Brand Type
This discussion focuses on Vaseline as the preferred product to use in brand and packaging perspectives. Vaseline lies under personal care products and is owned by Unilever Global Company. Vaseline comes as a lotion as seen in figure 1 below, spray, and jelly and is used as a product for oiling the skin, ointment for wounds, and healing balm. The product is an international item that is sold and distributed in all parts of the world. Under Unilever, Vaseline is categorized as a consumer good that is sought by many especially youths.
Product Familiarity
Brand familiarity can be on various levels such as rejection, non-recognition, recognition, preference, and insistence. In 2017, Unilever presented statistics on the rate of sales for the product in 21 countries across Africa, Europe, America, and Asia and found that Vaseline had hit 470 million units of sales in that year (“Vaseline named the world’s No.1 hand and body care brand”, 2017). Thus, the product can be said to be familiar to the consumers and the current level of brand familiarity level is preference and insistence. The reason is that many people have tested the effectiveness of Vaseline in healing projects that brought along much-needed demand to communities in need to heal their skin. By 2020, more than 20 million people benefited from the product from that perspective (“Vaseline named the world’s No.1 hand and body care brand”, 2017). The brand accounts for a significant share of the personal product market.
Brand Name
As noted in the previous section, the brand name is Vaseline by Unilever. Vaseline has various taglines that are made to note its effectiveness which is a major focus of the product. Some of the slogans include ‘Take good care, ‘The Healing Power of Vaseline’, ‘Keeping Skin Amazing Since 1870’, and ‘Soothe and Relax with Vaseline Intensive Care. Vaseline as a brand has a role to play in the product’s success. The branding has been effective to define the specific target group that Unilever wants to reach. Having the slogans accompanying the brand’s products ensures that the critical element of luring and enticing buyers are well performed. Vaseline has been effective and thus, Unilever has been on the frontline to make other products have the same rate of purchase and loyalty to the brand.
Packaging
During the manufacturing process, crude oil is converted to petroleum through the extraction of liquid hydrocarbons. There follows vacuum distillation and then the residue is filtered through bone char hence yielding petroleum jelly that serves as the primary ingredient of Vaseline. Unilever uses polypropylene containers that are recycled and melted during production. The type 5 plastic is used to make the end containers that are used to pack the jelly, lotion, cream, and spray. While packaging, Vaseline uses its logo as shown in figure 2 above as a packaging promotion aspect, and the minimum amount that can be held in the container during packaging is 100 grams (Magnier & Schoormans, 2017). The container is left with some space to allow ample swiping during use.
For the protective packaging, Unilever has had a technical strategy to use cardboards to place the processed brands of Vaseline that are well-organized and arranged to prevent the product from any risk of distortion during shipping and warehousing. As seen in figure 3 below, the plastic trolley serves as the holder of the product and must display the logo and name during the process (Magnier & Schoormans, 2017). Vaseline has enhanced the product by creating a cap that is easy to open, that can allow content preservation for a long time, and by using more environmentally friendly plastic material.
References
Magnier, L., & Schoormans, J. (2017). How do packaging material, color, and environmental claims influence package, brand, and product evaluations?Packaging Technology and Science, 30(11), 735-751.
Vaseline was named the world’s No.1 hand and body care brand. Unilever global company website. (2017).