9

SWOT ANALYSIS OF

DOVE
Prepared By: Name: Prachi S. Naik

2nd Year 3rd semester

Roll No. 9

Unilever: Dove

Introduction
Unilever is a leading multinational corporation which was formed by Anglo-Dutch cooperation in 1930 as a result of merging the Soap maker Lever brother and Dutch company Margarine Unie. The merger resulted to a large export of palm oil product which promoted the growth of the company. The Company has expanded since then opening branches all over the world. It has so many outlets in the world and has a large share of het world consumer product market with several brands in the catalog. The company also owns foods and beverage brands, cleaning brands and other personal care brands. The company has a large work force of more than 180,000 people in the world with revenue of more that US$58 billion. The company was established from Roternd and London companies which also act as the mother companies for all other branches in the world. (Unilever, 2008b) Recently the company has been engulfed in one of the most heated controversy in the history of business world arising from its advertisement. The company has been engaged in a various criticisms before but the recent one seems to have attracted the attention of unlikely quarters from politicians to the human reign activists. It has become a subject to social conversation all over the world due to its mode of advertisement. There have been many blogs in the internet that have been used against the company and its advertisement strategy especially the recent one Axe/dove advertisement which has attracted most criticism even before they make their impact on the market. The market of the two brands Axe and Dove have attracted the advocacy groups who have been campaigning for the need to have commercial-free childhood advertisements. The campaign has in form of writing several letters to the company in order to force it to withdraw the advertisement from the market.

SWOT ANALYSIS
WHAT IS SWOT ANALYSIS
The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis has been a useful tool for industry. The process of utilizing the SWOT approach requires an internal survey of strengths and weaknesses and an external survey of threats and opportunities. SWOT is a simple, easy to understand technique. It can be used an end in itself. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how SWOT can be used by administrators to analyze and initiate new program offerings in vocational education.

SOWT ANALYSIS OF DOVE STRENGHTS

STRENGHTS OF DOVE
o o o o o Unconventional strategy Effective advertising, Free publicity Continuously evolving the campaign Strong emotional touch Cross-selling Possibilities

WEAKNESSES

WEAKNESSES OF DOVE
Contradictory in nature Objectification of women Women featured were comparatively slim Use of idealized images in other brands under the same flagship Contradictory Japanese campaign

OPPORTUNITIES

OPPORTUNITIES OF DOVE
Target male customers Maintain better standards of quality Unified advertising throughout the globe Continuous innovation

THREATS

THREATS OF DOVE
Risk of being a brand for fat girls Involved marketing risk Copy by the competitors Undermining the aspiration of consumers Sustainability of campaign in long run

Major issue
Dove literally narrowed down its marketing strategy, so possibility of expanding their marketing strategy in later stages is very difficult and risky. As per some critics Remodelling consumers perceptions and attitudes would be quite difficult

Conclusion
Some element of aspiration has to be incorporated so as to ensure longevity of the brand. To put it in the words of Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, In our factory we make cosmetics. In the stores we sell hopes. Whatever the case is, as of now, Dove has succeeded in empowering femininity.

Strength, Weakness :
Unilevers worldwide establishment Unconventional marketing strategy Word of mouth and Word of Mouse free publicity Campaign has a strong emotional touch Social responsibility- Dove established self esteem fund, which conducted self esteem workshops along with Girl Scouts to improve the self esteem of girls Doves brand loyalty Best known for functional superiority, i.e. beauty bar which does not dry the skin Changing perceptions of people is difficult Opportunities: Threats: Huge opportunity to develop products for other target customers, i.e. male users Communicating one advertisement message throughout the world Inclusive of 98% of the target market which is largely ignored Gain mind and heart share If the message is not conveyed right, Dove may become brand of oversized people Copy by the competitors Sustainability of the campaign in the long run

Excessive media criticism Issues: 1. Doves marketing strategy should plan for continued momentum of the campaign Short term 2. Dove should address the criticism on Campaign for Real Beauty effectivelyShort term 3. Changing peoples perceptions about the brand Long term 4. Address the competition from other brands Long term Problem Statement: The objectives of Unilevers Dove market study and campaign are to establish Dove as an umbrella brand and increase the sales of the various Dove beauty products by debunking the stereotypes of definition of beauty by the society.

Case Response: Prior to the year 2000 Unilevers Dove brand has only one product, i.e. beauty bar. The brand name depended upon the functionality benefits of the beauty bar, i.e. moisturizing benefits. In the year 2000 Unilever wanted to introduce various beauty care products under the Dove's umbrella brand by Brand Extension. As a Masterbrand Dove should create a strong association between other...

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