Introduction of Company
The area in which we are interested is food and beverages. Unilever is one of the largest companies of this field and is a subsidiary of Proctor and Gamble (P&G). Unilever has many consumer products. Some of its popular brands are Surf Excel, Dove, Lux, Knorr, Brooke Bond, Lipton, Fair & Lovely, WALL’S, Dalda, and Sun Silk etc. LBPL started its operations in 1948. And presently its headquarters is at Avari Towers Karachi. LBPL was incorporated as an independent Unilever company in 1955. Lever brothers have a sizzling market share of 60% in Pakistan. And their field of business includes Tea, Detergents, Personal hygiene, Edible fats, Consumer products and Ice cream. It is offering total of 46 products in Pakistan out of which 26 are profitable and during the year 2002 Wall’s was added as the 27th profitable product. LBPL is committed to provide its customers the quality products and company has never compromised on quality no matter what the cost. This maintenance of consistent quality has given LBPL a competitive edge.
The Food industry can first of all be segmented into two groups’ ready made food and unready food which is found in the restaurants. In ready made food we have the segment of cool desserts industry which is named as ice-cream industry. The walls Ice-cream factory is highly technological and they are using state of the art machinery which makes it as the leading ice-cream producer of Pakistan
MISSION STATEMENT
The current statement that LBPL is following is as follow:
“Lever brothers will be the foremost consumer product company in Pakistan with care, skin, ice cream and spread. Already positioned in tea, hair, dental and household care, substantially profitable position in cooking oils and fats our strengths come from our people and from combining the best of our international as well as Pakistan origin. Our commitment is to continuously care for the need of our customers, consumers, employees, suppliers, share holders and the community in which we live.”As one of Unilever’s leading brands, it has always been Wall’s mission to add vitality to your life – while being responsible about good nutrition.Adding vitality to lifeThat’s why we’re constantly adjusting our range to keep up with changing needs. Calcium enriched products are available to add nutrition and health benefits for kids and adults, smaller sizes for smaller appetites and old favourites for those nostalgia lovers - there’s something for everyone. Walls guaranteed Halal - StatementAll Wall’s ice creams produced by Unilever Pakistan are guaranteed “Halal”Unilever is the biggest branded ice cream manufacturer around the world, selling millions of ice creams every day in more than 40 countries. Ice creams produced by Unilever vary from country to country, since recipes are tailored to domestic demand, based on taste, legal and religious requirements. We therefore do not necessarily use the same ingredients everywhere.
Unilever Pakistan guarantees that all Wall’s ice creams produced and marketed by it in Pakistan are in total conformance with the requirements of Halal products and are perfectly safe for consumption by Muslims. All elements in the products, including raw materials, trace ingredients, packaging and production processesused in our factory strictly conform to local legislation, religious and cultural requirements. We are very conscious about the need in particular to ensure strict compliance with Halal guidelines. A “Halal” mark is printed on all wrappers in confirmation of this.
Unilever has been operating in Pakistan for 60 years. Over this period, our brands in Home Care, Personal Care, Foods, Beverages and Ice Cream have become market leaders. Millions of people use them daily because they conform to the highest standards and provide value for money. As a multinational multi local company, we are committed to adding vitality to consumers and the community in a responsible and locally appropriate manner.
History
Wall's is the brand name of Unilever's Heartbrand ice cream business, used originally in the United Kingdom and also currently (2006) in China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
· Macfisheries bought wall’s in 1920 – who then sold Wall’s to Lever Brothers in 1922. In 1922, Wall’s ice cream started production. A love affair with ice cream had begun.
· By the 1950s, wartime rationing produced a big appetite for ice cream – sales reached £46 million by 1959 and Wall’s opened a large ice cream factory in Gloucester. Supermarkets began to stock ice creams in addition to small high street shops. Market research in the 1970s showed that practically everyone loved ice cream.
· The average number of licks to finish off a single ice pop is 50
· Every year all around the world, Walls sells enough Magnum ice creams around the world four and a half times.
· Launched in 1995 Cornetto is the number one selling hand-held cone in Pakistan today.
WALL’S was launched firstly in Lahore in 1995 and later year in Karachi and Islamabad. In 1996, it was launched in Faisalabad and in 1997 it was launched in Multan, Quetta, Hyderabad, Peshawar and Sukhar as well. After the acquisition, Polka became a brand under WALL’S. The strong of Polka were continued and weaker were dropped.
The Heart was launched in 1997 to unite Unilever's ice cream businesses and brands, and has grown to become the most-recognized logo in the world of ice cream. In 2003, we announced the next step in building the world's most powerful ice cream brand, re-launching the Heart as symbol of the serious fun of ice cream.
Unilever is the world's biggest ice cream business and the home of one of the best-known symbols in ice cream, the Heart. WALL’S is an international brand of ice cream and is one of the most profitable units of Unilever. WALL’S has its 38 plants all over the world. And has a share of 22% of international ice cream market. In Pakistan it is 35-40% of total ice cream market (both organized and unorganized sectors combined).GOODS CLASSIFICATIONWALL’S icecream comes under the foods and beverages part of the Unilever chain. WALL’S ice creams are consumer, nondurable, convenience, packaged goods.WALL’S has a variety of products, ranging from low priced desserts like Rainbow to premium priced desserts like Cornetto and Magnum.
Production Unit: One Unit at Manga Mandi
Production Capacity: 10,000 Liters / day
· Life time (Out of freezer): 25 min.
· Expiry: 10 months.
· Small packs:
• Cones
• Cups
• 1 liter packs
• Tubs
Wall's Classic tubs Wall's cartons Wall's Cornetto
Wall's Magnum Wall's Moo Wall's Rocket
Wall's Spin Wall's TwisterGROWTH RATEThe ice cream industry itself is growing with a reasonable rate, but for WALL’S the growth rate is quite encouraging.The major reason for pravailing this dream like growth rate is the radical growth seen in Cornetto in recent years. WALL’S growth rate for recent year was 12%.
Other information.
· Ice cream is made from milk, fat and sugar. These are cooled as they are mixed, then whipped to create a light, airy texture. Flavourings, fruit or chocolate are added then the whole mixture is frozen again before packaging.
Market Segmentation
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MARKETFew of the characteristics upon which the market has been segmented are discussed below:WALL’S have segmented its market in four sections in Pakistan such as South, which is Karachi to Sadqabad and than Central from Sadqabad to Gujrawala and than North from Gujrawala to upside country.
Demographic variables of WALL’S target market are mostly age and income based. WALL’S have created many sorts of ice creams to cater all age groups. The most popular ice creams amongst kids are Paddle pop, in teenagers Cornetto and Magnum, commercial packs are popular in families as whole. WALL’S cater both females and males in the society. If we consider the income segmentation, WALL’S is targeting upper, middle, and lower middle income levels.
The psychographic segmenting is done on the basis of the taste and health conscious consumer. WALL’S targeted its market by creating an image of high quality and hygienic products. WALL’S was for “anyone, any where and at any time”, this very well explains psychographic characteristic of WALL’S consumer. Also relating fun and Shugal with ice cream helps depicting the life style of its potential user.
Ø BEHAVIORAL
The behavioral segmentation is done on three different variables that tend to define a particular behavior or attitude of a consumer. These are:
· Usage rate – thand hai to kya hua!!
· Benefits – quality, presentation, taste
Ø TYPICAL BUYING PATTERN
WALL’S enjoys leading the market from the day it came in the business, by producing a high quality ice cream it has proved itself to be the best in the market. The nation have a tendency to follow others to the maximum extend. Pakistan is a nation with a tendency to get influenced by others and especially by western communities. We can categorize ice cream as fast food, which is a symbol of western community, so we can very well imagine ice cream gaining its popularity.
Consumers with high purchasing power are becoming heavy user of products available by WALL’S. Where else the consumers with very low purchasing power are light users. The density of user can also be categorized geographically. WALL’S is more popular in urban areas, as well as some of the rural areas. Although Pakistan is considered a hot climate country generally but it does have areas with low temperature so WALL’S is not that much consumed in those areas.
Ice cram is a kind of food, which is not age bounded or class bounded. But it is a fact that people of different ages and social classes may require different varieties of ice cream at different price levels. So for that purpose WALL’S has adopted a rifle approach and divided market into a number of segments according to different social classes and ages and then tried to provide ice cream solution for all to satisfy the consumer within his buying power.The segmentation of WALL’S is:
| Sr. # | Segmentation on Income Classes |
| 1 | Upper class |
| 2 | Upper middle class |
| 3 | Lower middle class |
| Sr. # | Segmentation on Age |
| 1 | Adults |
2 | Teenagers |
3 | Kids |
| 1 | Upper class |
2 | Upper Middle class |
3 | Lower-Middle Class |
Distribution
One of the competitive advantages of WALL’S is its availability, which is ensured by extensive distribution. The distribution of ice cream is different from other products. To keep it in a good form it must be chilled at appropriate temperature. For this purpose deep freezers are used, which are provided by the company. However, the running costs are to be paid by the retailer. For this purpose walls gives a margin of 18% to its retailers\distributors, which is distributed over entire channel. Pakistan is divided in three major sections. These are as follows:
· At right time
· In right condition
WALL’S has a Hybrid Distribution System. It reaches different customers through different systems. WALL’S is using two types of distribution channels, both are indirect channels.
PRODUCERDISTRIBUTOR
RETAILER
CONSUMERThis is commonly used, in which the WALL’S factory send the products to the local distributors who supply the products to the retailer in the required quantity. The retailer then sells it to the customer. The specialty and effectiveness of this system is excellent.
The reason for such an excellent distribution system is the distribution policy. If a retailer wants to sell an ice cream, the investment he needs to do is as:
| Retailer | Security forthe freezers | Investment onIce cream products | Board for advertisement | Total investment required |
Others | 15000 | 12-15,000 | 3000 | 30,000 |
WALL’S | Nil | 12-15,000 | Nil | 15,000 |
STOCK POINTER DEALER
RETAILER
(CYCLES)
CONSUMERThe second type of system was more a short term distribution system which has just for the introduction stage to actually made the product reach every where and the system was more of creating awareness than actual retailing purpose. But the cycle distribution system yielded excellent results in terms of sales and creating awareness about the products. Now the cycle contributes a big percentage of shares in the overall sale of the company. So this has now become a permanent distribution channel of WALL’S.
One of the major reasons of early success and clean sweep given by walls is its availability, which is ensured through extensive distribution. There is not even a single city in the country where one cannot find a walls freezer or hear the sweet music of the trike (tricycles), which acts as a direct marketing for it. Thus, WALL’S has always tried its best to ensure the availability of the product as close to the customers as possible and WALL’S has been very successful in that.DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIESThere are two main distribution strategies, which WALL’S has very effectively used.
2. Advertising campaign that reminds and persuades customers to buy ice cream supports 2nd strategy, which is facilitated by price offs, which are frequently offered by the company.
PROMOTION
“Our aim is to spark the taste and feeling of summer in everyone’s day. Life is there to be enjoyed and we are the fun part of vitality. We constantly provide new products and experiences that excite the senses and inspire people of all ages to 'taste the fun side of life”---------Promotion Statement.
For any company to capture the market of its own wish and target, promotion plays the most important role in fulfilling the quest for market share. Although the process of promotion is very complex and can be looked in detail:
Ice Cream makes you happy – its official!Wall’s carried out scientific research which shows that ice cream actually makes you happy. The study was carried out using FMRI brain scanners, and showed that eating Wall’s had an immediate effect on the part of the brain that is activated when someone is really enjoying themselves – the please areas.So we now have scientific evidence to prove what we all already knew, that ice cream really does make you happy!
Promotional StrategiesPromotional strategies of WALL’s ice-cream is consistent. It uses Pull strategy for promoting its product becauseWALL’s spent a lot on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand.
Producer
.WALL’s
Consumer
Retailer and Wholesaler
Demand DemandPull Strategy
Promotional BudgetOne of the hardest marketing decisions facing a company is how much to spend on promotion. How des a company decide on its promotion budget:
WALL’s ice-cream uses Objective-and-Task Method to set its budget for promotional activities. This budgeting method entails (1) defining specific promotion objectives, (2) determining the tasks needed to achieve these objectives, and (3) estimating the cost of performing these tasks. The sum of these costs is the proposed promotion budget.
Wall’s determine its specific tasks to achieve its objectives which are defined by the company’s management, to achieve these objectives WALL’s estimates the costs of different tasks, which are to be done to promote its products.1. Promotional ObjectivesPromotional objectives of the WALL’s ice-cream are as follows
Persuade
Remind
Promotion is important for firms in many ways. It helps to establish image of product, which the manufacture wants to portray, and also the personality of product. It informs the people, creates awareness and helps in positioning and repositioning of the product. With promotional tools company can tell about the availability of product, company can justify prices or can communicate the features of the product. WALL’S is not promoting its products individually because WALL’S believe that the high quality it is providing through its products are more than sufficient to prove its identity. We believe that now there is a need for WALL’S to promote its products separately as international competition is coming as well.2. TasksSelection of different promotional tools advertising and media schedules and what types of message are delivered to the target audience.
WALL’s uses Advertising and Sales Promotion.3. Cost/BudgetEstimated budget of WALL’s of promotion is Rs.2.5 million (est.)
Promotional Tools
WALL’S is creating awareness about its new products such as supper Cornetto, Carte DOR for this purpose it is using huge signboards on the major square of the cities and more importantly both the print and electronic media for advertisement and for that it is following AIDA model.
Or to put in another way, the concept can be very well understood with the help of the above given building blocks:
Persuade
Remind
Promotion is important for firms in many ways. It helps to establish image of product, which the manufacture wants to portray, and also the personality of product. It informs the people, creates awareness and helps in positioning and repositioning of the product. With promotional tools company can tell about the availability of product, company can justify prices or can communicate the features of the product. WALL’S is not promoting its products individually because WALL’S believe that the high quality it is providing through its products are more than sufficient to prove its identity. We believe that now there is a need for WALL’S to promote its products separately as international competition is coming as well.
The theme of advertisement varies with the product image and positioning. But walls follow the same theme internationally. The advertisements run on TV are made in foreign countries. The objectives of advertising are the three basic ones which include informing, persuading and reminding about different brands of walls.
WALL’S have used all sorts of mediums of mass communication and one to one bases. The mediums used in WALL’S promotional activities are:
· Billboards
· News papers
· Magazines
· Radio
· Banners
· Pamphlets
· Stands in shops
· Shop boards
· Sponsorships of pop stars, actors, models
· Event arrangements
· Bus Stop Board Ads
· Fun carnival carried out in different parks such as Racecourse Park
Quantity discounts
Off season discounts: 5%
Investment on each retailer: Rs. 22,000
Free freezers’ maintenance
The ceremony marks the culmination of a two day exhibition in which art pieces created by children across Pakistan were showcased. Over 250 pieces were short listed from amongst the 150 schools that participated this year.
The ceremony was well attended by teachers, students and key stakeholders. Hameed Haroon, CEO Dawn Group was the chief guest at the ceremony.
The Unilever International Schools Art Project, first launched in 2001, encourages young people from around the world to create a painting, a sculpture or even a small installation on a given theme. Last year thousands of young artists from countries around the world including Colombia, China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Zimbabwe, USA and the UK created works of art around the theme Reality & Dreams, inspired by Carsten Höller's TEST SITE, the seventh annual commission in The Unilever Series at the Tate Modern.
This is the seventh year that Unilever is undertaking this project which involves schools across Pakistan and encourages creativity and innovation amongst school children between the ages of 5 to eighteen. Paddle Pop, the iconic Wall's treat for young consumers, is the ideal co-partner for the Art project. The Paddle Pop brand encourages children to indulge in fun and adventurous activities and to express themselves through adventure and revel in the thrill they get from rising to the challenge.
In an effort to challenge the youth to think imaginatively about what motivates them and what they are passionate about, the theme for this year’s Art Project was - "Beauty & Difference – world’s apart". Artist, Doris Salcedo said; "I am very pleased that this year's theme for The Unilever International Schools Art Project, which will encourage children and students from many different parts of the world to engage with some of the most pressing issues of today".Centered on the theme, the artworks from Pakistan were diverse and detailed and clearly showed the time and effort put in by the students. During the course of the project Paddle Pop brand ambassadors visited the participating schools and offered a selection of flavours to the students.
Each category had four winners, First, Second, Third and Runners-up. This year the schools saw a difference in the annual Art Project process. In order to more fully involve the schools and elevate the project to a more interactive level, regional judging was conducted by the schools themselves. Mrs. Naiza Khan (Artist – VASL) and Marjorie Hussain (Art critic) conducted the final judging.
The three winning pieces will be sent and judged at the Tate Modern Art Gallery in London. The chosen piece will be exhibited at the museum.
Unilever Pakistan is committed to integrating business as a part of society, and the Company actively engages in initiatives that improve the quality of life, particularly of the lesser privileged members of our society. The main thrust in the Company’s social initiatives have been primarily in the areas of education, health care and water sustainability. Message Execution Stylecornetto girl, where are youThe cornetto girl campaign has finally come to an end. Even though feel that its effects would continue to spread it is pretty safe now to bring to light whatever conspired in the campaign.
The message of this compaign is related to slice of life of teenagers.
As per the objectives we went about solving two key challenges.
· Break through the clutter without spending a fortune on media
“a guy sees a girl in his college for the first time eating a cornetto and instantly falls in love with her. The girl disappears a couple of days later before the guy has had a chance to make an impression on her. The guy, in desperation goes on to develop a whole ad campaign to track her down, bringing the whole country in on the search…”
This concept was then put on relevant media. From a 12 episode drama serial to creating hype on blogs and social networks to virally generated sms’s/emails we virtually exhausted all youth centric media. Even radio was used to insert ideas, theories, hoaxes about story through RJ chit chat. Seeded content generated to destabilize the theories in the drama helped keep the mystery alive through spoof videos.
Some of the ideas that never saw the light of day, was a specialized documentary, t-shirts and bumper stickers, sarmad appearing on begum nawazish ali’s show to clear out his position and sarmad’s car seen on the roads of the 3 metros with cool art work to help him find his cornetto girl. We even thought of having a PR leg to the campaign as well with articles in images and the magazine talking about the cornetto girl phenomenon.
All in all, this was a huge win for contact plus as we showed that well-established brands can come up with new ideas to reinvigorate their brand presence
Marketing Department (sales force)
WALL’s divide the Lahore Market in two major Zones and each zone is further divide into four different areas. Each area has one zone (sale) officer and each sale officer has 10-15 different sectors to serve (supply) the market, which means under research zonal manager has 10-15 sales men and each sales man has one van.Hierarchy of Marketing Department (sales force)National/Country marketing (sales) manager
Zonal sales manager
Area/territory sales manager
Sales officer
