Advertising Campaign of Pantene Pro-V (Essay Sample)

Advertising Campaign of Pantene Pro-V
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Advertising Campaign of Pantene Pro-V
Introduction
P&G brands are used by people around the world four billion times a day. The company markets its products in approximately 80 countries touching lives of 4.7 billion people out of the seven billion people in the entire planet (P&G, 2014). The brand has offered consumers a sixty years long legacy of high quality products that symbolizes the best hair care and has offered a practical approach for women to obtain the beautiful and healthy hair they have always dreamed of. Now With their expansion in Asian markets, Pantene has become a global brand (P&G, 2014). This report contains in depth analysis of Pantene’s international advertising strategies (India), market segmentation, its social and cultural positioning. P&G’s sales are divided into four parts: North America, Western Europe, North East Asia and Developing Markets. Outside America, the developing markets constitute up to 30% sales in the year 2009 which equalled $ 23.7 billion. According to the Annual Report of P&G (2014, p-23), Pantene and Head and Shoulders alone made the company a global hair care leader with 20% market share.
For this report, Pantene Shampoo is chosen because it belongs to the Global Beauty segment of P&G. Pantene Pro-V is a star brand of P&G however, it has only 16% market share in India (Rahman, Kazi & Sourav, 2012, p-181). This means the brand has a lot of potential in the hair care market of India and by analysing its current advertising campaign, a better view of global advertising can be obtained. The main idea behind this report is to analyse Pantene’s advertising strategies in India and compare it to international strategies. Pantene focuses on standardization with minor tailoring according to local cultures. The same phenomenon would be studied to identify how this brand has customized its ads according to the needs of an emerging market.
Background
In 2010, Pantene launched its hair structure repair formula, this started the era of ‘Structure Revolution.’ Since then Pantene has introduced numerous formulae around the world which protect hair from damages because this is one of the most pressing problem for women today. Pantene products launched in the UK are quite advanced as compared to the emerging markets. There is a vast difference in the products and there are fifteen more variants as compared to India. Some of the variants that are not available in India, but are present in UK’s markets are: Ice Shine Shampoo, Clarifying Shampoo, Aqua Light, Total Fullness and many others (Pantene UK, 2014). In addition, the brand has an Expert Collection launched, which focuses co-created with hair experts and focuses on hair ageing. This product line is also not available in the India right now. According to Franch (2000, p-1) Pantene is the European market leader as compared to its position as number two in the Indian market. The launch of Pro-Vitamin B5 formula in the year 1993 urged many companies to revise their formula – Pantene however was in the lead. Their constant research and development keeps them ahead of the competition in Europe. The reason behind this is that the consumers are more educated and understand the science of hair care.
Impact & Significance
Pantene’s marketing strategies are quite standardized but they are tailored according to local needs. For example, the television commercials have the same theme but local celebrities are used. Despite the use of excessive advertising, Pantene has not been able to come up with any creative advertising plan which could out-compete its closest competitor, Unilever. Both companies are known for FMCG product, however, Unilever has a larger market share in the hair care category of emerging markets (EuroMonitor, 2012, p-9).
The annual report of P&G (2014, p-25) suggests that the global net sale of the beauty category which includes Pantene as well has been decreased by 2% between the years 2013-2014 (Refer to Appendix A). This proves that there is no positive impact of Pantene’s advertising campaigns on the consumers of any market (Indian or European). The annual report suggests that the advertising expenses reduced from 2012 onwards. Expenses include: global television commercials, print ads, radio, internet and in-store advertising expenses.
Pantene is one of the strongest hair care brand of P&G. In the Europe it is the market leader whereas in India, it comes around second. Allowing the women to be strong and making their own decision about their hair care is the main message of Pantene in all of its market. The only difference is in the marketing style because the style of marketing and the strategies used are unique for each countries.
Consumer Analysis
In India, brand loyalty for shampoos is not very strong. It is observed that consumers switch to different brands looking for a change, specifically in fragrance of the shampoos. They expect major improvements in the texture of the shampoo, the ability to add softness to hair, volume and damage repair The penetration level of shampoos is very high i.e. 51% (Rahman, Kazi & Sourav, 2012, p-181). The same authors claim that P&G has 24% market share in India and Pantene has a market share of 16%. Refer to Appendix B. There are six categories of Pantene shampoo in India (P&G India, 2015): Long Black Shampoo, Anti-Hair Fall Shampoo, Anti-Dandruff, Silky Smooth Care Shampoo, Smooth & Strong Shampoo and Nature Fusions.
In all its television commercials, Pantene depicts a 20 years old, light hearted, wise, girl who is social and loves to go out, mostly with her family and friends. The ads portray an image of a confident girl who is also conscious about her looks. She wants to look beautiful because it brings out the boldness inside her. The brand has taken over a strong initiative to promote strength in women. In its commercials it shows highly bold women who want to conquer the world (Buzz, 2013). From these advertisements it can be understood that Pantene aims to target the same type of girls in all its markets. In addition, excessive use of social media like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter by this segment encourages the brand managers to attract them through these mediums.
The ideal consumer mentioned above is created by us after analysing the latest campaign of Pantene with celebrity endorsement. In that advertisement, the model is bold, confident, and conscious of her looks and believes in what she sees. The audience includes aspiring women who strives for perfection. One of their basic needs is to become the “Centre of Attraction”. They like to compete with other females like anything and would make any sacrifices for the sake of their beauty. She seeks advice from ‘Beauty Consultants. After all, every girl needs to pamper herself, as she believes she’s worth it. This can be supported by the fact that Pantene has conducted several contests in past like the Instagram contest in 2013 to promote its variants; the brand launched hair tutorials on social networking pages to attract women (CurlBlog, 2014). These efforts prove that the target market aspires to look like celebrities and wants to compete with other women. Refer to Appendix C.
Consumer Insights
Shopping is indulgence & favourite past time: “Me-Time”
She is an ‘impulsive/spontaneous’ shopper
She does planned - ‘hunted’ shopping too (When learnt about a new innovations product)
Her budget is ‘unlimited’. Always buys more than one product
Anytime, anywhere, any way. – I am looking for beauty care advices! The platform is here!
Attract attention of husband, partner or other men
In the night with my husband/partner
Even a trip to shopping mall with my husband
Romantic dinner
Advertising Objectives
The objective of this brand is to provide each woman with continuous supply of beauty product which helps in protecting hair from external damages. The communication and marketing objectives of this shampoo are analysed from the study of Rahman, Kazi & Sourav (2012, pp-180-181). In their study they suggested that Pantene comes second in the hair care market with highest market share belonging to Sunsilk. Therefore, it can be stated that through its advertising, Pantene wishes to increase its share of voice by emphasizing its focus on individual beauty potential of women. In all its commercials, Pantene highlights and reinforces the Pro-V science formula and hair repair techniques which proves that Pantene aims to embed this phenomenon in consumers’ minds. For example, every ad shows how hair can be protected, and how it can be made stronger. (Refer to Appendix D). Pantene wants to become No.1 choice for hair in all its markets.
Pantene was launched with the statement to provide ‘smooth, ‘black’ and lusciously ‘long hair’. All these three attributes of hair are very close to the Indian women and they try to achieve each of them (Mohanty, 2012). The Indian market is sold mainly on two attributes: Brand Image and Hair Care. Pantene has positioned itself on these two attributes by launching various damage repair solutions. The brand has created a high perceived value by continuously pressing the science formula. Strong positioning and creating a positive perception is the first step in Indian marketing strategies- and the most crucial as well.
A rural Indian consumer is always looking for value for money and would easily switch to a competitor brand for quality (Data Monitor, 2010). Moreover, for an advertising campaign to be successful, the consumer should fully understand the message conveyed by the brand which can only be possible ...