PAIRING CONSULTING. Pantene Case Solution PAIRING CONSULTING

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1 PAIRING CONSULTING Pantene Case Solution Prepared for: Dr. Carlos Valdez, Chairman of the Board Prepared by: Joshua Barber, John Brown, Elizabeth German, & Leanne Porter August 22, 2014 Proposal number: Page 1 of 21

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Problem Identification 3-4 Theoretical Marketing Strategy Concepts 5-6 Top Three Solutions 7-10 Solution #1 7-8 Solution #2 8-9 Solution # The Winning Solution Financials References/Appendix Responsibilities: Elizabeth German - Explanation of Case Leanne Porter - Problem Identification Joshua Barber - Theoretical Marketing Concept Identification Joshua Barber - In-Class Activity John Brown - Top Three Solutions and Winning Solution Elizabeth German - Financials Elizabeth German & Joshua Barber - References & Appendix *Approved By All* Page 2 of 21

3 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION Pantene s market share is in decline. In 2003, Pantene dropped 2.5 points while the new competitor, Garnier, gained 5.1 percent within that year. Pantene is still the market leader with 20 percent market share. The next biggest competitor, Sunsilk, has about 10 percent. Pantene has set the high goal of responding to the decline with an increase of 5% market share. Pantene is a respected brand with loyal customers, but will have to make some changes to keep up with the marketing methods that are working for the competition. Pantene s current image is that of high quality that leaves hair soft and silky which are qualities both rated high on the level of importance to the consumer. The brand personality is described as being confident, elegant, and professional. This correlates to Pantene selling better to the consumers over the age of 21 and slightly not as well to those younger. Another category that Pantene lacks in is the package attractiveness. Garnier s brand personality is described as being modern, trendsetting, young, and attractive. Attractiveness is an area that Garnier stands out against the competition, which may be part of the explanation to their recent growth and success. This led to their most profitable age group, which is the years old category. This decline is alarming for Pantene because even though the brand equity is high, other brands are doing a better job at convincing customers to switch to a new brand and try something new. This phenomenon can be put into two categories of Omegas, habitual shopping decisions, and Delta Moments, a disruption causing the consumer to rethink and Page 3 of 21

4 change. For commodity goods such as shampoo, triggering these Delta Moments is the most effective way to create lifetime customers and increase market share. Pairing Consulting has spent time digging into the market research. This led Pairing Consulting to the realization that Pantene has the lowest number of Delta Moments among its competitors and the highest number of Omegas (Table 5). This means that Pantene does an excellent job at keeping the customers they all ready have, but has room for improvement when it comes to getting the attention of new consumers. This can be attributed to the brand image, not the quality of the product. Most in store Delta Moments happen when the consumer is checking prices and/or browsing through several packs. This directs the problem toward price judgment, packaging, or promotions. Page 4 of 21

5 THEORETICAL MARKETING CONCEPTS Marketing Research This case study would not have been possible without the use of marketing research. Market research encompasses many types of key measurements that can help to identify a company s problems. It shows the quantitative and qualitative ranges of many attributes like brand equity. It is the running concept throughout this study and is the reason Pantene became aware of a problem that they were facing. This problem was the loss of market share. Researching the environment and competition led the company to realize that they were loosing market share. Digging deeper also allowed Pairing Consulting to determine another problem facing Pantene. As stated previously, they had lower Delta Moments when compared to other company s trigger moments. The company remained strong in a plethora of areas including brand equity, perception, and emotive loyalty. Marketing research, provided by Nielsen, also led Pairing Consulting to contribute possible solutions to the company. The research showed that their lowest rating came in the category of year olds in the area of brand equity (Table 1). It also showed that having the fewest amount of Delta Moments was something that needed attention. Customer Acquisition and Retention A major focus of this case study was on brand equity. Having a high brand equity correlates positively with customer acquisition, retention, and development. Nielsen determined that Pantene had a very high emotional affinity which helped in regards to customer retention. The acquisition suffered a little because of the lack of trigger moments. The emphasis should be placed on keeping a customer once attained as they are worth more in the long run. Developing a long term relationship is key. Page 5 of 21

6 Brand Strategy Brand strategy is an ongoing process that should be updated regularly. Developing a mission and a vision for each brand is an important step in the process. Having a clear, concise, and SMART strategy allows for the development of a successful brand. It also allows for the proper controls and evaluations of a particular brand. A company must be able to see where they have came from and where they are headed. Marketing research really helps a company to see a clear picture of their current situation. Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning This marketing concept isn t new, but it has become a lot easier over the years with the amount of technology available. Segmenting a market into different categories can help a company by making the best use of limited resources. No company has infinite resources and has to know how to spend their money wisely. It can be segmented in ways such as geographical locations, age, gender, and income level. Pantene has many strong performance indicators, but they perform the worse in the year old category. This knowledge allows a company to turn to targeting and positioning. If they realize that this is a beneficial segment that could help achieve their long term goals, they could decide to target that segment. Positioning the brand is a coordinated effort that should take a lot of time to develop. There are many aspects that crosses many departments in an organization to decide how to position a certain brand. Aligning a company s vision with the positioning of their brands is something that Pantene excels at. A lot of their key indicators are positive for the company and according to the marketing research suffers in only a few areas. Page 6 of 21

7 THE SOLUTIONS Solutions #1 Change the product packaging. Pantene should consider colorful packaging and a redesign of the bottle to present a more trendy color scheme. According to the perceptual map of packaging, Pantene uses opaque packaging along with a flat top so that the user can place the bottle upside down (Figure 12). If they redesigned the brand to move closer to the trend setter line on the brand personality graph, they would be more associated with three personality types (Young, Fashionable, and Modern), instead of confident and elegant only. They should keep the flat top to not only provide ease of use, but also because only one other company, Head and Shoulders, uses the same user friendly design. Moreover, according to the brand-wise associations, Head and Shoulders is not a significant threat to Pantene because Head and Shoulders ranks much lower in soft/silky fragrance and overall quality (both companies are owned by P&G). According to the perceptual map of packaging, Garnier has taken some of Pantene s market share by using brighter colors on the pack label, an attractive shape, and a durable lid that does not break off. This kind of package change could result in higher sales from the younger, trendy segments. However, Pantene would risk its healthy/shiny fragrance, and premium quality scores according to the brand-wise brand associations. The transition to a modern and trendy color scheme could pay off in the short term, but may erode the high brand equity of Pantene. If Pantene creates a modern, trendy bottle, the differentiation between Pantene and Garnier would be less. The cost to redesign the color Page 7 of 21

8 scheme would be extremely high, and most likely would force Pantene to run an expensive advertising campaign to promote the redesign. Solution #2 Adjust the offer with a free bonus bottle of conditioner, combined with modern and colorful vertical aisle displays in order to trigger more Delta moments. According to the price appropriateness chart, Pantene s price is a little above the amount the average person is willing to pay for shampoo (Figure 15). Pantene needs to provide the consumer with either a discount or free item to closer match the price value of Head and Shoulders and Garnier while maintaining the premium brand image. According to the impact of promotional activity graph (Figure 16), Pantene, Sunsilk, Cairol, and Garnier do not have strong promotion led purchase triggers. Therefore, customers may not respond well to large TV advertisements that promote a lower price. According to the switch trigger data, people switched shampoo the most when browsing through several packs, and through promotion (Table 4). Pantene has the advantage of premium brand pricing, and should use an in-store bonus item in order to stimulate sales. This method could result in Pantene being able to maintain the premium product quality with a free giveaway product that makes the shopper feel like they are getting a much higher perceived value. This could raise the average consumer s willing to pay price to match Pantene s current pricing matrix. Pantene can target Garnier and Head and Shoulders customers with this method because these customers are price sensitive according to the purchase triggers for brands data. Page 8 of 21

9 Also, according to the activation index data (Table 7), Pantene is able to rely on its stronger ad recall and brand recall once a competitor s customer switches to Pantene. Pantene should also use colorful, modern vertical aisle displays in order to appeal to the younger demographic. According to the brand personality data, the young brand personality was close to the modern, attractive, fashionable, and feminine brand personalities (Figure 10). These displays are likely grab attention of the younger crowd to trigger delta moments and justify the higher perceived willingness to pay price premium. The combination of an attention grabbing display along with a free bonus item raises the chance of triggering delta moments in younger consumers. Solution #3 Create a whole new shampoo product. The brand equity by age data reveals that Pantene has a higher equity among higher age groups and mainstream people (Table 1). Moreover, most of the competition has high brand equity with year olds for their respective company. For example, Sunsilk, Head and Shoulders, Palmolive, and Garnier all have a higher brand equity score with year olds than any other group in their respective company. First, Pantene can start to target years olds by creating a new cheaper product that fills their needs. Head and Shoulders and Garnier are priced below the willingness to pay price premium according to the price appropriateness data; Pantene is above the average willingness to pay price. Also, by utilizing lower pricing strategies between 2004 and 2005, Head and Shoulders took an extra 1.9% market share, and Garnier took nearly 5% market share. These were the only two competitors that grew in Page 9 of 21

10 market share between 2004 and However, if Pantene created a new product, the costs could far outweigh the benefits. Pantene might need to focus more on their strongest segments such as older and mainstream customers, and less on weaker segments such as year olds. Pairing Consulting also felt that introducing a new variant would only add to their strengths. They are good at introducing new product lines. Pairing consulting wanted to focus on turning a current weakness into strength. This is far more valuable and would add less expense. Furthermore, adding a new variant could further exasperate the perceived lack of distribution intensity. Page 10 of 21

11 WINNING SOLUTION #2 Adjust the offer with a free bonus bottle of conditioner combined with modern and colorful vertical aisle displays in order to trigger more Delta moments while the customer is in the store. These vertical aisle displays would be protruding curved cardboard pieces that reached from the bottom of the shelves to the top. It would separate the whole Pantene product line from other shampoos. The curved design would fit into their current elegant personality trait. Pairing Consulting recommends adding colorful, modern, and sleek vertical dividers with the promotion of the free bonus bottle explained on it. This would allow Pantene to improve their brand equity with the younger crowd and catch people s eye just looking through packs. Furthermore, it would save the company from having to completely redesign all of their bottles at a very high expense. Page 11 of 21

12 According to the price appropriateness chart, Pantene s price is above the amount the average person is willing to pay for shampoo. Pantene needs to provide the consumer with either a discount or free item to closer match the price value of Head and Shoulders and Garnier while maintaining the premium brand image. According to the impact of promotional activity graph, Pantene, Sunsilk, Cairol, and Garnier do not have strong promotion led purchase triggers. Therefore, customers may not respond well to large TV advertisements outside of the store that promote a lower price. According to the switch trigger data, people switched shampoo the most when browsing through several packs, and through promotion. Pantene has the advantage of premium brand pricing, and should use an in-store bonus item in order to stimulate sales. This method could result in Pantene being able to maintain the premium product quality with a free giveaway product that makes the shopper feel like they are getting much more value for the price. Pantene can target Garnier and Head and Shoulders customers with this method because these customers are price sensitive according to the purchase triggers for brands data. Also according to the activation index data, Pantene is able to rely on its stronger ad recall and brand recall once a competitor s customer switches to Pantene. A negative to this proposal is the usage of more shelf space because of the packaged promotion.this is expensive, but Pairing Consulting views this as a manageable risk. Pantene should also use colorful, modern vertical aisle displays in order to appeal to the younger demographic. According to the brand personality data, the young brand Page 12 of 21

13 personality was close to the modern, attractive, fashionable, and feminine brand personalities. These displays are likely grab attention of the younger crowd to trigger delta moments and justify the higher perceived willingness to pay price premium. The combination of an attention grabbing display along with a free bonus item raises the chance of triggering delta moments in younger consumers. This solution could also meet the long term goal of regaining the lost 5% market share while keeping costs much lower than package redesign or new product creation. This solution intends to capture delta moments more frequently while customers browse in store items. Page 13 of 21

14 FINANCIALS Creating a promotion that includes a bonus item attached to the Pantene shampoo bottle is expected to greatly increase revenue. Pantene s highest brand equity is with Mainstream adapters and a close second being Trendsetters. These two groups are expected to be drawn to the free trial size bottle of Pantene conditioner, increasing purchases quickly. The free attached gift and associated shelf displays will also reduce Pantene customers from becoming transients triggered by a deal or flashy new package on a competitor s brand. This plan is intended to pull from a portion of Sunsilk s customer base including the Trialists and Considerers as they sample Pantene s quality product. Overall, a wide range and large number of customers will be influenced by this promotion and therefore increase sales, without reducing the retail price or spending large fixed costs on package redesign or new product implementation. This action, paired with optimistic results of the economy s future according to CMO.org, will undoubtedly improve Pantene s sales. CMO.org presents an annual survey analyzing market and economy projections. In the latest survey, 11.1% growth is expected when a company targets existing products to new markets. While the program presented to Pantene will retain current customers, the trial offer and shelf display will also entice new markets including younger demographics and modern, fashionable individuals. These two markets are typically customers of competing brand Garnier. Page 14 of 21

15 Source: 2014 CMO Survey Report: Highlights and Insights Report Due to a 5 percent increased Market Share that will be a result of this bonus offer in the long run and shelf display; sale revenue is also expected to rise 8 percent for a result of $80 million dollars. Approximately 20,000,000 additional bottles of shampoo and conditioner, at an average retail price of $3.99, are expected to be sold in the following 12 months of implementing this promotion. The sales revenue increase will help to cover the costs associated with this trial program and shelf display. The free trial size bottle of conditioner and corresponding shelf display advertisements, have minimal fixed costs due to the main resources already being implemented in Pantene s manufacturing such as assembly lines and factories to create the shampoo and conditioner solutions. The additional fixed costs that will be created follow: Page 15 of 21

16 Templates/Molds for Creating Trial Size Bottles, Caps & Labels, $3, Design Fee for Bottles & Shelf Display Promotion, $10, Cardboard Displays for 100 Stores with floor displays ($20.00 Each), $2, In addition to the current Variable Cost of $0.75 for making one full-size bottle of Pantene shampoo, the following costs will be created to implement the bonus item offer: Bottle, Cap, Conditioner & Label for Trial Size Bottle, $0.35/bottle Wrap to Attach/Advertise Free Trial Offer, $0.10/bottle Strips for Shelf Ends (Near Price Label), 1 Strip per Box of 12 Bottles, $0.10/ bottle Partitions for Shelving, 2 Folded Partitions per Box of 12 Bottles, $0.20/bottle The total additional Fixed Costs planned would be $15, plus Variable Costs of $0.75 per bottle. The total Variable Costs for making one full-size bottle of Pantene Shampoo with the bonus offer will then be $1.50. If selling the Pantene Shampoo bottles for a Retail Price of $3.99, this results in a Contribution Margin of 62.4% and a Unit Contribution of $2.49. It is expected that 20,000,000 additional bottles of Pantene shampoo and conditioner will be sold as a result of this program. Note, the Variable Cost of the full-size conditioner will equal the $0.75 per bottle cost similar to the shampoo prior to the promotion, resulting in a higher Unit Contribution per sale for each bottle of conditioner sold. Page 16 of 21

17 REFERENCES YadGupta, Seema. 2013, June 1. Nielsen: Market Research for Pantene. Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Retrieved 8/19/2014: dview? DIN= &PACKID=470660&HLVL=15193&TYPE=CoursePack&ID= CMO Survey Report: Highlights and Insights Report. Retrieved 8/19/2014: faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/cmosurveyresults/the_cmo_survey-highlights_and_insights- Feb-2014.pdf Page 17 of 21

18 APPENDIX Page 18 of 21

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