was founded in 1901 by K ing C. Gillette. It was a leading International Manufacturer of consumer products rang ing from Electr ic razor to ba ll point pens. Gill ette has three divisions: 1. Safety Razors (Blades and Razors) 2. Paper mate Division (Wr it ing Instruments) 3. Personal Care Division-PCD. (Hair Care , Sk in care, Deodorants/ Ant i-perspirants) The Brands of Gillette are divided into four rough categor ies: Build, Hold, Har vest and Withdraw. Mennen and P&G are the major competitors for Gillette. R ight Guard pioneered in Un ited States with a unit Mar ke t Share of 26% in 1967. But Because of f luorocarbons scare burst by mid 1982 its mar k et share was dropped down to 8.5%.Wh ite rain was a shampoo that was introduced in low pr ice category in 1952,but it was phased out in late 1970.PCD division of Gillette decided to roll out new version of shampoo and conditioners in May 1985 and as soon as it was launched it was a resounding success. Problem Statement: y y y
Ineffectiveness of Gillette¶s planning and contro l system Revitalization of R ight guard brand to increase its mar ke t share Finding ways to bu ild upon the success of wh ite rain to increase mar k et share
Analysis:
Gillette¶s Marketing Planning and Control System Planning and control of system was too r igid and time consuming and it lack ed central control mechanism. Even though it is followed it may not give the expected resu lts, for example white rain was launched without comp letely following the system but st ill it was a resounding success. Gillette¶s system was basically divided into two subsystems, P lanning system and Contro l system. Planning system cons ist of prepar ing Fact book in the month of Apr il through a ser ies of meet ing amongst brand managers, sa les managers and f ield representative. Fact book is based upon sales /mar k eting meeting, mar k eting research division (MRD), outside mar ke t research and brand management. Dur ing next three months Brand managers de velop mar ke ting p lan based on the brand factbook . Ref ined mar ke ting plan then goes to operat ing committee for further approval. Once it gets the approval from the operating committee (Chaired by Bill Ryan) f inance sect ion prepares budget which incorporates quant itat ive forecasts from the mar k eting plan. After this mar ke ting managers and Bob forman (VP mar ke ting) devises a strategic bus iness plan which categor izes the brand into four different categor ies: Build-To build mar k et share Hold-To maintain share and prof it levels Har vest-To maximize cash f low Withdraw-To mak e painless ex it from the mar k et After approval from operating committee Strategic business plans were reviewed by Derwyn Ph ili ps (Head Gillette North Amer ica)and Joseph Tur ley(Company head). y y y y
Control department was involved in implementation of the mar k eting plans formulated by the planning department. In order to ha ve a clear understanding of the difference between forecast and actual sales PCD managers relied on a number of regu lar reports. Reports were on Da ily Sales, Monthly Sales Forecast, Nielsen¶s two-Out let Flash report and the merchand ise f low produced by Mar ke ting Research Divis ion. MRD also provided managers with interna lly generated research reports. Based on the interna lly generated reports MRD performs nat ional consumer study(NC S) for each brand category and does segmentat ion studies for individual brands.NCS hel ps managers to k now whether the brand was on target for its budgeted prof it contr i bution. RIGHT
GUAR D
R ight guard was launched in 1960 and by 1967 it emerged as a premier deodorant brand in United States with mar k et share of 26%.But later in mid 1970s f luorocarbon scare tarnished the image of aerosol form of anti perspirant thereby reduc ing R ight guards mar ke t share down to 8.5% by mid 1982.R ight Guard lost its 20 year mar k et leadershi p to Mennen company¶s product. R ight guard even after losing the leadershi p still accounted for 15% division sales and 25% operating prof its, so it was a diff icult brand to lose. This tr iggered the idea of restage of brand R ight guard by introduc ing it in new chemical form and fragrance. The restage was scheduled for three years start ing with the year 1983.For the f irst f ive months the new product was k ept under low level of advertisements. The new product came to reta il shops dur ing the second quarter and s imultaneously increasing its advertising campaign budget to $12.7mn which still was less as compared to Mennen. The mar k et competition increased furthermore in 1982 with P&Gs entry and Mennen¶s new product, Lady Stick . The restage appeared weak because target male consumers rank ed r ight guard well below chief competitor Mennen and Old spice on k ey factors such as product effect iveness, application aesthet ics and value for money. Despite all these facts Pat Flaherty put R ight Guard in Ho ld Category and in 1986 the target mar k et was refocused to 12-24 in order to revamp the brand.
White R ain
White Rain (WR) was a less k nown brand of the Gillette which launched its better version of WR Shampoo in 1985.It was planned to be placed as a strong pr ice value brand. Also, its sa les were sk ewed regiona lly i.e. in some regions it performed better and in others it did not. The product was therefore test mar ke ted using the consumer use test to f ind the attitudes of the consumers towards the product. The mar ke t planning process for the product was informal with minimal documentation. Also novel methods of sale were fo llowed. WR was launched in the already strong mar ke ts of Gillette to test its mar ke t acceptability. It gained 3% mar ke t share in 2 years. But still 3% mar ke t share was low and there was tremendous opportunity to grow this brand and increase its mar ke t share.
R ight
Situation Strategy Expectations Effort
Market
Competition R esults
Guard Planned and well built Carr ied the Brand Image High Heavy Investment and proper planning and organization. Fluorocarbon Scare
which was pr imary cause for its downfall St iff competit ion from Mennen and P & G 12.9 $ Mar k et Contr i bution
White R ain Unplanned and small Pure r isk and opportunism Low Low Investment in terms of money and heavy in terms of management Always was performing better than the expectations Sauve.
But high pr ice of it turned in WR¶s favor 3% Mar k et Share.
R ecommendations: y
y
y
Planning and contro l system of PCD of Gillette shou ld be more f lexi ble and it shou ld be made less time consuming. There shou ld be a centra l database which shou ld have all the brand information and shou ld be access i ble to a ll the departments. R ight guard¶s modif ied version shou ld be launched in such a manner so that the peop le¶s perception about aerosol can be changed.
White rain success in the mar k et shou ld be capitalized upon to increase its mar k et share and to increase the good w ill of the company in the mar k et.
