This week we are following up on Unilever’s brand portfolio. We’ll be taking a look at Dove, Axe, and
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May 14 · Issue #18 · View online
A newsletter which introduces you to a great, purposeful, and inspiring company every other week.
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This week we are following up on Unilever’s brand portfolio. We’ll be taking a look at Dove, Axe, and Knorr followed with a quick big picture recap of how Unilever is building their brand portfolio.
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Unilever former chief marketing and communications officer, Keith Weed, spoke to Marketing Week last year and commented: Dove has showed, in a really significant way, how to build a brand with purpose. On one side creative that really cuts through the clutter and advertising around a really profound purpose around self-esteem and real beauty. It has become the largest educator of self-esteem in the world. Purpose drives marketing Purpose drives social programs Purpose-led marketing in the digital world In this article, Rob Candelino, GM and VP of marketing gives us insight on how Unilever purpose-driven marketing takes shape in the new digital landscape: Unilever takes a stand, and then creates a comment on society through their campaigns. Then, the people they are paid to serve, the customers, reinforce those comments through their posts.
- 10% of women with curly hair say that their hair is beautiful.
- 86 % of women reported that they feel a societal pressure to conform and make their hair look a certain way.
A New Process
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Back then what was significant about the Dove case study was the adoption of a new branding strategy called (iconic Point of View) P.O.V. - Purpose | Ownership | Vision process.
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Axe is a deodorant brand, which went through a big transformation. Previously the brand appealed to young men by positioning their product as one that helps them attract girls. In 2016 they embarked on transforming their brand with a new purpose: Ultimately our brand purpose is to inspire guys to express their individuality, becoming their most attractive selves. But we’ve discovered that there is a huge amount of pressure on guys to ‘be a man’ and this is really holding them back from expressing themselves. So we’re on a mission to expose that pressure and empower guys to be whoever they damn well want.
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- to source 100% of raw agricultural materials sustainably
- to help more than 1 billion people improve their health and well-being by teaching them how to cook nutritiously by 2020
What is notable is the holistic approach. Rather than focusing on the malnourished children directly, they focused on empowering their mothers to help children, and, thus, making the approach more sustainable and scalable.
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Unilever is forward thinking and is proactive in experimenting with new things. They have a digital disruption center in Manhattan known as The Hub, which launched Skinsei, a personalized skincare monthly subscription service.
- Kju, a fragrance in China created by a French perfumer and Korean graphic designer in under six months
- Hijab, an Indonesian hair-care brand for women who wear Muslim head coverings and based on a Russian formulation
- Blow, an on-demand hair, makeup and nail service dubbed “the Uber of beauty” and funded in London by Unilever Ventures
- Impulse, a European fragrance brand created in partnership with four German and U.K. beauty bloggers
What’s impressive and noteworthy here is how a big consumer goods company can simultaneously have a venture capital mindset.
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Whew. Across two issues, we’ve covered lots of ground on Unilever’s purpose-driven brand portfolio. We looked at how they transformed some of their existing brands as well as new and upcoming brands they’re incubating. It should also be noted they also acquire brands like Seventh Generation, Dollar Shave Club, and Sir Kensington’s to complete their portfolio.
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This concluded our series of purpose brands. Before I sign off, here are some other things I found researching for the last couple of issues showing the purpose brands movement is stronger than ever before.
Thanks for reading. Take great care and see you next issue.
With Purpose, Justin
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