux Style Awards have been a major symbol, communicator & promoter of Lux’s message
as this allows customers to link Lux with celebrities subconsciously.

Lux has also starred more local celebrities in its advertisements; women like Meera, Mehwish Hayat,
Mawra Hocane, Humaima Malik & Aaaminah Sheikh. This diverse set of women give the impression that
beauty comes in all types and sends the message of confidence, boldness & ‘owning up to one’s own
beauty’ much more effectively.

Competitive Landscape Lux operates in

Lux is a leading brand of beauty soaps and dominates the market with the biggest market share. While
Lux is the market leader, Capri is a close challenger of Lux. It is positioned around overall skincare and
beauty and has competitive price relative to Lux, with Capri being slightly cheaper. While Palmolive is
positioned as an affordable beauty soap with prices less than both, Lux and Capri.

While the competing brands may be able to offer a better trade offer temporarily, but the heritage that
Lux has is something that is hard to compete with. There is a certain credibility that the customers
associate with Lux. However, to be able to maintain the position as a market leader, Lux tries to stay
relevant by exploring new options. An example could be the “Forever Collection” launched by Lux with a
bunch of new variants. The introduction of the Body wash is also an attempt by the brand to stay relevant
by moving into liquids and trying to cater to a different segment.

Perceptual Map
The perceptual map of the soap industries shows that not only is Lux on the pricier side of the grid, but
also comes up high on Fragrance axis. While Capri is in the opposite quadrant with a relatively low price
and low on the fragrance axis as well. Palmolive seems to hold a more medium ground in regard to both
fragrance and price. As evident by the size of the circles on the map, it is clear that Lux is a leading brand
in soap industry with 60% majority share in the market, followed by Capri and Palmolive.
 Perceptual Map

Lux
Price

Palmolive
Capri

Fragrance

Appendix 1: Brand Manager Interview

Brand Manager (BM): When it comes to emotional connect, yes, it’s positioned on grandeur and celebs.

Lux was introduced in Pakistan in 1964. And it was actually the soap of the stars. That’s how it was
positioned. It’s a global brand so that’s how it has been carried forward. It was the soap of the stars that’s
why you see big celebs in lux’s commercials. However, that thinking kind of changed because consumer
thinking also evolved. So, it wasn’t really like “oh a celeb is using lux, that’s why I need to use lux” but
what the product stands for. And I’m sure you guys are young, and the product you use you would want
to believe in those products. It’s not just that the products do its job. That’s how it’s positioned.

In terms of distribution. Yes, we are the biggest brand in the market and we have the highest retail that is
out there. And the channel strategy, even within lux we have a lot of differentiation, in terms of product
offering. So, we have a fragrance collection which has a black color label. That is our fragrance collection
and that is slightly premium than the usual lux soaps. (White, purple, green, pink variants) the new have
liquids range which is the shower gel. So that is the product differentiation, how we’ve tiered them
across. They’re all very different, again the channel strategy for the three tier-ing is also over different.

So, we range from making the product relevant for the lower class all the way to the higher class. That’s
where your conversion to liquids come in or way your conversion to premium bars come in.
Yes, lux plays around its equity and heritage value. So, when you hear lux you think of a soap, a reliable
soap. A brand you can trust. So, keeping the brand exciting and relevant for the younger audience is what
we keep doing when it comes to fragrance collection and liquids campaigns etc. that’s what we do.

In terms of promotion. The people we are targeting, again they’re moving from a single screen
phenomenon to a multi-screen phenomenon. By multi-screen, I mean when you’re watching tv you also
have your phones in your hands. You guys will know this and would’ve experience this. Sometimes even
when you’re not watching TV but you’re mostly youtube-ing it. So, our strategy to capture people and our
audience has also changed drastically.

Digital has played a big role in communication our message across. So how we market isn’t just making a
tvc and putting it on air. Its more personalized now and more targeted now. So multi-screen phenomena
are now what we target.

Zara: In terms of distribution, we’d like to know more about what is going on in the inside, how does
the distribution channel of unilever connect with the sales team?

BM: How it’s done is, we have a factory, it produces the product. We distribute it to our depos. Locally
centered in big cities and that’s where the product lands. The product is then taken from there to
distributors, with the distributors that’s where we record our sales and the distributors then sell it
forward to the retailers

Question: How does your sales team coordinate with the distributor to make sure that all products are
present in the market the way the company wants them?

BM: so that’s all internal. How my product looks in the store. Any consumer and shopper facing is my
domain. How the product gets there is where the distributor is involved. So from my factory to my
deputing to my distributor to the shopper/retailer and eventually to the consumer.

So, what happens in store is all my domain. I have a dedicated sales team who just looks after what the
strategy of the brand should be in store, when it comes to its imagery, its look and feel and when it comes
to product placement and design. So together with my sales team we approve the strategy.

If it’s a gondola it needs to serve a purpose, what is that shopper mission that gondola is serving? Either it
could be a new news like a relaunch. It could be a price offering or it could only serve to remind the
consumer what lux is offering.
Lux mostly plays with visual cues, we use very pretty, attractive tools to attract the consumer and get
them thinking that lux is a differentiated bar.

Question: We know that lux has a great image in the minds of the customers. Besides that, what is the
differentiation factor that sets it apart from its competitor e.g. like Palmolive?

BM: So, positioning, firstly. Heritage as I mentioned. We don’t need to do much, when we say lux people
have that credibility factor. What we sort of bring is the relevant and exciting factor. We explore new
opportunities the “forever” collection is a differentiating factor. Again, we are playing with the equity of
the brand. Moving into liquids is a differentiator. How we positioned ourselves when it comes to
promotion, lux style is a brand so that’s how we associated it with. The celeb persona. So, any other
brand can keep a celeb but they can only be an endorse while with lux, she’s a lux girl, you know. She
almost embodies the entire persona of lux.

Lux style awards is a credibility factor, it’s become a platform where lux is acknowledging the industry and
the celebrities. Promotion of lux is very different than a regular beauty bar, it revolves around what the
look and feel, what lux gives you.

Question: What would you say is the brand message that lux tries to give?

BM: it’s a combination of two things. Soap of the stars and that celeb is also conveying the message of
confidence and boldness. So, you need to embody “khubsuriti” and you should not be afraid of depicting
that khubsuriti. (she also mentions lux being a unisex soap) yes, my primary target is females, so our
messaging has gotten bolder. Again, this resonates with the audience we’re serving. Vs. our parents, the
generations want to know what the brand stands for. So, when I’m giving them lux which is by far the
best in terms of product offering so I need to give them a sort of a message which they can take home.
So, if you use lux, you embody that khubsurti, and not shy away from it.

That is the differentiator. This is a transition from a very typical Marilyn Monroe ad to a more confident
and a message people can relate to.

Question: What would you say are the most used promotional tools?

BM: definitely TV, because Pakistan is not just urban Karachi, metro cities. It’s 60% rural. That’s where
most our audience is as well. In rural the smart phone penetration has increased, but people still don’t
have much access to social media e.g. YouTube, Facebook.
One of the reasons for this is 1) they’re not aware and 2) permission issues. The phone belongs to one
person in the household, and they usually use it for calls and text messaging and google sometimes. So, I
can’t leave that chunk of population.

But yes, within my product offerings, I can sort of proportionally increase of a certain offering e.g. liquids,
I would definitely not put my focus on TV I’d focus on digital because that’s the audience I’m looking for.
For my core product, I will still get a bulk of revenue from my rural. So, I will not rule out TV.

So yes. TV, digital. And in stores we use tools likes price announcers, some activation we do. We do a
combination of these things. That’s our main tools.

Question: How do you guys plan out the display? E.g. when we went for our retail audit, they said they
get planograms from the company. So how do you guys decide that?

BM: so, it decided on the priorities that I have in that particular channel. So e.g. Kiryana store, something
that is right across the corner. I know what the mission of the shopper would be. It would most probably
be a “top up” mission. So, in that case the priority SKU for that shopper mission will be different. Hence
my planogram which is basically setting up your SKUs in the right order for the right channel is going to be
different than vs. say an Imtiaz store where people go for their monthly grocery. Over there my priority
SKU is different. So, it really depends on the

1) Shopper- mission
2) The channel that I’m looking at.

So, a combination of two decides what my planogram should look like.

Question: over the years you must’ve felt the need to change the price of lux due to economic or
organizations requirements. How responsive were the customers to those price changes?

BM: pricing is done for two reasons – one, is inflationary environment. Which means lux Ki price cooper
jayegi tou saaray sabun ki jayegi. In that case the consumer knows what is happening in the marketing
and hence they’re kind of prepared. So, in case if I’m not in their budget they might come on to a smaller
SKU of mine. If they’re brand loyalists. But when it comes to strategic pricing, right. I will take the
advantage of my equity, the strong brand I am.
(after proceeding to make us list different soap brands and their prices according to us) she says that is
the power of imagery, which means I have positioned myself as an expert in that category that I can
charge that premium. So, when I said that pricing is of two types.

One is inflationary the other is strategic. Strategic is that I can charge a premium based on my positioning
and sort of power, experience, heritage and credibility that I have in the market.

So whenever there has been a change in price, yes there has been a change in sales but eventually it
evens out.

BM: Lux is the most expensive out of the four that is the power of imagery which means that I have
positioned myself as an expert in this category that I can charge that premium so when I said that pricing
isn't inflationary another is strategic is that I can charge a premium based on my position in the market, I
dominate the market so I can charge accordingly Because EI have the credibility and the experience to
charge the premium and other pricing is inflationary and that's something the consumers is prepared for
and stressful is that it is derived from imagery and other factor because people are willing to pay that
premium for Lux as their premium brand.

Q.) Due to the change in economic environment do think there is a change in sales and demands of Lux.

BM: there is a little bit change in sales due to economic factors.

Anas: if you see now a day the trend now a day is to save other than spend so you’re think it's the same
for Lux.

BM: we can see there is a change of buying hobbits people have changed towards smaller SKU or bundle
packs that give out discounts but it also varies from time to time from one category or the other. In soap
you can do that buying in bulk but people are not willing to leave Lux and still try to manage In Lux

Question: How do you guys respond to the economic changes in Pakistan & how does that affect your
brand’s prices, sales? For example, the change in the government and the changes in taxes.

BM: so combo action of these things pricing would not drop as it’s not a strategic plan but yes I will sort
some sort of discounts on buddies to consumers so that it sorts of becomes affordable. Maybe position
my smaller SKUs which is 42rs I will play around with my strategic planning

Q) What other factors do u have in mind for pricing?

BM: depends on what I am offering them some crazy technology in the product such as fragrance smell
skin benefits and I will charge a premium for that and I will say that I am a master in that category that's
why I am charging a premium.

Q) do you guys know what an index is?

Q) have you guys taken any financial courses?

Group: We have taken Introduction Course to Business Finance

BM: What we do is indexes is whether your absolute price goes up or down. We play on indexes if market
is constant them index is 100. If you what to strategically increase your price you will go from 100 to 102
index. That’s my strategic pricing if inflation happens then everything goes up and absolute price would
be 102 instead of 100.

In inflationary terms my I index should remain the same, the bracket of index that I operate in between,
we know that if stay in the bracket that we will not lose out on consumers. In terms of pricing we would
stay in between this margin I will not be boy be irrelevant for consumers by staying in this bracket.

How do you make an index by putting in all the player sir competitors and taking out an average so when
you take out that average and place yourself?

When I place myself what I do is I make sure that whether or is stretch pricing, in strategic pricing I should
not exceed that barrier right!

Q) Lux is the leading brand and has most of the market so what's your strategy in terms of
competition?

BM: have you guys studied economics in general terms what do you think competition is, is it good or bad
for the industry

Group: It's good. It helps us to keep us on our toes so any sort of competition is good because your sort of
pairing yourself against others that's one from a company perspective from a consumer perspective there
is no monopoly so when I talk about index that where all of this comes in. So, competition catch up yes. I
am the biggest brand in the market and the next brand had a huge gap with me Right now.

So, I don't think that will happen overnight but yes brands gain share and lose share. So, it's kind of a
fixed pool someone at some point is gaining and other I'd losing
So, there is an ongoing threat that some of the brands is giving better offering. Consumer perception
right!! One brand is doing better marketing so it is an ongoing thing within the p's and one should know
how to address them and how big of an impact that would have, would I change my positioning of Lux
because Palmolive got Haina Amir on board, no! Because that's not what we are, I am what I am. But if
someone else is giving a better trade offer I might explore that I might be losing share to that particular
channel so right it varies when it comes to market share yes because of these factors, consumers perceive
certain Things that why they gain or move ahead of you in actual terms there is still a huge gap between
Lux and the next biggest brand

Q) Would you think if Lux increase price so you think consumer will still choose Lux?

BM: loyalty comes after pricing so when a consumer buys a product and knows about the price, so then
they will buy into that. There is a threshold as I mentioned about the index. If it goes above a certain
level, we can lose customers buy it's a threshold that I hold

Q) What is the distribution channel follow internally?

BM: that's a very generic question it's my everyday job our everyday job that you have asked 9-7

Q) Can you describe the marketing channels distributors use?

BM: that's not marketing, that's my supply chain and sales together.

BM: Why do you think distribution is a part of marketing?

Group: Distribution is a part of marketing.

BM: Have you studied supply chain courses but you know how supply chain works and things are being
made in factories and supplied to depos and to distributors and from there to distribution retailers

Group: where would the sales team come in all of this?

BM: let me rephrase it tell me if the whole chain occurs where does the product go to.

BM: Marketing is solely based on consumers and lining to shoppers and they can be consumers and not
be consumers at the same time. But they go into a store and see where my product is etc. -Yes, to have a
channel strategy in place. As the shopper is coming in, we need to have a marketing strategy in place for
the consumer. Distributor and supply chain only get the product to the shops and do not perform
marketing. Marketing is for the consumer and shoppers who buy it and hen consumes solely for the
purpose of consuming It. They use the product, What I am doing to convince him is marketing.

The brand manager then proceeded to ask us some questions for us own research. This ended the
interview.

List of References
Khan, R. P. (2019). LUX: a soap to stardom. Karachi: Aurora Dawn.

Nikhil, K. (2013). LUX TARGET AUDIENCE.

Unilever Annual Report. (2018). Karachi.

Unilever Pakistan Website. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.unilever.pk/