Analysis and Recommendations on the Plénitude StrategyProblem AnalysisPlenitude by L'Oreal was introduced to the US market in 1988. Eight years after its introduction, it quickly became the number 2 brand in the market alone only to later lose it to Pond's. Plenitude also hit a four-year sales plateau and was still not making money in the US market. L'Oreal's problems and root causes should first be identified and addressed. The root causes of L'Oreal's problems are:1. Incorrect target market assumptions2. Apply a market strategy based on these assumptions3. Continuing to do so for a prolonged period despite the resultsThe target marketWhen L'Oreal planned to launch Plenitude in the US market, it was assumed that what would be successful for the French market would translate into the same success in the US market if the the same formula applied. The “woman manager” model had mass appeal and was so successful in France. However, as clearly demonstrated later in market studies conducted in 1995, the market segments that attracted Plenitude the most were the “stressed” and “age-focused” segments which constituted only 40% of the market. Additionally, acceptance/rejection studies indicated that consumers perceived that Plenitude specifically targeted older women. Analysis of the "Dollar Shares" table combined with the "Moisturizer Units Sold" table (on page 309) shows that Plenitude is indeed a leader in the "treatment" category. However, they are only in third place in the "newspapers" category (see appendix). All of this contributes to Plenitude not having the mass market appeal it needed for the “mass class” strategy to work. People saw L'Oreal as a high-end product, a step up, more expensive and reserved only for older women. Evidently, consumer behavior in the United States is different than in France. What would work in France wouldn't necessarily work in the United States. The marketing strategy The strategy used called “mass class” had these aspects: • Technologically superior products • Focused resources and support on the “flagship product” • Golden rules of advertising:1 . Top Product Feature2. Provide evidence of technological superiority3. It depicts a female executive representing the target market. The implementation of this strategy in the United States has not had the same effect as in France. The main causes of this are: • The presentation of a technologically superior product, the fact that L'Oreal is French, the slogan "Reduces the signs of aging", as well as the depiction of a female executive may have contributed to the current perception and Plenitude position – for older women and expensive.