In early 2013, Sitapati faced pressure from both a limited financial budget and a behavior–
change goal from the global brand team. The Urban Schools Liquids initiative (USL) is
recommended. By promoting Lifebuoy liquid handwash in carefully selected major cities,
this personal care approach will spread through households, increasing their influence and
bringing substantial, immediate profit to the Lifebuoy brand.
Profitability for organization development
Lifebuoy liquid soap, an innovative germ-killing handwash that saves 50% handwashing
time, is a late entrant in the rapidly growing liquid handwash market. With the promising
profitability from an increasing recognition and acceptance of the liquid soap in the major
cities, the USL Initiative is expected to shorten the payback period to 3.5 years, 3-4 times
faster than the two other behavior-change programs.
Behavior-change impact on the sustainability strategy
Employing the adapted “School of Five” educational programs, the initiative could exploit
the original plan’s behavior-change benefits while operating it for a longer-term for better
effect. An x5 multiplier could be applied to the kids’ influence on their family; therefore, the
behavioral impact is expected to be higher. Not only will it positively influence sales, but
with brand shown, the social image for Lifebuoy/Unilever also improves.
Challenges/Solutions
While focusing 100% on Lifebuoy liquid handwash, the USL Initiative loses the chance of
promoting other Lifebuoy/Unilever products that could benefit from the training promotion.
The initiative also only focus on school kids instead of directly targeting the housewives who
have the main purchase power. However, as mentioned, the kids are expected to influence
their households’ behavior and spread brand recognition.
Another Unilever brand Dettol is cannibalizing the market share, which is unfavorable for
the global team. However, since they target different market segments, Lifebuoy could
further enhance its competitive advantage by lowering the price and emphasizing its germ-
killing and family-related image.
The full cost that Lifebuoy burdens seem less challenging, but it slows down the initiative’s
future growth due to financial restrictions. Future partnerships could be explored if Lifebuoy
wants to expand the initiative scale and radiate from major cities to the suburban areas.
Those who can afford liquid handwash are less likely to be the target for behavioral change,
thus deviating from the objective’s sustainability aspect. Concerning the financial situation,