Evaluation Essay on Old Spice

Introduction

Old Spice can be defined as one of the most common American brands for men's grooming products. It was launched by Shulton Company, William Lightfoot Schultz's Soap, and Toiletries Inc. in 1937 and initially targeting women. The founder was later acquired by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the year 1990 (Belch, 2012). The products comprised of deodorants, shampoos, soaps, body washes, and antiperspirants manufactured by the holding company, Procter & Gamble. The products were found to be more successful in the market and with a definite appeal to the customers and men version was introduced in the year 1938. Since that time, Old Spice Brand has been known for its tagline "Smell like a man" thus their target customers are men. The brand deals with middle-aged men at the age of 18-35 years. Even though Old Spice enlarged openness among the various consumers, it experiences stiff competition in the market.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

What Do the Customers Buy/Use?

The customers use male grooming products such as deodorants, shampoos, soaps, body washes, and antiperspirants.

Old Spice should consider the continuous innovation to meet the customer's needs and wants. This would help in addressing the competition in the industry. More substitutes are now available, and P&G should focus on product differentiation for gaining a competitive advantage. Also, Old Spice needs to utilize cost leadership strategy to compete on prices by setting lowers prices than their customers.

SWOT Analysis

Opportunities

1. The high population of the young consumers who are willing to experiment the Old Spice products.
2. An untapped international market where the brand can extend to reach a broad market.
3. Expanding product line to the female users since the brand is currently targeting men.

Threats

1. Stiff Competition - this reduces the market share of the Old Spice brand.
2. Bad press from raised skin reaction cases - thus, creating a negative reputation to some users.
3. Low customer royalty for the young consumers - this interferes with the market growth.

Old Spice Brand has well-established products which create a competitive advantage for the company. The brand utilizes social media marketing such as youtube to reach a wide range of potential customers (Belch, 2012). Old Spice products are available to the target users with at affordable prices.

Strengths

1. Recognized brand name and thus imposing positive public relation.
2. Established ready market - this helps in meeting the customers' needs.
3. Reliable and robust distribution channels - assists in reaching the target users.

Weakness

1. Old design packaging in most of the products - this is a threat as most people can perceive the improvement with the brand.
2. Competition in the market - it is a weakness as it lowers the brand's sales revenue and profitability.
3. Neglecting old demographics - the brand targets only youths in the age of 18-35 years and ignores old demographics and thus imposing a weakness by limiting the brand's market share.

Old Spice should consider adoption of innovation to adapt to the changes in the business environment. This would help in eliminating the weaknesses of old packaging and create a good impression of the products to the existing and potential users. Also, Old Spice for women should be re-introduced as well as products that will fit the old generation in the attempt of growing the brand's market share.

Context

Political Environment: The changes in the legislation in the United States and the foreign market have imposed a significant challenge for the Old Spice Brand. For instance, the rising taxation has affected the profitability of the brand more adversely.

Legal: New labor laws such as minimum wage are some of the factors that are impacting the brand's profitability. The payroll expenses move up and thus pushing the prices of the products high (Smith, 2017).

Economic: High inflation rate in various countries have increased the cost of living and hence reducing the purchasing power of the consumers (Smith, 2017). The fluctuations in the exchange rate have also imposed a threat to the company as a multinational business.

Technological: New entrants are continually bringing the newest technology and thus making the existing one less competitive. P&G has to consider investing in the modern technology to promote its competitive advantage.

Societal/Sociocultural: The diversity in population growth rate affects the competitiveness of the Old Spice Brand. The other social-cultural factor affecting the consumer behavior is the attitudes and the preferences toward the brand. Old Spice targets young and educated individuals and hence, the level of education in the target audience has a significant impact on the brand.

Collaborators

Business partnership refers to the arrangement where two or more parties cooperate to undertake business together and boost their competitive advantage through a strategy called synergy. For instance, Old Spice collaborates with Tough Mudder for mutual benefit.

Competitors

Competitor 1: Axe

Competitor 2: Palmolive

Competitor 3: Vi-John

Recommendations

1. Creativity and innovation - the competition in the sector are increasing, and hence, Old Spice should invent new ideas of doing business to support their future direction.
2. Marketing Campaign - the brand should be marketed intensively to create awareness to the potential consumers. P&G needs to invest heavily in advertising and public relations.
3. Use of modern technology - Old spice should consider utilization of advanced technology for a competitive advantage. This would also help in improving efficiency in the operations and hence achieving cost leadership in the long run.

References

Belch, B. (2012). The "Smell Like a Man, Man" Campaign. Retrieved June 06, 2018 fromhttps://www.pg.com/en_US/downloads/innovation/factsheet_OldSpice.pdf

Smith, D. 2017. Campaign reveal their keys to marketing success. Retrieved June 06, 2018 fromhttps://www.inc.com/articles/201108/5-marketing-lessons-from-old-spice.html