Analysis and Recommendations on the Plénitude Strategy
Analysis of the Problem
Plenitude by L’Oreal was introduced to the US market in 1988. Eight years since its introduction, it has quickly become the #2 brand in the market only to lose it later to Pond’s. Plenitude also hit a four-year sales plateau and was still not making any money in the US market.
L’Oreal’s problems and root causes should first be identified and addressed. The root causes of L’Oreal’s problems are:
1. Wrong assumptions of the target market
2. Applying a market strategy based on the those assumptions
3. Continuing to do so for an extended period even given the results
The target market
When L’Oreal planned to release Plenitude in the US market, it is assumed that what would be successful for the French market would translate to the same success in the US market if the same formula was applied.
The model of an “executive woman” had mass appeal thus was so successful in France. However, as clearly shown later on in the market studies done in 1995, the market segments that attracted Plenitude the most was the “stressed out” and “age focused” segments which only made up 40% of the market. Also, the acceptor/rejector studies indicated that consumers perceived that Plenitude was specifically targeting older women.
Analysis of the “Dollar Shares” table combined with the “Moisturizer Units Sold” table (on page 309) shows that Plenitude actually leads in the “treatment” category. On the other hand, they are only third when it comes to the “daily” category (see appendix). This all contributes to the fact that Plenitude does not have the mass-market appeal which it needed for the “class of the mass” strategy to work. People viewed L’Oreal as a high-end, a step-up, more expensive and only for older women.
Evidently, consumer behavior in the US is different as compared to that in France. What would work in France would not necessarily work in the US.
The marketing strategy
The strategy used called “class of the mass” had these aspects:
• Technologically superior products
• Focused resources and support on “star product”
• Golden rules of advertising:
1. Feature star product
2. Provide evidence of technological superiority
3. Depict an executive woman who represents the target market
The implementation of this strategy in the US did not have the same effect as in France. The root causes for this are:
• The featuring of a technologically superior product, the fact that L’Oreal is French, the tag line “Reduces the signs of aging”, plus the depiction of an executive woman may all have contributed to the current perception and position of Plenitude – for older women, and expensive.
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
We here at More feel it is time to change the representation of older women in the world of advertising, starting first with our own publication. In order to find answers to the problem of women over 40 lacking a voice and presence in magazine advertisements, we have enlisted the help of several advertising agencies. Each company was asked to devise a unique plan of action to better included mature women in our ads. The following three advertising agencies—GSD&M, Kaplan Thaler, and Dimassimo—have been selected because their individual approaches to our dilemmas were most successful in their accurate portrayal of older women. So read on and discover how these creative advertisers were able to not only solve our advertising problem, but also how they were able to expand and diversify our world of advertising by including people that look and think like you.
The advancement of technology, and thus advertising, have taught and coerced women over time into thinking that upward class mobility can be reached through consumption and consumerism. Today, women of all ages are encouraged to participate in the standardized beauty culture produced and proliferated by multinational corporations. Correlations between Benbow-Buitenhuis ' female double bind and theoretical contexts of Marcuse 's false needs theory (2014, p. 47) and false consciousness theory (2014, p. 44) prove that beauty culture is "rationalized as social requirements for public participation" and are "socially reproduced to the extent that the individual may believe that the needs are their own" (2014, p. 44). Thus, women are willing to give up rational thought processes in their desire to obtain status and upward class mobility through purchasing and consuming anti-aging
Recent slow expansion of the company is caused mainly by the limited ways of sale and by the worries about the loss of control in the case of penetrating new markets. The company does not think about any other practices than retail contract sales and refuse the offers from abroad to get MAC products in there. “The demand for MAC Cosmetics is there, but the supply is not. While MAC is one the cosmetic lines highest in demand, finding discounted products is actually not that easy” (Vasen, 2007, p. 1 ) Moreover, there are no media advertisement outside the United States and people often do not even know about the products and their advantages. The statistics show that the leading way to get information about MAC products is via referrals (Bates, 2006, p.
Revlon was established in 1932 and organization is putting forth beauty products for ladies everywhere throughout the domain. Product I purchased from Revlon will be Revlon Nourishing Crème which is exceedingly powerful and dependable product from organization. The product has very much pressed seal pack with cost named on the highest point of the parcel and guidelines legitimately given by the organization how to utilize the Revlon Freckle Nourishing Crème. (Revlon Reports 2011). Revlon has been the most renowned brand for elegant ladies in light of the fact that they never trade off on the nature of their products, effortlessly accessible at the business sector on the grounds that they have association with world best inventory network organizations and shoppers adoration to purchase their products from different chains of stores the world over. Throughout the years, Revlon among other business sector players has turned into the name and trust and quality for their purchasers and I like to purchase Revlon products at the most . Store network system outline is thought to be exceptionally critical and
In 1907, Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, developed an innovative hair-color formula. He called his improved hair dye Auréole. With that, the history of L’Oréal began. Eugène Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products, which he then sold to Parisian hairdressers.
Lancôme has been established in cosmetics market since 1935. Lancôme products have great varieties. Its products include skincare, makeup and fragrance products. In this way, Lancôme's experience of producing many different kinds of cosmetics products has been accumulated for 66 years. This remarkable achievement can make the customers more confident of its products.
Before Lafley took over for Jager, P&G was stretched to the max, haplessly wasting away resources and opportunities with an overcomplicated business strategy. P&G was raising prices on their best selling brands to cover for missed sales and high production costs for new brands that failed to be a successful [Lafley, 2003]. They had hired too many employees and were involved in several investments that were unprofitable. P&G had not had a hit product since the launch of ALWAYS feminine products in the 1980’s and each additional product flop only stretched their recourses thinner and thinner. Costs were high and moral low with employees not afraid to voice their lacking confidence with P&G’s leadership and direction. Subsidiaries were blaming corporate for their missed earnings and visa versa [Lafley, 2003]. Strategies between the brands at P&G clashed and each were out to safe guard their own interests. The prices of their consumer products were too high while the company failed to deliver customer satisfaction. These factors distracted them from what had originally made them successful – being an industry leader in innovation (Markels, 2006).
L’Oreal S.A., having its headquarters in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine is one of the strongest players in the personal care industry. The company has invested lump-sum amount in the field of cosmetics so as to enhance its value proposition in the consumer market segment. L’Oreal is known as the biggest cosmetics company in global context. The company is presently active in certain product areas, such as make-up, hair color, sun protection, skin care, perfumes, etc. Brand categorization is usually based on the needs and wants of target market segment. L’Oreal has categorized its brands as per mass, active cosmetics, luxury and professional markets. There are also other areas of interests witnessed in the case of L’Oreal, such as insurance,
Based on the information provided in the L’Oreal case, Yue Sai struggled to grow and capture additional sales in the high-end Chinese cosmetics sector. In the past, L’Oreal attempted to position Yue Sai in several different ways which can be viewed as detrimental to the company image, showing uncertainty as the company struggles to see which positioning strategy will stick. The most recent positioning presented in the case, which desires to “deliver Yue Sai’s longstanding brand promise that ‘Nobody knows Chinese skin better than Yue Sai’”, allows the highest probability of success for the company capitalizing on countless fresh trends in Chinese cosmetics (6). The positioning statement would reflect this new strategy: “For the modern Chinese woman Yue Sai offers a line of high-end cosmetics. Unlike other high-end cosmetics Yue Sai combines traditional Chinese medicine and sophisticated technology adapted to the unique skin type of Chinese women.” Yue Sai saw reasonable success and hope in the new Vital Essential line which utilized traditional Chinese medicine and, therefore, resulted in above average repeat purchases. Continuing to focus the strategy around traditional Chinese medicine should benefit Yue Sai considerably. Another suggested strategy would be to wholly reposition Yue Sai, however this is ill advised. As stated in the case, Yue Sai tried numerous different positioning strategies, which ultimately provided no clear path strategy. Repositioning would show uncertainty in the company, lowering brand value in the eyes of the consumer.
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