Unilever has launched a campaign to tie the ‘social good’ work that its individual brands such as Dove and Persil have been doing back to the parent company.
Called ‘Bright Future’, the campaign centres on a film which shows a young girl talking about changes happening in the world. The dialog is coupled with text on-screen to show exactly what Unilever’s brands have contributed.
For example, as the girl says “our basic needs are no longer needs” the Domestos logo appears with a stat that it has helped five million people to access toilets.
Other brands to feature in the campaign include Dove and Persil.
“People increasingly care about how the decisions they make affect the world we live in. Our Bright Future campaign shows people that when they buy our products they’re not just purchasing a bar of soap, they’re enabling children to live past the age of five by helping to teach handwashing; and they’re helping children access education,” said chief marketing and communications officer, Keith Weed.
“Brands with a purpose are at the heart of Unilever and we believe that the small choices we all make every day can make a big difference to the world we live in.”
It’s all part of the FMCG-giant’s wider sustainability programme, now in its sixth year, which aims to decouple growth from its environmental footprint whilst increasing its positive social impact.
Unilever made a commitment to stamp out stereotyping in its adverts after finding that by being more “progressive” in its representation of gender it would see an average 12 per cent uplift in perception for each brand.
New research has underlined brands seen as doing good in the wold will be more readily considered by consumers.
Some 54 per cent of people it surveyed want to buy sustainably. Unilever’s five biggest brands – Knorr, Dove, Persil/Omo, Lipton and Hellmann’s – are all sustainable living brands and grew 30 per cent faster than the rest of the business last year.