Dove Case Notes
Dove Case notes
1. What is a brand? Why does Unilever want fewer of them? How did Unilever reorganize its brand management organization to position its newly created umbrella brands for success? [10 Points]
A Brand can be a name, symbol, sign etc. intended to identify your goods and service by the target audience. A brand is unique and differentiates you from your competitors. To get a brand into the customers mind needs a lot of marketing efforts. Furthermore you need to establish brand equity to provide value to the customer and the company.
Unilever was major company that competed with well-known companies such as Nestle, Procter and Gamble, and Kraft Foods. It operated in variety of sectors and consisted of major billion dollar brands. Unilever went through global success, but realized the lack of control due to the growth of the company’s brand portfolio. As example the article presents Unilever’s Ice cream business, which was produced by different brands in different countries. Unilever suffered a lack of unified identity, which was the same case for other product categories. In 2000 Unilever decided to decrease its 1600 brands to 400 as part of the five-year strategic plan “Path to Growth.” Some of the brands would be selected as master brands and functions as umbrella for other product categories.
Before the five-year strategic initiative, Unilever managed its brands in a decentralized manner, controlled by the respective regional brand mangers. Several brands were offered within one product category, each led by a brand manager. The brand manager’s responsibilities were design of strategy, delivery of profit targets, and day-to-day marketing. Unilever reorganized its brand management organization to a global brand unit for each of the masterbrands, responsible for creating its global vision in cooperation with all geographic markets. Furthermore they divided responsibilities of a brand between two groups – Brand Development and Brand
1. What is a brand? Why does Unilever want fewer of them? How did Unilever reorganize its brand management organization to position its newly created umbrella brands for success? [10 Points]
A Brand can be a name, symbol, sign etc. intended to identify your goods and service by the target audience. A brand is unique and differentiates you from your competitors. To get a brand into the customers mind needs a lot of marketing efforts. Furthermore you need to establish brand equity to provide value to the customer and the company.
Unilever was major company that competed with well-known companies such as Nestle, Procter and Gamble, and Kraft Foods. It operated in variety of sectors and consisted of major billion dollar brands. Unilever went through global success, but realized the lack of control due to the growth of the company’s brand portfolio. As example the article presents Unilever’s Ice cream business, which was produced by different brands in different countries. Unilever suffered a lack of unified identity, which was the same case for other product categories. In 2000 Unilever decided to decrease its 1600 brands to 400 as part of the five-year strategic plan “Path to Growth.” Some of the brands would be selected as master brands and functions as umbrella for other product categories.
Before the five-year strategic initiative, Unilever managed its brands in a decentralized manner, controlled by the respective regional brand mangers. Several brands were offered within one product category, each led by a brand manager. The brand manager’s responsibilities were design of strategy, delivery of profit targets, and day-to-day marketing. Unilever reorganized its brand management organization to a global brand unit for each of the masterbrands, responsible for creating its global vision in cooperation with all geographic markets. Furthermore they divided responsibilities of a brand between two groups – Brand Development and Brand