Gillette Strategic Marketing Case

1. What changes are occurring in the non-disposable razor category? Assess Paramount’s competitive position. What are the strategic life-cycle challenges for Paramount’s current products as well as Clean Edge?

Examining the consumer behavior for nondisposable razors, we can observe that consumers are focusing on the premium segment. Also, they are becoming more sophisticated and expecting new technologies to smooth the shaving process. Focusing on that, Paramount should invest in the premium products category. Even though that would create cannibalism for the “pro-products” which is already loosing market.

The case points out that Gillette’s competitors were quick to copy new products. The launch of Sensor will be a breakthrough in the market and will introduce a new product category the “cartridge laser cut razor with superior quality”. Therefore it is essential for Gillette to protect their new product by pursuing patent enforcement, as they already have. This way will Gillette retain its competitive advantage and will re-introduce and position itself as a technology leader.

Market leaders: Duracel and Energizer (80% market share)  adaptation to consumer needs and valuable negotiating power with retailers

The aim of this paper is to use the “Nike - The art of selling air.” case study and concepts from strategic marketing theory to identify marketing challenges and how those challenges could be best addressed using marketing principles. The paper will:

* Customers: Male consumer products have been trending upward in the last decade. The customer segments are broken up into three areas; social/emotional, involved razor users, and uninvolved or maintenance users. Social/emotional are responsible for 39% of Nondisposable razors, Involved is for 28%, and maintenance users account for 33%. In 2009 consumers razors and replacement cartridges at a higher rate than ever before.

By increasing successful and ideal operations and strengthening relationships with their customers, companies existing in this market diminish the significance of threat over newly accepted competitors. Toothpaste companies are still growing strongly, therefore additional firms are trying to enter the market to benefit from the increasing profits. However, most toothpaste companies have already made their name and their customers stay loyal to their brand, therefore it is hard to get into this market. With toothpaste being such a popular item and an essential in households,

The Procter & Gamble business strategy is to focus on creating new brands and categories so the company can focus on being the best in branding, innovation and scale. This is what sets this company apart from many of its competitors. The Proctor and Gamble are the global leader in all of their core businesses within the company which consists of laundry, baby care, hair care and feminine protection. This report is designed to understand the company’s business model and strategies, and analysis how the P&G has formulated its business-level strategies to pursue its business model.

By all this we can conclude that Gillette was actually consumed by its ambition to earn more revenue through the wrong way. Instead of trying to generate more profits buying other businesses, the Gillette executives should have focused more on the continuous innovation to their own company, because after all it was this continuous innovation and dedication that took Gillette to the top and avoid it to have any serious competition until 1962.

Paramount Health and Beauty Company is in the process of launching a new technologically advanced nondisposable razor “Clean Edge”. With its improved design, Clean Edge provides superior performance by utilizing a vibrating technology to stimulate hair follicles and lift the hair from the skin, allowing for a more thorough shave. The company has decided to introduce it in the men’s market where it has a strong presence. The company is now focussing on positioning and naming of this new product. It also needs to decide on the promotional activities to be performed adhering to the budget constraints and also must decide on the distribution channels through which it can reach to the masses.

The team that originated Burt's Bees definitely has the skills, knowledge, experience, resources and motivations to exploit all opportunities which come their way. After being in business for just ten years, the company already had a strong amount of successes: Roxanne Quimby was successfully running 20 employees, bringing in a steady $6 to $8 million per year; the product was found in every store in America and had just begun to expand overseas and had just begun to expand to the retail market. All of these successes indicate a company that was being successfully run.

Thus, it would increase the demand for low price batteries, giving a competitive advantage to big players such as Rayovac and Energizer whose prices are lower than Duracell.

Could you identify any product systems in this product mix? Is the toothpaste considered a shopping, specialty or convenience product? At what conditions, could this product considered a business product? With respect to Scope, do you consider it a "star" or "cash cow"? Why? With respect to the product life cycle of scope, what is the current status of the product? What is your marketing advice at this particular product life cycle stage?

Product quality and efficient marketing are the core value propositions that set the pace for Gillette’s success. With continued innovation in both product development and marketing strategies Gillette has been able to retain a commanding

What is Proctor & Gamble’s corporate strategy? Do the company’s businesses seem to be related or unrelated? Are Gillette’s businesses closely related to P&G’s businesses? How will a merger with Gillette provide a 1 + 1 = 3 effect for P&G?