Marketing Strategy of Dettol and Lifebuoy

With the outbreak of Coronavirus, people worldwide have been continuously trying to raise awareness of the importance of hand hygiene. This was especially profitable for soap and sanitizer companies like Dettol and Lifebuoy. These two companies have been in a constant battle over their advertising. This even went as far as the court. Both of the companies are too successful in their approaches and to understand what makes these brands stand out so much, let’s see what marketing strategies these two brands used to step up their games amid the pandemic.

To begin with, let’s have a look at the mission and vision statements of Dettol.

Mission Statement

Dettol’s mission statement is “to help prevent the spread of germs on hands, bodies, laundry, and surfaces.”

This statement indicates that Dettol prioritizes hygiene and, most importantly, its consumers’ health by the prevention of germs.

Vision Statement

Dettol’s vision statement is “protecting family well-being, with children in particular, against problems that germs may cause; wherever and whenever they occur.”

This statement indicates that Dettol looks beyond simple hygiene and takes care of its customers by thinking about future consequences that germs might lead to.

Moving on, let’s see what branding strategies Dettol uses.

To do so, let’s analyze the following post from the company’s Facebook page:

As we can see from this post’s caption, Dettol connects families by encouraging them to spend a weekend outside and having a good time. The photo that’s been posted by the brand even offers people various ways to have a good time. This way, Dettol connects with others by reminding them to stay healthy and enjoy their time in the meantime.

Apparently, this type of behavior is typical for brands with Everyman Brand Archetype.

So, what do we know about the Everyman Brand Archetype?

Desire: Connection to others.

Aim: Belonging and fitting in.

Strategy: Developing ordinary solid virtues, getting on with or appeal to ordinary people, and blending in.

Here are the messaging levels of the Everyman.

Level One: Being lonely and alienating, experiencing an orphan-like feeling.

Level Two: Seeking affiliation, driven by the feeling of loneliness.

Level Three: Learning to connect and fit in, making friends, and accepting support.

Level Four: Becoming the humanitarian, realizing, and practicing for everyone’s dignity despite their differences.

The Everyman Archetype provides a proper identity for brands:

• Whose products are manufactured in a company with down-home culture.
• That are commonly used every day.
• Whose products/services make people feel like they belong.
• That have a moderate to low pricing.

Now it’s time to do the SWOT Analysis of Dettol.

Strengths

Pioneer Brand – One of the Dettol’s primary strengths is that it is being used since 1936. Therefore, as it was a pioneer in the industry, many loyal consumers stayed with the brand with the belief that Dettol is an original quality antiseptic.

Brand Image – Dettol has gained loyalty and trustworthiness from its consumers for its product quality and simple use. As a result, it has become a household name.

Variety of Products – Even though the brand started with an antiseptic liquid as their major success factor, it later expanded to other products like soaps, sanitizers, cleaning supplies, hand, and body wash, etc.

Strong Financial Status – Another significant advantage of Dettol is its strong cash flow. The company’s net income was about 2.7 billion pounds as of 2018, which made it easier for Dettol to launch new products.

Weaknesses

Poor Penetration – It feels like Dettol stopped its expansion once it became the market leader. Dettol products are found in small markets, while it should have increased expansion according to their brand equity.

Burning Sensation from Antiseptic – One of Dettol’s significant weaknesses is the burning sensation from the antiseptic. Another brand called “Savlon” came up with a disinfectant that cures wounds without burning sensation, which should have been a warning sign for Dettol to step up their game.

Opportunities

Expansion by Target Markets – One thing that Dettol can do is expand its target market and, accordingly, expand its production. For instance, it can come up with baby products or create shampoos. This way, it will create an entirely new market.

Fast Expansion – Dettol needs to work on faster expansion in new territories. This might lead to higher profits.

Threats

Competitive Environment – Just like the majority of brands, Dettols faces the threat of rising competition. There are already brands in the market like Magiclean, Lifebuoy, Liby that compete with Dettol.

Brand Equity – A major issue for Dettol is that it does not create brand equity for products other than the antiseptic. People are starting to prioritize skincare products, meaning that the antiseptic market can be threatened any time. In this case, the company might lose all of its markets.

Let’s now find out the segmentation strategy that Dettol uses.

To find out the target segment of Twitter, let’s watch the following commercial.

The commercial features a woman preparing a meal for the family when her two daughters come to the kitchen to do their homework. In the video, the ambitious woman trying to balance her house responsibilities stops the kids, takes the chicken, and starts wiping the counter as if she was using a sponge.

The commercial showed how using sponge spreads germs, just like the raw chicken would. However, this could be avoided with the help of Dettol wipes, which kill about 99.9% of bacteria.

Apparently, this type of behavior is typical to the Balancers segment.

So, who are Balancers?

Lifestyle and Values:

Balancers, as their name indicates, like to have balance in life. This causes a pang of constant guilt in them as they try to balance their family, social, and work life.

They are extremely family-oriented and believe that people need to get married only if they are in love. Balancers value honesty and try to stay true to themselves at all times.

Balancers seek challenges and are always open to new things. Since they are uncertain in most cases, balancers like being in control of the resources they have, this way, having a sense of security in life.

Shopping Preferences

Balancers are smart shoppers who are ready to pay more for quality and stay loyal to a brand if it actually lives up their expectations. They pay attention to advertisements, especially when they use imagination. Balancers try to do all their shopping once a week this way, making sure to minimize the time and effort spent.

Interesting facts about the segment:

• They enjoy sports that can involve the family like hiking or skiing.
• Balancers are fairly educated and open-minded people who have their views on how society should be. They are concerned with the well-being of their country; however, environmental issues are not a big concern for them.
• Balancers are traditional media users like TV or newspapers. Only two-thirds of this segment uses the internet, and the usage is limited to informative reading.

16 Personalities (why do you need them in your business?)

After understanding the basics of Balancers behavior you may ask, what kind of brand will be interesting for them? Which hidden and at the same time important things have to be considered? You can find all the answers to these questions in our e-book called “16 Personalities”. 

You will also find all the solutions for your marketing problems, which will obviously change your insights about Buyer Persona.

Of course this is one of the 16 personalities and with this book you will discover all of them. With knowledge of each 16 personalities you will confidently find your ideal buyer persona and change your marketing strategy to achieve new levels. 

The book also gives you some other hints for selling your product and negotiating with your clients.

Now it’s time to switch to the brand Lifebuoy and discuss its mission and vision statements.

Mission Statement

Lifebuoy’s mission statement is, “To change the hygiene behavior of 1 billion consumers across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This could prevent 600,000 child deaths every year from respiratory infections and diarrhoeal disease – the world’s two leading causes of child mortality.”

This statement indicates that Lifebuoy wants to help areas where the diarrhoeal disease is high ane soap usage is infrequent. This way, Lifebuoy wants to prevent child deaths which are caused due to infections and diseases.

Vision Statement

Lifebuoy’s vision statement is, ” To consistently innovate and provide accessible Lifebuoy products to a wide variety of consumers. This way, we will make sure to have more hygienic, healthier, and ultimately more vital communities.”

This statement indicates that Lifebuoy aims to continually improve in ways that will provide accessibility and innovation to its customers. At the end of the day, the brand has a vision of healthy communities, which can be achieved with Lifebuoy products.

Let’s move on to the branding strategies of Lifebuoy.

For this purpose, let’s have a look at this Facebook post.

In this post, Lifebuoy cares for children’s health and wants to help them by calling people to add their voice. This way, the brand aims to protect children by teaching them healthy habits from an early age.

Apparently, this kind of behavior leads me to only one conclusion. Lifebuoy belongs to the Caregiver Brand Archetype.

So, what do we know about the Caregiver Brand Archetype?

Desire: Protection of people.

Aim: Helping others.

Strategy: Being generous and doing things for other people.

Here are the messaging levels of the Caregiver.

Level One: Seeing people in need.

Level Two: Reaching out to them, caring, and nurturing one’s dependents.

Level Three: Exercising self-care and trying to balance it out with care for others.

Level Four: Altruistic vision. Having concern for the world as a whole.

The Caregiver Archetype provides a proper identity for brands:

• Whose competitive advantage is their customer service.
• That provide support to people.
• That provide non-profit or charitable services.
• For services in healthcare, education, and other fields that involve caregiving.

Our communication strategy may have multiple messaging approaches. But there is some logic that unifies all these and it is called communication based on the archetypal branding. A company may have many messages, but they do not have something in common. For example “Do everything easily”, “Go ahead and be powerful” or Dig deeper and be experienced”.

These 3 quotes have different goals and bring different subconscious effects. One is about Being a Hero, another is about gaining more experience.

These are 2 different directions of messaging and the logics of Brand archetypes bring more uniqueness and clearness here. Just read the book “8 steps to a complete archetypal branding” and you will have more experience in communication based on archetypes.

Now it’s time to move on the SWOT analysis of Lifebuoy.

Strengths

Affordability – One of the noteworthy strengths of Lifebuoy is its affordable prices. The company manages to maintain both available prices and high quality of products.

Part of Unilever- Lifebuoy’s primary competitive advantage is that it belongs to Unilever. As a result, Lifebuoy has the support of Unilever when it comes to strong distribution and finances.

Product Expansion- Unlike Dettol, Lifebuoy was successful in its product expansion. It successfully launched hand and body washes, sanitizers, and much more, this way increasing its revenue.

Awareness Campaigns – Lifebuoy differentiated itself with its various awareness campaigns that had an important social message. This way, they aimed to connect to their customers and eventually resulted in increased sales.

Weaknesses

Positioned As Masculine – Initially, Lifebuoy was perceived as a brand with masculine products targeted at males. Later it changed into a family brand, but it still remains masculine for some people.

Lower Market Penetration – Compared to rural areas, Lifebuoy has lower market penetration in urban areas. The brand’s pricing strategy was to be available to rural markets, which is why urban areas are suffering.

Opportunities

Health Awareness – People worldwide are becoming more health-conscious, especially amid pandemic. The company may use epidemics to promote its products for better hygiene.

Imparting Education – Lifebuoy has the opportunity to educate people about simple hygiene, the importance of handwashing to prevent germs, and consequently, health issues.

Threats

Competition – Lifebuoy has many competitors like Dettol and Savlon, which offer similar levels of protection. Without any differentiation campaigns, Lifebuoy may have losses. 

Low Demand – In India, there were significant price cuts in Lifebuoy products because of the low demand. This means the brand is using cheaper inputs; hence the brand can be perceived as low-end.

Let’s now proceed to Lifebuoy’s segmentation strategy.

To be able to accurately identify the target segment of Lifebuoy, let’s have a look at this commercial.

The commercial features kids at a summer camp. The head of the camp who is a chubby man with a moustache and straw fedora, announces cake time and urges kids to wash their hands before eating. Bunty and other kids run straight to the sinks to wash their hands, but Bunty takes too long.

Kids start to laugh since they all used Lifebuoy and finished washing their hands in just ten seconds. In the end, one of the girls at the camp informs Bunty about how Lifebuoy can get rid of germs superfast.

In the video, the head guides the children and teaches them proper hygiene, leading me towards one conclusion. This kind of behavior is typical to people who belong to the Traditionalists target segment.

Who are Traditionalists?

Lifestyle and Values:

Traditionalists are people who value family, and their focus is to guide their family through life. They enjoy stability and peace in life. Traditionalists don’t spend much on clothing but like to look attractive and neat.

They believe that “home is the reflection of who you are,” so they always keep their house nice and cozy.

Food is an essential part of their life, and they pay attention to the quality of what they eat. They love working in an ethical environment. Traditionalists are hard-working people and sometimes need recognition for their efforts.

Shopping Preferences

Traditionalists are practical shoppers who love shopping yet would buy clothes for comfort and not for style. They enjoy trying out new brands and would never stick with just one. For them, the quantity is more important than quality. Traditionalists also love special offers when shopping.

Interesting facts about the segment:

• In their free time, Traditionalists love cooking and watching films with the family. They are not artistic or adventurous, so they do not visit cultural events, travel, or read books a lot.
• For Traditionalists, internet usage is below average. They only use it for emailing and searching jobs.
• TV and newspapers are a source of information when, but the topics are limited to their hobbies.

To conclude, I hope you were able to find answers to some of your questions related to the branding and segmentation strategies of Lifebuoy and Dettol. For more similar posts click on homepage.