Week 3 EOC: 4 Managing Marketing Information to Gain Customer Insights

Hand in Hand Soap was conceived in 2011 by two social entrepreneurs who believe that business can do so much more than just make money. Understanding the difficulty that most non-profits face trying to obtain funding, Courtney and Bill set out to start a business based on sustainable giving. “To create value for customers and to build meaningful relationships with them, marketers must first gain fresh, deep insights into what customers need and want. Companies use such customer insights to develop competitive advantage.”( Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, Page 101)  By directly tying charitable donations to the sale of an everyday product, Hand in Hand donates a bar of soap and provides a month of clean water to children in need. The goal was to come up with a household product people use every day, which had the power to save lives. We came across an article reporting that each year over 5 million people die of diseases caused by poor water quality and lack of proper hygiene. We wanted to be proud of and develop a product that was made with sustainable resources, and harvested ethically. “Marketing intelligence gathering has grown dramatically as more and more companies are now busily eavesdropping on the marketplace and snooping on their competitors.”( Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, Page 104) As such, our products are as natural and fair trade as we can make them. To have a product that is truly eco-friendly, means more than just having natural ingredients.  We have found that many natural soaps use ingredients that ultimately come from intentionally cleared rainforests, which was something that we wanted no part in.  Every ingredient in our soap is not only natural, but it is harvested and grown in an environmentally friendly way."