Question

Topic: Strategy

Soap Life Cycle:

Posted by Anonymous on 4/28/2008 at 11:42 PM ET 250 Points
Life Cycle Soap Bars in North Africa (Egypt), Central Africa

Hi, quick questions. My company produces several brands of soap bars. I have been asked to redesign the full range from molding to packaging in our current market. Basically we have moved to the end of the life cycle and need a little bit of rejuvenation!

Although we are a big company, our internal process are a little bit behind current times.

The suggestions is to totally revamp the soaps new model lady on the cover, molding, and packaging, while keeping the same brand name.

I am a bit hesitant about this as I believe is that the soap molding and packaging should not be totally revamped but gradually, as to retain its branding, while still giving it a fresh look. Simply find a point we need to be at in 5 years, and slowly moving our brand to that point, rather then changing from A to Z overnight. AM I RIGHT?

Some questions would be:
1. Would it be smart to change the soap color or just shading?

2. Should I change the color of the packaging design and texture (glossy)

3. Should I change the model girl in front, my opinion is she does need to change as our soaps sell into N. Africa, Central Africa, however the face of the model is of S.E. Asia for one brand and the other is Blond European. I think a gradual change of face is needed but not for example from a blond to a brunette

Look for some suggestions and if you have examples within your answers that would be great for me to parallel the ideas.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jessica_Castro on 4/29/2008 at 1:25 PM Member
    So you think that you should change gradually for branding' s sake?
  • Posted on 4/29/2008 at 2:58 PM Author
    it is one of the reasons, but there are many others such as consumer behavior. What do you think Lieca
  • Posted by Jessica_Castro on 4/30/2008 at 1:25 PM Accepted
    Honestly I think you might be over thinking this...

    If your brand is at the end of its life cycle and you finding stagnation or even decreased sales, then I would say that your brand loyalty is wilting and you really don't have too much to loose...

    If you air on the side of caution in this situation than I would keep your packaging almost the same and maybe just bring a few newer more vibrant colors. .Maybe change the lettering but try to keep the basic format the same so that you don't loose your product identity. If you are little more risk taking then I wouldn't worry too much about customers loosing recognition of your product. Your customers who seek your for quality are well aware of your name, and while packaging changes can be confusing, they will still realize it’s your product.

    I think revamping your actual product would be a great idea for your company. It won't affect your brand loyalty but will give your soap its needed freshness. Maybe consider making with more vibrant colors or maybe a more vibrant scent to appeal to the younger crowd and also make the difference noticeable. There is no real point in changing your product if all you’re doing is making small, unnoticed changes.

    I think the model is really a moot point. Your customers will not be thrown off because the model now looks like them. It might even enable customers to relate more to your product...but that’s just my opinion.

    Good luck on your soap and I hope that your company can rejuvenate its life cycle…
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 5/3/2008 at 10:58 PM Accepted
    Hi nash 72

    Have you thought about asking consumers what they want?

    Not just asking your existing consumers, because it sounds like you've been losing share, but also consumers of your competitor's products? I'm talking about focus group and larger scale market surveys.

    I think you definitely need to do some research on the brand image before you think about changing anything. Otherwise, you might make changes that make matters worse!

    Often, in consumer goods, the best thing is not a slow series of incremental changes, but one big change. If you're trying to make the product sound new, make it look new, not just a little bit jazzed up.

    On colour of soap, different colours mean different things to consumers, so you need to be careful. Research, market and consumer research! Think carefuly about the target consumer for each different brand, separately. Can they even see the colur when it's packaged? If not, then their first eperience with it will be when they use it. What about the scent of the soap? Can that be improved or modernised?

    And as for changing the moulded shape of the soap bars, I'm no expert with soap moulding, but doesn't every change to the shape require significant investment in production tooling? In which case, you'd better not be making lots of small changes in the moulding over a period of time - you'll drive up tooling costs to the max!

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB
  • Posted on 5/4/2008 at 2:28 AM Author
    Thank you, for all your input. Clearly there is alot of things to ponder about. I think another look into our life cycle needs to be reviewed. I see both benefits and drawbacks on both revamping totally the soap line or small changes.
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