LITERATURE REVIEWDiscovering the Consumer: Market Research, Product Innovation, and theCreation of Brand Loyalty in Britain and the

United States in the Interwar Years. This paper discusses the use of market and consumer research at Lever/Unilever and itsadvertising agency in Britain and the United States, J. Walter Thompson (JWT), in theinterwar period. Research surveys conducted by JWT in the 1920s and 1930s helped L e v e r reposition its international soap brand Lux. The case d e m o n s t r a t e s t h a t L e v e r deployed qualitative market research techniques much earlier than usually acknowledged.Qualitative and quantitative consumer research methods allowed marketers at Lever andJ W T to take account of autonomous consumer practices that limited t h e s c o p e o f management. The article also shows that marketing's cultural practices often predate itsconceptualization and academic theorization.The Brand: Lux Soap FlakesOne of Levers earliest product innovations was a production technique developed in 1889, which allowed soap to be produced in forms of flakes. The resulting product, soapflakes, made washing easier and preserved the garments as women did not have to rubclothes with the hard soap bar. In 1900, Levers product came on the market as Lux soap flakes. The product, with its distinctive brand name (derived from the Latin wordfor light lux, which in English also suggested luxury)and packaging was one of thef i r s t a t t e m p t s a t i n t e g r a t e d m a r k e t i n g i n t h e U n i t e d Kingdom. Lux became a brandtargeted at high- and middlei n c o m e c o n s u m e r s w h o w a n t e d t o p r e s e r v e e x p e n s i v e clothing. The brand became associated with care and gentleness but also with the idea

of expensive lifestyles. Moreover, the product was positioned as a problem solver (Levitt1960); if consumers were ri ch enough to buy expensive clothes, they also had problemswhich low-income groups did not have, that is, the preservation of silk or other expensiveclothes. Lux helped solve these problems. In 1906, Lever began to export Lux soap flakesto the United States. There, its advertising agency JWT suggested that the traditionalpositioning of Lux as a product to be used to wash woolen garments (see slogan in fig. 1: L u x w o n t s h r i n k w o o l e n s ) s h o u l d b e widened so that consumers saw Lux as aproduct that could be used for all fine fabrics. This repositioning followed a typicalstrategy applied by JWT. Its advertisements often follo w e d a n a g g r e s s i v e m a r k e t expansion strategy for their products; by suggesting a wider framework of possible usesf o r a g i v e n p r o d u c t b o t h the customer base and the usage rate of a product could b e increased (Ansoff 1957).For its client Lever Brothers, this strategy resulted in increasedsales from 10,000 cases in 1915 to over one million cases in 1918 (The history of LuxFlakes1950; Lovett 1970). This strategic marketing orientation of JWTs advertising isfurther exemplified in its decision to use advertisements in 1922 to promote the use of Lux for the washing of dishes. In the early 1920s, the Lux advertising campaign in theAmerican market took a crucial turn toward dialogic consumer engagement. In 1924,JWT invited American housewives to submit testimonials for Lux soap flakes. Theseletters, of which about 53,000 arrived at the JWT headquarters, were used by the agencyto conduct a survey of consumer habits. It turned out that consumers had independently begun to use the flakes for the washing of their hands, for baths, for their babies, and for washing their hands and hair. This effectively created brand extensions into

new product lines (toilet soap, shampoo, etc.). These findings encouraged Lever Brothers to extend theb r a n d a n d o f f e r c o n s u m e r s a L u x t o i l e t s o a p , which was launched on the Americanmarket in 1925 and three years later on the British market (Lux Flakes A c c o u n t History 1950).In 1927, Lever decided to reposition the Lux brand on the British market,too. In a highly volatile market, the expensive quality product Lux had begun to losemarket share to generic soap flake products which were sold in bulk. Moreover, in 1924,Colgates Palmolive toilet soap was introduced in the United Kingdom supported by theAmerican Lord & Thomas advertising agency. By themid-1930s, Palmolive haddiversified into shampoo soap, shaving cream, and face powder (Statistical Review of Press Advertising 1937; Edwards 1962).What added to this competitive pressure wereLevers limitations in strategically positioning its own brands in a crowded market. Soonafter World War I, Lever had managed to acquire a quasi monopoly in the British soap m a r k e t a n d p r o d u c e d some 60 percent of all soap consumed in the United K i n g d o m (Edwards 1962). By1930, Rinso, Persil, Sunlight Soap, Lifebuoy, the Monkey Brand,Pears, and Lux were all part of the Lever Empire. Consumer Voice and Brand Loyalty: Lever, J. Walter Thompso n and the Rise of Market Research in Britain, 1918-1939Stefan Schwarzkopf, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK The study was conducted by J. Walter Thompson in Britain, 19 1 8 - 1 9 3 9 . T h i s p a p e r discusses the use of market and consumer research at Lever/Unilever and its advertisingagency in the UK, J. Walter Thompson (JWT), in the interwar period.S u r v e y s c o n d u c t e d b y J W T b e t w e e n

1 9 2 7 a n d 1 9 3 5 h e l p e d L e v e r r e p o s i t i o n i t s international soap brand Lux. The case demonstrates that Lever pursued marketsegmentation strategies much earlier than usually acknowledged. Qualitative consumer r e s e a r c h m e t h o d s w e r e u s e d w e l l b e f o r e t h e a r r i v a l o f p s y c h o g r a p h i c s a n d a l l o w e d marketers to take account of autonomous consumer practices whichlimited the scope of management.The history of market research and international marketing strategy has recently attractedincreased attention(Bakker 2003, Miskell 2004, Heinrich and Bachelor 2004,Dyer et al.2004, Fitzgerald 2005, Church and Godley2003). The Lever conglomerate and Leversinternational advertising agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT) are two prime examples of the surprisingly large role that market research played in strategic brand management ase a r l y a s t h e 1 9 2 0 s . T h e c a s e o f t h e relaunch of the soap product Lux then used for washing clothes in Britain in 1927-28illustrates how Lever and JWT used m a r k e t researchI n v e s t i g a t i o n s t o m a n a g e t h e r e p o s i t i o n i n g o f t h i s p r o d u c t i n a v e r y c o m p e t i t i v e a n d mature market. In the late 1920s, Levers advertising agency in the United Kingdom JWT did largescale and detailed consumer behavior investigations in relation to soapproducts and began to segment the market for cleaning products in order to position Luxi n t h e m i n d o f c o n s u m e r s . U s i n g t h i s c a s e s t u d y , I w i l l s h o w t h a t r u d i m e n t a r y segmentation, targeting and positioning techniques were being used by marketers far earlier than Tedlows models of stages in marketing history allows for (Tedlow 1990).R a t h e r t h a n e x p o s i n g c o n s u m e r s t o a p u r e l y s a l e s -

o r i e n t e d , m a s s m a r k e t i n g s t y l e o f product communication, the market research conducted by JWT and Lever in the 1920s

put consumers in a more powerful position. By creating a dialogue with consumers, thistype of consumer investigation changed the nature of the market place and redefined theconsumer as a pro-active partner in the marketing process. The article uses the case studyof Lux to show howLever and JWT discovered the consumer as a source for marketinginnovation. Thus, the emergence of market research needs to be understood as a major reorientation inmid twentieth-century marketing management. The findings support BrianJones (2005), deVries (1994), Fullerton(1988), and Hollander (1986), who questioned theidea of alack of marketing orientation in what has often been called the production eraof early twentieth-century industrial societies. Product Mix Strategies: FMCG in Indian Market The study was conducted by Mohan Kumar, T. P.and Shiva raj

and the research paper exposes the attitudinal effects on the decision-making process of consumers inpurchasing FMCG products in a mass market confined to HUL and P&G Companiess o a p s a n d d e t e r g e n t s . T h i s a r t i c l e i n t r o d u c e s t h e e x i s t i n g a n d d e s i r e d p r o d u c t m i x strategies in FMCG categories bridging the gap between companies and the customers. The article starts with the problem statement followed by significance, objectives, scope,m e t h o d o l o g y , l i m i t a t i o n s o f t h e s t u d y , s u m m a r y o f f i n d i n g s a n d s u g g e s t i o n s a n d recommendations.Good research depends on a good problem. A well-defined problem is pre-requisite for g o o d research. In this context, the research problem considered is

 P r o d u c t M i x Strategies of Leading FMCG in Indian Market, with special reference to Soaps andDetergents. FMCG market in India is one of the fastest growing markets in India. Theproduct categories which are marketed under this, consists of variety of product lines anditems. In India, there are good number of companies manufacturing and marketingFMCG. Among all, HUL and are in the forefront. In spite of the wide range of soaps and detergents marketed in India, there seems to be gap in the existing product mixoffered by the companies and the customer requirements. The diverse segments in Indianmarket are yet to be completely taped by the existing players. The current study hasattempted to know the existing and desired product mix strategy in FMCG categories with special emphasis on Soaps and Detergents in Indian Market. This research is goingt o b r i d g e t h e g a p b e t w e e n c o m p a n i e s a n d t h e c u s t o m e r s i n t e r m s o f t h e c u s t o m e r expectation and companies understanding of the customers expectation