MARKETING

Unilever Case Study



Table of Contents

Bad marketing practices and new product failure1

New product failure and the subsequent benefit3

Role of brand name and new product failure4

Role of competition in new product's success or failure5

References7

Unilever Case Study

Bad marketing practices and new product failure

According to marketing research about eighty percent of all new products fail. There are several reasons for this. These are discussed hereunder.

The market is too small and hence not feasible for targeting. The market has to be large enough for the company to launch the product profitably.

The quality of the product or service is very poor. The product does not merit the interest of the problem. In addition, the product or the service offered by the company does not deliver what it vows. No marketing efforts, however good they may be will work if the product is not good. This is true for all the products and services and is particularly true for new products.

New products and services also fail when the new product does not come up with something new for the customer.

The products that do not follow a protocol also suffer. This means that these do not know what is the target market for the product, what needs will be met by the product and others. These should be clear not only in the minds of the company but should also be communicated clearly to the target market.

The positioning of the product is one of the major reasons for the success of any new product/service. Any fault with positioning can fail the product.

The product may be launched only when the company has sufficient budget allocated for the launch. If the company launches the new product or service but does not have the budget to advertise the launch, the product will not come into notice and will not sell.

The marketing efforts also fail when the new product idea is something that can be copied conveniently.

Poor execution of marketing mix. This happens when the marketing plan is amazing as it appears on paper but is not implemented well. Planning and implementation go hand in hand.

When the launch of a new product or service is late then there is no reason for launching the product.

When an industry is saturated then there is hardly a chance that a smaller company with limited budgets will be able to survive.

There were grave mistakes when it comes to the failure of Hoki. The Hoki was launched under the brand name Birds Eye which has been known for the cod and is marketing for several years that cod is the best eating fish. When a brand name has been associated with another so much that it has overshadowed the product category itself then it should not have been used for the fish from New Zealand. In addition, the price of the New Zealand fish was higher than the cod fish fingers. The major factor which was highlighted in red colour in bold letters was that the fish was an excellent alternative ...