An Analysis of Unilever Australia’s Marketing Strategy for Dove

Marketing has a crucial role in ensuring the survival of a business within a market. Marketing refers to the process of engaging a target market of consumers in order to ultimately sell a product and from that sale, maintain a consumer-producer relationship with the client (Cohen, 1). All managers ought to adopt good market strategies to ensure that they address the dynamic consumer concerns. This paper seeks to analyze Unilever Australia with the aim of understanding its marketing strategy for its Dove brand.

History                                                                 

Unilever is a multinational company dealing in a wide range of consumer products ranging from beverages, detergents, fats and oils, body creams and lotions and many more. The company began in 1885 under the leadership of two brothers William Lever and James Lever. These were soap makers and their first soap brand was Sunlight. In order to grow their business, a pact among the Margarine Unie and the Lever Brothers led to a merger of their two companies (Unilever, slide 4). As a result, the onset of 2nd September 1929 saw the birth of a new company called Unilever. The founders in addition to the Lever Brothers were Dutch margarine producers, Samuel van den Bergh, George Schicht and Singrose. The company’s headquarters is at Unilever House London in the United Kingdom and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. However, being a transnational company its branches are all over the globe. In 1889, the production of Sunlight began in the Lever Brothers factory in Sydney, Australia. Unilever Australia is as a result of the year 2000 deal to merge Unilever Foods and Lever Rexona. This came to be known as Unilever Australasia (Unilever, slide 5). One such brand within Unilever’s production units is Dove. The brand has grown over the years from its inception in 1940 to date. Under the brand, exists the initial Dove bar, Dove body care cream and Dove campaigns which seek celebrate the beauty of women worldwide.

Target Marketing

Target marketing is defined as the process of breaking a heterogeneous market into various segments. These segments are then aimed at by a company through its marketing efforts in order to satisfy the segment’s needs that match your product or the company’s service offerings. (Ward, 1). Target marketing ensures efficient market strategies in terms of the 4Ps and 7Cs of marketing occupy ideal market positioning to increase the volume of sales and ensure a business’ survival. Unilever Australasia uses market segmentation to classify customers into their respective demographics, geographics, psychographics and behaviors. Dove however takes a much keener interest in market segmentation leaning more towards demographics.

            Demographics are various traits created to distinguish customer product preferences and/or their purchasing patterns (Suttle, 2018). The market segment consists of classifications in terms of age, gender, income and social status or any other chosen classification. Unilever through its brand Dove, segments in terms of age leading to two broad classifications, young girls and adult women. The young girls are of school going age of between nine to twenty years. Adult women are heavy spenders since they earn income and are between twenty-three to forty-five years old. As a result, Dove products are designed to fit both low and high income level earners. It does this by creating products that are appealing to both groups by targeting their ways of thinking, behavior, where they live and who they come into contact with, as well as their general behavior in the society.

PESTEL Analysis

The PESTEL model is a tool which marketers use to analyze information about external factors that affect business operations (Jurevicius, 1). This model is made up of an acronym standing for Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental, and Legal analysis of the external business environment. Dove makes good use of the technological environment through its innovation and invention. An example of this is through its constant rebranding throughout the years by changing its logo and the shape of its lotion bottles, graphics and catchphrases. These changes allow the brand to achieve product differentiation and thus ensure its market survival.

 Secondly, the brand has rebranded itself as environmentally friendly through its certification from PETA to encourage and more acceptable testing practices that are safe for animals and the environment. In addition to this, the company has changed its contribution to political and legal frameworks in the country to encourage the empowering of the girl-child as well as its contribution towards environmental conservation. In examination of the socio-political aspect of business practice, Dove has a chance to widen its production chain to create employment opportunities for Australian citizens. This can be done, in an aim to reduce unemployment rates and stimulate economic growth in the country. Lastly, Dove can also make use of the country’s population increase to create smaller segments within the market. These new segments would give the brand a wider audience and create more customer satisfaction ultimately generating more revenue for Unilever.

Conclusion

In summation, Unilever’s Dove brand, is currently enjoying a wider market command of the Australian market. The future prospects for the brand are bound to rise gradually over the forthcoming years because of their marketing strategy which is innovative in practice. With continuous review, adaptation, and control of its market strategy the brand is set to survive the erratic changes experienced in the business market as a result of the unpredictable fluctuations in the forces of demand and supply. For sure, a sound marketing strategy is the driving force towards the achievement of business success in the world market as shown by Unilever Australasia through its Dove subsidiary.

Work Cited

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