PROJECT REPORT ON:MARKETING STRATEGIES OF LAKME PRODUCTS Bachelor of Business Administration SESSION : 2009-2012

INVERTIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES BAREILLY

Submitted to : Mr.Suneel kumar

Submitted by: Devika khandelwal

Associate Professor

BBA- VI Sem. (Sec-A)

CONTENT
TOPICS:
PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

PAGE NO. 04 06 08 10 12 56 58 60 62 64 66 68

OBJECTIVE
INTRODUCTION COMPANY PROFILE LITERATURE REVIEW RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FINDINGS LIMITATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE

Excellence is the attitude that the whole of human race is born with. It is the environment that Make sure that whether the result of this attitude is visible or otherwise. The planned properly executed project report help a lot in including the good work culture.

During this period, the student gets their real fast experience on working in the actual environment. Most of the theoretical knowledge that they have gained during the course of their studies is put to test here. A part from this the student gets the opportunity to learn latest technology, which immensely help them in carrier.

I had the opportunity to have the real practical experience, which has increased my sphere of knowledge to great extent. Now I am better equipped to handle the real thing than anyone else that has not undergone any such project. During the project, I learned how an actual project progresses, what sort of problems actually occurs during the development of such projects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to those who, directly or indirectly made this project possible. I have got considerable help and support in making this project report a reality from them. I would like to thank Mr. SUNEEL KUMAR, Asstt.Proffesor, IIMS, and Bareilly whose endeavor for perfection, under fatigable zeal, innovation and dynamism contributed in a big way in completing this project. This work is the reflection of his thought, ideas, concept and above all his modest effort. DEVIKA KHANDELWAL

OBJECTIVE

 To study the complete history of Hindustan Unilever. To Study about LAKME products of Hindustan Unilever. To study the marketing strategies of Hindustan Unilever for Lakme.

INTRODUCTION

Indias largest FMCG Company, HUL has unveiled a new corporate identity represented by a new logo and also a new name Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). The new name reflects the companys heritage as well as the synergies it has with its global parent Unilever Plc. To reflect its India-specific focus, the company has chosen to retain Hindustan as the first word in the name. The new identity positions the company as working on a local as well as a global platform. HUL also unveiled a new logo consisting of 25 different icons which symbolizes the companys brands, organization, values and its core idea of Vitality.

MUMBAI: FMCG major Hindustan Lever on Monday announced that it has received government approval to change its name to Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). Thus the company will have a new corporate identity and a new logo will come into effect. The identity symbolizes the benefits we bring to our consumers and the communities we work in. Our new identity will help us open up exciting opportunities where we have competitive advantage for developing our business, said Doug Baillie, CEO, and HUL. The new logo is symbolic of the companys mission of adding vitality to life. It comprises 25 different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of vitality, Hindustan Unilever said in a statement.

COMPANY PROFILE

The shareholders of the company, which has interests in 20 distinct categories like nutrition, hygiene, personal care, food and drinks, had approved the proposal for change in name on May 18. The stock closed 1.5% higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 191 The company believes the new name provides the optimum balance between maintaining its heritage and synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of Unilever. Most importantly, the name retains Hindustan as the first word to reflect the companys commitment to the economy, consumers, partners and employees, the statement added. For us this is really an opportunity, collectively as an organization, to renew and strengthen our commitment to continue our Endeavour to earn the love and respect of India, by making a real difference to every Indian, Mr. Baillie added. Anglo-Dutch FMCG giant Unilever owns a majority stake in Hindustan Lever. Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, in 1931, followed by Lever Brothers India Ltd in 1933 and United Traders Ltd in 1935. These three companies were merged to form HUL in November 1956 Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 51%-owned subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, has been working its way into India since 1888. India's largest consumer goods company, HUL markets products such as beverages, food, and home and personal care goods. Its brands include Quality Wall's ice cream, Lifebuoy soap, Lipton tea, Pepsodent toothpaste, and Surf laundry detergent. HUL markets Atta (a type of meal), maize, rice, and salt, and its export division ships castor oil and fish. The company also sells bottled water and over-the-counter healthcare products. Douglas Baillie, former president of Unilever's Africa Business Group, became the firm's first expatriate leader in March 2006.

Management Committee

The day-to-day management of affairs of the Company is vested with the Management Committee which is subjected to the overall superintendence and control of the Board. The Management Committee is headed by Mr. Douglas Baillie and has functional heads as its members representing various functions of the Company

Mr. Douglas Baillie Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director

Mr. D Sundaram Director Finance and IT

Mr. Nitin Paranjpe Executive Director Home & Personal Care

Mr. Shreejit Mishra Executive Director Foods

Mr. Sanjiv Kakkar Executive Director Sales and Customer Development

Mr. Dhaval Buch Executive Director Supply Chain

Mr. Ashok Gupta

Ms Leena Nair

Executive Director Legal

Executive Director HR.

MISSION

Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

PRESENT STATUS
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. They endow the company with a scale of combined volumes of about 4 million tones and sales of Rs.10, 000 crores. HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognized as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India. The mission that inspires HUL's over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to "add vitality to life." HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 51.55% of the equity. The rest of the shareholding is distributed among 380,000 individual shareholders and financial institutions. HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, quality Wall's are

household names across the country and span many categories - soaps, detergents, personal products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. They are manufactured over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates. HUL's distribution network, comprising about 4,000 redistribution stockiest, covering 6.3 million retail outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers. HUL has traditionally been a company, which incorporates latest technology in all its operations. The Hindustan Unilever Research Centre (HLRC) was set up in 1958, and now has facilities in Mumbai and Bangalore. HLRC and the Global Technology Centers in India have over 200 highly qualified scientists and technologists, many with post-doctoral experience acquired in the US and Europe. HUL believes that an organizations worth is also in the service it renders to the community. HUL is focusing on health & hygiene education, women empowerment, and water management. It is also involved in education and rehabilitation of special or underprivileged children, care for the destitute and HIV-positive, and rural development. HUL has also responded in case of national calamities / adversities and contributes through various welfare measures, most recent being the village built by HUL in earthquake affected Gujarat, and relief & rehabilitation after the Tsunami caused devastation in South India

QUALITY POLICY
.

Hindustan Lever is now Hindustan Unilever

Hindustan Lever said on Monday it has received government's approval to change its name to Hindustan Unilever Ltd following which, its new corporate identity represented by a new logo will come into effect.

"The identity symbolizes the benefits we bring to our consumers and the communities we work in. Our new identity will help us confidently position ourselves in every aspect of our business," Hindustan Unilever CEO Doug Baillie said.

The new logo is symbolic of the company's mission of Adding Vitality to life. It comprises 25 different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of vitality, Hindustan Unilever said in a communiqu to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Hindustan Unilever Limited considers quality as one of the principal strategic objectives to guarantee its growth and leadership in the markets in which it operates. The company is committed to respond creatively and competitively to the changing needs and aspirations of our consumers through relentless pursuit of technological excellence, innovation and quality management across our businesses, and offer superior quality products and services that are appropriate to the various price points in the market as well as to our commitment to building shareholder value. The company recognizes that its employees are the primary source of success in its operations and is committed to training and providing them the necessary tools and techniques as well as empowering them to ensure broad base compliance of this policy in the organization at all levels. The company is committed to fulfill its legal and statutory obligations and international standards of product safety and hygiene and will not knowingly sell product that is harmful to consumers or their belongings. It will institute systems and measures to monitor compliance. The company will maintain an open communication channel with its consumers and customers and will carefully monitor the feedback to continuously improve its products and services and set quality standards to fulfill them. The company is committed to extend its quality standards to its contract manufacturers, key suppliers and service providers and by entering into alliances with them, to jointly improve the quality of its products and services. This policy is applicable to production from its own facilities as well as to production that is outsourced. The company will periodically review this quality policy for its effectiveness and consistency with business objectives.

The company delegates authority and responsibility for dissemination and implementation of this policy to each Business and Unit Head.

ABOUT LAKME
Lakm is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Unilever. Lakme started as a 100% subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata, it was named after the French opera Lakm, which

itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Indian cosmetic Lakme was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined the company as director, and went on to become its chairman. In 1998 Tata sold off their stakes in Lakm Lever to HU, for Rs 200 Crore (45 million US$), and went on to create Trent and Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lakme still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women. Lakme also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakme Beauty Salons all over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India providing beauty services

Product of Lakme Cosmetics

Face Flawless Makeup Crme Compact Matte Compact Radiant Compact Liquid Foundation Face Magic Rose Powder Face Highlighter

Lips Enrich Lip Colour Lip-gloss Lip liner Aqua Shine Lip Color Enrich 9 to 5 Lip Color Enrich 9 to 5 Lip Duo Enrich Metallic Lip Color

Nails

 Tarun Tahiliani True Wear Nail Enamel Free Spirit Nail Color Glamour True Wear Nail Color Winter 2009

9 to 5 Intense Volume Mascara Quick Dry Eye Liner Defining Eye Liner Perfect Definition Eye Pencil Lakme Thick lash M Eyes

Intense Shine Eyeliner Kajal Shimmer Eye Cube High Definition Eyeliner Eye Color Quartet

Cleansers

 Fruit Energy

Home Facial

Fruit Facial Scrub Deep Hydrating Mask Crme Face Wash Matt effect Morning Fresh Set Strawberry Silk Splash Face Wash Deep Pore Cleanser Matt effect Purifying Face Wash Matt effect Refreshing Astringent

Moisturizers Matt effect Icy Fresh Gel Peach Milk Moisturizers

Winter Care Moisturizers

Lakme Pure Defense Anti-Pollution System

 Pure Defense Detoxifying Facial Wash Pure Defense Protective Day Lotion

Pure Defense Detoxifying Serum Pure Defense Restorative Night Crme

Skin Care Lakme Sun Expert - Sun Care Lakme Sun Expert Ultra matte SPF 20 & 30 Lakme Sun Expert Cream SPF 30 Lakme Sun Expert Sunscreen Lotion SPF 15

Lakme Discover
Glow

Lakme Deep Pore Cleanser Lakme Peach Milk Moisturizer Lakme Winter Care Moisturiser Lakme Strawberry Crme

Lakme Matte Effect Lakme Matt effect Purifying Face Wash Lakme Matt effect Refreshing Astringent Lakme Matt effect Morning Fresh Set Lakme Matt effect Icy Fresh Gel

Lakme Bridal Sutra Collection by Sabyasachi & Anamika Khanna

Bridal Jewel Eyeliner Bridal True Wear Nail Color Lip Chrome Glide on Eye Color Jewel Sindoor Enrich Metallics Lip color Silk Naturelle Daily Foundation Pure Rouge Blusher Just Kissed Cheek and Lip Tint Enrich Matte Lip Color

 Glide On Lip Color Eye Artist

Lakme Spa Line Shea Nut Hand Butter Nail Beauty Oil Honey Cuticle Cleaner Protective Base Coat Nail Color Remover Oil Hard Wear Top Coat

EYE MAGIC
The lightweight, translucent gel comes with a quick dry formula that fixes the sparkle in place. Paint crystalline lines for a soft look or sweep the entire eyelid for the jewel encrusted look. Can be

used as an eye shadow or as a highlighter for cheeks or any other part of the body. In classic shades of gold & silver for a subtle, pearly shine

BLACK IMPACT LINEAR

Enhance your eyes with the blackest of black eyeliner that doesn't fade. The rich, intense color in a silky Formula glides on - lining, defining with the greatest of ease. Water resistant and fast drying. It wont Budge for Hours. The brush handle offers a comfortable grip so you can create dark, dramatic eyes that are A night time glam staple.

Black

CREATING THROUGH HAIRCARE

Lakm is a company inspired by beauty. Hair is a fundamental element of our personality. Health, wellbeing and the search for our own personal look are the essential values that guide us towards the hairs natural Beauty. With the development of our products, we aim to bring these values to fruition in hairdressing, through Professional creativity and the infinite possibilities that hair provides.

LIPS

A high performance, color-fix formula developed in Italy; this creamy lipstick combines amazing comfort with staying power that keeps you looking fresh for hours.

After lining your lips with a matching lip liner, fill the outlined area of your lips with these rich lip colors. Wait for two minutes for the color fix action to take effect. Now your lip color is set to last for hours

21 Jewel Pink

22

23

26 Lotus

27 Berrylicious

Moon Berry Poppy

28

29

Mauve Latte Pink Latte

41

42

43 Red Hot

44 Bridal Dream

45 Merlot

Garnet Spray Satin Ruby

46
Apple Crush

51 Brick

52

53

54

55 Espresso

Crme Brule Bitter Chocolate Cocoa Crme

56 Mocha

58 Earth

30 Cocoa Pink

59 Toasted Brown

61 Terracotta

62 Nougat

63 Taupe

65 Cappuccino

A high performance, color-fix formula developed in Italy; this creamy lipstick combines amazing comfort with staying power that keeps you looking fresh for hours.

After lining your lips with a matching lip liner, fill the outlined area of your lips with these rich lip colors. Wait for two minutes for the color fix action to take effect. Now your lip color is set to last for hours

21 Jewel Pink

22

23

26 Lotus

27 Berrylicious

Moon Berry Poppy

28 Mauve Latte

29 Pink Latte

41 Garnet Spray

42 Satin Ruby

43 Red Hot

44 Bridal Dream

45 Merlot

46 Apple Crush

51 Brick

52

53

54

55 Espresso

Crme Brule Bitter Chocolate Cocoa Crme

56 Mocha

58 Earth

30 Cocoa Pink

59 Toasted Brown

61 Terracotta

62 Nougat

63 Taupe

65 Cappuccino

FACE

INVISIBLE FINISH FOUNDATION

Foundations are great make-up products, they help 1. your skin look flawless without any blemishes, 2. Make a great base for makeup to be applied on. The difficulty is: 1. Finding the right shade to match your skin tone 2. Finding a foundation that suits Indian weather 3. Finding a foundation that blends flawlessly with your skin

Lakm best understands the needs of the Indian woman and therefore has been designed for Indian skin tones, suited for tropical Indian weather.

Price Fill level- 25ml.

Rs.185

Foundations are great make-up products, they help 1. your skin look flawless without any blemishes, 2. Make a great base for makeup to be applied on. The difficulty is: 1. Finding the right shade to match your skin tone 2. Finding a foundation that suits Indian weather 3. Finding a foundation that blends flawlessly with your

skin Lakm understands this, and therefore has introduced the Lakm Invisible Finish Foundation. Cory Wail, Lakme Make-up expert I love IFF because it has a super fine effect that gives a matte yet glowing finish. This is because the formulation spreads evenly all over the skin including dry & uneven, patchy skin. It is very easy to blend it with fingertips or a make up sponge or even a brush, giving the same finish each time.

The Invisible Finish Foundation 1. Blends perfectly with your skin 2. Offers full coverage for a flawless invisible finish 3. Is water based, ultra light when applied

blends perfectly to give you full coverage It has SPF 8* which protects you from the sun and darkening Available in 6 shades, keeping in mind Indian skin tones and Indian weather It is convenient to use; it has a spatula applicator which makes easy and effective removal of the product, no need of putting extra foundation back into the bottle, hence preventing wastage

Lakm best understands the needs of the Indian woman and

therefore it has been designed for Indian skin tones, suited for tropical Indian weather.

Price Fill level- 25ml.

Rs.185

EYES

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NAILS

LAKMES POSITIONING IN TERMS OF PERSONALITY AND SELF CONCEPT:

Lakme is a product range that caters to the beautification needs of not only women in their adult age but in today's context teenagers also. It has a brand personality of someone who takes care of you and your beauty needs. It tries to position itself amongst its consumers as a product range that will help them look beautiful as is evident from its catchphrases: 1. On top of the world! 2. Source of radiant beauty1! Lakme has a range of beauty products to offer to its consumers. Some of the ways in which it tries to position itself: 1. Lakme Hair Color: magic of colors (collage). 2. Lakme (versatile eye shadow collection): rich, long lasting and healthy make up. 3. Lakme fair perfect: For flawlessly fair skin! 4. Lakme face magic: daily wear souffl. 5. Lakme (skin vitalizes): radiant skin, now and forever. 6. Lakme (moisturizer): radiant skin, now and forever. 7. Lakme nail polish and lipstick: electric brilliance/sensual brilliance/free spirit/peppermint/9 to 52. 8. Lakme sun expert (sunscreen): sun safe hamesha! (face the sun with a smile) 9. Lakme pure defense: anti-pollution system.
1 2

10. Lakme Tropical Island (cosmetics): defining the future of fashion. 11. Lakme hair care (international): natural hair care, a source of pleasure and well being. 12. Lakme hair next: exclusive range of hairstyle products that give you that salon look instantly. On the basis of above mentioned positioning strategies Lakme can have the following characteristics that determine its personality: Someone who takes care of your beauty needs. A long lasting beautification product range. Something that is not harsh on your body or harmful for your beauty. A product that provides you with an option of getting beautiful hair. A product that helps you gets a beautiful skin. A cosmetic product that you can wear for the entire day and not a special occasion. Someone who tells you right things about looking good. It's an Indian cosmetic brand. It covers all facets of beauty care for women.

The following factors of Lakme's personality help in differentiation of its products from the competition: It covers all facets of beauty care. It helps arm the consumer with products to pamper her from head to toe i.e. a complete product range. The quality of its products which can be only gauged by the consumer perception of the brand.

India's first beauty brand and is there for a long time in the market (since independence). However, most of the other foreign brands have come only lately.

CONCEPT According to Freudian Psychoanalytic theory Lakme tries to position itself on the basis of its appeal to the consumers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakme have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for means of satisfaction. Women all over the world are always expected to look good and Indian women are no exception; More so because of the fact that Indian women in general do not have a fair skin like that of their western counterparts. Thus it becomes but natural for Indian women to try and look good and use beauty products that help enhance their looks and style. With globalization and liberalization of Indian economy and the changing demographics and income levels there is more and more concern to look good as today's Indian woman is no longer confined to her home but is a big contributor to the growth of Indian economy. Lakme tries according to Karen Horney's classification3 of personality groups i.e. people who move towards others. Those who have desire to be loved, wanted and appreciated. As is earlier stated women are supposed to look good not only in western countries but also in India. Women always appreciate if someone calls them beautiful and it has become the custom of the society to see women in such a context. So it would be prudent to say that according to the societal norms a women has to look good at all times and which has a bearing on the psychology of female consumers towards cosmetic products which help them achieve that desired look. Needless to say that Lakme plays on the concept of women wanting themselves to be appreciated for their beauty and being loved for that.

Lakme has tried to gain the attention of its by line extension and having more and more product depth, packaging and attractive print advertisements. If we look at the line extensions of Lakme than we would observe that it is in almost all the segments of cosmetic care ranging from hair care to skin care to beauty salons! Looking at the product depth it is pretty evident that Lakme has actually tried to fill in all areas that it can, particularly the nail paint and the lip color segment is a big hit among Indian women as it offers them a wide variety of products in terms of colors as well as various styles that they can choose from.

. The major reason they attributed to this was that it was the first cosmetic brand in India which was particularly catering to the need of Indian women and thus set a trend for the foreign players to tap the Indian market. Today also they said that it is a trendsetter in cosmetics as it keeps on coming out with novel colors, shades and products from time to time.

This again matches with what the company wants Indian by the shown advertisement. Lakmes strategy has been to come with new and vibrant colors and shades of cosmetics each and every season. Currently it is aggressively advertising its Tropical Island Collection4 which has been designed by none other than famous fashion designer Wendell Rod ricks.
4

 Lakmes lip color is longer lasting as compared to other brands such as Maybelline and Revlon. They felt that it is because of good quality of lip color that was provided by the company. :

This is what Lakme is trying to do with the advertisements of its lip color. In fact it has launched a special range of lip color that is called 9 to 5 range and is meant for women who are working in offices. This product is primarily harping on the premise that the lip color stays longer than any other and is meant for working women who stay in offices from 9 to 5 and cant give that much time for their looks in between working hours. : . According to product it is a brand which communicates to them the various ways in which they can protect as well as enhance their beauty. :

This advertisement of Lakme is exactly trying to communicate this message to that the brand is an expert in beauty care as it helps the not only to look beautiful but also helps her to protect her beauty. Although is not a very well known and trusted brand for its hair care products but still the new range of hair styling products that it has brought out in the market have to some extent provided them with an easy way of making their hair look beautiful.

This

advertisement

of

Lakme although is trying to say the same thing built according to what the company is primarily looking for i.e. it is trying to position itself as a instant hairstyling product. Lakmes skin care lotion is one of the best products in its category and provides them with optimum care in winters. However they said that the role of a cosmetic product is different for different environments. They disagreed about the fact that the cosmetic products actually help you maintain a good and healthy skin for a long time unless it is of good quality. They were of the opinion that a good and healthy skin can only be obtained by proper diet and hydration with the help of liquids taken orally.

In this context Lakme has tried to means of informative advertisement that of what the company wants to achieve.

DATA PRESENTATION

DISTRIBUTION With respect to distribution related activities like sales and marketing, HLL is second to none in pushing the boundaries of what is possible financially, structurally, and logistically. Beyond its pioneering work FMCG distribution, the company has sought to instill in its customers an elevate sense of brand experience while simultaneously providing greater and more varied access to its products as well as improved clarity to its communications. New initiatives include raising brand visibility through in-store promotions, store-based product facilitators, and self-service. HLL has enabled an even further level of personalization and brand experience in the direct sales arena with its ground-breaking Hindustan UniLever Network, having amassed an army of consultants 250,000 strong with access to 80 % of city dwelling Indians.

Hindustan Unilever Present Scenario 15,000 employees 1,200 managers 2,000 suppliers & associates 75 Manufacturing Locations Total Coverage 6.3 Mln Outlets Direct Coverage 1 Mln outlet

Competition
The Indian cosmetic market, which has been traditionally a stronghold of a few major Indian players like Lakme, and Ponds has seen a lot of foreign entrants to the market within the last decade. India is a very price sensitive market and the cosmetics and personal care product companies, especially the new entrants have had to work out new innovative strategies to suit Indian preferences and budgets to establish a hold on the market and establish a niche market for them. Given the price-sensitivity of the Indian consumer who do not normally prefer to fork out a large sum at one time, many cosmetic and toiletries companies launched their products in smaller pack sizes to make them more affordable. HLL and Revlon were the first to introduce small pack sizes. Revlon introduced its small-range of 8 ml nail polishes and lipsticks, and was soon followed it its strategy by major Indian companies as well. Stiff competition in the cosmetics and toiletries market also saw an increase in the range of new products being introduced for newer application concepts in the last few years. In the skin-care segment, from just creams and moisturizers, there has been a upgrade to value-added products such as under-eye wrinkle removing creams, dark circle removing creams toners, sunscreen lotions, fairness creams, and many more. . Beauty counselors or advisors at retails outlets have been very successful in gaining attention, creating product awareness and overcoming consumers lack of familiarity with, and fears about many cosmetics and personal care products such as home hair permanents and color cosmetics. Some companies such as Lakme have even set up exclusive Lakme beauty parlors at major cities in India through the franchisee route.

A strong brand promotional campaign, good distribution network, constant product innovation and quality improvement, and the ability to provide a variety of quality products are some of the major reasons for the success of most companies. HUL is currently India's largest cosmetics and personal care products producer and its brands has the dominant share (more than 50 percent) in segments such as personal wash, skin care, shampoos, lipsticks and nail polish.

Sales Prospects
The growing Indian cosmetics market offers promising opportunities for international brands. The growth rate in the cosmetics market reflects an increasing demand for beauty care products in India. The most promising segments for international companies to pursue are perfumes and fragrances, and specialized/professional skin care and hair care products. The fastest growing market is however color cosmetics, which account for US$ 60 million of the total market.

The rural market in India for cosmetics and toiletries remains is largely untapped. Major domestic players have also not been able to penetrate this market. The urban market itself for specialized cosmetic products remains to be fully exploited. The Indian skin-care market is not yet fully tapped and offers promising prospects as a growth area. Penetration of color cosmetics is lower than the penetration prospects of the skin-care segment. To promote the growth of their products, a dominant player like Lakme has embarked upon a business plan to establish their exclusive franchised beauty salons across major metros in the country. Imported cosmetics have had a major impact on the Indian market. Foreign products have enhanced growth of the Indian market by attracting aspirational consumers and increasing

acceptance of color cosmetics, previously perceived by many as harmful to skin. Indians generally perceive foreign brands as being of superior quality.

Other key issues regarding sales prospects are product variety and retailing strategies as well. There is a marked shift among consumers from functional common-fits-all products to more specialized formulations. This is one of the reasons why an increasing number of cosmetic companies are dealing with consumers directly through special exclusive counters in major departmental stores and malls featuring their own beauty consultants. L'Oreal India has established a consumer advisory unit and Ponds, as mentioned earlier offers skin care advice through touch-screen kiosks, and telephone help-lines.

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF HUL FOR LAKME

The company has constantly improved return on capital employed as well as returns to shareholders. In fact, the Indian subsidiary has been Unilever's largest success story in any Asian country. HUL's key strength in a vast country such as ours has been its unmatched distribution reach through a stockiest network of 7000 and a retail reach of over 1mn outlets. It is the only company which distributes its products to more than 50000 villages. Innovative programmers like Project Bharat have been undertaken which aim to make available to every consumer in the remotest corner of the country, products that meet his day to day requirements. Also the management is well known for its marketing savvy. It has over the years studied and understood the Indian markets as no other MNC player has. It has adapted its products to suit the Indian tastes. A lot of wars have been played and won on the price front, acknowledging that the Indian consumer is extremely price sensitive. The financial strength to cross subsidize new initiatives with existing profitable businesses has enabled the company to achieve its zeal of being the dominating player in all markets that it enters into. While the personal products business has been the revenue driver during the last few years, growth rates in the category (especially like detergents and toilet soaps) are likely to taper off once certain penetration levels are reached. The company has been therefore consciously building up extended product ranges which are at various stages of the growth cycle. As Mr. Dadi Seth emphasizes, "The building of the personal products business was started 10 years ago, and the benefits are being reaped now. Similarly we are investing in the foods business today - as that will be the revenue driver in the future." Although profitability in the foods business may still be a few years

away, once the branded foods market really matures, the potential for volume growth in the business are enormous. Nor has the company ever given loyal shareholders a reason to be unhappy about its performance in the bourses. The stock market performance has year after year been more than satisfactory. Just look at the comparison of annualized returns earned by major food and personal products companies via, Sensex returns in the last ten years. THE CHANGING FACE FOR LAKME Lakme marketing is no more going to be the same again! The changing consumer mindset thanks to more knowledgeable and discerning customers coupled with changing competition and saturated market is giving a tough time to the cosmetic marketers. The changed scenario not only demands a new game plan with a sharp and decisive strategy but also a lot of creativity and insight. Some of the players in Indian Cosmetic industry have already taken a lead and are smartly moving to chart a success story for their brands. Some brands that reaped magnificent dividend from adopting a new strategy. . If we analyze the success story of these brands, it will be self evident that their marketing strategy is not a jargon filled new model of marketing. It is more of common sense marketing. But then, common sense is not so common! A common thread that binds the strategy adopted by these brands is razor sharp focus. They clearly see their target market. They know their customers well. They are not targeting consumers who already have built-in perceptions. They are reaching out to untapped market within a well known product category. Their primary focus is on millions of lower middle class families in small towns and rural segment. They are doing what legendry management guru C K Prahlad advocates when he says in his published paper, "Raising the Bottom of the Pyramid: Strategies for Sustainable Growth" that the greatest challenge for managers is to visualize an active market when what exists is abject poverty. These successful brands are just doing that- focusing on untapped markets. Take the example of Dandi namak. Who would have advised them to enter the branded salt market when Tata and HUL virtually share the whole market among them? But they entered this category when conventional wisdom said no. And they became a success story overnight. How? The answer is focus. They entered the market not to compete with Tata and HUL, but with the focus to take

branded salt to rural and semi-urban areas. With this narrow focus, they not only captured a large rural and semi-urban market but also got some share of the urban market due to rub off effect. Moreover, these small players fully realize that in todays world, marketing needs money. So they dont shy away from investing in marketing. Again take the example of Dandi namak. They splashed out money on their lengthy TV commercials to ensure that the message gets ingrained in the mind of the prospect. Fairever and Ujala adopted the same strategy. Of course they dont spend as much as the MNCs do but they do spend enough to get attraction. The best part is when they get attention and a little success, MNC Goliaths retaliate back with huge spending and these little Davids piggyback on that! The stratagem of this new breed of marketing is deciding the opponent to fight! In case of most of these brands, it is seen that they fight their marketing battle by selecting a particular company and in many cases a particular brand, which often is the market leader! Then they deploy their entire marketing arsenal on this selected competitor. Ujala applied this tactic to full advantage against Robin Blue and now it commands nearly three-fourth of the Rs2bn ultra marine blue market, Fairever did the same to Fair & Lovely; Even the advertising strategy is designed with an eye on its opponent. This hurts the big companies badly. They wake up from their complacent sleep to realize that they are being brutally attacked. And by the time they retaliate, its too late and they only succeed in helping these brands get more attention. HUL realized that its brand Fair & Lovely was in danger only after Fairever had garnered a healthy market share within months of its launch. Retaliatory advertising by Fair & Lovely only helped Fairever gain more attention! The way these home grown marketers are inducing insomnia to Kotler fed B-school grads is really amazing. By their ability to be flexible, innovative, and being close to their customers, they are conquering Indian market, which many MNCs find a tough nut to crack. The secret of their success is not hard to guess. It is connecting with the heart and soul of India- the lower middle class and the rural consumers. Are the FMCG giants listening?

LITERATURE REVIEW

The impact of media context on advertising effectiveness has received considerable attention in their search literature. Context effects have been approached in terms of differences in media content. Furnham, Gunter, and Walsh (1998), for instance, compare advertising in entertainment television shows versus news television shows. More generally, media context has been identified with the concept of "involvement." For instance, Norris and Colman (1992) inserted ads in different types of magazine sections and varied the involvement of the sections. Felltham and Arnold (1994) compared participants who were highly involved in a program with those who were not involved. These and other studies (e.g., assumes 1978; Ellsworth and Mackenzie 1998; Danaher and Malarkey 2003; DePelsmacker, Geuens, and Anckaert 2002; Goldberg and Gorn 1987; Krugman 1983; Lloyd and Clancy1991; Lord and Burnkrant 1993; Lynch and Strips 1999; Winick 1962) point to the existence of media context effects and the need to understand these effects in terms of psychological reaction to the medium. Involvement, however, is a very loose construct when used to describe media contexts. Andrews, Durvasula, and Akhter point out that "involvement is ... controversial due to the many different proposals and ideas for conceptualizing ... and measuring the involvement construct" (1990, p. 27). They give an extensive literature review of different ways that the construct has been operational zed. Marc (1966) defines magazine involvement as how disappointed a person would be "should the magazine stop publication." Adapting television involvement scales for magazines and newspapers, Tips, Berger, and Weinberg (2006) measure three factors labeled informational value, emotional connection, and concentration/diversion. Other streams of research, including work on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), also offer a variety of different operationalizations. In the most extensive review of such work, Johnson and Eagly (1989) can only conclude that the underlying construct is defined generally as a motivational state that implicates the self-concept in a desired outcome, in other words, personal relevance.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is a careful investigation for inquiring in a systematic method and finding solution of a problem. It comprises the defining and redefining of problem formulating , collection and evaluating data, making detection and reaching conclusion. This research consists of following element.

SOURCES OF DATA
Collection of data is secondary based. Secondary data is collected from companys website, magzines, wikipedia, newspaper etc.

FINDINGS

 Promotions beyond fashion week

The brand should not lose its focus away from cosmetics. It can prove to very detrimental. For vast reach unlikely, in the short-term. Some sort of an alliance or co-branding with the

salons that already exist may, perhaps, have been a better strategy.
The general perception is that company-owned salons are expensive. Though Lakme beauty

salons are reasonably priced, it has not been communicated well enough.

LIMITATIONS

 According to the industry, the market is saturated with many different types of products, and in the long run, established brands that emphasize quality and service will have the edge. Increasing Competition Low Rating of Lakme Saloons (not so good customer services) No new Strategies to look for improvements. May loose its Sheen in a long run.

RECOMMENDATION

 HUL should give more attention on Lakme product. The MRP of lakme products are too high so company should decrease the rate of lakme brand. Company should increase their budget for Lakme should increase. Company should provide home delivery service of their products. The price policy of the company is quite high as compare to other brands

CONCLUSION

At last I would like to conclude that Lakme tries to position itself on the basis of its appeal to the consumers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakme have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for means of satisfaction. Women all over the world are always expected to look good and Indian women are no exception; More so because of the fact that Indian women in general do not have a fair skin like that of their western counterparts. Thus it becomes but natural for Indian women to try and look good and use beauty products that help enhance their looks and style. With globalization and liberalization of Indian economy and the changing demographics and income levels there is more and more concern to look good as today's Indian woman is no longer confined to her home but is a big contributor to the growth of Indian economy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I have used the following source for finding the data: www.lakmeindia.com www.encyclopedia.com www.ask.com www.scibd.com www.google.com www.goodlife.com/lakme www.lakme_cosmetic.com www.lakmefasionweek.co.in/ www.lakmebeautysalon.in/ FASION WEEK MAGAZINES