CASE ANALYSIS - GILLETTE PERSONAL CARE

DIVISION: MARKETING PLANNING AND CONTROL

Report Submitted as part of course work for Marketing Management -1
To
Prof. Narasimhan Rajkumar
By
Group-1
BM, Section C

Introduction and Situation Analysis

Comparison and contrast of the two products of Gillette: Right Guard and
White Rain
Product

Price
Place

Promotion

Market
Competitors

Current
Scenario
(1986)
Market
Share
Brand
Awareness
Consumer
Behavior/
Attitude
Future
Aspects

Right Guard
Deodorant
Aerosol
Solids
Roll-ons
Premium
Retail Stores
Trial
Generation
program
(nationwide)
Grouped promotions (trade)
High advertising spend initially
($12.7 million)
Retail displays, special prices, in-ad
coupons, local advertising
Deodorant /AP market (For men
mainly 12-24 years)
Mennen
Old Spice
Other Gillette products
Secret and Lady Speed stick(for
women)
Build brand (1982) -> Hold Brand
(1983) -> Build brand (1986)
7.6% (1983) vs 8.1% (forecast)

White Rain
Shampoo
Hair spray
Conditioner
Mousse (1986)
Low-price (Value brand)
Retail stores (Started with
established markets of white
rain hair spray)
Combined promotion
Low/ minimal advertising spend
Special shelf displays

Hair Care Market (Value market)

Helene Curtiss Suave Shampoo

Build brand

3% (in 1986)

High brand awareness for both men and

women
Consumers started shifting to non-aerosol
forms (sticks & solids)

Low awareness initially. Display

shelves created some visibility
Low awareness among customers.

Series of product improvements

Focus on profitability

Key Challenges
Why has Right Guard failed while White rain succeeded?
Based on the above discussion, could you develop some measures of
success?

Analysis & Insights:

on

Changes in marketing mix Value brands need more consumer promotion

whereas premium brands need more advertisements

Promotion: - White rain being a value brand had relatively minimal

advertisement spends but they focused on consumer promotion (combined
promotion for hairspray, shampoo and conditioner). Right guard, a premium
brand had planned for high advertisement spends (Over $13 MN) but they
had actually spent 48% less than what was planned on advertisement in
1983 and 52% less than what was planned on advertisement in 1984. (Using
Exhibit 8). Companies like S. C. Johnson had money to lose to promote its
important product at expense of profits.

Perception/ Market Trend: - Right Guard was unable to keep up with the
market trends. Consumer preferences had been moving towards non-aerosol
forms like deo-sticks and roll-ons for the past decade but Right Guard had
strong reliance on aerosol forms. This is substantiated by the fact that 72% of
its revenue came from aerosol formulation in 1982. The brand primarily
focused on aerosol and most of its innovation and products revolved around
aerosols. Consumer studies conducted in 1986 revealed that the awareness
was high for right guard but the brand perception was old fashioned and
aerosol oriented.
Targeted Segment: - Right Guard targeted male consumers in the age
group 12-24 years. The competition was expanding beyond male users Mennen launched Lady Speed Stick (for women) which gained 2.2 % market
share by 1984. P&G also did changes to Secret Roll-On (again for women).
The competition also had innovative media selection as per category
overview.
Market Share: - Despite exceeding forecast numbers, White Rain was still a
small player in the market with just ~3% market share. Plans are to be
devised for profitability.
Planning and Control Process: - The planning and control systems at
Gillette provided key information and views for managers to analyse their
brands carefully. But a common view prevailed that the process took long.

This pain point was evident in Right Guards case. The brand was surprised
by the increased marketing spends by Mennen. Also the changes to P&Gs
Secret Roll-on and launch of Mennens Lady Speed Stick increased
competition further. Due to the excessive planning and control process, the
response to these changes was slow and it led to Right Guard missing its unit
share goal by 0.5%.
Whereas with White Rain this was not the case. Due to less processes, they
were agile and reacted to market changes in a better way. An example is the
reaction to increase prices by Suave. White Rain was quickly able to respond
to it by holding the price low and eventually surpassing its goal on shipment
and consumer sales.

Average price per unit for Right Guard was 7% higher at 1.92 versus a planned 1.79
thus strengthening its premium image and ranking lower on value for money. (Using
Exhibit 8)
Success Criteria for PCD
1. Marketing ROI: - Direct marketing contribution should be greater than
direct marketing expense
2. Proportion of goods sold on promotion: - This helps in answering the
question if we are over subsidizing the consumers. Also makes way for
correction in marketing mix.
3. Market share: - Is the product growing faster as compared to the category
4. RUM Metrics: - Changes in Revenue, Unit and Margin (Growth, MoM & YoY)
5. Brand awareness: - Are people aware of the brand after the promotions?
6. Trade reaction (response of retailers to the promotion): - Research
with trade groups will reveal their experience with brand and probability of
the future engagements

Recommendations:
1. Streamlining of Planning and Control Systems for PCD: - Planning
and Control systems are critical to Gillettes marketing activities. They
provide key information to help managers make informed decisions about
marketing activities of their respective brands. Unfortunately, in some
cases, these well-planned processes leads to lack of agility in responding
to market changes. Thus, it is imperative for PCD division to streamline
this process. The process must empower the brand managers with the
right information but it should not lead to bureaucratic hurdles.
An example can be of streamlining reporting for sales in food stores.
Currently two reports, SAMI and Nielsens Flash Report provide almost the
same information.
2. Roadmap for Right Guard:
a. Move Right Guard from Hold to Build segment. This will allow
them to spend higher marketing budgets and gain new customers,
even if they lose money for one or two years. Similar strategy is
employed by S. C. Johnson Company to market Edge
b. Right Guard need to focus more on Deo-sticks and Roll-ons as
formulations. They need to emphasise on shedding the image of
aerosol form as the sale units for it are not increasing
c. Launch formulations specifically targeted at women under a
different brand name as right guard is perceived to be associated
with men. It has been already seen that Mennens Lady Speed Stick
was successful in the same area
3. Roadmap for White Rain:

a. Using the available resources, White Rain should focus on

increasing its market share by increasing advertisement and
consumer awareness
b. Success of the shampoo should be leveraged to sell more
conditioners by promoting combo packs
c. Target the hair spray market as it is growing at 6% as compared to
~ 2% growth of others markets