At the heart of Unilever’s Marketing strategy, there are 3 pillars to crafting brands for life according to Luis Di Como, EVP of Global Media at Unilever.
Putting people first – understanding the real needs & dreams. Understanding their motivations, their human truths
Building brand love – offer them a product to buy and an idea to buy into. Building the fact that people can not live without their brands
Unlocking the magic – letting the two come together
But how? How do the people at Unilever put all of this into action?
He talks about the 5 “C’s” framework and how they are all integrated with each other.
“The consumer is our true north – they are our compass and we must keep them at the center of everything we do.” At the same time Unilever’s strategy is to find out what is the common link with the product and the consumer. What is that thin line that will connect the specific product to the very specific consumer? It’s the 1:1 scale in understanding the unique needs of the consumers.
Luis then shows a case study from Unilever’s Clear brand specific to the Japanese consumer market. The one main value that the men in the country have in common is work and how through that they can market a product to them.
There’s a need for the right connection points – how do we connect with people? It’s being able to determine what the multiple touchpoints mean and their relevance to the campaign. Mobile plays a key role in everything in their crafting brand for life marketing strategy.
The case study he shows to the audience is from Dove in Russia where they used the power of data to connect to their consumers. It also sets the example of WHY they are using the data. Making sure that the permissions are there to help them focus in on their market. The case study is very specific in terms of using that data to benefit the consumer in regard to hot water shut off and how they brought the Dove brand awareness to their Dry Shampoo.
There is a ton of content and a need to have a clear point of view that matters tremendously if brands are going to start digging out of the mass amount of cluttered information that’s out there. Luis explains how to make content matter and how to stand out from the masses. He shares another case study from their Axe brand in Indonesia. Axe is changing what masculinity looks like in the country and is trying to break the stereotypes of what masculinity is.
Using the right content is essential but so is using it in the right context. Another case study shown is with Steph Curry as the voice in the Waze app. It’s something that’s identifiable that helps to drive the traffic within the app.
The last C is community. Luis give an amazing example of how Unilever has used their data to listen to their consumers and how they are using it to co-create solutions for the community within. Rexona in Indonesia is the case study he uses to demonstrate how mobility in Indonesia is so difficult for people that can’t get around.
And the last case study was with the Wall’s Ice Cream Man. Because of the changing market in Indonesia and more and more people wanting thing on demand, the study was showing how the Wall’s man had to adapt to those changes.
The conclusion of all of this needs to be done responsibility, with the consumers trust, and respectfulness with the consumer and those other people within the advertising ecosystem. You can watch Luis’ full session at Advertising Week Asia 2018 here.