A REPORT ON

MARKETING STRATEGY OF PONDS, UNILEVER BANGLADESH LIMITED

Prepared for: Mr. A K M Shamim Faisal Course Teacher

Prepared by: Md. Maruf Billah Roll No. EV1405010 EvMBA-05

BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONALS Faculty of Business Studies Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka-1216 February 01, 2014

January 22, 2014 Mr. A K M Shamim Faisal Course Teacher Faculty of Business Studies Bangladesh University of Professionals

Dear Sir: We would like to submit this report titled Marketing Strategy of Ponds, Unilever Bangladesh Limited prepared as a part of the requirement for our course Business Communication under the MBA Program of Faculty of Business Studies, Bangladesh University of Professionals. In this report, we have tried to apply the knowledge and guidelines from our education span to find out the current condition of the performance of the department. In spite of the various limitations faced while preparing the report, we have tried to be as thorough as possible. We sincerely hope that this report fulfils the objectives and requirements and that it finds your acceptance. We also thank you for your guidance, support and time and should you require any elaboration on any issue, we shall be glad to oblige.

Sincerely, _____________________________

TABLE OF CONTENT

Executive Summary

Ponds is always coming up with innovative products for the women of today. Ponds is a vast range of products across age and income groups and is the most trusted Skincare brand for women. Unilever Bangladesh has undertaken activation program to enhance communication with the consumer of their skin care product like PONDS. Marketing activation is the execution of the marketing mix as part of the marketing process. The activation phase typically comes after the planning phase during which managers plan their marketing activities and is followed by a feedback phase in which results are evaluated with marketing analytics. The main objective of activation programs is to directly communicate with the consumers and find what they want and what they feel about the product from them selves, as well as raise some opportunities of sales of the products.

In this study, an effort was made to understand the present situation of Ponds Bangladesh, with a specific focus on the market structure of skin care products of Unilever Bangladesh Limited. It also tried to identify any latent promotion, communication and sales potential existing for this product category in the chosen channel and subsequently, to suggest ways to exploit those potentials optimally if any was found. The study initially provided some background on some theoretical constructs and conceptually defined them. However, the findings and outcomes of this research are highly dependent on the sample that has been used, and thus any generalization of the result of this study in any proportion for other parts of the population must be done with caution. Further qualitative and quantitative researches with other types of samples and sampling methods should be undertaken in order to verify the generalizability and application of the result of this research.

A. INTRODUCTION ORIGIN OF THE REPORT

This report has been originated to fulfill a partial requirement of the internship program attended by the author. The authors are post graduating student of the EMBA, Faculty of Business Studies of Bangladesh University of Professionals and have been assigned to write a business report. In accordance with the specific requirements of the report, the authors have completed a report on marketing strategy of PONDs Unilever Bangladesh Limited. This report is hereby submitted as the research report of the authors. The report has been prepared under the supervision of the Course coordinator, Mr. A K M Shamim Faisal, Course teacher, Business Communication, Faculty of Business Studies, Bangladesh University of Professionals and according to the instructions and guidance of the Official supervisor, Mrs. Ankan Siddiquee, Activation Manager, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.

PROBLEM & PURPOSE

Pond's delivers products that make a real difference to women's skin and the way they live their lives. Since 1846, Ponds has been known for simple, effective skin c are products that work. Pond's is always committed to deliver the complete beauty solution platform and portfolio that can make women's skin more beautiful than she ever hopes for. The purpose of this study is to analyze how Ponds bring this faith/ trust among generations of women using different brands of ponds.

SCOPE OF REPORT
The scope of this report can be defined from multiple perspectives:

This report is entirely focused on the Shopper Activation, a promotional tool as well as sales channel of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Consisting of Sales counters and Experience zones located in the urban areas. From the product perspective, the report concentrated mainly on the Skin Care products; Namely PONDS of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. From the geographical perspective, the research conducted for this report has been limited within the area of Dhaka city.

The time-frame of this report spans from January, 2014 to March, 2014. All the data regarding market situation and sales have been collected within this period of time.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

As mentioned above in the Scope of the Report, the research was restricted to Sales Counter and Experience Zones Located within Dhaka city. Therefore, the report findings may not be fully applicable to other parts of the country. The numerical data obtained via the interview questionnaire were rough approximations provided by the different respondents and thus are subject to human errors and biases. In order to adhere to the strict confidentiality policy of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd., mention of exact data on sales, costs etc at the national level have been avoided in this report whenever possible.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

SOURCE & METHOD OF COLLECTING INFORMATION

Sources of Data:
The data used in the report is collected using only Primary sources. Primary sources used in this report for data collection consist mainly of the following sources: Survey was conducted on over 500 consumers of skin care products Different survey was conducted on the Super Store Owners and employees where the counters are located. Depth Interviews of 45 Girls working in those counters and zones. Discussions with experts in this topic e.g. Brand Manager, Territory Manager, Activation Manager and some other officials at Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.

DEFINITIONS, INITIALISMS, AND ACRONYMS

REPORT PREVIEW

UNILEVER & PONDS Unilever is one of the leading multinational Fast Moving Consumer Goods Companies in the world that owns many of the world's most popular consumer goods brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. Unilever started its operations in Bangladesh in 1964. Unilever Bangladesh is market leader in 7 of the 8 categories it operates in, with 16 brands spanning across Home and Personal Care and Foods. The heritage of good governance, product quality and long experience of working with communities gives UNILEVER a strong base. Their aim is to build on this by taking the next step in transparency and accountability. Pond's delivers products that make a real difference to women's skin and the way they live their lives. Since 1846, generations of women have trusted Ponds for simple, effective skin care products that work. The brand is always committed to deliver the complete beauty solution platform. BRAND OF PONDS IN BANGLADESH Pond's is not just about looking beautiful but also feeling beautiful. Ponds has Skin care products ranging from Skin cleansing to Skin lightening to Anti ageing & many more. The brands of Ponds in Bangladesh are given below Perfect Matte Nourishing Facial Scrub Pure White Vanishing Cream Moisturizing Cold Cream White Beauty Age Miracle

MAJOR COMPETITORS Lakme Garnier Olay

Findings and Analysis Findings

Ponds activation program consists of two different parts namely 1. Experience Zone. 2. Skin consultant counters and

Experience Zone.
These are larger zones where trained consultants analyze consumers skin with special devices called skin testers and on the basis of the analysis suggest products and solutions. Characteristic of these zones are Here only skin analyzing and product demonstration is provided, these are not sales counters Requires large area where more than one display counters are there Has a skin analyzer device; Skin tester. More than one trained consultant girl is present there always These zones are situated in shopping malls

Figure: 1.1- Skin experience zone

There are three Experience zones in Dhaka city and also in Bangladesh. Experience zones target market is mostly urban area based consumers. A number of girls work here as a skin analyzer. Here is the list of experience zone outlets in Dhaka city: Table : 1- Experience zone in Dhaka city No. 1 2 3 Outlet name Bashundhara City Eastern Plaza Kornofuli Garden City Location Panthapath, Dhaka Sonargaon Road, Dhaka Shantinagar, Dhaka

Figure: 1.2- Skin experience zone

Skin Consultant Counters

These counters are situated within general or super stores. These consists all the products of ponds. Characteristics of these counters are A product shelf with the facility to display products A BA counters or front desk which helps in displaying testers and demonstration Provides opportunities to have demonstrations of the products which are conducted by the SC girls SC girls provide in depth information to the consumers about the products as well as demonstrations Temporary skin consultancy is provided here

Figure: 1.3- Skin consultation (SC) counter There are 38 SC counters all over Bangladesh and 33 of them are in Dhaka city. There are well trained girls who work in these SC outlets all over the country as Skin Consultants.

Analysis
The effectiveness of the activation program is determined or evaluated on the basis of some criteria. These criteria are:

Number of consumers visits the counter Average age of these consumers Amount of communication; which is measured by the structure of skin concerns of the consumers, list of most preferred product

Number of consumers visits the counter

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Uttara Moghbazar Mirpur 5 10 20

30

20 12 6

Basundhara city

Gulshan

Shantinagar Dhanmondi