Brand Audit Of Lux
Introduction Lux Soap came into existence in 1964. Lux occupies a large market share in the Pakistani soap market as well as the international arena. The new Lux, with the sunscreen formula, is targeted to a different market segment as compared previously to previous Lux. Lux is the first brand to bring the sunscreen concept in soap industry. Lux plans to cater to all these customers. "Beauty begins with Lux. "The strategy that is used by lever brother for their lux sunscreen is on specific "product Benefits strategy" as the lux sunscreen promotes "Sun Protection" benefit as well as "beauty" .Lux sunscreen revolves around the slogan that is:Lux Sunscreen
BRAND NAME:
“LUX” LOGO:
SYMBOL: BEAUTY CHARACTER: GLAMOUR
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Brand Audit Of Lux
PACKAGING:
SLOGAN: “BEAUTY BEGIN WITH LUX”
History: Lux Soap came into existence in 1964. Subsequently it was launched in the US in 1916, and marketed as a laundry soap targeted specifically at 'delicates'. Lever Brothers encouraged women to home launder their clothes without fear of satins and silks being turned yellow by harsh lyes that were often used in soaps at the time. The flake-type soap allowed the manufacturer some leeway from lye because it did not need to be shaped into traditional cake-shaped loaves as other soaps were. The result was a gentler soap that dissolved more readily and was advertised as suitable for home laundry use.[1] Lux is currently a product of Unilever. The name "Lux" was chosen as the Latin word for "light". Lux toilet soap was introduced as a bathroom soap in the US in 1925, and in the UK in 1928 as a brand extension of Lux soap flakes. Subsequently Lux soap has been marketed in several forms, including handwash, shower gel and cream bath soap. Lux soap was launched in India in 1929. The very first advertisement in 1929 featured Leela Chitnis as its brand ambassador. It was branded in India as "the beauty soap of film stars'.
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Brand Audit Of Lux
Delight to the senses: Everything about the brand – from the look and feel of the products and packaging to the subtle fragrances – is a delight to the senses. In fact, Lux has been making waves since 1924, when it launched the world's first mass-market beauty soap at a fraction of the cost of some expensive brands.
How it all started Lux was first introduced as a toilet soap in 1925. Produced by Lever Brothers, it arrived in the UK in 1928, offering people a chance to pamper themselves for a modest price. From the 1930s right through to the 1970s, Lux soap colours and packaging were altered several times to reflect fashion trends. In 1958 five colours made up the range: pink, white, blue, green and yellow. People enjoyed matching their soap with their bathroom colours. In the early 1990s, Lux responded to the growing trend away from traditional soap bars by launching its own range of shower gels, liquid soaps and moisturising bars. Lux beauty facial wash, Lux beauty bath and Lux beauty shower were launched in 1992. In 2004, the entire Lux range was relaunched in the UK to include five shower gels, three bath products and two new soap bars. 2005 saw the launch of three exciting new variants with dreamy names such as “Wine & Roses” bath cream, “Glowing Touch” and “Sparkling Morning” shower gels.
Did you know? Since the 1930s, over 400 of the world’s most stunning and sensuous women have been proudly associated with Lux advertisements. Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot,
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Brand Audit Of Lux Demi Moore and, more recently, our own Catherine Zeta-Jones, have all been part of the Lux glamour story. The name Lux means ‘light’ in Latin, however the name was chosen for its play on the word ‘luxury’.
Advertising In 2004, Sarah Jessica Parker featured in the Lux 'Brings Out the Star in You’ advertising campaign. Best known for her über-stylish and spirited character as Carrie from Sex & The City, Sarah Jessica Parker epitomises the modern Lux woman: comfortable and confident in her femininity, experienced in the ways of the world and understands how style and beauty really work. Lux has been widely advertised in Pakistan ever since the brand was introduced. Pakistani models including Reema Khan, Meera, Aaminah Haq, Babra sharif and various other leading models and actresses have been "Lux models" from time to time. Lux remains the leading soap brand in Pakistan, representing the stylish class of Pakistan. Things started with a TV show called Lux Style Ki Duniya, now with the country's leading models and actors taking part in the annual Lux Style Awards every year. Ali Zafar the famous Pakistani Singer has become the first male model for Lux
Celebrity Endorsements: Hollywood Since the 1930s, many well-known Hollywood actresses have marketed the soap to women as a beauty enhancer. Advertisements have featured Dorothy Lamour, Joan Crawford, Laurette Luez, Judy Garland, Cheryl Ladd, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Taylor, Demi Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rachel Weisz, Anne Hathaway, and Marilyn
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Brand Audit Of Lux Monroe, among others. The first male to star in a Lux advertisement was Hollywood actor Paul Newman.
Bollywood Today, the brand is still heavily advertised in India using Bollywood stars.Madhubala, Mala Sinha, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Karisma Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Aishwarya Rai, Amisha Patel, Kareena Kapoor and Tabu have all been past brand ambassadors. Priyanka Chopra is the present brand ambassador of Lux. In India Shahrukh Khan was the first male in a Lux advertisement.
Pakistan Lux has been widely advertised in Pakistan ever since the brand was introduced. Pakistani models including Reema Khan, Meera, Aaminah Haq, Babra sharif and various other leading models and actresses have been "Lux models" from time to time. Lux remains the leading soap brand in Pakistan, representing the stylish class of Pakistan. Things started with a TV show called Lux Style Ki Duniya, now with the country's leading models and actors taking part in the annual Lux Style Awards every year. Ali Zafar the famous Pakistani Singer has become the first male model for Lux.
Other countries Lux soap is very popular in Nepal and the brand appointed Nepali model-turned-actress Jharana Bajracharya to be the Lux Girl in the Summer of 2003. After that, she appeared on many TV commercials. Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji appeared as the face of Lux soap in 2004. Two decades earlier, singer Patti Boulaye had been Nigeria's face of Lux. In Norway during the 1950s and 1960s, Lux advertisements featured fictional Italian actresses. Lux soap is also a category leader in Pakistan, the brand being synonymous with glamour. While initially it was also marketed as the beauty soap of the film stars, recently it is focusing more on bringing out the star in ordinary people. Current brand ambassador is Iman Ali.
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Brand Audit Of Lux
Brand Category: LUX falls under the category of toiletry as a beauty soap.
Market Segmentation: The company claims that LUX is the highest selling beauty soap in Pakistan. Moreover some survey reports also reveal the same result. Though LUX is the highest selling beauty soap in Pakistan, it does not go for traditional mass marketing. Moreover as a beauty soap LUX does not even segment its market according to gender. The population of the country is segmented into three parts which are urban, sub urban and rural area consumers. The SEC divides the population in five segments starting from A to E, where A categorizes the highly educated and high income earners holders, and sequentially in descending order E categorizes the opposite.
Urban Rich
Urban and Sub Urban Upper Middle and Middle Class
Rural Poor
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Brand Audit Of Lux
Target Market: Urban and sub urban middle class, and rural poor people are the largest part of Pakistan population. A research carried out by Unilever Pakistan reveals that urban rich people are more likely to buy imported and expensive products. Moreover rural poor people tend to buy cheap products even without evaluating its quality. However urban and sub urban upper middle and middle class people tend to buy affordable and quality products. LUX is not a highly expensive but an affordable product. That is why the company targets urban and sub urban upper middle and middle class people who are the second highest population of segment of the country. From the segmentation of customer according to SEC they target category A, B and C, because they are assumed to be financially well-off and can afford to buy LUX.
Brand Positioning: lux obtained a good position in the buyers’ mind through better product attributes, price and quality, offering the product in a different way than the competitors do. The company offers improved quality of products in the industry at an affordable price with high branding, which ultimately helps to position the product in the buyers’ mind as the best quality beauty soap. The market share of the company in the beauty soap industry is somewhere around 43%.Since in the beauty soap industry all products are of same price Unilever cannot provide its consumers with better price but it is in a great position in reference with its packaging, fragrances and product designing.
Product: LUX is an internationally renowned beauty soap brand of Unilever. Though manufactured in Pakistan for the local market by Unilever Pakistan Ltd, as an international brand, it maintains
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Brand Audit Of Lux an international quality for the product. Formula given by Research and Development departments in foreign countries, LUX is produced in Pakistan from imported raw materials like sodium soap, glycerol and different extracts according to flavors, coming from Unilever plants situated abroad. LUX is offered in Pakistan in six different flavors which are: LUX Energizing Honey, LUX Golden Glow, LUX Nature Pure, LUX Orchid Touch, LUX Almond Delight and LUX Aqua Sparkle. Taking into account the convenience of its customers, the company manufactures all flavors of LUX in three different sizes, 40gm, 80gm and 120gm.
Price: Though Unilever Pakistan gives its LUX customers a lot in terms of the product itself, it cannot provide a better pricing. This is due to some constraints in the beauty soap industry. Beauty soap is a product with a vulnerable demand in Pakistan. A change in price has a high risk of creating price war among the rivals which will eventually cause a loss of profit. Its prices are almost equal to its competitor.compares Lux’s price with its major competitor. Company carries out research on competitors’ price and brand loyalty when it feels extreme necessaity of chaging price. The brand loyalty test is an exploratory research which is known as Brand Health Check-Up (BHCU).
Place: Unilever Pakistan Ltd. has a huge distribution channel for LUX all over the country as its sales reach more than 10 million pieces a year. The company has six huge warehouses, one in each division of Pakistan, where the product goes after they are manufactured at Kalurghat factory. shows the location of its six warehouses in Pakistan. The company does not use its own fleet of transport for distributing its product. However, it has outsourced its distribution process to various third party distributors, exclusively dedicated to Unilever Pakistan Ltd. These distributors then supply the product all over Pakistan to a huge number of retailers. Even though LUX targets the urban and sub urban
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Brand Audit Of Lux middle and upper middle class people they are distributing their products all over Pakistan because of a recent increase in demand of its product to all segments of the population.
Promotion: Unilever Pakistan undertakes huge promotional activities to promote LUX which has topped the beauty soap industry of Pakistan. It spends almost 20% to 25% of its Net Proceeds from Sales (NPC) of LUX for promotional activities for LUX 1 It’s certain annual promotional campaigns like LUX Channel i Superstar and LUX Channel i Annual Cinema Awards has made the product a part of the glamour world. Since the 1930s, over 400 of the world’s most stunning and sensuous women have been proudly associated with Lux advertisements. They do not only promote LUX in Pakistan for the beauty conscious females, it also promotes the brand for males and the company proved that, by including world famous male celebrity Shahrukh Khan for their advertising campaign. Unilever Pakistan Ltd spends a huge amount of money for promoting LUX through TV commercials, newspaper advertisements and billboards. Moreover it also undertakes small promotional campaigns at different schools, colleges, universities and recreational parks with winners of its Zonal Beauty Contests. Till now promotional activities of LUX has always been successful which has made it a household common name and helped it reach almost one billion taka sale value in the year 2004 2.
Market Share: The beauty soap industry in Pakistan consists of only seven major producers. Unilever Pakistan Ltd is operating in the industry with its world famous brand LUX. Out of these giant companies Unilever Pakistan Ltd is the market leader with a share of around 43%. Other companies in the industry are not as big as Unilever Pakistan Ltd but they are posing threat to the company by a tendency of a gradual increase in their market share. Kohinoor Chemicals which is operating with the brand name Tibet is an extremely famous brand to the 9
Brand Audit Of Lux rural segment of the population and possess a significant share in that segment which is the largest population group in Pakistan. 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10
LUX Rexona Palmolive Capri Tibet
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COMPETETIVE POSITION Almost every industry includes companies that specialize in serving market niches and Lever brother is one of them. Instead of perusing the whole market or even large segments it targets subbasements.Lever brother has chosen nicher strategy because they believe that the market nicher ends up knowing the target customer group so well that it meets their need better than other firms that casually sell to this niche. As a result lever brother can charge a substantial markup over costs because of the added value. Where as the mass marketer achieves high volume, lever achieves high margin.
Conclusion The beauty soap industry of Pakistan consists of a few producers in the industry. The demand for this product is very much vulnerable in terms of pricing. Unilever Pakistan is providing LUX. at a price which is affordable to most of the people in the country. Beauty
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Brand Audit Of Lux soap is an uprising product in Pakistan as a greater portion of the population, both male and female, are now getting more beauty conscious. As a multinational company Unilever Pakistan with heavy promotional activities, has been able to penetrate the market. With six different fragrances, three different sizes, international standard and high quality design, as a product, LUX has been highly successful over the years. Its distribution process is highly efficient. Its promotional activities, like the beauty contest has been a milestone in attracting a huge number of customers. Overall with its marketing activities LUX has been a successful brand. The only place where rival companies are progressing is in giving customers redemption offers. Research revealed that Pakistani customers are highly attracted to this sort of offers. These offers are not sustainable in the long run but still it takes away a considerable part of LUX’s sale in the short run.
Recommendation In this chapter the team would suggest some recommendations to Unilever Pakistan Ltd. to adopt more successful operation in Pakistan. Since a huge portion of the rural poor people is demanding LUX in recent days, Unilever Pakistan Ltd should expand their target market also towards the rural people. They should also conduct different promotional activities in rural fairs and socially responsible promotional activities to attract rural consumers and social awareness .Because Lux has different skin type soap so now if they provide different types of beauty soaps for male and female soapunder the same brand name i.e. LUX it might increase their sales. Lastly, as Pakistani culture children have a huge say in shopping so they should also promote the product to children like their another brand “Dove”. These are the recommendations suggested by teem members to Unilever Pakistan Ltd. to adopt for a more successful operation in Pakistan with large market share.
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