How Unilever builds brands

Geoffrey Precourt
Warc

Eight years ago, when Unilever decided to extend its Dove brand into men's products, it had an advantage that few marketers could bring to such a product introduction.

Kathy O'Brien

"Forty percent of the Dove bar users already were men," Kathy O'Brien, the company's vp/skin and marketing services, told the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) 2015 Brand Masters conference.

More good news came from an early research finding: simply adding the label "Dove Men+Care" to packaging boosted interest among the target audience by 31%.

But the challenge involved far more than tapping into existing brand equity or product labeling. To reach its full potential, "We had to make the brand feel masculine." And, as Dove's marketers soon discovered, the male audience was a moving target.

"Men's lives are changing dramatically right now," O'Brien said. "And change never is going to be as slow as it is right now.

"This all seems to have hit men more in the past five-to-eight years. People talk about this territory as uncharted for men. They're shifting economically and culturally, as well as behaviorally."

Studying this behavior, in fact, is an entry point to understanding culture and economics. O'Brien explained, "As we look at the world around us, we find that men are taking on new multifaceted roles with a real sense of individuality, with confidence and with a new sense of optimism … Households are becoming more gender equal, and men are doing a greater share of meal preparation and cooking.

"The number of stay-at-home dads – men who take care of their children full-time – has doubled in the past 15 years."

As traditional modes of behavior fall by the wayside, Unilever has found that men are reaching out more for connections, too. Luckily for this disorientated male creature, O'Brien continued, "Deeper access to information and entertainment obviously is becoming easier and easier as we have all these multiple types of digital devices."

But, she continued, technology is not just about more screens. "The big change that I see happening in the men's space is that men are becoming increasingly comfortable sharing their experiences in public forms."

It's not as if an entirely new animal is coming to the digital marketplace, though: guys are still guys, and their posts largely focus on family and sports. But the degree of engagement is unprecedented. In fact, according to O'Brien, "More than half of new dads post family photos on social media at least a few times a week. That's a big change."

In the face of such a shift, "There's a certain creativity and artistry involved in crafting brands [supported by] insights that really meet men's reality … This approach really sets our brands apart, and positions them as a source of education and inspiration in areas of passion for men.

"Increasingly, we are seeing that men want to know more about brands that understand their personalities – what makes them tick. This is true more today than ever before."

These insights turned into action points, aligning with an umbrella strategy, introduced in 2011, known as "Crafting Brands for Life".

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That initiative comprises three basic tenets:

  • Put people first
  • Build brand love
  • Unlock the magic

Put people first

The first step of prioritizing people, according to O'Brien, is an internal operational mandate: "We really try to change the language that our marketing teams are using, and shift away from words like 'consumers' and 'shoppers', and get people to talk about 'people' – 'real people, real lives'."

In the case of the Dove brand extension, that meant "real men."

And the first of these "real men" were "a dedicated group of guys that we were really trying to communicate with. For about a year, we just met them every single month. We had dinner with them. We took them to sports bars. We drank beers. Rarely did we talk about our products, but we really understood who they were, what was important to them, how they felt, what they thought was funny, what they were eating.

"It was just a really cool way to get to know our consumers on a very personal basis. And that's the first pillar of our 'Crafting Brands for Life': Put people first."

To fully put men first, O'Brien noted, it was "crucial" to acknowledge the on-going evolution of "masculinity". As men have become "much more comfortable with their warmer side," they're also "much more comfortable caring about each other."

As a result, they are "more vulnerable without losing the maleness."

In fact, one Unilever study disclosed that "nine out of ten men feel that their caring side is a sign of real strength and masculinity.

"This is an insight that travels around the globe" from research that was conducted in the US, UK, Brazil, China and Germany.

An "unbelievable" – and international – opportunity presented itself in the same study with the finding that, "Only 7% of men around the world feel that masculinity is accurately depicted in media."

Most recently, O'Brien continued, Unilever has acknowledged the new masculinity with the introduction of a White Label line of Axe offerings which "have much more sophisticated fragrances. And, so, the message that we needed to put out there needed to appeal to guys in a much more mature way."

By walking away from Axe's frat-boy-in-heat positioning, White Label reflects the brand's realization that "men can be fantastic in a lot of aspects of their lives. And, so, our product can help them feel and look better across a variety of things that they do. It's no longer just about getting the girl.

"The brand understands that young men today are much more than just about getting the girl ... The [White Label] campaign encourages young men to reach out and achieve their dreams."

A second leg of the White Label positioning features musician John Legend in a South by Southwest tie-up that keys in on the importance of mentoring.

In short, O'Brien explained, "Axe realized that we needed to change our approach to young guys and send out a more holistic message that was more relevant to them in every part of their lives. And the White Label products will do that."

Build brand love

She went on to tell the ANA delegates, "It isn't easy to stay true to the brand essence when you're trying to maintain and grow brands. But that's what makes people stick with brands."

To determine how well a brand is loved, Unilever tells its marketers to ask people a key question: "What's the one brand you would want to have on a desert island?" And, according to O'Brien, "If you can get that person to say your brand, that's true brand love."

In a digital ecosystem that delivers so many messages to men from so many directions and so many platforms, "There's limited time to grab a man's attention or to spend a significant amount of time sharing a story with him.

"So the real storytelling refers not only to crafting genuine narratives and content that he relates to, but making sure that these brand stories are in the 'now' with him, and are actually served up at the relevant times that make sense.

"When you combine these two things, you get real storytelling. It's about real time and it's about real stories."

The Dove Men+Care brand tells its tales through a variety of tools, from 30-second spots and long-form viral videos to social media. "But they all have a common thread," O'Brien said. "They reflect relevant experiences that men care about in their lives."

Case in point: on Super Sunday, Dove Men+Care lined up with a variety of Super Bowl participants. "We didn't just put it on air during a TV spot, but we served it up in mobile digital bites that allowed men to absorb the content when it was most appropriate."

One such program, O'Brien elaborated, "customized imagery and quotes that men shared with us with a #RealStrength hashtag."

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Similarly, Vince Wilfork, the biggest New England Patriot of all, didn't appear in a locker-room rainbow of champagne. In contrast to such traditional imagery, Dove Men+Care enabled the NFL star to tweet out the importance of sharing victory alongside a small boy who was one of his biggest fans.

"In this way," O'Brien said, "we complemented and personalized the story that we told in our ad, and how care makes the modern man feel stronger."

One result: on the night of the Super Bowl, awareness for #RealStrength was "at an all-time high, the program peaking just as the narrative of the game reached its highest point before America's largest-ever television audience.

"Real-time real stories [served] in a very unique territory build brand love because they serve men content that is best related to a time when they're most engaged."

And, O'Brien told the ANA assembly, "Dove Men+Care has portrayed real men, and what they care about, since our launch five years ago. It's the fastest-growing brand at Unilever, and it is the brand that men turn to at a certain point in their lives when they are open to care.

"This happens for men when they become dads. When they become dads, they become much more conscious of caring for themselves and much more comfortable in their role as caregiver … Together, Dove Men+Care and real men have helped to encourage a shift in acknowledgement of men as dads and how men care."

Unlock the magic

Magic-making, O'Brien admitted, is the most difficult of the three Unilever tactics. "But it's actually the most fun. It's about developing an expertise, a mastery that pays attention to the precision and the rigor of marketing, but keeps the end of the product in mind."

The challenge: "Given the fact that masculinity is changing so dramatically, and the varying priorities and roles of men are now very different, maintaining hyper-relevancy is an absolute must.

"But it's just not enough.

"So you can no longer just do a commercial that's about soccer and put it in a soccer game and expect to have some sort of great return."

This is where the fun comes in. One example is a 2014 World Cup effort from Unilever's Degree deodorant and antiperspirant that reinforced the brand's purpose of "providing long-lasting odor and wetness protection for men and women who embrace everyday challenges, from the first step of the day to the last."

O'Brien noted, "Degree's philosophy is to be the brand who is there to urge us to seize the moment. This brand is all about the 'doer' men – a brand with a rallying cry for those who want to devour life in all things that they do."

To that end, Unilever gave soccer fans the chance to engage not just with Clint Dempsey, captain of the US national team, but with Degree as well.

Before the tournament, Unilever tapped into some of actor Jon Hamm's free time between "Mad Men" episodes, and signed him on to produce a "Clint Dempsey: On the Move" mini-documentary for Degree Men.

And, post-tournament, the brand reinforced that narrative by offering fans the magical chance to sit down and chat with Dempsey.

According to O'Brien, "Degree Men's World Cup program significantly beat social-media goals and outperformed benchmarks by 353%. The brand's content was widely adopted and shared, with an engagement rate of 12% – that's 12-times higher than the CPG standard."

And what was the metric that most pleased Unilever's senior management? "During this period of time – March through the end of July – Degree in-store sales were up 11%, and even higher than that during the month of World Cup.

"This just proves that immersive experiences really do engage our men's users, as well as benefit our business."


About the author

Geoffrey Precourt Geoffrey Precourt is the US Editor of Warc

You can read all his papers and reports from recent marketing events at www.warc.com/precourt.