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Situation Statement

This case focuses on Unilever's revitalization of their soap brand Lifebuoy in India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Lifebuoy aims to grow its market share for liquid hand soap in these countries by targeting higher-income mothers. Research showed Lifebuoy's liquid soap kills 99.9% of germs in 10 seconds, giving it an advantage over competitors. However, Lifebuoy faces challenges from established competitors in its targeted segments and questions around the need for antibacterial soap. To succeed, Lifebuoy must sustain its competitive advantage and execute strong marketing strategies with a customer-centric approach.

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Eddie Miller
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94 views3 pages

Situation Statement

This case focuses on Unilever's revitalization of their soap brand Lifebuoy in India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Lifebuoy aims to grow its market share for liquid hand soap in these countries by targeting higher-income mothers. Research showed Lifebuoy's liquid soap kills 99.9% of germs in 10 seconds, giving it an advantage over competitors. However, Lifebuoy faces challenges from established competitors in its targeted segments and questions around the need for antibacterial soap. To succeed, Lifebuoy must sustain its competitive advantage and execute strong marketing strategies with a customer-centric approach.

Uploaded by

Eddie Miller
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Situation Statement

This case is focused on Unilever and the revitalization of Lifebuoy. Lifebuoy is in the soap

market and that is the main point of this case. Recently, they’ve made a push to strengthen its

functionality in this market. Lifebuoy wants to grow market shares for their liquid hand soaps in

India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. In order to successfully enter the liquid hand soap market,

these three countries were key. Lifebuoy targeted higher-income mothers who wanted the best

for their children. They wanted to increase their hand soaps in these higher-income segments

and establish themselves as a unique brand.

SWOT

Unilever’s Lifebuoy showed a lot of strengths in the case study. There were a lot of things on

their side. To begin, research showed that Lifebuoy’s liquid hand soap killed germs faster than

its competitors. When the whole point of using the soap is to kill germs, that is an automatic

advantage. Another study showed that children tend to rush through thing that they don’t have

any interest in. This includes washing their hands. That being said, their target audience was the

perfect place to market this product. When you have mothers trying to get their children to

wash their hands, it can be a struggle. Lifebuoy’s liquid hand soap kills 99.9% of germs in ten

seconds; making it easier for children in a hurry to clean themselves.


The liquid hand soap market is a great prospect for Lifebuoy. They had the opportunity to exit

the lower-income bar soap segment and travel into a higher-income market. Lifebuoy can

expand their profitability by moving into the largest marketplace of the brand: India.

Lifebuoy didn’t have the easiest road to enter the market successfully though. They had to deal

with competitors in the targeted segments that have already been established throughout the

years. Along with the questionable necessity of anti-bacterial soap, this complicates things.

After being surveyed, consumers didn’t seem to care that Lifebuoy could kill more germs than

its competitors.

Marketing Problem

Lifebuoy had no marketing problems when it came to choosing the targeted segment of higher-

income mothers who want what’s best for their children. The problem came from the

competitors that were already established in this segment. They needed to figure out a way to

benefit from the advantage of killing 99.9% of germs in only ten seconds.

Recommended Solution

In my opinion, Lifebuoy needs to figure out how to sustain their competitive advantage. As we

learned in Chapter 9, all competitors react. Their biggest competitors will always try to take that

advantage away. Lifebuoy must build and maintain strong barriers to withstand these attacks.
The next thing they can do is keep executing their marketing strategies. They must stay

concentrated on using a customer-centric approach. They’ve already focused on one target, but

Lifebuoy needs to improve each aspect of the strategy to ensure that they satisfy their

customers.

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