Cleopatra - What went wrong???

Major concerns I see in the Cleopatra case are:

  1)      The success in France was the major factor driving the introduction of Cleopatra in other markets like Canada  - not real market studies and customer feedback

a.       The Global Market Group assumed that since it had worked so well in France, it would work well in other parts of the world as well.

b.      There was no consensus among the management team on the decision to introduce Cleopatra in Canada – some of the managers had to be coerced, which definitely impacts the maximum efficiency and support that can be achieved

  2)      The mission of the Canadian Cleopatra program was to leverage the customers in French speaking Quebec, due to the success in France, but the two pilot customer researches were conducted in Toronto, that too of a very limited audience.

a.       The target audience was very small – a highly targeted group, ‘super group’ of articulate professional women and a second group of more typical consumers

b.      The duration allocated in the survey to seek customer feedback was very small – the reaction from the customers was sought almost immediately (a week later or immediately after they were given the details of the advertising and price). This raises a question as to whether there was ample time for the users to actually get used to the product before giving their candid feedback based on their experience using the same.

c.       The research only asked the question as to whether they would buy Cleopatra – it did not seek details as to:

                                                              i.      Whether they will use Cleopatra regularly (all the time) and stop using the other brands that they currently used (Was asked in the Post Survey - Exhibit 12) or only use it occasionally          

                                                            ii.      Whether it will be used by other members of the household and even men (Was asked in the Post Survey - Exhibit 12)

                                                          iii.      Whether they will use it only for their face or for the entire body (Was asked in the Post Survey - Exhibit 12)

                                                          iv.      What attributes of Cleopatra they loved and what aspects they would like changed. They would have benefited from knowing prior to launch, some of the concerns and information that came out in the post survey (Exhibit 11, 13, 14), in that they could have adapted Cleopatra to cater more to the Canadian market

d.      Sufficient research to understand the consumer demographics of the French Canadians which was the targeted market segment was not done

                                                              i.      The post survey (Exhibit 11) clearly indicated that for many French Canadians, the level of perfume is perceived to vary directly with the cleaning strength and harshness of the product. This was in sharp contrast to the French where it was said “to produce an unforgettable fragrance.”

  3)      The Canadian soap market was:

a.       Extremely competitive and the retailers were all-powerful as the competition was extremely intense for the limited shelf space. Inside the store, a brand’s fate was completely at the discretion of the retailer who decided which brands to promote and who to do business with. – In spite of this, Cleopatra’s strategy was to bypass the retailers and reach the consumers directly via advertising and promotions. This ‘pull’ strategy could have also potentially impacted availability of the soap to the consumers as can be seen from Exhibit 14, where 29% of the consumers could not try Cleopatra because it was not available where they shopped.

b.      Consumer’s buying decisions were based on price – in Contrast Cleopatra’s strategy was to price it at the highest as an extremely premium brand. Per Exhibit 14, 19% found Cleopatra too expensive

c.       Ivory, which was the brand that was competing in multiple segments was the most successful market leader and had the highest market share - in contrast Cleopatra’s strategy was to compete in a very narrow segment

d.      Irish Spring, with its strong scent and high lathering capability that was associated with cleaning strength by consumers was made especially for men and did well in the male market as a refreshment soap – in contrast, Cleopatra with its strong fragrance and lathering was being targeted almost completely at a female market, many of them were not looking for ‘harsh’ soaps

e.       Dove, the Cadillac in the skin care segment was low on additives and scent – in contrast Cleopatra, though it perceived Dove to be its prime and direct competition, had a very strong fragrance.

  To try and turn the ship around, I would suggest that Colgate Palmolive and Steve Boyd resorts to Option 3, where they try to alter their strategy and make some changes to the product as well. It can be seen that Ivory that competes in multiple segments has the highest market share. As far as changes to the product, I would propose reducing the fragrance to suit the Canadian standards and continuing to promote the sensual, creamy and mildly perfumed soap in the skin care segment. They have to definitely change the pull strategy as it is clearly not working and the retailers who have the soap are even starting to remove Cleopatra from their shelves. The retailers who had arrived for the Canadian launch extravaganza of Cleopatra were tired of the discounted brands and were clearly looking for something new, different and exciting. Those enthusiastic retailers had signed up for 2000 cases just that evening, but Steve Boyd and his team failed to follow through on this relationship and strategized to go around these retailers. Definitely there was awareness and folks who used it once were eager to buy it again (4.4% used it most of the time or all the time). So by patching up their relationship with the retailers and ensuring availability, Cleopatra should definitely be able to regain ground. I would also stop targeting the soap completely towards women and leverage the refreshing smell and  lathering to target it towards the male audience as well, leaning slightly more towards the refreshment segment. It could be portrayed as the male population luring Cleopatra, the queen of beauty, towards them with the lasting fragrance of the Cleopatra soap. J

  As exhibit 10 clearly indicates, once people used Cleopatra (the 99 Cleo triers), they mapped Cleopatra higher in every category compared to the other soaps including dove, so Steve’s strategy should not be limited to raise awareness, but should be to get the people to try Cleopatra and ensure its widespread availability.