Marketing Strategy and SWOT Analysis of Palmolive

It is important to pay attention to self-care. Personal hygiene is a great start to it. When meeting new people, the eyes and hair are the first two features that are noticed. The eyes we cannot do anything about. But when it comes to the hair, we can simply choose a hair care routine that works, such as the right kind of shampoo. One brand that offers a wide variety of those is Palmolive. In the following blog, we are going to talk about the Palmolive brand’s marketing strategies and SWOT analysis to understand why it is so desirable. To start, let’s look at its mission and vision statements.

To start, let’s look at its mission and vision statements.

Here is the mission statement of Palmolive. “Colgate-Palmolive is committed to act with compassion, integrity, honesty, and high ethics in all situations, to listen with respect to others, and to value differences. The Company is also committed to protect the global environment, to enhance the communities where Colgate-Palmolive people live and work, and to be compliant with government laws and regulations.”

This company knows that people’s needs vary. As all of us have different hair types, our goals may be different. One person may want a shampoo that will smooth out the hair, while someone else may want something like bringing shine to the hair. Taking everybody’s thoughts and opinions into consideration is a key factor in a successful business.

And here is the vision statement of the company “As we plan our strategies to sustain growth for the years to come, our core values of Caring, Global Teamwork and Continuous Improvement will continue to drive our future initiatives”.

We can infer from the statement that employee relationship is valued in the company. It all comes from within. If the company has a good foundation then its road will probably be pretty smooth. Meaning that something simple as the employees being happy within the company, will guarantee customers relief as well.

Moving on, let’s focus on the positioning strategy that Palmolive uses.

But before that let’s have a look at the following Instagram post.

Palmolive uses a very smart advertisement option in this post. The model of the photo is Jeanine Gutierrez who is an actress that has 1.8 million Instagram followers on her own. If her followers trust her, which is most probably the case, she is bringing a new audience to Palmolive. The caption suggests that she is passionate about hair care. It has to be long-lasting. One that will keep her hair fresh and smooth all day long. The flowers surrounding her act as a way of letting us know that her hair smells nice.

This post is hinting at a few things. Firstly, being attractive and nice to look at is one of the messages here. We can see it judging by her smile and the fancy outfit that she has put on. The pink color that is so overpowering in the photo symbolizes romance. Pink has always been known as the ‘romantic’ color. And overall, beauty is the main message in the post. Shining with your inner and outer beauty is essential. All of these points lead us to believe that the archetype that Palmolive belongs to is Lover.

In addition, let’s see what we know about this archetype.

Desire: attain intimacy and experience sensual pleasure.

Aim: being in a relationship with the people, the work, the experiences, the surroundings they love

Strategy: become more and more attractive – physically, emotionally, and in every other way.

And here are the messaging levels of the Lover archetype..

Level One: infatuation, seduction, falling in love (with a person, an idea, a cause, work, a product).

Level Two: seeking great sex and/or a great romance.

Level Three: following your bliss and committing to whom and what you love

Level Four: spiritual love, self-acceptance, and the experience of ecstasy

The Lover is a promising identity for a brand:

• whose use helps people find love or friendship
• whose function fosters beauty, communication, or closeness between people or is associated with sexuality or romance
• with pricing that can be moderate to high
• if it is produced or sold by a company with an intimate, elegant organizational culture, as opposed to a massive Ruler hierarchy
• that needs to differentiate itself positively from lower-priced brands

Moving forward, let’s get into the SWOT analysis of Palmolive.

Strengths

Indigenous Manufacturing: Palmolive has an advantage over its competitors in this sense. All of the products are indigenously manufactured. Which makes it that the company has 60 facilities around the world.

History: This company has been founded over 2 centuries ago. Which only makes it natural that it has a long and rich history. Today, it is known to be one of the oldest companies to exist. It has got several awards, such as Top 50 Green Brands, U.S.EPA, and so on.

Brand success: The overall success of the company has been pretty impressive. Which makes it one of the biggest strengths of the brand.

Clear positioning: The positioning of the company is need-based. As mentioned earlier in the blog, the product range is quite wide, making it possible for everyone to find their desired item.

Testimonials: Customer satisfaction is another key point for this company. And what is interesting is that consumers trust each other. Therefore, when the company makes an advertisement including a customer review, it gains more attraction.

Weaknesses

Weak brands: Some products such as Palmolive soaps have not matched expectations. In comparison to other products, they have been left behind. Overall Colgate Palmolive is incredibly successful, but its separate brands have a long way to go.

The high cost of operation: This company tries to continually come out with new products. But keeping up with all of that tends to be challenging. Investing in product research, advertising, and promotions does not guarantee increased prices.

Opportunities

Unexploited rural markets: There are many rural markets where personal care items have yet to succeed. People have not had a chance to experience and experiment with products that they prefer. There are markets in countries such as China and India that have a huge potential for companies like Palmolive.

Threats

Competition: Unavoidably, this brand’s category has many competitors. Things such as launching similar products, or having more desirable pricing, can be challenging.

Growing apprehension on chemicals: Nowadays, people are transitioning in their product use. If in the past it did not really matter what ingredients went inside a shampoo bottle, now things have changed. People are looking for more sustainable and organic products, to maintain their health. This is more of a trend that we tend to follow, but eventually, it may become the norm. The avoidance of chemicals by the majority of the population can be a huge threat to a company like this.

Time to get to the segmentation strategy of Palmolive Shampoo.

Let’s watch this short commercial that will enable us to get a better understanding of it.

The video is advertising one of Palmolive’s shampoos. It is the Palmolive Naturals Damage Repair 10. It uses nature to explain the point. We see the problems that can be solved written on the screen. Those are split ends, breakage, and dryness. The character of the ad is in nature and her hair is compared to the problems that a tree can face.

Bugbog hair is not something that girls want. A natural product can help cure it. The product being advertised is not only a shampoo but a conditioner. It is made with argan oil, a natural product. So, getting your hair to a beautiful state has never been simpler. It can be revived by a few uses of this shampoo.

So, what does this ad tell us? Firstly, it tells us that Palmolive chose people that value how they look. In the overall appearance, hair plays a big role. Then, the ad also gives a vibe of optimism. For example, even if your hair is damaged and looking not so nice, you can still solve the problem and make it look amazing.

And lastly, being special is another message. Being confident in yourself and the person that you make you special. And so, the mentioned details give us only one conclusion. The segment that Palmolive has chosen to target are the Chardonnays.

What do we know about them?

Lifestyle and Values:

Chardonnay girls are positive, optimistic, and energetic. Sharing life with friends is a key factor in life. Which leads us to infer they are open. This segment is optimistic but also has a practical outlook on life.

They need to be seen as attractive especially to the opposite sex. Chardonnay girls are the ones that will spend hours on getting ready but make it look so effortless as if they spent 5 minutes on it.

Their personality allows them to be surrounded by different kinds of people. They choose to hang out with people with diverse personalities as sociability is a personality trait of theirs.

This segment is known to be spiritual. It does not have to be in the form of religion. They simply believe that there is a higher power than us.

Because they have so many friends, different cultures also attract them. Friends from different sides of the world teach them a lot of things which are appreciated.

Although they like to follow trends, it is also important to be different and special.

Shopping preferences:

Shopping is one of their favorite things to do. This makes it only understandable that this segment is always aware of the newest and may even save up to get new products.

Quality over quantity is what they prefer. It is better to have fewer products that have good quality than to have many with a lower quality.

Advertisements with role models are a very effective way of attracting Chardonnays. However, ads have to also be entertaining, because it is another huge factor that draws attention.

Other interesting facts about the segment:

• For them, hobbies should be a reflection of their personality. For example, going to the gym or exercising regularly to stay in shape and remain attractive is a regular activity.
• They live a very active social life and are always out and about doing something or going to some new event.
• Nightlife is an important component of their social activeness, their choice of club, crew, and clothing is done with great care.
• Chardonnay Girls use media on daily basis. The internet is a key channel and the first place they look for information. They will meet new people online, and for the ones they already know – they will share everything with them online.
• Chardonnay Girls also are above average TV viewers and generally enjoy sitcoms that have aspirational characters for them (a stylish, but at the same time wise character).

And there you have it. The mission and vision statements, archetype, SWOT analysis, and segmentation strategy of Palmolive. We hope this provided you with some insight into this company from a marketing perspective. Make sure to come back to our website for more blogs like this about other companies.