Proctor and Gamble, Marketing Plan Example

Proctor and Gamble is a multinational corporation that sells more than 100 different brands. Well-known brands sold by the company include Bounty, Crest, and Tide. These products in addition to the other available brands are sold on most continents, including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The company has manufacturing plants around the world in order to enhance the distribution of these products to diverse groups of people. Even though Proctor and Gamble is a large company, it has many competitors in the world’s market. These competitors include Johnson and Johnson, Unilever, and Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

As of 2014, the company reported that they made a total of $83.06 billion in revenue. While the company originally sold food products in addition to cleaning materials, it has modified its practices to only focus on the marketing and sales of household items. The company aims to compete with other organizations by being highly selective with regards to employees hired; less than 1% of applicants are selected for positions within the company. Furthermore, the company was able to adapt to modern modes of marketing by becoming highly involved on the internet. They focus on building online communities that helps provide their customers with necessary support while indirectly selling their products.

Despite their attempts to receive good press, there have been some controversies regarding the company’s practices. Of particular concern with the company’s tendency to test on animals. Since this news has entered media attention, P & G has restricted this practice. Furthermore, the company has been sued for false advertising. After paying out this suit and apologizing for the false information provided about Prilosec, this mistake was made once more before the company took special care to avoid achieving negative attention in the media. Now the company takes special care to ensure that it is able to adequately compete with its most effective competitors.

Unilever

Like Proctor and Gamble, Unilever sells a variety of products including food, beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. Despite the similarities between this company and Proctor and Gamble, it is ranked as the world’s third-largest consumer goods company. Major brands sold by this organization include Axe, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s, Suave, and Popsicle. Since Unilever is a multinational corporation, it sells many products that are not available in the United States in order to appeal to foreign markets. The company operates by determining what popular brands are in certain regions and then purchasing them in order to make profit. This is a strategic manner of approaching competition because it ensures that the products acquired are already successful in their respective regions.

Unilever brands are typically known for their value and the company will issue many discounts in order to make their products appeal to individuals who wish to save money on their grocery purchases. Therefore, coupons for Unilever products will be regularly found in newspapers and store circulars. Furthermore, like Proctor and Gamble, Unilever is present on all continents to some extent with the exception of Antarctica.  Unilever has been able to gain the success that it knows today by forming mergers and partnerships with a variety of companies that has allowed them to acquire new products to gain a profit.

As of 2014, the revenue of the company was 48.436 billion euros. While Proctor and Gamble is known for being the American company that sells household products, Unilever is the Western European equivalent of this brand. Due to their proximity to European nations and involvement in international affairs, the company has a better understanding of the needs of individuals in distinct nations allowing them to make profit. Unilever is well known for initiatives it has taken in order to make its products environmentally friendly. The “Rainforest Initiative” resulted in the purchasing of tea products from only sustainable sources.

Nestle

While Unilever and Proctor and Gamble focus on the sales of household products, Nestle focuses of the sale of food and beverages. Nestle is best known for their chocolate products, which is derived from the fact that they are a Swiss company. Well-known brands include Nespresso, Nescafé, Kit Kat, Smarties, Nesquik, Stouffer’s, Vittel, and Maggi. Despite the fact that chocolate and candy is the primary focus of the company, it has more than 8,000 brands, some of which consumers are surprised to learn are owned by Nestle. The particular products sold by the company are diverse in range and include coffee, bottled water, cereal, baby food, supplements, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and refrigerated foods, and pet food. Nestle attempts to compete with other major companies by selling a diverse range of food products. While the company does have some stake in household products, it focuses primarily on the sale and distribution of foods and beverages.

Currently, Nestle is considered to be one of the biggest companies in the world due to the large amount of revenue that it is able to generate. The company has a market capitalization of 10 billion Swiss francs, which is equivalent to approximately 200 billion U.S. dollars. Nestle has supported its ability to do business by engaging in many joint ventures with other large corporations. Important partnerships have included projects with General Mills, the Coca-Cola Company, and Colgate-Palmolive.

Despite Nestlé’s ability to do business effectively, it has been involved in many different controversies. One of the most significant problems that the company has faced with regards to media attention was based on the fact that the company attempted to change water from a “right” to a “need” in order to promote its sales of more bottled water. The company is currently taking this stance with regards to proposing a solution to the water crisis in California so that citizens will be required to purchase large amounts of their bottled water products. Furthermore, the company has gotten into trouble for its involvement with child labor to produce many of its products. An additional concern was a consequence of Nestlé’s baby formula marketing, as they posed the possibility that their products were healthier than breastmilk. This has been concerning parents and doctors since the 1970s and has led to a massive boycott of these products around the world.

Despite some of the negative publicity the company has received, it is clear that the company is trying to enhance its status in the world’s market by making risky decisions that do not always positively influence the standing of the company. However, since these tactics have worked in the past, Nestle will continue to work in this manner. It seems that the company will do whatever it takes to remain at the top.