Degree
Master of Business Administration
Faculty / School
Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)
Advisor
Syed Akhtar Mahmud, Visiting Faculty, Department of Marketing
Committee Member 1
Mr. Akhtar Mahmud, Visiting Faculty, Business Administration – Academic Affairs, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi
Project Type
MBA Research Project
Keywords
https://ir.iba.edu.pk/do/search/?q=Reckitt%20Benckiser%20(RB)%E2%80%99s%20Harpic&start=0&context=8598587&facet=">Reckitt Benckiser (RB)’s Harpic, Pakistan, CSR marketing campaigns, Purchase decision, Customers’ self-perceptions
Abstract / Summary
RB’s Harpic is the category leader within the toilet care segment in Pakistan for many years but its close competitor, Unilever’s Domex is using marketing in full force to help bridge the gap. To keep its leadership atop the brand ladder within the category and to move from a brand looking and promoting on functional aspects to a brand which has strong beliefs and values. RB is planning to launch its first ever marketing campaign that revolves around the big idea of water conservation, referred to as Mission Paani, which has already been launched in India last year and will be referenced for this project as well.
The major deliverable of the project is to gauge the viability of a purpose led CSR marketing campaigns and their impact – if any – on the purchase decision of the consumers. To achieve that, extensive secondary research was conducted to ascertain the need and importance of a cause related marketing campaign, along with its types, effectiveness and effect on consumer behavior. Importance of IMC within this context and different elements of the IMC were researched to help understand the existing literature established within this subject area.
The secondary research was bolstered by primary research, in the form of focus groups, which were used to validate the literature findings within Pakistan’s context. Furthermore, they were also used to assess the congruence of the big idea with the target market and gather insights that can be fed into the actual campaign.
Major findings from the research that the team Harpic should be mindful of whilst preparing the Mission Paani campaign is that the cause should make sense for the consumers and the communication should be clear but the tone utilized should have an emotional engaging content as it resonates more deeply with the target market. Moreover, brand’s attachment to the cause should be for a longer period as taking short term approach might be taken as exploitative by the target market and may tarnish the brand equity built over the years.
Recommended Citation
Khandwala, H. M., Imran, R., Tanveer, S., Hussain, S. M., Ahmed, Y., & Ahmed, Z. (2020). Mission Paani: resonance of cause related marketing in Pakistan for an IMC – Reckitt Benckiser Pakistan (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mba/203
