MBA06 - G1-SMM-Unilever Vietnam [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

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Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. UNILEVER VIETNAM OVERVIEW ......................................................... 4 1. Unilever Vietnam Background ............................................................................................ 4 2. Unilever Vietnam’s Situation............................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER 2. STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN ANALYSIS ......................................... 7 1. Current Unilever 4P’s in Vietnam ....................................................................................... 7 2. SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................... 8

CHAPTER 3. UNILEVER STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN ...................................... 11 1. Market Research ............................................................................................................... 11 2. Market Segmentation ........................................................................................................ 11 3. Marketing Mix 4P’s + 1H .................................................................................................. 12 4. Customer (CRM)............................................................................................................... 15 5. Evaluation ......................................................................................................................... 16

CHAPTER 4. MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL MARKETING PLAN ..................................................................................................... 18 1. Multi-channel Marketing Management ............................................................................. 18 2. Financial Marketing Plan .................................................................................................. 19

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION................................................................. 23 REFERENCE ................................................................................................................ 24

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Unilever is known as a well-known brand all over the world, choosing Vietnam as a country to expand its market in Southeast Asia. Based on economic development indicators, consumer tastes, political stability, and increasing levels of social security. Thus, Unilever saw Vietnam as a potential place for brand development, as well as expanding markets, it decided to choose this place to set up the system. For a comprehensive overview of Unilever, this essay will take a look at the overview, analysis and marketing strategy, SWOT analysis, channel marketing & financial marketing plan, and finally the strategy. marketing strategy as well as goods distribution channel.

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CHAPTER 1. UNILEVER VIETNAM OVERVIEW 1. Unilever Vietnam Background Unilever is not only known as a leading global brand but also an international business that achieved much success in Vietnam market with health care products and food, etc. Besides, Unilever possesses a wealth of experience in the international market with more than 190 countries. In 1995, Unilever entered the Vietnamese market in two major city centers such as HCM City and Bac Ninh. In particular, some of its achievements throughout the 22 years are as follows: In 2010, April: Unilever received the First-Class Labor Medal by the President of Vietnam for its outstanding achievements in business and great contribution to the socio-economic development. In 2016 and 2017: Unilever Vietnam received the title of "Sustainable Development Enterprise" by the Government of Vietnam. 

Unilever vision is to develop enterprise and be active in social activities to minimize the impact of the environment on human life. For Unilever's vision in Vietnam "to create a better life for the people".



Unilever’s mission, through Unilever Vietnam's sustainable development plan, it has achieved some outstanding and impressive achievements through projects such as "for a healthier Vietnam", "Journey toilets clean bacteria", etc. These projects have a direct impact on the life and health of the Vietnamese people. Especially, with the project "Improving the quality of life for women through business development and health education", this project has provided support to more than 44,600 poor women 's households to access to financial resources, education, life skills, etc.



Unilever Vietnam's strategy is to focus on creating a sustainable life for all people. Therefore, in order to realize the vision of the business, Unilever has invested in a longterm strategy for specific brands and industries to bring positive growth to all stakeholders.

2. Unilever Vietnam’s Situation Market share, there are 3 famous brands that attract many consumer choices such as Unilever, Vinamilk, and Masan in order to maintain their position in Vietnam's market, it requires diversity in the strategy of the product portfolio, it must meet market trends.

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As provided by Kantar World Panel (2019) Unilever continues to hold the leading position in Rural area which is home to 60% of the Vietnamese population, and it is ranked 2nd in urban areas. For health and beauty

P/S is known to represent a brand of health and beauty in both Urban and Rural, Unilever has owned 5 leading brands in the ranking, it has proved that Unilever is a big brand in the personal care market. At the same time, the remarkable growth of the Close-up brand in rural areas, it quickly captured market trends and launched two new product lines such as Dau Quat & Thao

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Duoc, and White Attraction Natural Glow, it achieved the target with more than 400,000 new households over the period of 2018 (Kantar World Panel, 2019). Home care

Based on the above results, it shows that Unilever has strengthened its dominance in Home Care with 3 product lines such as Sunlight, Omo, and Comfort for both urban and rural areas. In addition, Vim products have received many choices from consumers in the rankings recently. For home care, some paper products have grown tremendously, expanding in rural areas thanks to the daily needs of consumers (Kantar World Panel, 2019).

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CHAPTER 2. STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN ANALYSIS 1. Current Unilever 4P’s in Vietnam To begin with Unilever's product, the company has used and applied all international standards for its product development strategy with the goal of matching the actual needs of the Vietnamese people. Unilever's strategy is to acquire products from the oldest and bestknown brands in Vietnam, including a number of typical products such as Viso, and P/S toothpaste. Next, they applied new technologies to improve the formulas to develop packaging to increase stimulation for consumers. In addition, Unilever has been deeply understanding consumer needs in Vietnam to supplement auxiliary ingredients for their products, one of the best examples such as Sunsilk shampoo that contains extra extracts. From the locust tree, it is well known in folk products, it has succeeded in accounting for 80% of sales. According to Michel, he said that thinking like a Vietnamese, they will understand their needs to create products that meet the needs and suit the Vietnamese people. Therefore, Unilever establishes professional human resources and particularly understands local customs and practices.

With the aim of brand development, Unilever has been in the process of fighting to protect their brands and counteract other counterfeit products in the market, it is a way to protect the

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rights of health and the safety of the people, as well as the protection of intellectual property rights and reputation in the market. Unilever's price strategy, they have identified 80% of consumers who are living in rural areas, and with low income, they have implemented a discount strategy to bring a reasonable price to consumers. Unilever also seeks local businesses to hunt for raw materials to replace some of the imported materials, which assists in reducing purchasing costs and import taxes. At the same time, the allocation of production process and packaging of products is reasonable to reduce transportation costs between regions and areas. Unilever also implements a financial support policy to help local businesses upgrade equipment, technology transfer, etc. For place factor, Unilever applied its distribution strategy to the Vietnamese market in 1995, one of its key decisions being to create a nationwide marketing and distribution system with more than 100,000 locations. It has provided a direct retail channel, using salespeople to each retail store on each route, most employees are tasked with offering new orders, and shipping to consumers. Moreover, retail locations are provided with equipment and furniture each year, impressively designed to appeal to customers, it also assists in designing, distributing, and arranging display merchandise, lending for transportation, training, and sales organization. Promotion is the final factor of the 4P’s model, it has two main pieces in its image advertising strategies such as “Above-the-line” and “Below-the-line”. For above-the-line, Unilever performs image advertising activities on television channels, newspapers, etc. This advertising method can achieve certain purposes in informing consumers about the new product, as well as instructions on how to use the product. For below-the-line, it shows the opposite by promoting activities without going through the media. In other words, some popular forms like discount programs, coupons are applied in many forms, etc. 2. SWOT Analysis Nowadays, Vietnam's market has a fierce competition between domestic and international goods, one of the special problems is the products originated by multinational enterprises that are present in the Vietnamese market. Unilever Vietnam is also a brand of consumer goods. It is said to be a threat to domestic producers and an example for other companies to gain experience. Its strategy is very thoughtful and creative in polishing the name and attracting consumers by its brand. In parallel, businesses make full use of its advantages to promote opportunities with the goal of bringing revenue to businesses. Strengths 

Unilever Vietnam is supported by Unilever Global, so it has very strong financial resources. 8

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Strategies and policies to attract talent, its point is to develop a business based on the human element, a number of events that take place in graduation sessions at prestigious universities to find and Choose the right candidate. After that, Unilever conducted personnel training to become professional. Besides, it also provides many benefits and modes, bonuses for personnel, some courses are built to improve the professionalism of personnel.

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Many research and development technologies of Unilever Vietnam are focused and invested. In other words, its R&D work has been quite effective in challenging the communication in products such as locust shampoo, toothpaste. Therefore, it is easy to realize that it has been inherited the technical - technological line from the headquarters.



Unilever Vietnam provides reasonable prices for its products with high quality that can be compared with other foreign brands.

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It provides a dynamic working environment with a distinctive corporate culture, a team of highly responsible employees, broad knowledge. All these factors focus on business development goals, it also has a good relationship with the public.

Weaknesses 

Most of Unilever Vietnam's key positions are allocated to foreigners.



Unilever Vietnam is facing many difficulties when cutting budgets due to the influence of the economy.

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Limited in new technologies because of the high cost and the inability to fully utilize the actual labor force of the business and their capabilities.

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Some products are priced higher than the average income per capita of Vietnamese people in rural areas.

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Unilever Vietnam originated in Europe, its product advertising strategy is not suitable for Asian cultures.



Infrastructure and transportation is developing which is hard and create more cost.

Opportunities 

Based on national goals, the Vietnamese economy was built and developed in accordance with the trend of industrialization and modernization, which prioritized attracting foreign investors and multinational companies to national budget growth



Infrastructure development in big cities HCMC, Ha Noi, Can Tho, etc. It is being appropriately invested, it aids in the circulation and transport of more domestic goods.

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The political stability of Vietnam, it is considered an ideal and safe destination for foreign investors. Instead of investors choosing other countries with potential political instability.

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The intellectual level of Vietnamese people is increasing day by day, the rate of university graduates increases, the source of excellent intellectual labor in technology leads to many opportunities in human resource management.

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Unilever's target customers are for young people aged 18 -29, who are more independent, liberal and confident than the previous generation. In addition, they also make purchasing decisions.

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Vietnam has freedom of belief and religion. Hence, Unilever is easy to distribute and advertise its products without being too bound by other countries.

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Its population structure is quite young and popular with the extended family model, it creates many opportunities for Unilever to develop its goals.

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Vietnam also owns a favorable and favorable position in Asia with its long coastline and many large seaports creating many benefits for the export of goods. More specifically, Unilever sees Vietnam’s potential market for brand expansion and development.

Threats 

Vietnam's economic growth rate is still low



Vietnam's

financial

and

credit

factors

are

not

developed.

Besides,

the

telecommunication system, communication information, telephone charges, post office and internet owns the highest price in the world. Therefore, bringing internet to business is not possible for Unilever. Although, the company has repeatedly mentioned this goal as a representative in reaching consumers through advertising. 

Commercial law has many disadvantages for foreign investors, including high tariffs and tariffs, which lead to many risks and challenges for Unilever.



For policy and population structure, it will have a negative impact on Unilever in the future.

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Vietnam is a country with a hot and humid tropical climate, so it affects some products with European origin.

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There are many direct competitors in the market, it requires Unilever to ensure the quality of the product and meet the tastes of consumers.

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CHAPTER 3. UNILEVER STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN 1. Market Research In 2018, beauty and personal care in Vietnam experienced healthy sales growth, mainly thanks to higher living standards, a gradual increase in the average income and the strong development of social networks. This along with strong GDP improvement brought Vietnam to see the second-fastest value growth rate within Asia Pacific (World Bank, 2018). Notably, skin care and Men’s grooming outperformed others in terms of Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 2012-2017 growth rate of 14.7% and 13.8% respectively while traditional sectors commenced to reach maturity stage. There are some key trends in market. Oral care: Charcoal toothpaste is drawing the attention from consumers thanks to its high quality. Skin care: Japanese skin care products will gain more popularity owing to their natural ingredients and high-quality formulas, which are suitable to the Asian skin type; Dermo cosmetics product will expand future as the response to the rising health-consciousness trendline globally. Shampoos and Bath & Showers: mid to high0end consumers are looking for organic or safe ingredients products, rising demand for specialized products with different functions like the shampoo (hair fall control, fight pollution, intensive repair) or Bath and shower (prefumed shower gel, exfoliating body wash) Also, the cosmetics and fragrances sector performed quite well during the reviewed period with CAGR 2012-2017 growth rate of 12.9% and 18.7% respectively. Cosmetics: Korean make-up style returns as the most popular trend due to the strong influences of idols and beauty bloggers, Premium brand names are more preferred (World Bank, 2018). 2. Market Segmentation The personal care and beauty market are segmented into 7 key segmentations: oral care, skin care, haircare, bath & shower, men’s grooming, cosmetics, fragrances, others. All seven key segmentations have key trends which are mentioned in market research above. The total market value of beauty and personal care sector is estimated at 1.53 billion US dollar in 2017, posting CAGR 2012-2017 growth rate of 13.3%. It is noted that the estimated market size does not consider the online sales of individuals and hand-carriers. Thus, the actual market size supposed much higher than this number as there were a lot of online stores providing cosmetics products without registration or license. (Source: Stoxplus, industry preview Vietnam Beauty & Personal Care Market 2018) Amongst segmentation, Men’s Grooming and Skin Care products performed quite well, reflecting the increasing demand for men’s personal care products and the rising healthconsciousness trend in Vietnam. Notably, Deodorants (especially for men) product is the key 11

driver behind the impress growth rate of others. In particular, deodorants grew from low base of 30.1 millions US dollar (2012) to 73 millions Us dollar (2017), posting CAGR 2012-2017 growth rate of 19.4% - highest figure among segments.

Source: StoxPlus from EUI On this paper, it will focus on the personal care and beauty range of products in Vietnam market. The market segmentation based on the features and value propositions. The market segmentation can be done by 4 areas which are geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural. Geographic will be Vietnam. The target will be the central cities in Vietnam which have high population. Then, the provinces across Vietnam from the north to the south of Vietnam. Demographic, the age will be from 15 to 60 years old. The products will be used for different life stages. Both man and woman will can use those products. And people who have the low to upper middle income can use those products. Psychographic segmentation is quite similar to behavioural segmentation. The consumers are believers, strivers, makers and thinkers. Behavioural will divide consumers base on the behaviour patterns as their interactive with a company. The behaviour’s consumers will focus on benefits, patterns and usage rate. 3. Marketing Mix 4P’s + 1H Unilever implements a complex marketing mix that considers product differences and variations among markets around the world. A firm’s marketing mix or 4Ps (Product, Place, Promotion & Price) reflects the combination of business strategies designed to capture the target market. In Unilever’s marketing mix, the product element and place element are most significant. Still, the promotion element and price element ensure the company’s profitability

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(Bahadir et al. 2015). As a leading firm in the consumer goods industry, Unilever must maintain a marketing mix that addresses competition and other challenges in the global market. Unilever’s marketing mix (4Ps) involves a diversity of products and markets, which dictate differences in pricing. Considering the scale of its consumer goods business, the company has a complex approach to its marketing mix. Unilever’s Products (Product Mix) Unilever expands its consumer goods business through the years, resulting in a broadening product mix currently composed of over 400 brands around the world (Unilever, n.d). This section of the marketing mix identifies the company’s outputs, collectively known as the product mix. Unilever has a wide variety of products under the following categories: Personal Care and Beauty range of product (Goi, 2009) The company’s Close-Up toothpaste, Vaseline lotion, and Dove soap and shampoo are sold under the personal care category. These types of products indicate that Unilever’s marketing mix is already highly diversified. Such diversification partly results from the company’s acquisition strategy in the consumer goods market through the years. Price Unilever maintains a wide variety of price points, considering the level of diversification of its products. Prices and corresponding pricing strategies are determined in this section of the marketing mix. In general, the most significant pricing strategies in Unilever’s consumer goods business are as follows: Market-Oriented Pricing Strategy, Premium Pricing Strategy and Product Bundle Pricing Strategy (Rahmani, 2015). The market-oriented pricing strategy entails setting price points based on consumer goods market factors. For example, Unilever uses competitors’ pricing to determine the most appropriate prices. On the other hand, the premium pricing strategy involves prices that are higher than competitors. For instance, for products like Dove, Unilever applies moderately high prices that correspond to the premium quality of the brand. Also, the company occasionally offers products in bundles set at discounted prices. This section of Unilever’s marketing mix shows a mixture of strategies that suit the variations in the company’s consumer goods and target markets. Promotion Unilever needs to promote its products, considering the high level of competitive in the Vietnam’s consumer goods market. This section of the marketing mix outlines the strategies and tactics in the company’s approach to promote its products to target consumers. Unilever uses the following promotional tactics, arranged according to significance: Advertising 13

(primary), Sales Promotion, Public Relations, Personal Selling and Direct Marketing (Hanssens et al. 2014). Advertising serves as the primary means of promoting Unilever’s products. Many of the company’s brands have advertisements on television and online media. The firm also occasionally uses sales promotion, such as discounts and product bundles. For example, Dove soap bars are sometimes offered in bundles of three at a discounted price. In terms of public relations, the Unilever Foundation’s activities enhance corporate image and brand strength. The company sometimes implements personal selling in collaboration with retailers to operate kiosks for certain occasions or promotional events. Direct marketing is the least significant promotional tactic in Unilever’s marketing mix. This tactic involves directly engaging client organizations to promote suitable products. Based on this section of the marketing mix, Unilever heavily relies on advertising as the main factor that influences consumer perception about the company’s consumer goods. Place The Vietnam operations of Unilever reflect the extensive reach of the business in the consumer goods market. The venues or places where the company transacts with customers or target consumers are identified in this section of the marketing mix. Unilever uses the following places for distributing its products: Retailers (primary) and Stores (Unilever’s Annual Report & Accounts, 2018). Retailers are the primary places of distribution for Unilever’s products. For example, supermarkets are retailers responsible for distributing these consumer goods. Also, Unilever offers some of its products through local stores. People Apart from the traditional 4P of Marketing Mix, one of the most important P's that Unilever has been and continues to develop, is the human factor. Alone with the diverse production and business activities, Unilever Vietnam always reaches great importance to the development of human resources as a quality breakthrough for long-term sustainable development, even when the society enters the " Knowledge "or" Biological Economics ". To "fully understand Vietnamese consumers" and to develop a "root system" that helps the company cline to the market, Unilever has built a professional and regular indigenous to focus on Employee training programs. Unilever's view is "Developing through people", so the company always pays a3envon to the rights of its employees and is ready to support them in the areas of work. Currently, the Vietnamese management team has replaced the previous key positions held by foreign experts.

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4. Customer (CRM) Customer Relationship Management is recognized as a strategy for managing interactions of company with customers, clients and sales. Technology is not only applied to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes and sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall targets are to find and win new clients, reduce the costs of marketing and client service. An implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs. It is important to emphasize that CRM is a specialty within marketing, and to implement CRM in a company which can use tools as CRM systems, mailers, databases etc. CRM is easy to misunderstand, thinking it is an IT system. CRM at Unilever Vietnam From sourcing raw materials to delivering the product, the technologically advanced supply chain underpins the growth of Unilever Vietnam, providing service excellence at competitive costs. Unilever Vietnam has proactively developed new capabilities in customer relationship management and supply chain for partnering the development. They now have a business system in place that delivers excellence in customer service, while driving growth for the company and the customers. In-store merchandising is a key enabler for their brands to stand out prominently and attract the attention of consumers. Customised activation to drive trial and preference for their brands is another key thrust. They keep interacting with the customers thus providing them experience in several innovative ways (One Business, 2013) Innovative Services for Customer Attraction and Retention 

Sunsilk mobile salons at stores providing consumers the opportunity to have a great hair wash and try the new re-launched product.

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Dove Litmus test in stores demonstrating the brand’s compelling benefit of mildness compared to other soaps.

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They plan to come up with self-service stores and supermarkets.

Pioneering New Ways for Customer Relationship All these initiatives build convergence of product availability, brand communication and brand experience in the current channels. But these current channels are somewhat constrained by the existing formats and business models. Therefore, they need to go further in creating touch points for the brands relevant to the scale and nature of the Vietnamese consumer opportunity. Thus, they are creating a whole set of new channels that are designed on the principles of holistic contact with consumers. These are across all consumer segments in both urban and rural Vietnam. 15

Customer Relationship – Front- end The main purpose of this area is to understand customer needs and work together to solve joint logistical challenges such as on shelf availability. Roles include order management, working at the interface between warehousing and transportation, and ensuring the right products arrive in the right place at the right time. Customer Relationship – Plan The planners are unique individuals who use great analytical and interpersonal skills to help bring innovations to market. Working with all business functions, they are the key to the sales and operations planning process. Demand planning uses models as well as market knowledge to determine potential sales. Using this data, supply planning ensures factories can meet these sales on time in the most cost-effective way. The main objective of the project is to get the full knowledge of the products and what are they doing to get the customer loyalty to maintain their market. This is also to find the preferences of customer, their market knowledge, product information, and information about the presence of the rivals and all the other options they have in the market. There are various techniques they adopt to know the preferences and changing needs of the customer. Unilever Vietnam has always looked to tap the market in rural sector. They always have taken into consideration the needs and wants of the people in the rural and semi-urban areas. The main reason behind this has been the potentiality of the rural market. The rural Vietnam amounts for the major population though not financially sound. The bottom of the pyramid consisting of the mass is being focused upon more than the so-called potential group. To meet the needs of the rural population, Unilever Vietnam are studying the consumption habits of these people, which would in turn not only benefit the company but also the inhabitants. Since most of them are daily wage earners or small peasants, so it is vital to study their buying patterns. This would help in understanding them better. 5. Evaluation Evaluation of Unilever’s marketing content applications need to depend on 7 main criteria: Message, Emotion, Trust, Goal, Idea, Story and Image. Message is an effective story will help to enhance customers' trust in products, while maintaining its fundamental position in the target market. Emotion is a factor that stirs inspiration in customers. That emotion is transmitted and achieved effectively when it really touches the hearts of every viewer, and makes the viewer always want to follow and remember the product image as well as the character of the product. Trust is an important factor which does not make customers move to buy products from competitors. This requires that the story given does not necessarily guarantee 100% true but it 16

needs to be built based on the actual values of the brand and product. Goal is the success of any marketing campaign must have a clear goal and a plan to reach that goal. Stories are told to be the way to bring audiences closer to their goals. Idea is unique, creative ideas will draw more attention from the audience. A good idea which hit the audience psychology contributes significantly to the success of campaign. Storyline is in order to attract customers, the story in the campaign needs an interesting storyline. At the same time the story also needs to have dramatic elements to create focal points for the story. Image brings stories to customers with images that will deepen the subconscious and memory of customers. The more special the image is, the more impressions customers have on. Lessons for other business: for businesses that produce a wide variety of goods such as Unilever, it is not necessary to use this marketing tool for all products and goods. The company should only choose one or several products and services that are headed in a certain market to actively implement content marketing campaigns. A lesson from the content marketing strategy for Comfort products of Unilever Vietnam is the study of customers' tastes. With the target customers are mothers and indirect customers who are children in the family, the company has not invested much research on the figure of ambassadors in the campaign. Therefore, it led to the failure of the campaign after 4 years of implementation.

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CHAPTER 4. MULTI-CHANNEL MARKETING MANAGEMENT AND FINANCIAL MARKETING PLAN 1. Multi-channel Marketing Management It is widely known as a mix of advertising and distribution channels aimed at marketing goods to consumers. In other words, Multi-channel marketing is a choice, the goal of businesses is to reach consumers as well as consumers easily access goods by selecting a purchase channel. Some of its distribution channels include: Email, Videos, Blogs, Social Media Sites, Broadcast, Web Ads, Your Website, Telesaminars / Webinars, Direct Mail, Articles, Print Ads, Business Cards (Koral, 2018). The importance of multi-channel marketing For multi-channel marketing, it describes the niche market of the business because most of its customers are present in all places, so enterprise tries to find marketing strategies through advertising channels to approach consumers. As identified by Koral (2018), there are many studies showing that consumers tend to search for goods and products in different media channels, and they often spend 3-4 times on goods and services. The benefits of multi-channel marketing It provides customers with the freedom to find and choose the right products, consumers can use any means of advertising to choose products, multi-channel marketing has a positive impact on reaching customers. Moreover, business can take full advantage of the advertising channels after collecting customer data, they can deploy other advertising methods to potential customers (Koral, 2018). Some challenges for multi-channel marketing First, it requires that the marketing manager find the right message for the company's product or service development goals. Besides, it is time-consuming and complicated to come up with ideas for implementation, a typical example is that the company cannot expect customers to change means and purchasing channels in the short time that businesses. It is necessary to spend a short time and budget to optimize the programs and advertising campaigns by multi-channel marketing, this easily maintains consumer confidence. Additionally, the application of analytical tools is essential for businesses, if the business does not perform this step, the business will never grasp the effectiveness of the advertising campaign and program (Koral, 2018). In short, Marketing Manager applies multi-channel marketing to Unilever Vietnam because this type of advertising supports direct access to consumers easily and quickly. An assumption that some media channels are made to advertise products as well as images of Unilever such 18

as Social Media Sites, Email, Articles, etc. One of the particularly important advantages of this advertising strategy is the cost savings for Unilever. As provided by Doan (2019) leads Vietnam's social network Youtube with 96%, and Facebook is 95% of the total number of respondents, it shows that the proportion of current social media users is currently very high in the Vietnam market, so Unilever Vietnam 's approach to consumers by this method can minimize advertising costs as well as traditional management expenses. In particular, buyers will easily access their essential products, instead of buyers having to go directly to the store to search for products to choose, these applications will support customers best. such as reducing search time, travel costs, opportunity costs, etc. Buyers can search for product information via the app to order goods. At the same time, to implement this advertising strategy, the marketing manager allocates financial plans for the advertising strategy for two main product lines in Vietnam: beauty & personal care and home care. Moreover, financial indicators will be predicted, analyzed and assessed the effectiveness of this plan in the next section. 2. Financial Marketing Plan

Turnover Turnover growth Underlying sales growth Operating margin Underlying operating margin

Beauty & Personal Care 2016 2017 2018 20.2bn 20.7bn 20.6bn 0.5% 2.60% -0.3% 4.2% 2.90% 3.1% 18.4% 19.80% 20.0% 20.0% 21.10% 21.9%

2016 10.0bn -1.5% 4.9% 9.5% 10.9%

Home Care 2017 10.6bn 5.6% 4.4% 10.8% 12.2%

2018 10.1bn -4.2% 4.2% 11.5% 13.0%

Source: Unilever.com Overall, Unilever's turnover accounted for a high proportion of beauty & personal care product packages in the period of 2016 - 2018, in which, Unilever's turnover growth grew strongly in 2017 for both beauty & personal care and home care packages. However, it has a decreasing sign of turnover growth in 2018 for both main product packages. In addition, the underlying sales growth tends to decrease continuously for 3 years, while operating margin increases slightly from 2016 to 2018, beauty & personal care it reaches 20% and home care reaches 11.5% in 2018.

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Financial Performance 0.25 0.2

0.15 0.1 0.05 0 2016

2017

2018

2016

Beauty & Personal Care

-0.05

2017

2018

Home Care

-0.1 Turnover

Turnover growth

Underlying sales growth

Operating margin

Underlying operating margin

Through Unilever's results, as well as its potential market in Vietnam, it showed by outstanding economic indicators in recent years. Therefore, Unilever decided to choose Vietnam as a Southeast Asian country to expand its market. Unilever implements two main product packages such as beauty & personal care, and home care. An assumption that the marketing manager of Unilever Vietnam conducts surveys and analyzes the market situation and consumer tastes before applying the most appropriate approach. Assuming revenue of Unilever Vietnam Items Target Sales revenue Variable cost per unit Contribution margin ratio Fixed costs EBIT

Quantity 150,000

price 0.25

Revenue (BEP)

Total 37,500 26,250 12,375 5,742 6,633

Rate 100% 67% 33%

17,400

Assuming revenue of Unilever Vietnam Items Target Sales revenue Variable cost per unit Contribution margin ratio Fixed costs EBIT

Revenue (BEP)

Quantity 150,000

price 0.25

Total 37,500 26,250 12,375 5,742 6,633

Rate 100% 67% 33%

17,400

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Unilever Vietnam expected revenue for the first year is $37,500 Mil, of which the variable cost assumes $26,250 (equivalent to 67% of the total Target sales revenue), contribution margin ratio accounts for 33% (it accounts for $ 12,375 Mil), fixed costs are $5,742 Mil; EBIT is $6,633 Mil; and Break-even point of revenue is $17,400 Mil. In general, through this hypothetical example, Marketing Manager will have a new marketing strategy to reach consumers as well as promoting the Unilever products in Vietnam market. In parallel, the ROI of Unilever Vietnam is calculated at the following rate for the first year: ROI = (Revenue – Costs) / Costs = 37,500 – (26,250 + 5,742 + 48) = $5460 Mil Thus, it is easy to conclude that with the expected revenue of 150,000 units, Unilever's ROI is $ 5460 Mil. Marketing budget plan Marketing Budget Plan Category Research Research market Research Costs Total Communications Promotional brochures Television Radio Web

Estimated Quantity

Estimated Cost per Unit

4

$1,775.00

$7,100.00 $7,100.00

5,000 5 13 1

$0.15 $4,000.00 $350.00 $350.00

$750.00 $20,000.00 $4,550.00 $350.00

Communications Costs Total Networking Memberships Affiliations Subscriptions

$25,650.00

3 2 2

$50.00 $20.00 $32.00

Networking Costs Total Event Number of attendees Meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) Food Tax (10%) Food and beverage gratuity (20%) Meal Costs Subtotal

Estimated Subtotal

$150.00 $40.00 $64.00 $254.00

100 $23.00 $2.30 $5.06

$2,300.00 $230.00 $506.00 $3,036.00

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Event Costs Total Event Price per Person Promotions Product giveaways Product discounts Special offers

$3,036.00 $30.36

50 300 200

$8.00 $3.00 $2.50

Promotions Costs Total Advertising Brochures (development and production) Mailings Postcards Television Radio Newspapers Billboards Bus sides

$1,800.00

5,000

$0.15

$750.00

15,000 15,000 2 4 6 2 3

$0.04 $0.03 $600.00 $300.00 $220.00 $556.00 $125.00

$600.00 $450.00 $1,200.00 $1,200.00 $1,320.00 $1,112.00 $375.00

Advertising Costs Total Public Relations Charity events Advertising Employee promotions Sponsorships

$400.00 $900.00 $500.00

$7,007.00

3 4 6 3

Public Relations Costs Total ESTIMATED MARKETING GRAND TOTAL

$200.00 $200.00 $200.00 $200.00

$600.00 $800.00 $1,200.00 $600.00 $3,200.00 $48,047.00

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION After conducting an overview analysis of Unilever Vietnam, Unilever's strategic marrketing plan, multi-channel marketing and financial marketing plan, one of the key issues that positively affects the operation as well as product deployment. To directly reach consumers, Marketing Manager needs to implement many advertising strategies suitable to the culture and tastes of consumers. Moreover, the channel of distribution of goods is also considered as an extremely important factor in entering the market because the topography of each region is different so it will create many obstacles in the distribution of goods between region. Therefore, a problem is posed for Marketing Manager to implement distribution strategies as well as product advertising. For goods distribution channel, the characteristic of Vietnam is the distribution of local people widely living throughout the territory, so it is the cause of many difficulties for businesses. To handle this problem, the marketing manager needs to implement a key strategy for each region, such as associating with transport companies to transport goods to densely populated areas. For example, an agreement between Unilever Vietnam and a freight business is a way to minimize management costs, equipment, and assets of Unilever. In other words, it has difficulty in distributing and transporting goods between regions, so it needs to work with a partner specializing in transport services to maximize profits. As for advertising strategy, Unilever Vietnam should apply multi-channel marketing to reach consumers, according to a survey by Statistic.com, which shows that 90 out of 100 people use social networks. Therefore, this form is considered an effective advertising channel for administrators. Moreover, to implement this advertising strategy, it assists in responding to consumer needs in an instant, and delivers the message quickly. Although there are many advertising channels, Unilever will implement marketing strategies through multi-channel communication channels.

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Unilever (n.d), “Brands” [WWW], Available from: https://www.unilever.com/brands/ [Accessed on 9 December 2019). World Bank (2019, Oct), “The World Bank In Vietnam” [WWW], Available from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/overview. [Accessed on 9 December 2019].

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