Unilever's Integrated Marketing Communication

Introduction

The company spelled out its goals publicly in its Sustainable Living Plan but acknowledged it had no clear roadmap for how it would achieve them. From the beginning, however, Unilever's corporate leadership recognized that all brands under the Unilever umbrella are integral to the company's new strategy to source more sustainable raw materials; reduce waste, water and energy consumption; and meaningfully improve the lives of its customers around the world. Unilever's progress, two years after its announcement, proves that brands can be the catalyst behind a multinational company's bid to improve the lives of people, heal the planet and boost profits. And internally this program has had a key role in engaging the company's employees as well. In a recent phone interview, Unilever's SVP Global Marketing, Marc Mathieu, explained that the plan's results so far have inspired a greater sense of resourcefulness, creativity and empowerment within the company's workforce (Mutula p.79-86).

After announcing the Sustainable Living Plan and its goals, Unilever faced daunting challenges during the initiative's first several months. First, the company had to identify consumer behaviors that the brands needed to change, and then determine the most effective and sustainable options the company wanted those same consumers to embrace. To that end, a cross-functional team developed what it described as five levers that can modify consumer behaviors in ways that would both build brand loyalty and ameliorate those same products' effects on the planet. First, these changes had to be understood and clear so that people would know what to do. Next, these steps not only had to be easy so that consumers would follow the path of least resistance, but also desirable. It was also critical that these new behaviors were so rewarding that in the end they would become habits Unilever's consumers would embrace.

Unilever's challenge starts with the massive volume of its products sold daily. Over two billion times each day, people consume Unilever products in almost every nation on earth. Whether consumers purchase them at “big box” stores in wealthy nations or buy small amounts in sachets at kiosks in poorer countries, the company's collective environmental and social impacts are huge. But Unilever's brand portfolio also offers opportunities for a deeper, more meaningful and positive impact on both people and the planet. Examples within the company now abound, including educating customers about ethical ingredients; certifying farmers so they grow crops sustainably; and teaching health habits that Unilever insists will save millions of lives in the long run (Hallam p. 59).

Unilever

Multinationals like Unilever astutely deploy an integrated marketing communication effort utilizing all available marketing communication tools to reach their marketing communication goals. Nestle is another brilliant case in point. It is fair to say that for successful multinational brands in Ghana, IMC has had a key role to play in their success. IMC is treated as a course on the MBA program in Ghana's premier business school but the products of the school still do not fit in snugly in Ghanaian ad ...