Real Product Analysis of Volcano Body Soap
The development of any product is a complex process that demands consideration of a set of factors essential to attract customers’ attention and guarantee the success of the offered object. For this reason, such aspects as the brand’s name, logo, packing and size become extremely important, as these are the first things a customer sees when deciding whether to buy a product or not.
Among the four elements of the real product concept, the brand’s name holds the leading position. The modern management accepts the idea of the unique importance of the appropriate title as a part of the image and potent attraction tool (Kotler & Keller, 2015). For the selected project, “5G” is taken as a brand’s name because of its ability to convey a set of different meanings. First, 5G stands for five girls running a company, which is vital, as it helps to create a certain image and emphasise the significance of this fact. Additionally, the title might represent the five fundamental elements of the offered soap, which are volcanic mud from the White Island, Manuka honey, coconut oil, New Zealand spring water and milk. All these natural elements contribute to the creation of the positive image of the company and their mentioning in the brand’s name will also lead to the formation of its recognisable image. Additionally, today, 5G might symbolise a new fast-evolving generation of communications drawing a parallel between the speed of its evolution and the brand, which also always moves forward to be the first. Finally, 5G is a memorable and easy-to-read sign that can be understood by customers.
Another aspect of real product analysis is the logo. The following one is suggested for the company (Figure 1):
It has several elements that are important for the popularisation of the brand. First, it is recognisable and notable, so clients can remember the name of the company and associate it with the picture (Kotler & Armstrong, 2017). Second, as the target audience mainly consists of women, and the red colour is selected to attract their attention. Additionally, it is considered one of the traditionally female tones, which will also help to make them interested. Finally, round shapes are welcomed by people in China as they have good associations with it.
The design of packing presupposes the use of eco-friendly materials to emphasise the sustainable image of the company. The products are packed in wooded bags, and for limited editions paper boxes are used. Calm brown and white colours are used to create an attractive visual appeal and make clients feel comfortable. All packages contain three soap balls, sized 3.8 cm for each one, which means that the risk of cross-contamination will be reduced.
Augmented Product Analysis of Volcano Body Soap
The concept of augmented product preconditions the existence of additional factors that differentiate it from the line and can be considered non-physical parts of an object. This idea also presupposes some elements of the brand’s image that can help to create a unique background and attract customers (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Analysing Volcano Body Soap, several factors should be mentioned.
First, the story of the company should be considered a critical element of the augmented product. For 5G, it means the five girls’ desire and idea to help people by offering a soap that will help to solve their problems with sensitive skin and contribute to its improvement. Additionally, there is also a focus on pregnant women who might have specific demands for cosmetics and soap because of their health status. In such a way, the brand’s story and main concept includes these two aspects and can be attractive for clients.
The company’s vision is another element. At the moment, there is the emphasise on the fact that it offers the most comfortable and powerful skin care product from the purest country in the world, New Zealand. The given vision contributes to the creation of a specific company’s image and attraction of clients because of the combination of unique factors (Keller & Swaminathan, 2019). Another unique element of the augmented product is the combination of the three main goals which are
- To provide a healthy alternative to chemical skin care products
- To educate our customer about the benefits of natural products
- To create change for the relationship between human and nature
Being the elements of the company’s vision, they promote change and educate clients about the advantages of the offered soap. For this reason, by cultivating a new perspective on cosmetics, the brand adds a new value to the augmented product, which is critically important for the success (Heizer, Render, & Munson, 2016).
Finally, the company’s mission is another element of the analysis. 5G tries to create and provide exceptional, natural, personal care products by focusing on eco-friendly practices to achieve a better future. That is why environmentally friendly location (New Zealand) is selected. Additionally, all soap is hand-made with no chemicals used while manufacturing. In such a way, along with such functions as relaxing, cleaning and recreation, there are some factors beyond the expected product which are the belongingness to some sustainable and eco-friendly movements, promotion of better relations with nature and utilisation of elements that have a positive impact on the state of the body.
Altogether, augmented product analysis shows that there is a set of factors that are associated with the offered product and that will be considered by clients while buying it, as they will have the positive impact on the brand’s image
Strategic Recommendations
Considering peculiarities of the brand and unique features of created soap, the possible strategic recommendation presupposes maintaining the focus in natural soap area to create a strong link and association between the existing line and environmentally friendly incentives. There are several advantages and disadvantages of the given approach.
First, the focus on natural products might demand additional spending because of the high price of ingredients that possess the needed qualities. Additionally, there might be difficulties with suppliers if the brand continues to grow, and larger amounts will be required. The use of cheaper and available materials cannot be considered an appropriate option because of their inability to meet requirements for the sustainability of the brand and its environmentally friendly character.
However, these disadvantages are compensated by some strengths of the utilised strategic approach. First, the high level of customers’ interest in the brand will be preserved. Today, sustainable and environmentally friendly companies attract much attention because of the existence of multiple problems in the sphere. In such a way, creation of the branded house focusing on natural cosmetics and soap can become a beneficial strategy guaranteeing the existence of a constant and growing target audience and stable income because of the demand on products offered by this type of companies. Considering the recognisable image of the company, the combination of these factors will contribute to the growth of the brand and its ability to compete with other actors belonging to the same market segment.
References
Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2016). Operations management: Sustainability and supply chain management (12th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Keller, K., & Swaminathan, V. (2019). Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity (5th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2017). Principles of marketing (17th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2015). Marketing management (15th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.