Executive Summary
The purpose of this marketing plan is to outline the marketing processes and strategies put in
place to increase market share of the product Sunlight Soap within the bar-soap market and
the broader detergents and cleaning products market. An increase in company revenue is also
goal outcome of the plan with economic growth accompanying it.
The plan will first analyse the current marketing environment for selling sunlight soap in
Australia and explore the possible marketing strategies best implemented given the analyses.
Further, the report will discuss strategies in targeting two market segments. These segments
will consist of:

Recommendations are made throughout the plan and summarized at the end. They include
several unique marketing strategies for selling the soap with subsequent detailed information
provided throughout the Marketing Mix. Finally, a conclusion summarized emphasized
information from throughout the report.
1.0 Introduction
Sunlight soap is an iconic brand and one of the most enduring products around today.
Originally created by the Lever Brothers Corporation in 1884, Sunlight soap was the first
household soap to be cut, wrapped and sold in a carton. The product arose from William
Hesketh Lever’s determination to revolutionize Victorian England's standards of cleanliness
and hygiene (Unilever 2010). Sunlight soap went on to be one of the first internationally
marketed products and dominated the early soap market throughout the British Empire
(Stephen 1991).
Sunlight Soap also has a long history in Australia, which began when the entrepreneurial
William Lever began producing sunlight soap in Sydney in 1895. The early success of
sunlight soap in the Australian market was due mainly to intensive advertising campaigns
that proved to be very successful and managed to position the product as a metaphor of value
(Stephen 1991). Remnants of former signs, slogans and advertising initiatives and
memorabilia are popular today among collectors.
2.0 Situational Analysis
Market analysis
In recent decades’ sales of not only Sunlight Soap, but also the whole ‘bar soap’ market has
been in decline, as traditional products are being replaced by newer technology such as
shower gels and liquid cleaners. Market share is being eroded as consumers’ move towards
more advanced products that offer benefits such as additional minerals and moisturisers, a
range of fragrances and pump action dispensers.
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Despite recent advertising and pricing efforts to boost sales and retain market share that is
being lost to the influx of new products, consumers are seemingly unresponsive with a 5.5%
drop in sales for 2002 (Retail World, 2003).
Sunlight Soap stands in an advantageous position with regards to the economic choice
between Sunlight Soap and its more expensive shower gel competitors. Sunlight soap can
also promote the pure and simple make up of the product since it contains no heavy perfumes
or strong colours that are characteristics of the more advanced products. According to Pental,
Sunlight soap still sells over 1 million packs of soap annually, and given the 100-year history,
this speaks highly of the quality of the product (Pental 2010).
Economic Environment
The recent global economic downturn has led to consumers looking to reduce discretionary
spending, this opens up opportunities for low cost necessities to reclaim some of the market
share lost to the more expensive substitutes.
Political and Legal environment
The ACCC has regulations in place to ensure correct labelling and product information is
accessible to all customers through text on the packaging. Further, recent outbreaks of the
potentially life threatening influenza strains has resulted in a greater emphasis placed on the
importance of basic hygiene.
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Social and cultural environment
Sunlight soap can emphasise that it is Australian made and owned with a long history in
Australia.
Sunlight Soap, is an established brand, experiencing what all bar soap brands are
experiencing – a downturn in profits, because of socio-cultural trends favouring new
technologies from competitors. Marketing directors are faced with the task of reviving the
brand, not establishing it.
Technological environment
The recent technological advances in the industry have placed pressure on the more
traditional soap products. Although, there are some benefits of low technology soaps; the
ingredients used to manufacture Sunlight soap have been used for along time and therefore
offer low risk in comparison with new ingredients used in the more advanced products. The
simplicity of the product should be emphasised.
Competitor analysis
Sunlight Soap is a product most readily associated with the Bar-Soap market, an older
segment of the Cleaning Products Industry. Recently we’ve seen a rising interest in newer
segments of this industry such as liquid soaps, powder detergents and alcohol-based
sanitisers. Along with these substitute products there is also a large range of bar-soap
products already on the market as large firms like Palmolive, Dove and Neutrogena fight for
market control.
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3.0 SWOT analysis
Strengths
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Sunlight soap has a long history of
success
It is relatively cheap
It is simple and portable
Minimal packaging
Well recognised brand
Pure soap
Australian made and owned
Weaknesses
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Opportunities

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Necessity
Large market share of close
substitutes
Slower economic conditions
Technologically inferior to new products
Low product awareness in younger
generations
Low novelty appeal
Communal use form
Threats
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Competitive market
New technological advancements
Lots of close substitutes
4.0 Consumer Market Segmentation, Target market & Positioning
Geographical Segmentation
Sunlight soap is focused mainly in the Australian market, which is sold in retail outlets all
over the country. While in a warm temperate climate consumers have a need for soap and
body products for personal hygiene. In addition to Australia’s hot conditions there is a large
population of locals, tourists and other individuals who use hygiene products that provide a
dense market opportunity.
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Demographical Segmentation
Most individuals have a need for soap and older generations of soap users are aware of
sunlight soap’s history in the market as well its presence as well known brand. Also young
consumers value hygiene and the environment and so look to more natural products to
support being ‘green’. Sunlight bar soap is affordable to consumers with any set of income or
education as it is a necessity.
Psychographic Segmentation
Sunlight soap would appeal to all lifestyles including families, back backers, adventurists,
young adults, etc. Individuals with attitudes for more natural products and for Australian
owned soap are a key segment of consumers. The soap brand Sunlight provides the
consumer with good-quality soap and the brand itself is appealing to a range of consumers.
Behavioural Segmentation
Benefits received by purchasing sunlight bar soap are its multiple uses, relatively cheap,
natural ingredients, effective hygiene use that fulfils the expectations and needs of consumer.
Additionally the ‘Sunlight’ brand is known in the soap market and customers would remain
loyal to the brand because of its reliability the past decades. There is a medium volume usage,
as soap is bought as a necessity, however it stands in competition with shower gels and other
products.
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Target Market
Our target market will consist of the combined segments of pensioners, young families and
low-income earners who collectively share similar demands from the core product, as well as
promoting Sunlight soap as a convenient product in situations that require portability and
easy and safe storage such as tradesman, people engaging in outdoor recreation and travelers.
Promotional initiatives would also share significant overlap throughout these segments and
would primarily focus on advertising and sales promotions however not withholding other
aspects of a promotional mix in smaller quantities. The advertisement approach will consist
of a series of commercials using humor as a primary motivator tying in themes of economical
use and an Australian historical presence.
Positioning
Through this series of eco-themed commercials Sunlight Soap will be positioned to the wider
consumer market as:

An economic choice in the soap range for personal and household cleaning purposes.

Plain bar soap (no frills option) with a history in the Australian home

An environmentally friendly option in regards to packaging (In comparison with
shower gels, who use plastic bottles, Sunlight Soaps packaging is paper of a
substantially less size)
Further, with Australian tourism reaching numbers of 1.6 million a year, an opportunity exists
to advertise the “Real Australian Experience” provided by Sunlight Soap. Spreading viral
iconic advertisements over ‘Facebook’ and ‘Youtube’ may lead to a global phenomenon of
product realization similar to the success of products such as ‘Old Spice Body Wash’. Using
these products as an example we intend to replicate similar viral feeds with Sunlight Soap.
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Through these viral feeds the product will be positioned to a broader audience of various
demographics but directed its emphasis onto mainly tourists. It will have the following
characteristics:
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Rough, Raw, “True Blue” soap product for tourists wanting a cultural experience.

Very portable – easy to travel with (small, solid,

Embodied with the spirit of Australian heritage and history
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Cheap
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Iconic and almost novel (given a successful viral campaign)
5.0 Objectives
The increasing popularity of shower gels and other more advanced soap products has seen a
decline in the popularity of bar soaps. The goal of this marketing campaign is to increase
market share of Sunlight Soap by differentiating the brand from other bar soaps and
increasing use by market segments that are more inclined to use the more advanced products.
This will be achieved by associating the brand with Australian heritage, and repositioning
Sunlight soap in the broader market as a trusted Australian iconic brand that offers value and
reliability in the personal hygiene market.
Sunlight Soap is similar to its competitors in the sense that people purchasing these products
fulfill the same basic need of personal hygiene. Therefore, it is important that the product
stands out among the crowed, this marketing plan will attempt by create a high level of brand
awareness. Our goal is to increase market share of the bar-soap market by 30% within an 18month period. Similarly we intend to increase market share within the entirety of the ‘Soaps
and Hygiene’ market by 15% over the same period.
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6.0 Marketing Mix Strategy
Product
Sunlight Soap was established in the late 1800s and has been successful in Australia, as a
multipurpose good in the personal hygiene market. Sunlight soap faces the difficult task of
increasing its sales, as the bar soap market declines, with the introduction of new products
offering additional benefits, saturating the market.
The Sunlight soap bar in its current form has a proven history of providing safe, simple, and
easy to use hygienic product that is made from natural ingredients and provides value for
money, no new ingredients; including oils and natural extracts will be featured. Sunlight will
attempt to grow by promoting; it’s history and social relevance in Australia, it’s portability,
it’s low cost, it’s Australian made, and a product with minimal packaging. There is no need to
change the product for the purposes of this marketing campaign.
Sunlight Soap is a portable and convenient cleaning product (a bar of soap won’t spill or
overflow as shower gels often do), it is a plain bar soap (no frills option) with a history in the
Australian home, an environmentally friendly option in regards to packaging (in comparison
with shower gels using plastic bottles, Sunlight soap is packaged in a much smaller amount of
cardboard – which is also recyclable).
As part of the marketing campaign we will introduce a hard case that will carry a single bar
of Sunlight soap, the thought behind this strategy is that once a consumer buys the hard case
dispenser, when that bar of soap is used the consumer then has an opportunity to refill his or
her dispenser hard case with the cheaper option bar of sunlight soap so in essence the expense
will fuel the savings and create brand loyalty.
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Price
Sunlight soap is currently priced comparatively well at $3.20 for a pack of five, this price will
remain the same for the marketing campaign as a decrease in price would be unlikely to
increase units sold by a significant amount.
The current low range price is also consistent with the marketing plans objective of
increasing sales through growth in the outdoor recreational, Tradesman and low cost traveller
segments of the market.
Distribution / Place:
Sunlight soap predominantly use indirect channels of distribution through supermarkets and
grocery stores. In a further attempt to increase brand awareness and effectiveness we intend
to broaden the channels to include camping stores and adventure chains, for example B.C.F.
and Anaconda. This will be achieved through the promotion of the new hard case product and
will open up other untouched avenues for consumer purchases.
Promotion
The promotional strategy will include the use of push and pull marketing and integrated
marketing communications in the form of advertising, sales promotion and personal selling.
Personal selling will be predominately used to market effectively towards creating new points
of sale and increasing visibility in current retail outlets. The idea behind this is that personal
selling gives sunlight soap the opportunity to personally tailor the most effective marketing
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message towards these consumers and the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the efforts
through measurable one on one feedback. Sales promotion will also be used to target these
consumers through a discount on bulk purchases open to only to business customers.
The strategy to target non-business consumers however will be a pull strategy dominated by
advertising through social media channels and television. In order to get cut through, our
strategy is to create ad’s that are easy to recall and create hyperbole, thus providing the
campaign with the power of word of mouth advertising. This will be done with the creation
of a potential viral ad, the premise for the ad involves a man swearing and a
“rocketsoaplauncher” with the added tagline “Clean up your act” making use of the old wash
your mouth out turn of phrase.
However the biggest strength of Sunlight Soap as a brand and a product is its vast history,
heritage and it’s pure characteristics so this will be emphasised through a complete rework of
the modern product packaging Implementing a rehash of a retro sunlight soap logo
emblazoned brightly on both the single bar and hard case packaging.
7.0 Budget
Fill this space
8.0 Implementation
In order to achieve the objective of repositioning Sunlight soap as a brand associated with
Australian heritage, this marketing campaign will revive the retro images and posters that
were used in advertising campaigns in the early twentieth century. The images will be
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incorporated in to the design of the packaging and as a theme for the television and Internet
advertisements.
In order to capitalise on the portability of a bar of Sunlight soap, and promote the product as
something that should be in every tool/tackle/glove box, we will introduce a plastic hard case
that will be given away over the promotion period with the purchase of every five-pack of
sunlight soap. The plastic hard case will feature a retro poster as part of its design.
The marketing plan will create awareness of the new image of Sunlight soap by running a
series of short television advertisement, using humour to link Sunlight soap to Australia’s
colonial heritage. A series of more offbeat and humorous short advertisements will also be
uploaded to ‘Youtube’ and other social media to try to expand product awareness through
viral advertising. We will also seek to increase in-store visibility of the product in
conjunction with retro plastic case promotion.
To increase accessibility to target market identified in the market analysis, distribution will be
expanded from the traditional points of purchase such as Coles and Woolworths to include
hardware suppliers such as Bunnings and outdoor recreational stores such as BCF.
The implementation of the marketing campaign will commence with research into the images
and posters that were used in the early advertisements’ of Sunlight soap and developing and
adapting these to best suit the objectives of the marketing plan.
The next stage will consist of establishing the production of the new hard case and packaging
that feature the retro images and the production of the short advertisements.
Finally, suitable retailers will be sought to expand the distribution of the rebranded product
and once these arrangements have been made the television, Internet advertising campaign
and in-store product promotion will commence.
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Action plan & timeline
Task
Timeline
Responsible
Outcomes
Research and modification
of retro Sunlight soap
advertising material
1 November – 1
January
Marketing team
Material has
been identified
and modified to
suit the
objectives of the
marketing plan
Establish hard case
specifications / Production
of hard case
1 December – 1
February
Product
development
team,
A functional,
cost effective
hard case is
produced to
serve the
purposes of the
promotion
Marketing team
Production of the
1 January – 1 March
advertisements for television
and Internet
Search and establishment of
new retail outlets
1 January – 1 March
Marketing team
A series of short
commercials are
produced that
reposition the
product
Business
development
team,
New points of
purchase will be
established that
increase
exposure to
market segments
identified in the
analysis
Marketing team
Commencement of
advertisements and
promotions
1 March -
Marketing team
Sales team
The objectives of
the marketing
plan are met
9.0 Evaluation & Control procedures
Fill this space with 300 words
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10.0 Conclusions & Recommendations
Fill this space with 200 words
References
Pental. (n.d.). Retreived September 1, 2010, from http://www.pental.com.au/home
Unilever. (2010). Sunlight. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from
http://www.unilever.com/brands/homecarebrands/sunlight/index.aspx
Stephen, Ann. (1991). Selling Soap: Domestic Work and consumerism. Labour History, 61,
pp. 57-69.
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