“150 million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever

product”

Annie KaoSuzanne Haffenden

Who are Unilever

Origins of Unilever Operational style Strategic style Examples of strategic

style Competitive environment Current strategies

Simon Clift Marketing lessons

learnt Future prospects

Overview

The origins of Unilever

Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch multinational corporation that owns consumer products in;

Food and BeveragesCleaning agentsPersonal care

Created in 1930 from a merger between the British soap maker Lever Brothers and Margarine Unie

As palm oil was a major raw material for both soaps and margarines

Unileverlisation Mergers and acquisitions – grew through

repeated mergers of companies who usually retained their names and brands. This encourage strong belief and initiative to de-centralise control

Conglomerate

Operational Style

Strategic Style

Research and Innovation Localisation Diversification into a broad category Multiple segment specialisation - developing

products to target every segment. Serving multiple markets whilst differentiating products in a way that meets needs of each segment

Developing in emerging markets

Brand Expansion

“The Beauty Soap of Film Stars”

Icon Brand

Unilever Brands

Unilever Brands

Localisation Building businesses organically The world's biggest ice cream company Ben & Jerry's

. Research and Innovation Different needs for different hair types

Concentrating on emerging markets Understanding different consumer needs Offering products at different price points

Developing and Emerging Market Opportunity

Bottom of the Pyramid

Multi-trillion dollar opportunity

Billions of people out of poverty in the next 10 years

Developing and Emerging Market Opportunity

Competitive environment

Key Competitors Proctor and Gamble Nestle Colegate-palmolive Kraft Supermarket private lables

The management of the smaller brands slowed down its growth.

Whilst their competitors concentrated on global development and economies of scale.

Current Strategies

Downsizing brand portfolio –stream line the business portfolio to reflect vitality concept

1,500 – 400 master brands Also, acquisition of high profile food brands

Unilever’s Growth Matrix

Simon Clift

First chief marketing officer for Unilever“Unilever was effectively a holding company – a conglomerate.

That led to a very complex brand portfolio, with thousands of formulations, positionings, and ways of developing

advertising.”

(Marketing Week)

Centralised marketing culture Concentrates on building the brands New Unilever brand identity

Simon Clift

Dove and Lynx

Marketing Lessons learnt

1. Be forward thinking and with constant innovation – looking beyond organisation’s walls.

2. Defend its territory through growth and diversification

3. Bigger is not always better.

companies need to contract and recognise its weaknesses.

Future Prospects

How will Vitality be brought amongst all their brands?

How will they overcome two contradicting values?

Thank you for listening….

References

• Renewing Unilever: transformation and traditionAuthorGeoffrey JonesEdition illustratedPublisher Oxford University Press, 2005

• International business and national war interests: Unilever between Reich and empire, 1939-45Volume 13 of Routledge international studies in business historyAuthor Ben WubsEdition illustratedPublisher Taylor & Francis, 2008

• Strategic Marketing PlanningAuthors Colin Gilligan, Richard M. S. WilsonEdition 2, illustratedPublisherButterworth-Heinemann, 2009

• Global strategy: creating and sustaining advantage across bordersStrategic management seriesOxford scholarship onlineAuthors Andrew C. Inkpen, Kannan RamaswamyEditionillustratedPublisher Oxford University Press US, 2006

• Corporate responsibility: a critical introductionAuthors Michael Blowfield, Alan MurrayEdition illustratedPublisher Oxford University Press, 2008

• Fieldhouse, D. K. (1978). Unilever Overseas: The Anatomy of a Multinational. California: Hoover Institution Press 

• Reader, W. J. (1980). Fifty Years of Unilever. London: Heinemann 

• Brownsell, A. (2009). Can Unilever's brand be applied to all? Marketing News [online] http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/874428/Unilevers-brand-applied-all/ [accessed 16th April 2010] 

• Frost, R. (2005). Should Global Brands Trash Local Favorites. Brandchannel [online] http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=253 [accessed 16th April 2010] 

• Boze, B. V. & Patton, C. R. (1995). 'The future of consumer branding as seen from the picture today'. Journal of consumer marketing. 12 (4), pp. 20-41 

• Mesure, S. (2002). Nestle steps up ice-cream war with Unilever by buying Dreyer's. The Independent. [online] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/nestlatildecopy-steps-up-icecream-war-with-unilever-by-buying-dreyers-645661.html [accessed 16th April 2010] 

• Anon. (2010). One for all: Unity and growth at Unilever. Emerald Group Publishing. 26 (4), pp.25-27 

• Schwarzkopf, S. (2009). 'Discovering the Consumer: Market Research, Product Innovation, and the Creation of Brand Loyalty in Britain and the United States in the Interwar Years'. Journal of Macromarketing. 29 (1), pp.8-20 

• Jones, G. & Miskell, P. (2007). 'Acquisitions and Firm Growth: Creating Unilever's Ice Cream and Tea Business'. Business History. 49 (1), pp.8-28 

• Anon, (2005). 'Can Unilever create a masterpiece: Competition challenge to a consumer-goods leader'. Emerald Group Publishing. 21 (5), pp.11-14

Anon. (2009) 'The changing face of Unilever: Out with the old and in with the new'. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 25 (5), pp.24-27 

Jones, G. (2005). Renewing Unilever: Transformation and Tradition. Oxford: OUP