Marketing 3.0

Marketing 3.0 is the latest buzz going around in many marketing circles. In this post let us try to look at what the experts have said and how has the marketing concept evolved over the years...

According to Philip Kotler, Marketing 3.0 is in short, values-driven marketing. Over the years marketing has developed from a product-centic approach towards a customer centric approach and now the latest trend is towards a human centric era...

Marketing 1.0:
It represented the time when companies were involved in just building superior products and their imagination was limited by the functional benefits of the product. eg. Tide cleans better, Volvo stands for safety etc. This is similar to the "selling concept" coined by Sir Philip Kotler.

According to Sergio Zyman, Coca-Cola's former VP of marketing, 'the purpose of marketing was to sell more stuff  to more people often for more money in order to make more profit'.

Marketing 2.0:

Here the purpose was for companies was to differentiate themselves from the competition by adding an emotional dimension to strengthen their appeal to customers. This was a more customer centric approach where the job was no more to "find the right customer for your product but to find the right product for your customer". eg. J&J's Baby Powder is perhaps the most perfect example for such kind of marketing. This was brought upon by the Information Age of the 1950s...

Marketing 3.0:

Brought upon by the digital age (1990's), companies have become more transparent to the consumers (not by choice ofcourse) and those companies that have acknowledged this first and adapted to it are no doubt the ones that are calling the shots in most of the categories. 

According to Philip Kotler  "Mktg 3.0 is how a product and its company are sensitive to social and economic issues that are a concern to everyone.  Companies that conduct themselves ecologically and create real value that aligns with the social good will be competitively favored.  The new media will increasingly carry more favorable statements about "caring" companies" and this will influence the buying choices of more consumers."

With the advent of marketing on social media networks,not only products but even parent companies are being discussed by consumers like never before. In such an environment, bad word of mouth can create a lasting dent on a company's image and thus affect their product sales. Consumers increasingly want to purchase from so called Green companies, discussed in one of my other blogs.

In a recent presentation by Mr. Philip Kotler, he has described Values-based Marketing in the form of the following slide:

This is all for now, do post if you get to know any more developments on this topic...

Happydent's Brand Valuation

This is a report on Happydent's brand valuation by a group of MBA students...
They have tried to estimate Happydent on basis of three methods, one is that used by interbrand, the others that are used to come to a conclusion are the popularly used premium model and the discount model... Read the part that involves valuation.

Brand Valuation of Happydent   

HUL Buys off Sara Lee's Personal Care Arm

One of the most recent events in the world FMCG business has been the move of world's 3rd largest FMCG player, Unilever. Unilever, the consumer goods giant, has agreed to buy the personal care arm of Sara Lee, its US counterpart, as it seeks to strengthen its position in Europe and Asia, and further develop its product portfolio in this sector. Also, Sara Lee has sold off a variety of its assets in the recent past, including its clothing lines in the US and Europe, as it seeks to focus on a smaller number of product categories, particularly food and coffee. The acquisition will cost the Anglo-Dutch firm €1.28 billion ($1.88bn; £1.18), and constitutes its largest purchase since the takeover of SlimFast and Ben & Jerry's for a combined $2.6bn in 2000. Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever NV in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. This particular acquistion has been done by Unilever NV.

In addition to Sanex (a cheaper parallel of Unilever's Dove brand) and Duschdas (a German shower gel maker), Unilever is also buying several strong regional brands such as Radox bubble bath and Switzal, a maker of baby shampoo.

Unilever said the businesses it will acquire had sales of 750 million euros and operating earnings of 128 million euros in the 12 months ending in June.

Acording to Unilever, the Sara Lee brands enjoy strong consumer recognition, offer significant growth potential and are an excellent fit with Unilever's existing business - its Dove, Axe and Rexona lines will complement the Sara Lee brands.

The Debate:

Many people think this is a way by which Unilever is trying to have a product portfolio that can boast of being in the full price-spectrum, thereby diversifying its risks. Many critics feel that unilevershouldn't have got its hands dirty with Sara Lee's products that are at the lower end of the price spectrum. Though this is highly debatable , one thing is for sure, it will definitely help Unilever stengthen its position in emerging markets. According to a press release earlier this year, their Chief Executive Paul Polman had said Unilever would take quicker actions where they were feeling that their brands were out-positioned or at a disadvantage, mainly places where they were losing market share. One point to note here, is that the products included in the deal with Sara Lee generated annual sales of €750 million for the year ending in June, and derived 15% of this revenue from emerging markets. According to Credit Suisse, "we're not convinced that this is the greatest collection of assets, but another acquisition shows Unilever is still moving from the back foot of cost cutting, disposals to the front foot of volume growth, acquisitions." Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a Unilever spokesman said 85% of these products were a "perfect fit" for the company, but it "may in the future sell some of the smaller acquired brands."

For Sara Lee, the sale is part of a strategy to concentrate on food and beverages and follows its 2006 spin-off of clothing unit Hanes brands. The maker of baked goods and Ball Park hot dogs said it has "significant interest" from potential buyers in the rest of its household-products businesses, which is also for sale. The company has been trying to sell its household and personal-care unit in Europe since at least March. So,on the whole it has been a win-win situation for both biggies.