COMMUNITYMARKETIN

GA UNILEVER POINT-OF-

VIEWPETRA ZINKWEG, GLOBAL VP, SOY PLATFORM

What, really, is Community Marketing?

Traditional and Modern Context

How do we at Unilever do it?

Some Examples…

Defining a Community Marketing Activity

One that initiates and starts a social and cultural phenomenon

One that benefits from social and community conversations

One that reaches out to a community for a message

One that is simply done to narrow down the target for the purpose of activation/engagement

One of the oldest techniques in marketing and message dissemination.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was the first one to come-up with a technique (colour lithography)

that mass produced posters. His work for Moulin Rouge in Paris started what was perhaps the biggest alternative artistic movement of the that century- a

cultural phenomenon that fuelled many a conversations, and formed a community of its own!

Communities have always been means for

brands to start a conversation with the

consumers. These conversations then start to

take place within the consumers themselves.

If favourable, these conversations can be the

biggest equity generator for a brand.

Traditionally these conversations

have been reliant on physical

interactions. In the modern world,

though, they take place somewhere

in the world of fibre-optics and

satellite waves.

Web 2.0 has taken these to an

unprecedented level. It has

made them instant, location-

agnostic, multi-media and, most

importantly, quite authoritative

and believable in tone.

“One part anarchy, one part aristocracy, one part democracy, one part monarchy”

Jimmy Wales on the Wikipedia Community

184 million bloggers

73% of active online users have read a blog

45% have started their own blog

57% have joined a social network

55% have uploaded photos

83% have watched video clips

39% subscribe to an RSS feed

Source: Universal McCann Comparative Study on Social Media Trends April 2008. Base: Internet Users.

We all know that the world has changed...

Or has it…?

Generally, “real” communities are more penetrable, relevant, and the effects of an effort are usually more sustainable. The activities in the virtual communities

tend to be short-term, fad-oriented, and less meaningful.

How do we create Communities?

We do not. We can only be part of a community, in order to help them do what

they want to do…

At any point in time, any community would benefit from help in any of the following areas:

Helping them figure out what to believe in, what can they trust

Help them drive meaning from what is happening in the world

Help them find a way around a story, an issue, and point them towards the “right stuff”

Help them engage in a discussion in a knowledgeable way.

Examples of how we at Unilever have done it:Lifebuoy Anti-bacterial soap in India

Wisk detergent in the US

Objectives:

Educate rural Indian children on the advantages of cleanliness and hygiene.

Contribute to the alleviation of diseases such as diarrhoea and various skin infections

Create a communication package that can work with the illiterate in a media-dark environment

Be socially and community relevant by truly embracing the problem and addressing it, create a meaningful role for the brand in people’s

lives.

Lifebuoy Anti-bacterial soap in India

Lifebuoy Anti-bacterial soap in India

We created a movement called “Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna” or “Health for All”.

A programme that reached about 45,000 villages, village by village, engaging the local communities.

Lifebuoy Anti-bacterial soap in India

Who did we engage?Primarily the school going children

Through them, their parents and families

Using teachers and key leaders of the communities/villages to act as influencers.

Special classes in schools on health and hygiene.

Specially created games to further the education efforts.

Glow-germ demos to bring to life the importance of

hygiene.

Children start spreading the health and hygiene messages

Children stage rallies to show health and hygiene commitment.

Lifebuoy Anti-bacterial soap in India

Engagement of Families Family and Community Events to further the

education.

Pre-Intervention

Post-Intervention

Awareness of germs 52% 83%

Associating germs with disease

35% 57%

Lifebuoy Salience 28% 51%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

9.0%

10.0%

Full Year 2004 Full Year 2005

Gro

wth

(%)

Lifebuoy Anti-bacterial soap in India

Impact on Awareness.

Impact on Sales.A

reas

where

the p

rogra

mm

e r

an.

The r

est

of

the t

err

itori

es.

GIVE THEM

SOMETHING

TO TALK ABOUT!