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Tag: Dove

  • Behind every great love is a great story!

    Behind every great love is a great story!

    MUMBAI: Love knows no boundaries – whether it is passion of youth or when showing that it is ageless. Featuring for the first time on Romedy NOW as ‘Romedy of the Month’ will be The Notebook which is a chronicle of romance and togetherness on 26 July 2014 at 9 pm.Starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel Adams, The Notebook is presented by Dove and powered by SMC.

     

    Catch an elderly man, Duke in a modern day home for seniors reading a romantic tale from his notebook to his lady co-housemate suffering from dementia. Go back to the old world charm of the 1940s with a young and passionate farm boy Noah (played Ryan Gosling) falling in love with 17-year-old heiress Allie Hamilton (played by Rachel Adams) at a carnival. There is an idyllic romance, an ancient mansion that Noah dreams of owning, and a social class difference that nips the love affair in the bud.

     

    Noah writes letters to Allie for a year but they are hidden by Allie’s mother and remain unanswered. As the two young lovers feel betrayed by the other, the World War II has Noah joining as a soldier while Allie becomes a nurse. A twist to the tale is when a charming, rich, and handsome soldier Lon Hammond Jr. enters Allie’s life as her fiancé.

     

    Seven years later at her wedding gown trial, memories of love come gushing back as Allie sees a photograph of a now wealthy Noah who has bought the abandoned mansion in hopes of getting Allie back. Allie visits him in Seabrook and the flame of love rekindles. But will Allie sacrifice her love for commitment to Lon and lose true love for the second time or reclaim a love that was always hers? Meanwhile, figure out how their story is connected to Duke and his lady companion to make an eternal love story.

     

    Whether one is lucky in love or just carries the love in one’s heart, fans are invited to share their own love story on Romedy NOW’s twitter page with #RememberWhen hashtag and the story. The sweetest one will be rewarded!

     

    And then with the special ‘What would you Do?’ activity on Facebook fans can tell the path they would have would have chosen if they were in Allie and Noah’s shoes.

  • Unilever’s Rahul Welde: Consumer communication in a digital world

    Unilever’s Rahul Welde: Consumer communication in a digital world

    SINGAPORE: “Advertising and campaigns are not dead,” said the red-frame bespectacled executive on stage. “Whosoever says that is foolish. The TV commercial is changing from three seconds to as much as three minutes or six minutes. Its form may change but advertising and campaigns are here to stay.”

     

    Most professionals in India are familiar with this gent. Rahul Welde is Unilever vice-president Media for Asia, Africa, Middle east, Turkey and Russia, and he is seen as a media tour de force in the world as he controls ad spends running into billions of dollars for a large part of the emerging markets for the consumer giant.

     

    Welde was speaking at the closing session of Social Matters in Singapore. He said he welcomes the explosion; the fragmentation in media. “I believe it has brought with it tremendous opportunity.  It allows to not go by classical reach and frequency approach that we have to do with mass media where we do a shot gun spray gun approach. It allows us to specifically target specific audiences. But we need to ride all the platforms – TV, print, outdoors, radio, online, social and what have you.”

     

     He pointed out that Unilever is constantly listening to whispers in the digital social universe. “We are constantly on the alert. We are listening. We are reacting to what consumers are saying. It helps us tweak products; attributes and helps build brand love amongst consumers,” he stated.

     

    He spoke about a campaign that Unilever ran in India on the day of the election results on 16 May on Facebook. “We knew everyone was going to be on Facebook to comment, give their views on the election results. The reach block we resorted to asked engaged Facebook users to embrace the change that is coming. We got 35 million impressions; 165,000 reacted and interacted. It was very effective,” he explained.

     

    Welde said that digital is also permitting Unilever to deliver on “target moments.”

     

    For instance, he said that if the weather prediction is that the temperature is going to rise four days from a specific date, then he can choose to flood the various social and digital sites with advertising or messaging pushing ice-creams.

     

    “Let’s take this further,” he said. “This month is Magnum ice cream’s 25th birthday in Singapore. I can reach out to all those who are celebrating their birthday this week or this entire month individually and help create a personal touching moment for each of them with their brand which is Magnum. In the old world of print and television, I could have never done this. “

     

    He also spoke about the Dove Real beauty sketches campaign which was conceived in Latin America but broke in Australia. The idea of the campaign was to convince 96 per cent of women who think they are not beautiful that their beliefs about themselves are untrue.

     

    As part of the campaign, a forensic artist asked women to describe themselves and he drew them without ever taking a look at their faces. The next day a stranger – who had met the women – then described the women sketched the day before to the artist who once again drew them. In almost all’ the cases, the women’s description of themselves and their beauty was not as charitable as the strangers and it showed in the two version sketches.

     

    “The video which was produced by our agency Ogilvy went viral wildly,” says Welde. “We wanted every woman to know and believe you are more beautiful than you think and I think it worked very well.”

     

    Welde and the Unilever team are obviously pressing the right levers.

  • Brands piggyback the selfie

    Brands piggyback the selfie

    MUMBAI: When Oscars 2014 host Ellen DeGeneres posted a selfie co-starring some of Hollywood’s finest stars, it went on to crash the record hitherto held by President Barrack Obama. At the end of the awards’ ceremony, DeGeneres’ “Best photo ever” stood at 2,070,132 retweets and counting; a milestone in social media history. More importantly, the fact that Degeneres had clicked the iconic selfie using a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (given to her by the brand itself) wasn’t lost on the teeming tweeple. In fact, various international reports stated that 37 million people worldwide tuned in to the broadcast to view DeGeneres’ tweet while 43 million tuned in just to view the Samsung snap.

    Taking a cue from Samsung and other such international brands, home-grown brands too are increasingly tapping into the marketing potential of the selfie, allegations of narcissism notwithstanding. For instance, Dove and Ponds from the house of HUL are running a large-scale social media contest incorporating the selfie element even as we speak. When contacted, company officials refrained from sharing any details. However, it is learnt that along with cross promotions, these products are creating a lot of noise across social media platforms.

    Click here to watch the video

    At least a dozen Indian brands are putting the selfie to good use. ”Selfies are the latest fad and something that would instantly connect with our customers. From celebrities to teenagers to even middle-aged people, everyone today is suddenly using their phone cameras to not only click their surroundings but themselves,” said Lenskart CEO & founder, Peyush Bansal. Recently, Lenskart rolled out a social media campaign, asking for selfies from its fan base. “The idea was to see how involved our customers are in our products. We wanted to engage the online customers in a fun Lenskart selfie contest by asking them to take a selfie, share it on our and their social media pages by linking and tagging Lenskart through all platforms and using the hashtag – #mylenskartselfie. They had to ask all their friends to ‘like’, ‘favourite’ their selfies and the ones with the maximum number of likes won the contest,” said Bansal.

    Force-fitting selfie-ness

    Using selfies to market products is fine but the general perception is that all brands, from beauty to surrogate, are looking to engage social media by calling for selfies. We spoke to a few social media experts for their views.

    “Not every brand can pull off a selfie stunt and hope to make it an instant social media hit. It needs to connect with the audiences; it should come across as something natural or on the spur of the moment and not staged. Unless one makes no bones about it but does it in style,” said Grey Digital executive creative director Navin Kansal.

    On the other hand, Digital Quotient COO Vinish Kathuria, expressed the view that curated content really works for brands these days. “It is interesting to see that various brands are thinking in terms of crowd sourcing techniques while rolling out contests on social media,” he said.  

    Whether the continued use of selfies will work for brands or it will reach a point of saturation, only time will tell.

  • Marketing, the Dove way!

    Marketing, the Dove way!

    MUMBAI: There has been some exemplary advertising from Dove from the house of Unilever for over a decade now. The brand has endeavored to define beauty in a meaningful manner through its communication strategies.

    The latest is a digital film which goes on to say that “Beauty is just a state of mind”. It features a two week-long social experiment by New York Times bestselling author, psychologist and body image expert, Dr Ann Kearney-Cooke, inviting women to wear a custom-made ‘beauty patch’ to help them feel more beautiful. The ladies give personal accounts of how the patch variously made them feel ‘more confident’, ‘refreshed’ and so on. At the end of the experiment, the patch is revealed to contain nothing, proving that beauty is more than just skin deep. Not surprisingly, the film which is running on YouTube garnered more than 15 million views within one week.

    Not just the digital film but most of Dove’s advertising carries significant marketing lessons for other beauty brands. Here’s looking at some of them…

    Stories win hearts

    Advertising with a strong storyline always works. Consumers connect with a product line if it is endorsed by people with a story. Dove has successfully taken care of this aspect locally and globally.

    Be constant

    For people to remember advertising, it is essential for brands to be consistent in the way they project their ideas through communication. Dove over the past few campaigns has gone digital and this has helped them get greater reach.

    Have a clear line of thought

    Projecting an idea sharply helps. One of the reasons why Dove pops up in people’s minds is that it almost always supports a strong line of thought.

    Take the video route

    In the age of social media, creating visual campaigns is a plus. More importantly, videos can be shared and help measure feedback instantly. Tracking the success of the campaign becomes that much easier, and Dove seems to have got that right!

    Use subtle marketing plug-ins

    While rolling out digital films, brands need to go subtle on plug-ins. Two things that work best on digital platforms are curiosity and a good amount of hype. Dove has got just the right amount of both.

    Click here to watch the video
  • Chris Garbutt promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather East

    Chris Garbutt promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather East

    MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather announced today the promotion of Chris Garbutt to Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather East. He is currently Chief Creative Officer for Ogilvy & Mather France and will transition into his new role by mid-year. He will be based in New York and report to North American Chief Creative Officer Steve Simpson.

    Garbutt will be responsible for driving the creative vision and delivery for clients across all of Ogilvy & Mather’s East disciplines, including advertising, customer engagement, public relations, digital, shopper marketing, branded content and entertainment. He will continue to work with many of the agency’s global brands and will also continue to sit on the agency’s Worldwide Creative Council.

    Chris first started his career at Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg in 1995 then moved to TBWAHuntLascaris. He was European Creative Director at TBWAParis where he worked on Nissan, Sony Playstation and Absolut Vodka for five years. He re-joined Ogilvy & Mather France in 2008 as Executive Creative Director working on global campaigns for Dove, Perrier, Coca-Cola, IBM, Louis Vuitton and more. He is currently ranked in the top ten most awarded Chief Creative Officers in the world.

    Tham Khai Meng, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer stated: “Chris inspires, teaches and raises standards. His rare talent, relentless perseverance to always excel in the creative work and his proven leadership skills make him the ideal candidate for this newly created role. I have every confidence that Chris, working with our talented team in New York, will shine and take our office to the next level.”

    Commenting on his move to New York, Chris said, “One of the most exhilarating things about working at Ogilvy is the power of our global network and the opportunity to transcend regions and disciplines. The ability to continue to work with some of the world’s most respected brands but also create the new model agency of the future was something not to be missed.”

    “This is the age of the adaptable agency. Our work is changing daily, and it requires different talent and disciplines,” said Steve Simpson, North American Chief Creative Officer for Ogilvy & Mather. “This development plays to Ogilvy’s strengths. In this new role, Chris will only help us speed our progress and our own evolution.”

    He has worked with a variety of brands and categories, from radio stations to airlines; Volkswagen to BMW; Nando’s Restaurants to KFC; luxury to fast moving consumer goods. Chris’s significant award wins include numerous international awards from festivals such as Eurobest, Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clios, New York Festivals and the European Effie Awards.

  • HUL y-o-y ad spends up by 13 per cent, down q-o-q by 2.6 per cent in Q3-2014

    HUL y-o-y ad spends up by 13 per cent, down q-o-q by 2.6 per cent in Q3-2014

    BENGALURU: Indian FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited spent 13 per cent more in Q3-2014 towards advertising and marketing at Rs.929.46 crore as compared to the Rs.822.16 crore during Q3-2013, but 2.57 per cent lower than the Rs.954.02 crore for Q2-2014.

     

    During the nine month period ended December 31, 2013 (y-t-d), the company spent Rs. 2773.26 crore, 15.04 per cent more than the corresponding period during the last year. During FY2013, HUL spent Rs.3231.88 crore towards advertising and marketing during FY2013.

     

    Overall, the FMCG giant saw standalone revenue during Q3-2014 increase by 9.39 per cent to Rs.7037.78 crore from the Rs.6433.69 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year and increase by 4.31 per cent from the Rs.6747.20 crore during the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Its nine month revenue to December 31, 2013 increased by 8.67 per cent to Rs.20472.47 crore from Rs.18839.25 crore during the nine month period ended December 31, 2012. HUL had revenue of Rs.25206.38 crore during FY2013.

     

    Based on this advertising and marketing  spends percentage with respect to revenue during Q3-2014 was 13.21 per cent, in Q3-2013 it was 12.78 per cent and in the immediate preceding quarter it was 14.14 per cent.

     

    The corresponding advertising and marketing spends percentage of overall standalone revenue was slightly higher at 13.55 per cent during the nine month period ended 31 December 2013 at Rs.2773.26 crore as compared to the 12.8 per cent (Rs.2410.75 crore) during the corresponding period of last year. During FY2013, the percentage of standalone revenue that the company spent towards marketing and advertising was 12.82 or Rs.3231.88 crore.

     

    HUL’s PAT jumped by 22.02 per cent to Rs.1062.31 crore during Q3-2014 from Rs.871.36 crore in Q3-2013 and was up by b16.26 per cent from the Rs.913.80 crore during Q2-2014. PAT for the nine month period of FY 2014 at Rs.2995.36 crore was lower by a little less than half a per cent as compared to the Rs.3009.47 crore during the corresponding period of last year. HUL’s PAT for FY2013 was Rs.3796.67 crore.

     

    The company reported healthy performance and growth in most of the segments it operates in. Here is a reproduction of a part of the company’s press release.

     

    Soaps and Detergents deliver a healthy performance

     

     Skin Cleansing delivered another quarter of volume led growth. The category performance was driven by Dove, Pears, Lifebuoy and Breeze. Pears was relaunched during the quarter with a new proposition around younger looking skin. The liquids portfolio saw accelerated growth led by Lifebuoy Handwash.

     

     In Laundry, growth was led by the premium segment. Surf growth was buoyed by the robust performance in Surf Excel Easy Wash and Excel Matic while Rin saw good growth on the bars portfolio. Wheel was re-launched with a superior formulation at the end of the quarter. Comfort fabric conditioners continued to lead market development with sustained high growth. Household Care delivered another strong quarter with both Vim and Domex growing in double digits.

     

     Personal Products growth steps up

     

     Skin Care grew well in a slowing market. The re-launch of Fair & Lovely, with the new ‘Best Ever Formula’ and a focused activation plan in the last quarter, is on track. Lakme and Dove grew well and the facial cleansing portfolio registered strong growth, driven by a range of differentiated innovations launched earlier in the year.

     

    Hair Care sustained its strong growth momentum with broad based double digit volume growth. Dove led the category performance with accelerated growth while Sunsilk, Clinic Plus and TRESemmé continued to make very good progress.

     

     In Oral Care, both Pepsodent and Close Up delivered stepped up double digit growth in a competitive market. Pepsodent GermiCheck which was relaunched in the last quarter with a superior product and proposition did particularly well. A&P investments were significantly stepped up to sustain our competitive position in this category.

     

     Colour Cosmetics maintained its strong innovation led growth momentum across both Lakmé and Elle 18. Lakmé continues to strengthen its position in premium make up driven by a range of exciting and contemporary offerings from Absolute and 9 to 5.

     

     Beverages led by double digit growth in tea

     

    Tea delivered another quarter of broad based growth with Taj Mahal, Red Label, 3 Roses and Taaza growing in double digits, driven by a strengthened mix and focused in-market activities. The sustained thrust on leading market development for tea bags, enabled flavoured and green tea bags more than double sales in the quarter. The Lipton Clear Green Tea portfolio was expanded with the launch of new packs. In a slowing Coffee market, Bru continued to drive category premiumization, led by Bru Gold.

     

     Packaged Foods growth steps up; Kissan, Knorr and Kwality Walls grow in double digits

     

     Kissan further accelerated with both Ketchups and Jams delivering strong growth on the back of impactful activation. Knorr had a good quarter particularly on Instant Soups which more than doubled volumes while the growth in Kwality Walls was driven by sharper in-market execution and the robust performance of Cornetto and Creamy Delights. Magnum continues to do well.

  • HUL joins twitter to reach out to its consumers

    HUL joins twitter to reach out to its consumers

    MUMBAI: Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), the market leader in consumer products in the country, has joined twitter recently.

    The company which has presence in over 20 consumer categories such as soaps, tea, detergents and shampoos amongst others with over 700 million Indian consumers using its products joined the social media site with the handle @HUL­_News with a tweet saying “HUL, India’s largest FMCG company is now on Twitter. Join the conversation with us on topics like #Sustainability, Marketing & #Leadership.”

    When asked why did the company as a corporate brand chose to join twitter, the HUL spokesperson said: “Social media provides us an opportunity to reach out to our consumers and other stakeholders in an ongoing and engaging manner.”

    And with 4,233 followers already on the site in a short span is proof enough what the brand means to the country.

    Not to forget that HUL has been on social media for several years now through its various brands like Sunsilk, Surf Excel, Dove which the company boasts of having led digital marketing in India with some path-breaking work and innovations.

  • HUL ups ad spend by 21.27% in Q4 FY13

    MUMBAI: Fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) increased its spending on advertising and promotions for the fifth consecutive quarter ended 31 March as competitive intensity in the category continued to be high.

    The FMCG giant ramped up its spending into the fourth quarter of FY13 with ad spends increased by a robust 21.27 per cent in Q4 FY13 when compared to Q4 FY12.

    HUL‘s advertising and marketing expenditure in the fourth quarter of FY12 stood at Rs 6.77 billion which grew to Rs 8.21 billion in the fourth quarter of FY13 ended 31 March 2013. The percentage of total income dedicated to advertising also grew from 11.74 per cent in Q4 FY12 to 12.70 in Q4 FY13.

    The company‘s income for the period grew by 12.14 per cent on a year on year basis from Rs 57.66 billion in Q4 FY12 to Rs 64.66 billion in Q4 FY13. Its net profit grew by 14.56 per cent as the net profit in Q4 FY12 was Rs 6.87 billion compared to Rs 7.87 billion in Q4 FY13.

    HUL said, “The operating context remained challenging during the fourth quarter with input costs holding firm and high competitive intensity. Advertising and promotion was stepped up and maintained at competitive levels.”

    HUL chairman Harish Manwani said, “In an environment that continued to be challenging, we have delivered another quarter of broad-based growth and margin expansion.”

    This quarter saw quite a few ad campaigns do well for the FMCG major, these included Dove‘s rescue from split ends; Sunsilks‘ perfect straight hair and Lux‘s deo spray magic spell. HUL gained by these campaigns as it reflects in the annual results declared by the FMCG major.

    The annual figures reflect a growth from FY12, as the FMCG company increased its advertising spends by a hearty 21.99 per cent in FY13. HUL‘s advertising and marketing outflows increased from Rs 26.97 billion (FY12) to Rs 32.90 billion (FY13).

    The total income from advertising also grew from 11.51 per cent in FY12 to a healthy 12.18 per cent in FY13. The FMCG‘s income for the period also grew by 15.22 per cent on a annual basis from Rs 234.36 billion in FY12 to Rs 270.03 billion in FY13. And the new profit grew by a stellar 37.12 per cent, seeing it rise from Rs 27.91 billion in FY12 to Rs 38.29 billion in FY13.

  • Unilever sells Sanex to Colgate-Palmolive for $940 million

    Unilever sells Sanex to Colgate-Palmolive for $940 million

    MUMBAI: Unilever, the consumer goods firm that owns brands such as Dove, Lipton and Hellmann‘s, has entered into an agreement to sell the global soap maker Sanex to Colgate-Palmolive for $940 million while buying Colgate-Palmolive‘s laundry detergent brands in Colombia for $215 million.

    European Commission asked Unilever to part from Sanex for anti-trust reasons after the Anglo-Dutch company acquired it when buying U.S. group Sara Lee‘s personal care business in 2009.

    The acquisition of Colgate-Palmolive‘s laundry detergent brands is subject to regulatory approval and the completion of the Sanex disposal to Colgate-Palmolive.

    In 2010, Sanex had garnered net sales of €187 million, mainly from Western Europe.