Gillette Brand Audit Report: Factors Contributing to its Global Success

‘GILLETTE’
BRAND AUDIT REPORT
Submitted to:
Ms. JAYASHREE SUNDAR
Prof. FREDA J. SWAMINATHAN

FORE School of Management, New Delhi

Submitted by:

ASHUTOSH KUMAR JHA [91011]
NISHANT SINGH [91039]
STUTI GUPTA [91056]
SUDHIR MAKKAR [91057]

GILLETTE - BRAND AUDIT REPORT

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement ................................................................................. 3
Executive Summary............................................................................... 4
Introduction ........................................................................................... 5
History - Gillette India .......................................................................... 5
Gillette Products in India ...................................................................... 6
Gillette’s Strategy ................................................................................... 7
Competitor analysis ............................................................................... 9
Brand portfolio .....................................................................................11
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning ..........................................11
Marketing Mix ..................................................................................... 12
SWOT Analysis .................................................................................... 14
POP & POD ........................................................................................ 15
Brand Elements ................................................................................... 16
Brand Equity ....................................................................................... 20
Philanthropy ........................................................................................ 26
Role of celebrities ................................................................................ 26
Threats to equity ................................................................................. 27
Annexure .............................................................................................. 29
References ........................................................................................... 33

FORE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, NEW DELHI Page 2


Acknowledgement

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude towards Ms. Jayshree Sundar and Prof. Freda
J. Swaminathan, our faculty at FORE School of Management for teaching us the various
aspects of brand management in theory as well as application, all of which have helped us
compile this report.

This is a comprehensive brand audit report with focus on all the elements of brand
management and the learning and knowledge imbibed from Ms. Sundar and Prof.
Swaminathan have gone a long way into helping us in preparing this report.

We appreciate your help and thank you for this guidance and support.

Date: 20th December, 2010
Place: FORE School of Management, New Delhi



Executive Summary
Gillette has been the leading brand in men‘s grooming industry across the globe. With its
wide range of products caters to the premium segment of the men‘s grooming market. It faces
intense competition in the toiletries market whereas the competition in the razor market is not
that intense.

This report aims to study the brand equity of Gillette and factors contributing to it. Gillette is
a universally present brand which has emerged as most admired brand by customers in almost
every country. In an era of globalization, almost 70% market share globally is unheard of.
Studying the factors that have given Gillette ‗the best a brand can get‘ advantage would help
us understand what is needed for a brand to rise above the clutter and make itself
synonymous with industry itself.

For studying these we looked at factors that actually contribute to the brand equity like Brand
Image, Brand Personality, Brand Recognition, etc. This involved understanding what are the
things/ personalitiesWe also studied how and how much product features and innovation
contributes to the brand equity. Gillette has universally used celebrities as the face of their
brand. We have also looked at how having a celebrity face promoting your brand helps in
increasing the brand equity. We also looked at what are the risks involved with relying on
celebrities.



Introduction
The Gillette Company is the world leader in the men's grooming product category as well as
in certain women's grooming products. Although more than half of company profits are still
derived from shaving equipment—the area in which the company started—Gillette has also
attained the top spots worldwide in writing instruments (Paper Mate, Parker, and Waterman
brands) and correction products (Liquid Paper), toothbrushes and other oral care products
(Oral-B), and alkaline batteries (Duracell products, which generate almost one-fourth of
company profits). Gillette maintains 64 manufacturing facilities in 27 countries, and its
products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories, with more than 60 percent of
sales occurring outside the United States.

History - Gillette India
Gillette India was incorporated on 9th February 1984 at Rajasthan. House of Poddar
Enterprise (HOPE) and Gillette Company, U.S.A. (Gillette), promoted it. Gillette India
manufactures and markets Gillette Grooming Products and distributes Oral– B and Duracell
products. More than 60 % of the products sold in India are locally manufactured by Gillette
India. Parent company Gillette (Refer Time Line, section 10.1) owns a majority stake in
Gillette India.

Company entered into a foreign collaboration agreement with HOPE for setting up of a
company for the manufacture of stainless steel razor blades in which Gillette agreed to
subscribe 24% of the equity capital. This agreement provided technical collaboration by
Gillette over the full range of technical know-how and technical assistance for the
manufacture of razor blades, razors and shaving systems. In 1985, the company came out
with an IPO for raising Rs 26 million to fund the setting up of its plant at Bhiwadi in
Rajasthan. Company placed a plant for the manufacture in the first phase, 200 million
stainless steel razor blades per annum in the starting. Blades manufactured by the Company
were of two types, the premium 7 O'Clock, Ejtek Super Platinum and the stainless brand 7
O'Clock Ejtek Super Stainless. Company took over Sharpedge Ltd.,by acquiring the entire
share capital of that company.

In 1998, company decided that it would use Gillette as its pre-eminent brand placing it ahead
of the 7O'Clock brand.



Gillette Products in India
Gillette India Limited (GIL) is one of India's well-known FMCG Companies that has in its
portfolio GILLETTE MACH 3 TURBO, ORAL-B and DURACELL - world's leading brands
and has carved a reputation for delivering high quality, value-added products to meet the
needs of consumers. It was incorporated in the year 1985 as Indian Shaving Products
Limited, now Gillette India Limited.

In the year 1990-91, the company launched two products, first was 7 0'Clock EJTEK PII
Shaving System and second was shaving cream with three variants. In the year 1993-94, with
the launch of Gillette Presto Ready shaver in February 1993, the company commenced the
launch of Gillette Shaving Products in India.

In the year 1995-96, launch of 7 0'Clock Ready II ready shave and tooth brushes under a well
known international brand name Oral-B as per distribution arrangement, further strengthened
the Brand name.

In the year 1996-97, the company launched the latest Gillette Sensor Excel shaving systems
which met excellent consumer response. In the year 1997, the company launched World
renounced Gillette Sensor Excel for Women shaving system. It also launched Gillette Shave
foam.

In the year 1998, the company successfully launched the Gillette Series range comprising
Shave gel, Shave Foam, After Shave Splashes, Conditioners and Deodorants, thereby making
pronounced its perception as the premier male grooming company.

In the First month of 2000, the company launched Gillette Mach 3. In the year 2000 Gillette
launched Geep Laserlite, a Sport flashlight. Company also successfully consolidated Duracell
and Wilkinson business to leverage distribution strengths with mega displays and sales
promotion.

In the year 2001, Gillette undertook a series of very successful consumer promotions across
product lines. It also launched the Gillette Series Satin Care for Women Wild Berry Line. In
the year 2002, this was the year of turnaround for the company. In the year 2003, Company
successfully relaunched Gillette Foam. Towards the End of 2003, Company launched Gillette
Vector Plus.



The Gillette Company, USA was acquired worldwide through merger in October, 2005 by
Procter& Gamble Company, USA creating the largest Consumer products Company in the
World.

In the year 2007-2008, Company launched The Gillette Winners program that had sports
legends Roger Federer, Thierry Henry and Tiger Woods and Rahul Dravid. An innovative
program "Free Dental Check up" was organized to enable consumers to benefit from
expertise of professional dentists at no cost. Oral-B brand launched a new variant "Shiny
Clean" targeted at the value segment.

Besides the above mentioned product launches, company kept introducing new variants of
their existing products from time to time in market. These not only made product portfolio of
Gillette large but also proved its commitment to Indian market.

Gillette’s Strategy
The company has always been known for the strength of its brands, and continues to
penetrate deeper into the hearts of Indian Consumers.

When Gillette entered Indian shaving products market, it was characterized by a 97% share
of double-edged blades - a business dominated by the Malhotras, with brands like Topaz and
Panama. Instead of going head-on against them in this highly price-sensitive market, ISPL
had chosen to focus on premium products. The strategy has been to bring more people into
the twin-edged segment, and then gradually move them towards even more premium
products. Also, by segmenting the market with offerings at different price points - 7O'Clock,
Sensor and Mach III, ISPL offers a continuing upgrade path for users.

Gillette has always created heroes out of their products and individual products have created
a name for themselves in market and are differentiated from each other easily. Mach 3,
Sensor Excel, Presto, etc are recognised names by themselves in market. And this has been
achieved by astute promotion campaigns and astute product launch campaigns of each single
product.

Years of product innovation and heavy investment in marketing and advertising has allowed
Gillette to occupy most dominant position of any of the major global consumer goods brands
with an estimated 70% share of the global razor blade category. Gillette instead of relaxing



and being satisfied with its large market share, Gillette has made efforts to improve much
beyond that level of market share

Gillette has always priced its newly launched products at a high premium and relied on its
loyal follower base to keep coming back. Gillette launched its five-bladed Fusion line in 2006
with a 40% price premium over Mach3, its previous three-bladed offering.

To reduce threat from competitors, Gillette even when launching new products keeps old
product lines alive. This strategy has made Gillette‘s second best selling product its best
selling products best competitors and increased market share in process. Despite the fact that
Fusion and Mach 3 lines generating significant profits, with such a huge share of the shaving
market it makes more sense for Gillette to focus its marketing resources on switching its own
customers from Mach 3 to the more profitable Fusion line than trying to win any more share
from competitors.

Also Gillette‘s products are known to have a huge margin. Accusations have been made that
despite a retail price of £9.72 for a pack of four Fusion razor blades in UK, the actual
manufacturing and packaging costs for this product is less than 30p. (Source:
http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2009/06/5-reasons-gillette-is-the-best-a-brand-can-
get.html)

Gillette has supported its products with huge promotional blitzes. High and sustained
advertising has created a huge recognition factor for the brand. They have been universally
associated with some of the best known sportsperson at their peak. Besides they have also
sponsored sports events like golf, racing, etc as well as video gaming championships.

Structure

Post Gillette P&G merger, Gillette has adopted the organisation structure of P&G
2006onwards and effective July 1‘ 2006 relocated its headquarters from Gurgaon to P&G
Plaza in Mumbai, which will house all P&G subsidiaries in India. P&Gs organizational
structure is broadly divided into three heads: GBU(Global Business Unit), MDO(Market
Development Organization)and GBS(Global Business Services).Gillette moved from
business units based on geographic regions to GBUs based on product lines. MDOs develop
market strategies to build business based on local knowledge and GBS bring



Competitor analysis
Colgate- Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive is one of the largest companies in the FMCG sector. The Company had
launched its International Palmolive Shave Gel and Palmolive Shave Foam in the year 2000,
in response to growing consumer interest in skin conditioning benefits. The Chairman of
Indian Operations mentioned that the company‘s strategy for Personal Care is to remain in
top niches. Every year, they intended to take 3-4 initiatives.

Colgate-Palmolive has shaving products under the brand name Palmolive shaving cream. It
has three variants in the shaving cream/gel/foam category.

Proctor & Gamble

Before buyout of Gillette, in the shaving cream/gel/foam category it had a very strong brand
in the market, Old Spice. Old Spice has products in each of the cream, gel and foam category.
Since the acquisition, P & G has gone easy on Old Spice brand and promoted Gillette more

Wilkinson Sword

Wilkinson Sword is one of the only two brands which competes with Gillette across all the
product ranges from razors (both twin blades as well as ready shavers), shaving creams/ gel/
foams and aftershave range. Wilkinson Sword has been in Indian market for almost as long as
Gillette but, as in global market, has not been able to break Gillette‘s stranglehold on ready
shaver or shaving accessory market.

SuperMax

SuperMax is only other company with presence across all whole product range of shaving.
Recently SuperMax‘s head of India operation claimed to have 60% of twin-blade Indian
market by volume. Both these firms have almost negligible promotional campaigns. But,
SuperMax has gained advantage from the fact that Gillette, with its focus on ready shavers,
has cut on the promotion campaigns for the twin-blades sold under name 7o‘Clock.

HLL

With this massive distribution network in place, HLL enjoys commanding position in many
FMCG products in Indian market.



In the Shaving Cream/Gel/Foam category also HLL has two brands. Both of them are very
strong brands in the Indian market. With the help of its distribution system these brands have
a deeper reach to the Indian consumers.

The pricing of shaving products by HLL for both Axe and Denim is almost same. It is also
very similar to that of Old Spice shaving cream. But HLL does not have any product in the
gel or foam category to compete brands like Old Spice and Gillette.

Godrej

Godrej is a domestic brand of shaving cream and now it is looking to expand in the global
market for hair color and shaving creams. It has two variants in the shaving cream category.
They are Godrej Shaving Cream and Godrej Premium Shaving Cream. One observation is
that even the premium shaving cream from Godrej is priced quite below the competitors
products of same quantity.

Fa

Fa has two shaving cream products in the market.

Park Avenue

Park Avenue has long been player in shaving cream and Aftershave market. It has also been
backed by promotional campaigns. Also eponymously named clothing line‘s reputation has
worked well for the shaving accessories range too.

Local players

There were many organised and unorganised local player. Since the early 1990‘s the industry
has seen large shift in the consumer perceptions and consumption patterns. Many local
players like Topaz and Panama gave way to the larger players in market after failing to
compete on the reputation and innovative products fronts.

Other Brands

Other competitive brands like Dettol, Vicco are also there in the market scene. These are not
premium segment brands and were priced accordingly.



Brand portfolio
Product Details

Company Manufacture stainless steel razor blades. Gillette India has a wider portfolio of core
business of shaving products sold under Gillette, 7‟0 Clock and Wilkinson brands, Battery
and flashlights business and oral care products (Oral B). Company has strong presence in
shaving razor blades market. It has the premium quality 7 O'Clock Ejtek shaving brush, 7
O'Clock Ejtek P II shaving system with a metal spine and a shave cream in three variants,
Gillette Presto Readyshaver, Readyshaver under the Brand 7O'Clock Ready II, tooth brushes
under the well known international brand name Oral-B, Gillette Sensor & Sensor Excel
shaving systems which met with an excellent consumer and trade response, Gillette Shave
Foam, Gillette Aerosol" shaving cream, new generation triple blade shaving system
Mach3Turbo etc. Company also entered into ladies personal care segment with the launch of
the Gillette Sensor Excel for women. Company has strong diversified portfolio to increase its
male personal products coverage. Company has tied up with Rediff-on-the-Net e-commerce
to market its product and increase its customer base.(Section 10.4 for product line)

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Segmentation

The segmentation that Gillette adopts can be classified as a multi segmentation approach.
There are different levels to this segmentation starting with a demographic segmentation.

Gillette had in 1990‘ s particularly targeted higher income consumers. Thus, we see that
income segmentation has been the main factor when Gillette decided to segment the market.
Even now the basic segmentation has been on basis of income but with wider portfolio now
they target well to do middle class primarily. Gillette understands with lower rate of shaving
in India, its products would be successful among segment of population which considers
shaving to be a desirable activity. Gillette after seeing the success of the Mach 3 Turbo,
decided to offer a similar product for women-Venus Power. So, Gillette has also used gender
segmentation.

Gillette has also been using lifestyle segmentation. It has always targeted professionals with
active professional life which requires them to be well-groomed and smart. Its usage of
sportsperson heavily in its campaigns has been to highlight this main point. All the celebrities



endorsing Gillette have image of well-grromed and cultured within their profession as well as
outside the playing field.

With growth of India, the target segment of Gillette has also greatly increased. The aspiring
middle-class has proven to be the sitting market waiting for Gillette to come and tap it.

Targeting

Gillette has targeted the affluent and growing middle class and upper class segment through
marketing promotion to create a associative and aspirational connect. It has used TV
commercials in sports telecasts like Formula1 racing, FIFA World Cups, Cricket matches,
etc. Bigger the event, like football world cup, more intensive is Gillette‘s promotional efforts.
Besides TVC, Gillette has relied on adverts in print media. Gillette has traditionally published
its adverts in lifestyle magazines and publications. They also has in-shop branding in larger
shops to reach their target audience.

Positioning

Based on the lifestyle segmentation, Gillette has selected ambitious and well-groomed
professionals as its target segment. Traditionally it has positioned itself as a premier product
in shaving and grooming range with premium pricing. Ever since 1920s, even in face of
competition, Gillette has maintained its premium pricing and relied sustained customer
loyalty to maintain its leadership position. It also positions itself cut above its competitors
through launch of new and innovative products every few years with perceived benefits and
advantages over its already available products.

Marketing Mix
Product: Gillette‘s global product portfolio includes products in shaving razors (twin-blades,
ready shavers, use-n-throw ready shavers), Razors for females, shaving lather (creams, gels
and foams), After shave lotions (alcohol based and non-alcohol based), deodorants and anti-
perspirants, hair-care (shampoos and conditioners), hair creams and gels. These products are
directly under Gillette brand. In India, Gillette has actively promoted only razors, shaving
lathers, aftershaves and deodorants.

There are multiple variants within these product lines to suit individual skins and
requirements.



Gillette has introduced innovative products like Sensor Excel, Mach3, Duracell alkaline
batteries, disposable razors, twin/triple edge cartridges to the Indian consumers. It has
captured a market share of more than 88 per cent in the premium shaving systems segment.

Price: As already mentioned Gillette has traditionally priced its products at a premium to an
extent where some market analysts believe it to be fleecing customers relying on customer
loyalty. Some products are said to carry as high as 3000% mark-up price over the
manufacturing cost.

Place: Gillette is one of the most widely distributed brand across globe. Gillette‘s sales and
distribution network is wide, enabling consumers all over the country to buy its products.
Gillette has localised its distribution system and made it specific to the Indian market. Gillette

has targeted the Indian market on a shop-by-shop basis as against the European and US
market where there are only few major retailers.

The distribution chain is known to be smooth and without any problems regarding handling
and acquiring stocks. On an average, a retail unit stocks the maximum number of Prestos, in
relation to Vector Plus and Mach 3. Also as compared to Presto being available almost at
every grocery store, Mach 3 and sensor Excels are stocked at shops of certain size only which
are also able to provide prominent display space.

Promotion: Gillette relies heavily on promotional campaign with celebrity endorsement,
targeted specially towards young men.

Gillette India benefits from its parent‘s spending, strategy on advertisement and brand
promotion. Gillette has a long history of promotions for its products, especially towards
young men. Current promotions include sponsorship of sports events such as the Rugby
League Tri-nations and shipping their then-flagship product (currently the Fusion) to males in
the United States around the time of their 18th birthday. Athletes such as Roger Federer,
Tiger Woods, Shoaib Malik, Derek Jeter, Thierry Henry, Kenan Sofuoglu, Park Ji-Sung,
Rahul Dravid, and Michael Clarke are sponsored by the company. Marketing experts have
highlighted "the curse of Gillette", given the mishaps that happen to sports stars associated
with the brand.

TV/Radio– Gillette has an extensive advertisement campaign being run on television. The
company uses a mix strategy for its ad campaigns for different products. It has adopted the
first approach for mach3 & mach3 turbo ads wherein it uses a standardized ad across all



countries , only making changes in the language, colours etc. For the lower segment razors
like vector plus & presto it retains the global theme but adapts it to local market needs.

Print– This medium is mainly used by Gillette to spread awareness of their percents-off deals
i.e. their reduced price packs and banded packs. Several ads are flashed in daily newspapers
and magazines to advertise these schemes.

Internet- The Gillette website is excellent and there are dedicated websites for their new
products which present the product and related information in a very nice manner. However
the company does not have a India specific website which the company can develop as an
additional promotional tool.

SWOT Analysis
STRENGTH WEAKNESS

 Strong brand equity  Profitability highly dependent on core

 Market Leadership  Over-reliance on high-street retail outlets
for premium products
 Well Diversified portfolio

 Technological Innovation

 Wide distribution network

 Loyal customer base

OPPORTUNITY THREATS

 New product launches  Imitations / disposables are a threat to
the Gillette’s offering
 Price increases in premium shaving
segments  Pressure on pricing power

 Changing Demographics and Societal  Competitive environment
Attitudes

 Low Shaving frequency



POP & POD
Points of Parity

1) Gillette has traditionally differentiated its razors from those of its competitors by
claiming to provide a closer, more comfortable shave.

2) The quality of products is very good in terms of durability, accuracy, design and ease
of use. Also much diversified product portfolio.

3) Strong promotion strategies and advertisements including famous personalities from
very fields like media, sports etc..

4) A brand having multiple offering under its umbrella should be having same value
experienced by the buyer. Organizations need to be offering same values under a
Brand. A change in values across the product line turns the consumer into a confused
buyer. Gillette is successfully executing vice-versa effect for decades.

Points of Difference

1) Strongest distribution network thought the world in its product category

2) Gillette also enjoys leader position in shave preparation market. Gillette's share of the
shave preparations category stands at 60% of market, distinctly ahead of other major
players including Palmolive So follows premium pricing strategies.

3) Gillette is ripe to reposition itself from the tag "innovation" and let Fusion drive the
innovation wheel. Fusion looks to be a serious effort as Gillette has launched
HydraGel shave gel and HydraCool after shave products under Fusion sub-brand.

4) Gillette ensures that the Investors and Community sections have all of the detail
necessary to underpin the brand‘s credibility. Anyone wishing to invest in Gillette can
find everything from live stock quotes and charts to annual reports and webcasts, as
well as the ability to buy the company‘s shares online.

5) Gillette has put up a lot of effort on building their homepage which is very popular. It
looks cool and has a nice pale-blue shade which reflects the real power under it. On
the cause-related front, Gillette uses the site to promote a number of initiatives on a
national and international level that help enhance brand value by bringing some much



needed support to not just disadvantaged communities, but also to key causes such as
women‘s cancer programs.

Brand Elements
Brand elements are those trademarked devices that serve to identify and differentiate the
brand. These are also sometimes known as brand identities. Items like brand name, logo,
mnemonics, characters, spokespersons, slogans and jingles are some items that can be
characterized as brand elements. All or most of them are trademarked and registered by the
parent company of the brand and these are what appear in front of the consumer in the
brand‘s communication and help increase recall of the brand as these are things that the
consumers remember a brand by.

According to theory, there are some specific criteria which need to be kept in mind while
deciding on the brand elements. These are points which when satisfied help in serving the full
purpose of having brand elements. Some of these criteria are:

1. Memorable – These elements should be easily recognized and can be easily recalled.

2. Meaningful – If not all then most of the brand elements should have a meaning and
should associated in some or the other way with the culture and values of the brand.

3. Likeable – In simple terms brand elements should be fun, interesting or may be
aesthetically pleasing so that the consumers like it and attach positive connotations with
these elements.

4. Transferable – Brand elements need to be the same for different markets and
geographies, for different product or service categories. So transferability across these
boundaries is critical.

5. Adaptable – They must be flexible and the company should be able to update them as
and when required.

6. Protectable – They should be legally protected from counterfeiting and copyrights
violation.

Now keeping these criteria in mind, let us have a look at the brand elements associated with
Gillette and according to the consumers, how well do these elements stand up to the criteria
defined above.



1. Brand Name – Gillette

Gillette is one of the best known names across globe in FMCG sector. Gillette has over
800 products in almost 180 countries across globe. Gillette company was named after the
founder of company, King C. Gillette. Gillette name sounds modern and has no negative
connotation in any of the languages in any of the markets it has operated in. It being a
foreign brand attracts consumers who feel proud to be associated with a big international
brand. It is easy in terms of memorability and having a long history attached to it along
with the geographies it is now operating in; it has proved its adaptability and
transferability.

Internationally Gillette changed its founding name, Gillette Safety Razor Company, to
Gillette Company in 1950s when it started diversifying into other varied products. In
India, Company was established with name ‗Indian Shaving Pvt. Ltd.‘ but later changed
to Gillette India Ltd.

There are different strategies which can be adopted when choosing brand names. Gillette
adopts a ‗dualithic‘ brand name strategy for many of its products. Ina survey when asked
to name Gillette products, 7 out of 10 respondents considered ‗Mach 3‘ and ‗Fusion‘ to
be individual brand names and didn‘t precede these names with ‗Gillette‘. This strategy
can be used in order to ensure differentiation between the products; as if all products just
fell under the ‗Gillette‘ brand name, it would be difficult to achieve a perceived
difference.
The suggestiveness of the brand names can be a contributing part of a brands identity
and can help build positive associations with the brand and create positive brand
attitudes. The brand name ‗Mach3‘ for instance, is a term linked to the speed in which
certain jets can travel and may be associated with:
• Very fast speed
• Precision
• The ‗3‘ blade system
2. Brand Logo

Gillette logo has evolved over last century. It
is uniform across globe upholding the
impression of globally reliable brand locally



available. Logo exudes the characters brand stands for-stylish, clean and modern.

Logo has always been written either in blue or black or in white with blue/black
prominently in the background. Blue colour represents the clean and smooth side of the
brand while black lends the smart and sophisticated look to the brand logo. Words are
written in clean and legible font which is easily readable. A shining point in the images
(like one over ‗G‘ in the represented image) reminds of the sharp edged blades Gillette
has so much come to be associated with.

3. URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

The website link or URL for the global website is http://www.gillette.com. Within this
website there are company specific links. Country specific sites majorly display the
range of products available and give out very little other details. Main global link has
major details about the company. Besides this link Gillette also has other assorted
websites linked to its sponsored events and organised events, like
http://www.gillettechampions.com/. It is easy to remember and use, hence making it an
effective brand element.

With Changing times Gillette has also made its presence felt on new age trends like
social networking websites. http://www.facebook.com/#!/gillette

Campaigns such as ‗Women against Lazy Stubble‘ have their own link such as
http://www.shaveindia.com/pressrelease.php.

4. Slogan

Gillette‘s slogan ‗THE BEST A MAN CAN GET‘ has been used for past few years and
is universally accepted as a very apt slogan for the brand. Going by the meaning of the
tagline, it can be interpreted in two ways

i. Best shaving product a man can get
ii. Best condition a man can get into is only after using Gillette product

Although two meanings can render a slogan ambiguous and confusing, in this case both
the meanings are complimentary and add value to the brand in consumer‘s mind. Slogan
is easy to remember and catchy. It also makes the target segment of the products very
clear.



Statement also comes out as a strong and confident statement which would assure
customers of putting their faith in hands of a brand which has confidence of saying it is
best in the market. This slogan has also greatly assisted Gillette in becoming one of the
most trusted brand in market.

5. Packaging

The packaging of a product has been described as the ‗silent
salesman. In Packaging important aspects are:

 Who your customers are

 Should be both aethetical as well as functional

 Suitable for your distribution selling style

 Physically Safe and environmentally neutral

 Economical

Gillette's packaging fulfils the entire above criterion. Packages are in company's colours
and hence very easily recognisable. These have been designed keeping in mind the razors
they are supposed to contain. Packages are mostly of treated plastic which is physically
safe and easy to handle as well as economical.

Transparent coverings on the front make for a good display on the shop
windows and one of the visual appeals. Colour of packs has been kept
blue/ black keeping in general product coloration tone. But for female
centric products colours have been kept soft and feminine.

Cartridges come in various sizes of 4,6 and 8 for different price range.
Inner hard plastic case keeps blades safe from damage as well as
causing damage to other goods during transit and stocking.



Brand Equity
Customer Based Brand Equity occurs when the consumer has a high level of awareness and
familiarity with the brand and holds some strong, favourable and unique brand associations in
memory. The two primary sources of building brand equity are as follows.

1. Brand awareness

Awareness about the brand consists of two dimensions, brand recognition and brand
recall. Let us see the steps taken by Gillette to build awareness among consumers about
the brand and also how Gillette performs on these parameters.

(i) Brand Recognition – If a brand cue is given, how accurately a consumer can confirm
the band prior to actual exposure is termed as brand recognition. The brand
recognition comes out to be very strong for Gillette. Any exposure to ready shavers or
aerosol based shaving lathers instantly leads to association with Gillette. This high
level of association has been formed because of Gillette‘s presence in these markets
devoid of any strong competition. Gillette‘s name has been so deeply associated with
razors and shaving that even mention of shaving brings out name of Gillette out of
consumer.

(ii) Brand Recall – Brand recall is the consumer‘s ability to retrieve the brand from his
memory when he asked about the product or service category, the needs fulfilled by
the category or other such details. Gillette scores strongly on this front also and has,
according to the consumers, the maximum brand recall. In the survey conducted to
study company‘s brand equity it was found that when asked about men‘s grooming



products, first company 85% people thought of was Gillette. Brand recall in case of
razors and Shaving lathers is even higher.

Having strong brand awareness certainly helps as it helps the brand become a part of
the consideration set and increase consumer‘s purchase motivation. The awareness
also increases knowledge about the offerings and helps the consumer make intelligent
choices about what he wants, hence increasing his purchase ability.

2. Brand Image

Creating strong and positive brand image requires communication and marketing
programs which can link certain favorable terms and connotations with the brands in the
minds of the consumer. These brand associations can be built not only through
advertising but also through direct exposure and information from other sources. Public
relations and good service levels are critical to building a good brand image for the
brand. Brand image is boosted if product matches or exceeds consumer expectation and
suffers otherwise.

In case of Gillette, Brand image has been formed through company‘s products and
communication. Gillette has made its name as best that a man can get in his attempt to
become smart and well-groomed. Gillette‘s long association with successful athletes has
given it an image of competition and success, as well as its international appeal. Gillette
is also seen as an innovative company always coming up with something new and
markedly better than anything presently available in market.

3. Mental Map
A mental map is generally a visual depiction of the core brand associations and can be
useful in defining the brand mantra. Many of these core brand associations come from
the brand‘s positioning and communication strategies. These are points which in essence
define the brand‘s identity and representation.
Based on the consumer survey some of the brand associations that can be mapped onto a
mental map for Vodafone are depicted below. Then from this mental map, we will be
able to define the brand mantra for Vodafone.



Masculine
Image Reliable
Upper-Class
Confident

Performance Sports

Value for money Golf

Convenient American football

Innovative Car racing

Customer Oriented Cricket
Football

People Negatives

Masculine Premium Priced
Active products
Affluent No female brand
Well -Groomed Over relying on
sports stars

Gillette’s Mental Map

These associations have been created over the period due to the promotions and celebrities
associated with the brand.

4. Brand Mantra

Brand Mantra reflects the essential heart and soul of the brand and is a synthesis of many
core brand associations. According to most of the communication and corporate social
responsibility activities Gillette does all over the world and also in India, a few terms come
out quite clearly, making up Gillette‘s brand mantra. Adding to that the mental map that we
have managed to create brings out certain core brand associations which can be fine tuned to



derive major aspects to form brand mantra. Gillette‘s brand associations point towards a
reliable, smooth and successful. Based on these we can project mantra as being a
sophisticated brand offering premium products which are reliable and trustworthy.

Sophisticated Premium

Gillette's
Brand Mantra

Reliable Trustworthy

Gillette’s Brand Mantra

5. Customer Based Brand Equity Analysis

According to the formal definition, customer based brand equity is the differentiated effect
that brand knowledge has on customer‘s response to the marketing of that brand. A brand is
said to have positive customer based brand equity when the customer responds more
favourably to a product or service and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified
than when it is not. If customer holds a positive view about the brand and is ready to purchase
existing product and new launches of brand readily, a positive customer based brand equity is
said to exist. Brand equity is reinforced within customer through promotions, sponsorships of
events, customer service and CSR activities. But the biggest component still happens to be
the satisfaction with the product.

There are three dimensions which need to be analyzed to find out the customer based brand
equity of a brand which are:

 Differential Effect

 Brand Knowledge

 Consumer response to marketing



CBBE pyramid shown below evaluates how Gillette performs on each of the mentioned
parameters. This would in turn help us evaluate how strong or weak is the company‘s brand
equity and which are spots where Gillette needs to improve.

Gillette’s CBBE Model Analysis

1. Brand Salience

Brand salience defines and measures the awareness of the brand in the minds of the
consumers. It is the identity step of the pyramid and lets us know what the consumer
knows about the brand. This relates to customer‘s knowledge about the company and
products offered by it. Consumer survey shows that consumers are very much familiar
with the company and its range of products on offer. All the products on offer by Gillette
are recognised by large percentage of the consumer. This provides Gillette with very
strong brand salience.

2. Brand Performance



Performance consists of factors like features of products, reliability, product
effectiveness, durability and price. Here too Gillette scores high on all parameters.
Gillette‘s products have very high functional value for customers, and product
performance has been as per consumer‘s expectations. Reliability and durability has also
been satisfactory. Even pricing, which industry analyst are slightly higher was deemed to
be satisfactory by most consumers. On this parameter also Gillette scores highly.

3. Brand Imagery

Imagery relates to the satisfaction of the customer‘s psychological needs, unlike his
functional needs which can be related to performance. User experience determines how
the imagery is formed in customer‘s mind, what he thinks of the brand, how he perceives
it to be. Responses showed that almost all the respondents consider Gillette to be
strongly masculine brand with predominantly male oriented products. Gillette has been
only associated with male sports stars. Also, Gillette is best known for its shaving range
and shaving is predominantly a male thing. Tagline of company says ‗Best a Man can
get‘, getting imagery of a masculine brand even more clearer.

4. Consumer Judgments

Judgments consist of factors like quality, credibility, superiority and consideration.
Gillette is known as company with modern and very reliable products. 95% of the
consumers responded with satisfied rating, out of which 65% were highly satisfied
rating. 87% of the consumers believed Gillette‘s product were highly reliable and
durable.

This shows that even on consumer judgement parameter, Gillette scores highly. Its
customers are satisfied with the quality and accept its durability and reliability

5. Consumer Feelings

This is the response of the consumer in terms of his emotional reactions and responses
towards the brand. Responses were positive towards the brand, see the brand as
trustworthy and mostly feel loyal to the brand. There were no positive or negative
extreme emotion attached with the brand.

6. Consumer - Brand Resonance



This is the peak of the pyramid and defines and measures the relationship and level of
identification of the consumer with the brand. Factors like loyalty, attachment and
engagement are associated with this step. Consumers today are willing to spend more for
something they perceive to be better and advanced. Adoption of an international brand
with internationally successful products seems to them a step of moving ahead or getting
best available globally. Gillette has an international pedigree and their promotional ads
highlight this through internationally successful sportspersons and western models.
Gillette creates a very high connect on this parameter too.

Philanthropy
Shiksha

Our signature CSR program has in its 6th year helped improve the lives of over 150,000
children across 602 communities with a donation of over Rs.5 crores by all the P&G group
companies in India. Shiksha moved onto a new vision of creating tangible, visibly long-
lasting impact through the building of Shiksha schools across the country that offers quality
education to children in need. Over the last 6 years, your Company has already been
associated with helping bring to life over 100 schools via either building them (near our
plants), supporting them through non-governmental organizations (NGOs), working with
Army Wives Welfare Association schools, or reactivating Government schools through our
work with NGO partner CRY.

Children’s safe drinking water programme

Gillette has set up a water treatment plant which will produce 1 billion litres of clean drinking
water which is being provided to young children to help them have a healthier living to their
lives.

Role of celebrities
Celebrities have always been a central part of the Gillette‘s promotion strategy. The special
focus has been on sportsmen who have had outstanding performances on the field and also
off the field. These include their charitable actions, support of social causes and for their
reputations as icons of true sporting values



Some of the major brand endorsers include David Beckham, Thiery Henry, Tiger Woods,
Roger Federer and Rahul Dravid. The imagery created with these sportsmen have been that
of sophisticated gentlemen.

Through these celebrities the brand has tried to communicate that the products offered helps
you prepare for your best.

Promotional campaigns

The two major promotional drives taken up by the brand in India have been

 ‗Women against the lazy stubble ‗campaign – Female celebrities from Bollywood,
Mugdha Godse, Minisha Lamba and Neha Dhupia were taken as the face of the
campaign to urge women to take charge and take responsibility of grooming their men.
The campaign involved online surveys, mall promotional activities.

 Shave india movement to increase market size – The promotional drive saw the likes of
Dino Morea

The brand‘s image has had to suffer because of the controversies related to the sportsmen that
they have used.

Gillette had to change the advertising where Thiery Henry was holding a ball in his hand
because of the controversy of him intentionally touching the ball to prevent a goal in a world
cup qualifier match against Ireland in 2009.

Roger Federer losing temper on the court of the US open in 2009 brought the brand bad
name.

The controversies related to Tiger Woods cheating on his wife with several women made the
brand stop the advertisements having him.

Threats to equity

1. Products becoming star in themselves.

In a survey internationally almost 40% of respondents used names Mach3 and Fusion
without using brand name Gillette. Although this would prove to be a differentiating
factor, this would also make products stand against each other as rivals and lessen
Gillette‘s name and equity. Also competing products would leave a window open for the
rivals to grab in a share of market



2. Over reliance on celebrities

Gillette has been too much reliant on celebrity superstars for promotion and image
creation in minds of customers. But, as shown by recent issues with Tiger Woods,
celebrities are prone to behaving the way companies don‘t want them to behave. This
tarnishes the image of company as well as results in lost revenue as company is unable to
use adverts featuring the tarnished celebrity.



Annexure
Questionnaire

Name *

Gender *

Male

Female

Age * (Years)

<20

20 to 30

30 to 40

> 40

When you think about Men‘s grooming products which brand immediately comes to
mind? *

Who famous personality does Gillette remind you of? *

Which among the following products do you think Gillette has in its portfolio? *

Razors

Shaving creams and foams

Deodrants

Aftershave

Other:

In the shaving razor range which is your preferred brand?



Gillette

Wilkinson Sword

Other:

In the shaving cream range which is your preferred brand?

Gillette

Park Avenue

Dettol

Axe

Palmolive

Other:

In the after-shave range which is your preferred brand?

Old Spice

Axe

Gillette

Palmolive

Other:

In the deodorant range which is your preferred brand

Axe

Gillette

 Park Avenue

 Zatak

 Other:

How do you rate Gillette on following parameters? * 1-lowest,5-highest



1 2 3 4 5

Price

Comfort during
usage

Reliability

Quality and
durability

Stylishness

Do you know the Gillette tag line? *

Yes

No

Do you know the colours in Gillette‘s logo? *

Yes

No

Do you recall any recent ad of Gillette? *

Yes

No

Which among following attributes do you think can be used to describe Gillette brand? *
Can choose more than one

Rugged, Tough

Smooth

Masculine

Feminine



Western

Reliable

Upper class

Successful

Trendy

Leader

Confident

Young

Imaginative, Unique

Technical

Other:

Do you know about Gillette‘s ―Women Against Lazy Stubble‖ campaign? *

Yes

No

Are you satisfied with Gillette products? *

Highly satisfied

Moderately satisfied

Moderately dissatisfied

Highly dissatisfied

Submit



References
1. Keller, Kevin Lane; Strategic Brand Management, Third Edition; Pearson

2. Gillette‘s global website : http://www.gillette.com/

3. P & G‘s Gillette specific pages : http://www.pg-india.com/gillette2/profile.html

4. Gillette‘s Posting on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillette_(brand)

5. Competitive Edge in Cutthroat market by Slaven Marinovich :
http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=290

6. 5 Reasons Gillette Is The Best A Brand Can Get by Derrick Daye :
http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2009/06/5-reasons-gillette-is-the-best-a-
brand-can-get.html

7. A close shave for Tiger blunts Gillette‘s cutting edge claim : http://www.marketing-
comms.com/blog/?p=10


Gillette Brand Audit Report: Factors Contributing to its Global Success

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