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Unit 19 - Marketing Planning Assignment HND Business and Marketing Level 5
Unit 19 - Marketing Planning Assignment HND Business and Marketing Level 5
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NIVEA is one of the worlds most recognised skincare and beauty brands, introduced in
1911. In 1998, NIVEA for Men was launched exclusively for male skincare products and in
the 10 years leading from its launch, the market for such products was worth 117million.
Unfortunately, the value of male skincare products was worth only 49million for NIVEA.
That is why, in 2008, NIVEA went through a complete re-launch of the brand and
subsequently went through a whole new marketing campaign (The Times 100, 2009).
Planning for a new marketing strategy or plan involves taking aims and objectives of the
organisation and forming a series of activities which makes sure that the aims and
objectives are met sufficiently. The length of time for a marketing plan can depend on the
aims and objectives of the company but usually activities spanning the next one to five
years are implemented and planned for. A marketing plan usually consists of the
following:
SWOT Analysis to assess the brand or business
Objectives of the business or brand
Marketing strategy for how the objectives will be accomplished
Sales forecast how much the sales is expected to increase by after the
implementation of the marketing plan
Budget all the activities and figure out the financing of the plan
Evaluation of how the outcomes of the plan will be measured and monitored for
future eventualities
There has been a shift in the marketing strategies for NIVEA. In the 1980s, their focus on
marketing for male skincare products was primarily fashion magazines and free samples
due to the limited use and lack of technological means. Soon after in the 1990s there
was a greater availability of the technology and hence NIVEA started to market their
products through radio and television in cohesion with press advertising and product
samples (BusinessCaseStudies, 2009). One of the biggest changes for NIVEAs rebrand
was a mix of above and below the line techniques, one of which was forming a
relationship with major sporting leagues such as the Power League, to create a positive
image for male skincare.
It is for this and the above reasons that NIVEA have a more than capable human resource
capability to continue to market their products using a suitable marketing plan in the
future.
Personal Experience The perceptions of the marketing manager alone will impact
SWOT as well as the experiences, skills and knowledge bought to the audit
Order In some situations, marketing managers will reverse SWOT such that
strengths and opportunities and threats and weaknesses are grouped together. The
reason for this is that the line between internal strengths and weaknesses and
external opportunities and threats is difficult to spot.
Weighting Quite often, the 4 headings of a SWOT analysis are not weighted.
Some aspects will be more controversial than others so it is important to weigh the
factors out using percentages.
Emphasizing Detail The level of detail and reasoning is usually absent from a
SWOT analysis. In most cases, there are one word analyses of each heading. For
example, consider opportunities under this heading, the organisation writes
discounting. This is not enough to explain why discounting is an opportunity for
the organisation. Explaining the context of each subheading will help to score and
weigh each element according to how important each one is.
Rank and Prioritise The addition of explanations for each heading leads on to
giving the SWOT analysis a deeper meaning. In other words, the organisation
should select specific factors which will greatly influence the objectives of the
organisation with a mix of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
o Primarily, there is a ranking system that is needed, in which SWOT headings
are ranked highest to lowest.
Unlike SWOT analysis, the idea of categorising and ranking does not have much
importance here. The aim of PESTLE is to list as many factors as possible. It could be that
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Brainstorming and listing key issues not within the control of the organisation
Generically identifying implications of each issue
Rating each of them to the importance of the organisation (critical, important,
moderate, insignificant)
Ranking the likelihood of each one occurring (certainty, extremely likely, likely,
remote possibility, impossible)
Considering implications of the issues if they did occur
With any method of auditing an organisation, there are advantages and disadvantages to
consider whether it is the most suitable method for the organisation to use (FME, 2013):
Advantages
Simple and easy to use
framework of analysis
Reduces impact and effects of
potential threats to the
organisation
Provides a mechanism for the
organisation to identify and
implement new opportunities
Encourages strategic thinking
within the organisation
Disadvantages
Organisations run the risk of
oversimplifying the information
used in making decisions
This process is one that should be
implemented on a regular basis
organisations often do not do this
Access to decent information is
lacking if organisations would not
want to spend the time or the
money to collate it
Users of a PESTLE analysis should
not gather too much information so
as to forget about the objective of
using such an analysis tool
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As organised as a business may be in planning for its marketing strategies, there are
several barriers that may hinder the overall process of formulating a marketing plan. A
barrier is typically defined as something that slows or hinders the progress of a businesss
operations and is usually considered to have a significant on the business. In a paper
written in the Journal of Marketing Management, 10 of these barriers were detailed and
explained, of which the top 3 main barriers are explained here (McDonald, 1989):
Tactical and Strategical Confusion this is something that often causes a great
deal of confusion among marketers and PR functions to name a few. Such is the
problem that the meaning for the word strategy has lost all meaning as in the
modern day, everything has become a strategy. Such examples could be:
o Social Media Strategies
o Mobile Marketing Strategies
o Customer Engagement Strategies
These are in fact tactics to help support the Business Strategy. In other words,
the main strategies are what will help to support the overall objectives of the
business and the ways in which the achievement of these objectives will occur
(Coleman, 2012).
Isolating the Marketing Function from Operations One of the biggest
problems facing the failure of marketing planning is the belief that marketing is a
function done by a marketer. Often is the case that the appointment of a
marketing person is seen as a last minute, last-ditch exercise to resolve all issues.
o The appointment a new marketing person now means that, regardless of his
skills and aptitude for marketing, the control over the marketing function
rests with other people in different departments i.e. product development,
customer service and pricing to name a few.
o This means that whatever is left of the promotional mix, the new person is
responsible for those which is hardly anything, considering that the role of
the marketer is to handle the majority of the marketing function.
Confusion Between the Marketing Function and the Marketing Concept
this particular barrier is one which is made of several smaller barriers. McDonald
had close contact with 2000 senior managers a year and came to the conclusion
that there is a large depth of ignorance surrounding what marketing is. The
following are smaller barriers between the main barrier:
o Confusion with Sales an example of this is when a managing director
proclaimed that marketing was not needed unless sales were noticed in the
business without understanding that marketing is a key aspect in
increasing sales.
o Confusion with Advertising quite a popular misconception among many
annals of businesses. Companies like Dunlop and British Airways have
delivered award winning advertisement campaigns but have failed to deliver
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Tennis is a big part of British sporting history, with Britain being the host of the most
prestigious tennis event in the world the Wimbledon Championships. A mix of players
from all around the world come to play and compete in these championships, with both
men and women competing to win the coveted Wimbledon Trophy. As a result of this,
NIVEA will be the sponsors of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and will be creating a
new marketing plan to integrate their skincare products with sport, with the development
of a new range of sunscreen creams. NIVEA will incorporate the following sections in their
marketing plan and will hope to execute a successful marketing campaign after
implementation of this plan.
Needs by Segment
The Wimbledon Championships take place during July annually, which means that
it takes place during the summer season. In terms of the brand, NIVEA is a large
skincare and beauty products company, who target the mixed gender market i.e.
both men and women alike, so it is important to market their brand to suit both
male and female skincare needs. Having the Wimbledon Championships in the
summer means that the weather is likely to be very warm and hence it is important
to know which customers are most vulnerable to sunlight during the games. People
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Segment Potential
Wimbledon Championships are catered to people who can afford to go out of their
way and buy tickets to the games. In the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, ticket
prices have been calculated in range with centre court tickets starting at 56 for
the first day, increasing to 190 by the last day of the games (Wimbledon, 2016).
This shows that the ideal market segment of consumers are those who are well off
and those who can afford them. This is idea because NIVEA can price their products
accordingly, and target the segments more closely, rather than just by product.
The buying powers of consumers in the market segment is high, with prices in and
around Wimbledon being quite expensive as said before, the consumers are well
off and they can afford to buy items in and around Wimbledon, so NIVEA has a
chance to enter this market and successfully market their products.
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15 | P a g e
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17 | P a g e
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18 | P a g e
share
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The above analysis has given a clear idea of what NIVEA should expect to
implement into their marketing strategy and the important points they should think
about when marketing the two new products at Wimbledon 2017. The below points
are an indicated summary of the above analysis, known as the description of
opportunity:
Needs: The appeal of Wimbledon is to males and females who have an interest in
tennis. Demographically and interests are two of the segmentation approaches to
be used where it was found that creams can be targeted at women aged 18-35 and
deodorants can be targeted at men aged 18-25. Also the weather is likely to be
very warm in the season so products can be ideally marketed to these people
Potential of Market: Tickets at Wimbledon are fairly expensive, so it can be
expected that the ideal target market will purchase the two products within the
price range allocated. They are also able to afford the products due to their middle
to high income socio-economic status. Given these circumstances, it can be said
that the buying power of these consumers is high as many of the merchandise and
food available to purchase around Wimbledon are also quite expensive
Product Concept: NIVEA has now come up with two brand new products in different
types. The first is a sun-cream targeted at women and the second is a deodorant
targeted at males. It is hoped that NIVEA will set aside these products from the rest
of their product line and it is also hoped that these products will become big sellers
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Before going into the product development techniques that NIVEA could utilise, it is
important to know why marketing planning is essential in the overall strategic
marketing process for a large organisation such as NIVEA.
Strategic planning is a concept that is made for organisations to achieve specific
goals and objectives, hence the overall purpose of this process is to identify both
internal and external effects and internal and external opportunities that could be
used in creating a new tactic or strategy (Richards, 2015). Marketing planning is
essential in overall strategic planning because it can help to pick out new market
opportunities and competitive threats in the potential target for the business or
organisation.
Strategic planning sets out to discourage businesses from making rash and
impulsive marketing decisions. Just like a marketing plan, the strategic planning
process for marketing involves collection of information and then integrating that
information into an analysis that can help to define long term marketing goals
(Asadi, 2014). Companies, like NIVEA, come under an umbrella company like
Unilever, who usually have several strategic business units (SBUs) i.e. NIVEA is an
SBU of Unilever, Garnier is an SBU of LOral etc.
An integral part of strategic planning processes is the determining of the pats of
the business that should be sold or supported and one such approach is the BCG
(Boston Consulting Group) approach. This approach looks into two dimensions of
SBUs how well the industry is doing and how well the brand within the company
is performing, also known as market growth rate and relative market share
respectively (Friedman, 2011).
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Description and
Features
A revolutionary new deodorant that msks and protects from bad odours
whilst maintaining natural smells of ingredients
Free of harmful chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases, otherwise
prevalent in 95% of other deodorants. 48 hour hold and sweatproof. Natural
ingredients such as Aloe Vera
Quality Strategy
Using the Pricing-Quality matrix devised by Kotler in 1988, the quality of the
product will be high, whilst maintaining a medium to high price range.
The high quality of the product will come from the ideas of using natural
ingredients in the final product, which will reduce the negative health effects
that other deodorants can have
Service Strategy
The service strategy will entail around the Wimbledon Event in that there will
be employees working in the stalls for NIVEA asking for customer feedback
There will also be an element of free samples to promote the deodorant and
this will create an element of 'try before you buy'
Competitive
Positioning
Already it can be seen that NIVEA has the competitive edge - deodorants,
just like sun creams in the news have been the subject of controversy,
highlighting heavy use of chemicals
NIVEA has designed a product with zero primary chemicals and more natural
ingredients - something which most deodorants rarely have
Estimated Costs
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Product 2 - All
Natural Long
Lasting Deodorant
Estimated Costs
Competitive
Positioning
Description and
Features
Quality Strategy
Using the Pricing-Quality matrix devised by Kotler in 1988, the quality of the
product will be high, whilst maintaining a medium to high price range.
The high quality of the product will come from the ideas of using natural
ingredients in the final product, which will reduce the environmental impact
of chemical usage
Service Strategy
The service strategy will entail around the Wimbledon Event in that there will
be employees working in the stalls for NIVEA asking for customer feedback
There will also be an element of free samples to promote the cream and this
will create an element of 'try before you buy'
Product 1 - All
Natural SPF 50
Sun-Cream
Product development for NIVEAs two new products can be carried out in several
ways, but before that, a product strategy will follow. Since NIVEA is planning to
Another such process is known as the Fuzzy Front End process, which is somewhat
similar to the eight stage process, except this process centres around fixing and
eliminating the common front-end failures of a marketing campaign or strategy.
The name of the process comes from the idea that making the management of
these failures complicated and magnified leads to a fuzzy outlook on the overall
picture. Many of these challenges happen at the first stage of the strategic
innovation process and the word fuzzy is appropriate since there is no other stage
of the process where a future context of innovation is complex and uncertain
(Mootee, 2011).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
This fuzzy front end of the process has seven phases, many of which are similar to
the eight stage process mentioned above:
Uncover Customer Insights
Develop Strategic Foresights
Sense Making and Mapping Opportunity
Concept Development
Concept Prototype
Customer Co-Creation
Brand and Market Assessment (Mootee, 2011)
Ansoffs Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix, also known as a Product-Market Expansion Grid, is another tool
that organisations use for new product development. First published in the Harvard
Business Review in 1987, the Ansoff Matrix details 4 strategies that can be used,
which can also help with analysing the risks involved with each. Moving from
strategy to strategy means that the risk of embarking upon each one increases.
Shown below is a standard Ansoff Matrix, which consists of the four quadrants,
each with a different strategy:
Products
and
Services
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Existing
New
New
This
is the
riskiest
of the
four
strategies
a new pro
This is where an existing product is thrown into an entirely
brand
new
market,
which
can
be risky,because
but not always.
Fi
Markets
This is the safest of the four strategies. Expanding sales of the product
the existing
market
is market
the key penetration
point here. At
This is in
slightly
more risky
than
as thi
an
Existing
In terms of NIVEAs product development, the process that applies best here is the
eight stage process. The reason for this is because they do not at present have any
pre-development failures to improve upon and so they would not have to deal with
the Fuzzy Front End Process. On the Ansoff Matrix, NIVEA would be bringing a new
product into an existing market i.e. sun creams and deodorants into Wimbledon. It
is arguable that NIVEA may be carrying out a diversification strategy but since they
have sponsored other sports in the past (Power League), Ansoffs Matrix says that
NIVEA is more towards the Product Development Strategy i.e. they will not know if
the product has worked unless they successfully carry out a marketing strategy to
meet their goals and objectives as well as satisfying the needs of consumers.
This final section of the marketing plan will look at the execution of the overall
strategy for NIVEAs products in Wimbledon 2017. Executing a market plan is
essentially down to three factors:
Pricing at what cost will the products be sold and how much will it cost to make
and execute the overall marketing plan?
Distribution through which outlets will the product be sold i.e. supermarkets,
shopping centres, local stores etc.?
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From the product strategy and competitors analysis, it was found that the target
consumers at Wimbledon 2017 will be those who can afford to buy items priced
relatively high compared to ordinary supermarket prices for the same items. A
ticket at Wimbledon 2017 is expected to cost between 56 for the first day to 190
for the final match hence it is sensible to price the NIVEA sun cream and
deodorant at a higher price than supermarkets. The NIVEA All Natural SPF 50 Sun
Cream is expected to cost between 8.50 and 15.00 according to analysis of
current NIVEA sun creams and the All Natural 24hr Hold Deodorant is expected to
cost between 2.50 and 4.00 according to analysis of current competitors
deodorants.
Price is an element of the 4Ps of marketing and is one that should support the rest
of the elements of the marketing mix. It is considered the most difficult of the 4Ps
and must be adhered to with the demand and supply relationship. For NIVEA to set
a price for their products, they should take into account the following five factors of
pricing (LearnMarketing, 2011):
Fixed and Variable Costs
Competition in the Market
Objectives and Goals of the Company
Positioning Strategies
Target Group and Buying Powers
Most of the time, pricing will be based on the corporate objectives of the company,
but sometimes, a strategy should be adopted on a company by company basis as
not all organisations will have objectives to work with in a marketing plan. NIVEA
will base their cost of the goods mainly using competition pricing, which means
setting the price either higher, the same or lower than the market competitors of
the industry (LearnMarketing, 2011). With supermarkets pricing sun cream at near
15.00 on the high end and deodorants at 4.00 on the high end, NIVEA can
choose to lower their prices to oversee the competition or they can price it higher
than the competition to keep up the buying powers of consumers.
Another technique they could use is value based pricing. This is where the price of
the product is considered whilst thinking about the consumer and whether that will
give them any benefit, convenience or usefulness (LearnMarketing, 2011). NIVEA,
being a beauty and healthcare company, would use this simply because they are
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Financials
Costs for marketing the goods will vary from organisation to organisation, as they
all have different needs and strategies in marketing goods. A typical marketing
plan will range from as low as 1% of sales to as high as 30% or even 50% for new
companies. The most common method for formulating a marketing budget is to
use a percentage of sales this means that a portion of the sales revenue from the
company will go towards the budget for advertising and marketing (Morrow, 2009).
In the past, NIVEA have been able to use the promotional mix in the
launch of NIVEA Visage Young back in 2005. Advertising for this product
was carried out through billboards, TV advertisements, internet ads etc. as
well as using sales promotion to target a niche market properly. For
NIVEAs Wimbledon campaign, they could benefit from using online and
social media advertising.
Broadcast rights for the Wimbledon Games primarily belong to the BBC,
who dont incorporate advertisements unless they are TV trailers for their
programmes hence TV advertising will not be much of an option. Internet
advertising is better in this case as Wimbledons official website can list
NIVEA as a sponsor and hence allow for them to sell during the games.
NIVEA should also base their marketing campaign according to the
lifecycle of the product, or more so lifecycle of the event. As it is only a 2
week event, most of their advertising and promotion would be done before
the start of the event to make sure that there is sufficient time for the
ideal target market to become aware of the products.
In the opening of the Wimbledon Championships, their marketing and
strategy should be very direct, trying to build a relationship with the
consumers, by advertising the products at a moderate price to draw them
in, and as the Championships continue, the products should change in
price, assuming that the target market is still in capability of buying the
products. The chart below demonstrates this concept well:
In
summary, the chart shows how NIVEA would plan their marketing strategy,
from before the event to the end of the event:
Pre Event teaser posters around the vicinity of the city, independent
internet advert
Opening Event Stall outside the centre court to attract the attention of
those within the grounds, leafleting, set prices moderate
During the Event (First Week) It is expected that the target segment of
consumers will have had enough exposure to the marketing material for
the product that demand rises
During the Event (Second Week) The final week of Wimbledon will mean
more people statistically as people are more inclined to buy tickets to the
final games hence more sales
Penultimate Days (Semi Finals and Finals) NIVEA would scramble for last
minute sales before the event closes. Promotional tactics such as offers
and loyalty discounts could be useful here
Post-Event Marketing (2 Weeks to a Month After) After the event, NIVEA
would determine whether the marketing campaign was a success and
would ideally make plans to expand their new product line to
supermarkets and health stores for the rest of the summer and holiday
season
countries can affect the controlling and evaluation of the marketing plan.
The USA for example is divided into 4 population groups baby boomers,
Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z. Each of these groups have
various impacts on the marketing plans and strategies of companies
(Andre, 2015):
Baby Boomers Post World War II baby boom produced baby boomers
(born between 1946 and 1964), who have been the most powerful forces
for marketing environments
Generation X Boomers followed by births Generation Xers (born
between 1965 and 1976). They are considered an overlooked consumer
group and are the most educated to date, with heavy buying powers
Millennials Millennials make up a group who is more financially strapped,
with high debts and high unemployment rates. Technology is their way of
life i.e. rather than being marketed by advertisements and physical
marketing materials, they have engaged with brands in a whole different
way using social media or mobile technology
Generation Z any people born after the year 2000, this population group
include those boys and girls spending an average of $43bn of their own
money and influencing a $200bn market of their parents spending in the
USA. From a marketing stance, these teens will form new brand
relationships that extend into the markets of the future
Looking at the above population groups, it can be seen that Baby Boomers
and Generation X have the most marketing power with Millennials and
Generation Zers having less and less physical marketing power.
The UK population, as an example, of Millennials and Generation Zers is
becoming better educated, with more and more students opting for postsecondary education this will significantly affect what people buy and
also how they will buy.
Another similar factor that could affect the implementation of a marketing
plan is market segmentation. Segmentation is the process of breaking the
market up into different sections which can help to find the ideal market
that the organisation wants to target. However, as useful as this technique
is, it does have some weaknesses which could affect the overall planning
and there are three distinct weaknesses (Mack, 2013) which are:
Poor Segmentation Segmentation relies on looking into criteria such as
age, region, gender and income level among others. However, too much
focus on one of these criteria over the others will mean the difference
between success and failure of the implementation of the marketing plan.
Over Segmentation Sometimes, when an organisation targets too much
of a specific group, this could result in groups that are too small to create
profits. If a segment that small has very few members, this will result
smaller potential revenues and an unclear idea of the success of the
marketing plan.
Lack of Data Businesses, especially small ones, do not have the same
access to market research data like large corporations, so the analysis of a
market during the segmentation will be tough. The less detailed and less
rich the data is, the more mistakes that are likely to be committed during
segmentation.
NIVEAs past performance under the Beiersdorf umbrella of companies,
has seen a 38% rise in sales over the last 3-4 years, with NIVEA becoming
the best performing company for Beiersdorf. This shows that NIVEA has
the time, resources and evidence of past solid financial performance to
carry out a marketing plan with success.
NIVEA has also successfully carried out a segmentation analysis to combat
the demography factors that affect the marketing plan. They have chosen
to target males and females aged 18-35, hence they will have a clear
picture of how that segment will purchase and what their buying powers
will be.
Taking these factors into account will mean that NIVEA will be able to
implement their marketing plan at Wimbledon 2017 easily and with full
capability.
and
How
They
Influence
The marketing mix, also known as the 4Ps of marketing, can each be
individually managed to help organisations create an overall ethical
understanding of product, price, place and promotion. Organisations who
put an ethical stance on their marketing mix will lead to an improvement
in brand equity, but those that dont risk their brand becoming
proverbially tried in a public place (Gimesy, 2012) i.e. their brand will
lose consumers loyalty.
Product
Many marketers research their ideal market segment before going out to
market their products, because this will ensure the highest level of sales
as well as decent brand equity. To ensure the ethics of this are met, the
organisation will think of the following questions:
Price
The pricing model of a product should also be the best the one that
increases sales and profit, however, from time to time, the setting of a
price can have major ethical implications for the organisation, internally
and externally. Pricing to increase profits means that consumers with low
income will miss out on buying the product as their buying powers will be
low, and also, where the product is a necessity of life, it puts those
consumers in an unfair and unjust position (Gimesy, 2012).
Place
Promotion
Ethical issues are defined as those issues that have a moral right and
wrong answer. In other words, they are those issues which could either be
good for an organisation or bad for an organisation. Many of these ethical
issues are dealt with under the Codes of Conduct that organisations
stipulate in their mission statement or corporate governance statements.
Child Labour
Child labour, although prevalent in the 19 th and 20th century, is still around
nowadays, with 168 million children still in child labour activities globally
(UNICEF, 2013). Many organisations have made child labour processes
illegal in their production of products and goods and many of them
continue to promise the abolishment of all forms of child labour.
A famous example is Nike, who were involved in a large child labour
scandal back in the 1990s, and were accused of employing and exploiting
children to produce soccer balls and Converse shoes (TED, 1999). They
were accused of employing people in horrendous conditions, many of
whom were children under the age of 15. Since then they have raised the
wages of workers and have become more transparent about its labour
practices (Lutz, 2015).
Beiersdorf has stated in their Code of Conduct that they do not tolerate
any form of illegal labour by children under the age of 15 and do not
accept any forms of slave trade (Beiersdorf, 2016). This is further
expressed in their Ethics and Human Rights statement, where they state
that the protection of human rights is a priority and that they do not
tolerate stand for any type of forced labour. For example, in their Supplier
Code of Conduct, the use of punishments in forced labour as well as verbal
abuse is prohibited under the ILO Conventions 29 and 105 (Beiersdorf
USA, 2016).
Transparency
Beiersdorf, working closely with all its partner companies, including NIVEA,
have stated that transparency and informing the shareholders and public
as soon as possible are top priorities in their statement of corporate
communications (Beiersdorf AG, 2016). They release annual and quarterly
reports and these are prepared in line with IFRS and in accordance with
the countrys commercial code.
Just like Beiersdorf, NIVEA also have a duty to be transparent. Being a
producer of creams and deodorants with chemicals and natural
ingredients, they have a duty to be honest and open with the potential
side effects of their products to avoid putting the health and safety of its
consumers at risk. Also they have to be honest and open about the
benefits of their products to ensure that they do not engage in unfair
trading with other manufacturers of creams and deodorants. In other
words they should describe their benefits as impartially as possible so
consumers know where their brand loyalty is positioned.
Consumers may also buy products and redistribute them for 150-200%
mark-up as a means of making money. This is seen as an illegal practice in
many organisations and NIVEA is no exception. If products were marked up
after being once sold already, this means that secondary consumers are
paying more than what they should be paying. Usually, companies that do
this would state clearly that the RRP (recommended retail price) of the
product is one cost, but they would also clearly state that the price it is
being sold for is less. Marketing planning would be affected because this
would lead to lost sales and lost consumers once they find out the
companies have been double selling their products. As with false claims,
the brand image will be hurt and the brand loyalty will disappear as
reselling products as a business gives way to trademark abuse which
could also affect the overall market segmentation approach when
consumers are being searched for by the company no-one will want to
buy products that have been resold.
Voucher counterfeiting (also known as voucher mis-redemption) is another
unethical practice where consumers may redevelop and copy vouchers to
get discounts for the same product over and over again. NIVEA may be
most at risk with this unethical practice their marketing planning
procedures detail how they would approach consumers and increase the
sales of their products. However, starting a loyalty program in NIVEA may
lead to voucher counterfeiting in which consumers will want discounts on
NIVEA products again and again, which could create losses for the
company as well as affecting their advertising ratings. At most risk also
will be NIVEAs magazine advertorials prining vouchers in popular health
and beauty magazines will lead to consumers buying multiple magazines
for the same vouchers over and over and there is a risk of them
reproducing these vouchers, which may be unethical for the company.
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