Introduction

The company was formed by a merger of Dutch Margarine Union and British soap-
makers Lever Brothers in 1929.Unilever was one of the world’s first genuine
multinationals with operating companies in more than 40 countries.
The company produces and distributes a vast number of well known brands in the
areas of nutrition, hygiene and personal care that are used by consumers all over the
world.The history of Unilever dates back to 1885, William Lever established a soap
manufacturing company in the UK with his brothers and named the company Lever
Brothers in 1885.

William Hesketh Lever was born at Bolton, Lancashire in 1852 was the son of grocer.
Together with James Lever, William Lever opened soap factory at Warrington,
England, in 1885. Their products, Sunlight, the world’s first packaged soap, was very
successful. The soup they made in ready moulded tablet.
Previously laundry soap was marketed in bars and grocers cut off pieces and sold
them by weight.

Until 1919 Lever was wholly own an controlled by the founder. By 1919, as a result of
ingle minded expansionist, commercial policies, his firm accounted for 60 percent of
soap production in Britain. Two butter makers, Jurgen and Van den Berghs formed
Margarine Union in 1927. The Dutch Margarine Union merged with Lever Brothers of
United Kingdom in 1929 to form Unilever .During the 1930s, the structure and
management do Unilever has been describe as a professional largely non-family
managed hierarchy.

For tax, purpose, two separate entities were established, one in London and another
in Rotterdam. Historically, Unilever has grown to be a very multi local company.
However, while the company used to work with regional supply chains on regional
brands, Unilever started to globalize their brands in the early and mid 1990s.
Product line

Unilever owns over 400 brands, but focuses on 14 brands with sales of over 1
billion Euros.

The top 14 brands of Unilever which they mainly focus on the product for which they
are Axe/Lynx, Dove, Omo, Becel/Flora,Heartbrand icecreams, Hellmann's, Knorr, Lip
ton, Lux, Magnum, Rama, Rexona, Sunsilk and Surf.

It is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever N.V., based in Rotterdam,

Netherlands, and Unilever PLC, based in London, United Kingdom. Both companies
have the same directors and they operate as a single business. Unilever is organised
into four main divisions - Foods, Refreshment (beverages and ice cream), Home Care,
and Personal Care. It has research and development facilities in the United Kingdom
, the Netherlands, China, India and the United States.

History of Unilever Logo

Unilever’s current mysterious company logo was unveiled in 2004. It was created by
the famous UK design firm Wolff Olins and is made up of 25 different icons
amalgamated into a ‘U’ shaped logo design. Each of these icons symbolizes Unilever’s
diverse brand portfolio. The whole identity system revolves around the idea of "adding
vitality to life”.
Company Vision

Unilever is a unique company, with a proud history and a bright future. They have
ambitious plans for growth and an intense sense of social purpose.

A CLEAR DIRECTION

They work to create a better future every day, with brands and services that help
people feel good, look good, and get more out of life.

In 2009, they launched what it’s called The Compass – Unilever’s strategy for
sustainable growth. It sets out a clear and compelling vision of our future, in which
brands and services reach and inspire people across the world, helping double the
size of business while reducing environmental footprint and increasing positive
social impact.

It’s a goal they are seeking to achieve by developing new ways of doing business
through which they can minimise direct impact and improve hygiene, nutrition,
opportunities and health for communities.

They are working with suppliers, consumers and the retailers who sell their brands
to improve their sustainability credentials too.

"Achieving significant growth objectives while decoupling growth from environmental

impact and increasing positive social impact is a bold but challenging vision.

“Not many companies have yet taken it on. But I believe it’s the only viable vision. One
that builds on Unilever’s long-term heritage and achievement, while supporting a
responsible future.”
MISSON

Unilever is committed to supporting sustainability and providing our consumers around

the world with the products they need to look good, feel good and get more out of life.

Five key priorities provide the foundation for our brand’s campaigns. Read some
examples of how different brands are upholding these principles.

A BETTER FUTURE FOR CHILDREN

A HEALTHIER FUTURE

A MORE CONFIDENT FUTURE

A BETTER FUTURE FOR THE PLANET

A BETTER FUTURE FOR FARMING & FARMERS

 SWOT analysis for Unilever

Unilever is a company that serves in almost all the continents and over 190 countries
of the world. It has a wide variety of products serving the people of all ages. Based on
its core competencies and strategic outlook its strengths are;

Strengths

 Company operates its operations nearly 190 countries in the world. And they also have
270 manufacturing sites worldwide
 Strong portfolio of brands and diversified product range
 Company has more than 400 brands all around the world. Most of the brands known as
multinational brands but some of them operate in some countries and company calls it
local brands.
 More than 13 international brands have contribution in sales more than 1 billion Euros.
And Unilever top 25 brands account for more than 70% of sales

Products of the company

Research and development

Competitive advantage
· · Promotion, marketing and advertising

· Effective and attractive packaging

· Research and development

· Economy of scale

That is how they can achieve economy of scale easily. It gives competitive advantage
to company.

Weakness
Internal attributes of the organization that are harmful to achieving the objective.
Unilever has the following weaknesses out of which the strong competitors like P&G,
Nestle and
  Strong competitors
Unilever has strong competition worldwide by multinational. E.g. P&G,
RackittBenckiser, Nestle, etc these are also the companies that operate worldwide,
have big market shares, huge product line and millions of customers.
 Substitute products
As Unilever operates in more than 100 countries and there are lots of substitute
products available in the local market. Because of product quality and extensive R&D
company charge higher prices for its products but the local products are much
cheaper.

Opportunity

External conditions those are helpful to achieving the objective.

· Health conscious products demand

Now a day's people like to eat healthy food which contains fewer calories and use
those products which will not harm their environment. This gives a good opportunity
to Unilever to add more and more products in its product line.

· Changing life styles

Now people are more aware about innovations because of the media. Company can
use changing life style and increase the demand of the products.

· Emerging new markets

Now a day's new markets are emerging company can expand their business to cover
these markets. Like Russia, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

· Increase production volumes

Unilever can concentrate to increase production volumes and they can try to increase
their availability in the market. By increasing production volumes and availability it is
possible to achieve high demands of products.
 Move operations to undeveloped countries
Company needs to focus to move their production operations in undeveloped
countries. Than they can find cheap labour and save money on operations and they
can build a supply chain towards expensive markets. Then their profitability will be
high.

Threat

External conditions which could do damage to the business's performance.

 Economic downturn
Biggest threat now days are recession. Most of the companies shut their operations
or make redundancies people losing their purchasing power. It has affect all over the
world in this situation coming times will be very crucial for company.
 Environmental effects
Peoples are very conscious about the environment. They don't like to buy products
which can be harmful for the environment. Company needs to focus on how to become
environment friendly. It needs to focus on its environmental friendly products.
 Global competition
The chances of Global competition are growing. New companies are coming with
innovation. If Unilever wants to stay in market they need to focus on innovation to kill
competition around the globe.
 New local products
New local products are introducing in the market. As the sizes of local companies are
small they have fewer expenses and when they provide cheap product they can grab
the market share of Unilever easily.
 legal effects
If the government introduces any sort of law for tax or it introduce new limits for
production because the product is harmful for human use or natural environment. It
will be very hard to sell out the product in the market.
Unilever Marketing strategy for Brazil low income consumers

Unilever should target the low income market in the NE of Brazil for many reasons. In
Brazil Unilever already has a market share of 81% with their detergent portfolio, so
they have to find new ways for market growth. There is also an entry threat by one of
their main competitors P&G which could take the first mover advantage and address
the segment before them. A successful market strategy for the low income market in
Brazil can be used as best practice to gain valuable insights for specific market needs
for other low income markets around the world. Last but not least sustainability and
CSR became a huge trend during the last decade. It will attract new partners and
employees and create synergy effects with NGOs. First of all there are 48 million
potential low income customers in the North East of Brazil. The market is basically
huge. There are two approaches which have to be undertaken, in order to reach this
market. First by restructuring the value chain for a rural market we have to create
affordability and availability. At the same time we have to tailor our offer to the
individual needs of the market, develop a specific marketing mix to create acceptability
and awareness to finally capture that value.

Availability

Rural markets are hard to reach. NE Brazilians predominantly get their

groceries from small shops. The new product could be made available
through approximately 75.000 small stores; first they can take advantage of
their existing network of small entrepreneurs or extended through entirely
new supply chains, which would help to reach even the stores in the most
rural areas, which is hard to reverse.

Affordability

Unilever has to find out how much income their segment effectively has
available to spend on their products and how the frequency of their salary
and shopping looks like. The pricing of new products has to be linked to the
buying power of the people in the NE. According to the per capita income
($2250), bargaining power in the NE results in about $6/day. However, the
goal here is to be able to offer products wh ich are affordable and beneficial
even for the poorest consumers. So it has to be adapted to their cash flow
(sequence of payments) and on a day to day basis, by offering multiple
sizes for example.

Acceptability

In order to sell their product successfully Unilever needs to meet the unique
needs of consumers but also of the distributors in the NE of Brazil.
Additionally Unilever has to understand regional, cultural, and
socioeconomic requirements of the BOP users Women hand scrub clothes
with soap bars, which requires a lot of time and effort. Detergent powder
however is used very little at the end for its smell. Additionally, washing
clothes is seen as a pleasurable and social activity and as dedication
invested for the family’s purity. Cleanliness is furth ermore common as one
of the main subjects for gossip. Unilever needs to respect and to understand
the maternal pride for the washing activity.
Unilever-Marketing Strategy

Introduction

Marketing strategy has evolved as an important feature for the strategic

development and expansion of business in economies of large scale and
emerging markets. While the primary focus of companies remains to
increase the profitability of organizations, marketing units face the
challenge of converting non-customers into successful clients and users
of their respective brands in order to obtain and retain their share of the
market. Emerging markets of Asia and Europe offer strong growth potential
to emerging market leaders like Unilever which have a range of consumer
goods products from toothpaste to snacks and biscuits. The power and
potential of emerging markets can be gauged from the fact that they
contribute to nearly fifteen percent of revenues to international brands like
Unilever, a trend which is likely to continue.

Think global act local

With the aim of succeeding, companies have adopted the new mantra of
‘Think Global, Act Local’. In order to compete with local brands, not only
with regard to prices, but also to taste, Unilever develops flexible
marketing strategies to market and distribute its products in local remote
areas of emerging markets. For instance, Unilever devised and
implemented a unique strategy for the marketing of its products in
Indonesia, where infrastructure is poor, with the use of motorcycles to
reach remote villages in Indonesia. This strategy enables Unilever to gain
higher profit margins in developing nations and reduce the costs of their
premium products in economies of scale.
Distinct Marketing Strategies in developing economies

Unilever is keenly aware of global strategies which it needs to adopt for

the development and increase of local market for their brands, which could
occur either through the acquisition of other companies or through joint
ventures as in the case of Brazil, China and India. For instance, the
demand for its detergents has been increased through the development of
local brands which can be found in other markets of developing nations
with immense potential Brazil where Ala is extremely popular and India
which has Wheel to compete with the other cheaper brands already
available in the Indian market. Unilever also has an expensive brand to
cater to the more expensive segment in the Indian market popularly
famous by the brand name Surf. In this way, Unilever increases its market
segment by catering to economically diverse segments of groups in the
same country or region, through the launch of distinct brands, thereby
aiming to increase the exposure of its brands amon g a wider section of the
market. This strategy of Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever in India
has enabled Unilever to create a low-cost laundry detergent line in addition
to an expensive brand, which has directly resulted in successful
competition to the existing brands in the Indian market. By doing so,
Hindustan Lever has been victorious in acquiring a substantial share
amounting to more than thirty-five percent in the laundry and detergent
segment alone. Another example of Unilever’s innovative ma rketing
strategy is the different marketing approach adopted by its Indian
subsidiary, Hindustan Lever to create and market a low cost consumer
brands in the detergent line to compete with popular domestic brand which
enabled them to get a thirty-six percent in the laundry detergent segment
alone.
Step-by Step Marketing Strategy in diversified markets like China

An excellent example of distinct marketing approach used by Unilever in

the extremely diverse Chinese market which has a low extent of
consistency due to differences in the earnings according to regions, which
necessitates different marketing strategies for products in the ma rkets. In
this case, Unilever adopts a segmented market approach in accordance
with the different Chinese markets and form s associations with local
companies of China to augment the sale of consumer goods already
present in the Chinese markets . Unilever introduces global brands only
after the employing a local company to popularize the brand in a given
market or segment, and this strategy has been extremely fruitful to the
company in the launch of the Omo brand, in the Chinese market . This
step-by-step marketing strategy enables Unilever to find and use local
talent to their benefit because of the belief in Chinese philosoph y that
growth in China should be triggered by Chinese management and not
Dutch or UK companies. The approach and novel marketing strategy
increase the potential of quantity and quality of Unilever goods because
consumers support goods and services from the Chinese rather than any
other part of the developed world.

Direct marketing in India

Researchers indicate that through appropriate marketing strategies,

companies can increase and improve the wealth of their consumers, similar
to the marketing strategy adopted by Unilever to increase its consu mer
base. An exceptional marketing strategy devised and implemented by
Unilever is the development of its direct marketing project called ‘Shakti’ to
market its products in rural India through a network of rural poor women
who are engaged in the direct marketing of products. While the company
benefits tremendously by increasing its consumer base, the direct marketer
also becomes a consumer of the company. This conceptual framework of
direct marketing focuses on the cre ation of willingness and ability among
non consumers and those customers who depict a low average rate of
Unilever’s products.
Conclusion

Thus, Unilever comprehensively researched and well -designed marketing

strategies for the distinct target markets in which it chooses to make its
presence felt. The marketing approach of using strong local teams to offer
market insights provide Unilever with a marketing edge which boosts its
success and profitability. Unlike other multinational organization which rely
on expatriates to expand their business operations, Unilever functions by
empowering local teams of developing economies, and taps on emerging
markets through popular local brands which help in the expansion of its
reach at highly reduced marketing and opera ting costs. Strategically
planned marketing plans enable Unilever to increase its growth speed for
entry into new markets and substantially build upon the existing base of
consumers.