Unilever recovers market with Dove
Valor Econômico
There are some markets where competing with Unilever, the largest company of consumer goods in the world, is a harder task. In laundry powder detergent, soaps and shampoos, for instance, it is a hard fight, such as it is in the segment of deodorants. In this last case, however, it seemed the Anglo-Dutch leadership had been shaken for some time. In fact, Unilever felt the loss of market share in the product two years ago, when the competition, in a simultaneous movement of different brands, such as L'Oreal and Nivea, advanced over the market of the leader. Since then, Unilever reacted - reinforced actions and investments in search of a recovery. Something that is beginning to pay off now.
The latest survey shows an increase in the sales of deodorants of the group, putting its three brands together: Rexona, Dove and Axe. And the Dove line has been crucial in that effort of the company. From January to April this year, the market share of Unilever in the category reached 63.4% (in value) according to data from Nielsen, provided by the company. In the same period of 2009, the index was 61.6% and it got to 62.9% in October, until it reached the current level. Such an increase of 1.8 percentage point is equivalent to a gain in sales of R$ 36 million (US$ 20 million) in a market with R$ 2 billion (US$ 1.02 billion) in earnings and growth of 14% in 2009 (in value). That is not little money. The value "pays", for instance, the investment of R$ 24 million (US$ 12.2 million) made in media by the brand in the segment of deodorants for men in 2009.
In Dove, Unilever went from 10.8% of market share to 13.2% from January to April, 2010, compared to 2009. The leader Rexona had slight growth (from 40.3% to 40.6%) and Axe lost room (from 10.5% to 9.6%). At this moment, Dove became the second largest brand of deodorants of Brazil, surpassing Axe. There was migration of consumers from the Axe line (for man) to the Dove line, plus a gain obtained with the growth of the sector. "We are going through a period of great competition. Over the past two years, the investment in media of the companies doubled", says Roberta Sant'Anna, marketing director for deodorants. "There was a boom of brands, but that phase of turbulence is over". The reached rate of 63.4%, however, is still somewhat distant from the 65% reached in 2007, one of the greatest levels registered in the area by the group.
The management of brands adopted in that period explains, in part, the current results. Unilever intensified the actions with a specific focus. In accordance with the calculations made by Valor, R$ 74 million (US$ 41 million) were spent by the company in the relaunching of products and marketing actions in deodorants in the last ten months. More than half of that amount (R$ 38 million/US$ 21 million) was concentrated in the Dove brand, a product line with higher added-value and fat return margins. "The brand is focused on the strategy of 'additional benefits' to the skin. Rexona and Axe do not work that way and such segmentation helps to better explore the market", says Marília Zanoli, marketing manager of Dove.