Burt's Bees case study: retaining brand values in natural personal care following acquisition

Published by: Datamonitor

Published: Apr. 28, 2008 - 7 Pages

Table of Contents

DATAMONITOR VIEW

CATALYST

SUMMARY

ANALYSIS

Introduction

The natural personal care market is a key growth segment

Large companies are looking to capitalize on the growing natural and ethical segment by purchasing successful natural personal care players

Colgate-Palmolive and L'Oreal have recently purchased natural personal care companies

Clorox follows their lead by purchasing Burt's Bees, in order to improve its 'natural' focus

The purchase price far exceeds Burt's sales, showing how much the company believes in Burt's future sales potential

The company also produces a 'green' Clorox line, which has caused criticism that it is jumping on the bandwagon

The sale of Burt's caused criticism from Burt's core enthusiasts

Critics fear the sale will dilute Burt's ethical focus

But Burt's plans to operate as a separate entity in order to retain original ethical philosophy

The company continues to self-regulate its products to assure consumers that their naturalness is authentic, which could reassure critics of the sale

Burt's markets its ethical business through novel initiatives

The company relied on grass roots level marketing prior to its acquisition, including touring the US with the 'Bee-utify Your World' tour

Post acquisition, the company has utilized Clorox's extensive marketing budget by forming a national campaign, clamping down on 'natural' products that aren't natural

The company forms a national print campaign to promote 'real' natural products

Burt's chaired a meeting with the NPA to attempt to form industry standards on natural products

Burts new product introductions are well aligned with consumer and product trends in the industry as a whole

The popular pomegranate ingredient is used in some of Burt's' products

The company has added an anti-aging range with on-trend antioxidant ingredients

Burt's has also developed a men's range to capture this growing market

APPENDIX

Case study series

Methodology

Secondary sources

Further reading

Ask the analyst

Datamonitor consulting

Disclaimer

List of Figures

Figure 1: Natural personal care is best analyzed from the perspective of 'broad', 'narrow' and 'organic' definitions

Figure 2: Clorox highlighted its interest in green products with the introduction of an environmentally-friendly household product range at the beginning of 2008

Figure 3: Burt's Bees The Greater Good Business Model, highlighting its main areas of focus

Figure 4: Burt's Bees US tour tent at the Earth Day event in New York, 2007

Figure 5: Burt's Bees' campaign aimed to educate consumers on the ingredients they should look for in natural products

Abstract

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