Himalaya Shampoo - Building a Differentiated Brand

Methodology:

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Case Analysis:

From Exhibit 1, each of the attitudinal questions were classified as one among the three categories:

1. Affective
2. Cognitive
3. Conative

Also, the ratings given to these questions by the different consumer segments were ranked as good / bad / neutral on the basis of whether they were above / below / or equal to the average rating for that particular attribute.

For example: For question no. 6 in the below table, the rating by satisfied (3.42) and extremely satisfied (3.1) users of herbal shampoos has been classified as bad because their ratings are lower than the average for that particular question i.e. 3.44

Also, the relative importance of each question was determined by comparing it with the overall average i.e. 2.74. Based on this comparison these question were ranked as having a high / low importance.

It might be noticed that both of the above classifications are relative because we have assigned these ratings on the basis of comparison with means.

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Figure 1: Analysis of category related attitudes

Also, based on the above table, and using qualitative connotations from Exhibit 2, which gives the details of brand communications for the three brands under consideration using a storyboard analysis, we were able to identify six major attributes, relating to this category (shampoos).

These attributes were then found associated with one or more of the attitudinal questions of Figure 1. And correspondingly their mean ratings were calculated as shown below:

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Figure 2: Attribute identification

Post this analysis, a comparison was drawn out between Himalaya / Meera and Himalaya / Pantene to identify the gaps where Himalaya could capitalize upon by adjusting its marketing mix accordingly.

1. Himalaya versus Meera

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Figure 3: Gap Identification – Himalaya versus Meera

1. Himalaya versus Pantene

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Figure 4: Gap Identification – Himalaya versus Pantene

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Figure 5: Criteria for classification

Explanation:

Having already identified attributes and their importance from Figure 2, we constructed the matrix shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.

In these tables, our performance was benchmarked against the competitor performance, using data from Exhibit 3. Each of our six attributes were found to be associated with either one or more of the “Top of Mind Recall” categories of Exhibit 3. Based on these recall scores, performance of Himalaya and Meera / Pantene was classified as – V. Poor, Poor, Good or V. Good as per the Figure 5.

Also, our competitive position vis-à-vis the competitor was also classified into 4 categories viz.

1. Competitive Advantage
2. Competitive Disadvantage
3. Neglected Opportunity
4. Head to Head Competition

 Accordingly suggestions were made to Himalaya to adjust its 4P marketing mix to take maximum advantage of the situation at hand.