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

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

Introduction
This report on Burt's Bees forms part of Datamonitor's case studies series, which explores business practices across a variety of disciplines and business sectors. It looks at how Burt's Bees is planning to retain its original business focus following its acquisition by the bleach giant Clorox.

Reasons to Purchase
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Identify specific areas for operational improvements

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DATAMONITOR VIEW 1
CATALYST 1
SUMMARY 1
ANALYSIS 2
Introduction 2
The natural personal care market is a key growth segment 2
Large companies are looking to capitalize on the growing natural and ethical segment by purchasing successful natural personal care players 3
Colgate-Palmolive and L'Oreal have recently purchased natural personal care companies 3
Clorox follows their lead by purchasing Burt's Bees, in order to improve its 'natural' focus 4
The purchase price far exceeds Burt's sales, showing how much the company believes in Burt's future sales potential 4
The company also produces a 'green' Clorox line, which has caused criticism that it is jumping on the bandwagon 5
The sale of Burt's caused criticism from Burt's core enthusiasts 5
Critics fear the sale will dilute Burt's ethical focus 5
But Burt's plans to operate as a separate entity in order to retain original ethical philosophy 6
The company continues to self-regulate its products to assure consumers that their naturalness is authentic, which could reassure critics of the sale 6
Burt's markets its ethical business through novel initiatives 7
The company relied on grass roots level marketing prior to its acquisition, including touring the US with the 'Bee-utify Your World' tour 7
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 8
The company forms a national print campaign to promote 'real' natural products 8
Burt's chaired a meeting with the NPA to attempt to form industry standards on natural products 9
Burts new product introductions are well aligned with consumer and product trends in the industry as a whole 10
The popular pomegranate ingredient is used in some of Burt's' products 10
The company has added an anti-aging range with on-trend antioxidant ingredients 11
Burt's has also developed a men's range to capture this growing market 11
APPENDIX 12
Case study series 12
Methodology 12
Secondary sources 12
Further reading 12
Ask the analyst 12
Datamonitor consulting 12
Disclaimer 13
List of Figures
Figure 1: Natural personal care is best analyzed from the perspective of 'broad', 'narrow' and 'organic' definitions 3
Figure 2: Clorox highlighted its interest in green products with the introduction of an environmentally-friendly household product range at the beginning of 2008 5
Figure 3: Burt's Bees The Greater Good Business Model, highlighting its main areas of focus 7
Figure 4: Burt's Bees US tour tent at the Earth Day event in New York, 2007 8
Figure 5: Burt's Bees' campaign aimed to educate consumers on the ingredients they should look for in natural products 10