BUILDING ON "MASTER BRAND"

Unilever launches Dove for Men in Italy Major personal care manufacturer, Unilever, has launched an assault on the men’s grooming market in Italy by releasing a range of products that have been formulated especially for men.

• The range, which is called Dove Men + Care, includes two shower gel variants and five deodorants. They are adapted from Dove’s existing product range of deodorant, soap and shower gels to incorporate ‘male formulations and fragrances’.
• Growing Italian male grooming market A brand spokesperson for Unilever Italy told Cosmetics Design that the main aim in this decision was to “tap into Italy’s growing male grooming market, starting in the two segments that the Dove brand is already known for: deodorants and body wash”.
• The spokesperson said that Unilever had noticed that men had become an increasingly important part of the Dove target audience in Italy.
• This decision to push forward in the male grooming market has emerged as a common strategy in the economic crisis, having been adopted by other big personal care brands. Earlier in the summer, Nivea created a website called the Groom Room to provide tips and advice on male grooming.
• Financial analysts Fitch early on in the recession stated that they believed the men’s grooming sector would be one of the main categories to turn to in the recession. It would seem that companies such as Unilever and Nivea have indeed been employing this strategy.
• In some ways the male grooming sector has not been as strong as expected, however. In spite of this Proctor & Gamble, which owns the powerful Gillette brand, announced an approximately 20 per cent fall in men’s grooming sales in June of this year.

Building on Dove the ‘master brand’

• The Dove brand has been one of Unilever’s strongest performers and it is easy to see why Unilever would choose to grow in that direction. In the past, industry insiders have described it as a ‘master brand’, apparently managing to ride through the recession with relative ease.
• Unilever as a company has faired pretty well in general. Helped by a 6.8 per cent rise in prices, in May the company announced a 4.8 per cent increase in underlying sales for the quarter.
• It now seems that Unilever wish to take advantage of this stable situation and is looking for potential growth. Unilever’s brand spokesperson said, “We hope that this launch will allow us to build upon the brand’s heritage and increase penetration of Dove among men”.
• They did not comment as to whether the Dove Men + Care range would be adopted in the rest of Europe.

By Leah Armstrong, Cosmetic design-europe.com

BEAUTY FOOD - Danone kills beauty yoghurt but comeback likely

Danone has killed the Essensis beauty yoghurt worldwide blaming lower consumer spending but the dairy giant remains convinced of beauty food potential.

• Edible beauty products have been hailed as the next big thing in functional food and cosmetics but the failure of the Essensis brand has sparked fears that the trend is more hype than hit.
• Hitting supermarket shelves to much marketing and media fanfare in February 2007, Essensis was the biggest beauty food launch in Europe but sales never matched expectation, prompting Danone to pull the product in France two years later.
• Now the French dairy giant has confirmed that the Essensis brand no longer exists having been removed from sale in Italy, Belgium and Spain. Essensis simply failed to deliver the sales figures Danone hoped for.
• “During the last year, Essensis has been strongly penalised by the slowdown of consumption which does not allow it to develop its market, despite its undisputed health benefits,” said Danone spokesperson Esther Karpinski.
• In the current economic climate Danone will focus on core business and well established brands like Actimel and Activia. But the company has not given up on the beauty food concept.

Precursor product

• Karpinski said Essensis was a “precursor product” based on a well established link between food and skin quality.
• “This link between skin and food still needs time and pedagogy to be acknowledged in Europe,” said Karpinski. “But we are convinced that this product has a strong potential for the future in Europe.”
• Mintel analyst Nica Lewis agreed that the demise of Essensis does not spell the death of the category.
• Lewis said: “Nutricosmetics are here to stay because the products meet and treat physical needs and beauty concerns, and are part of a general move to a holistic approach to well being.”
• So why did Essensis fail when it was riding the wave of such a promising trend? Is it just a question of time and education as Danone suggests?

Pricing problems

• One of the key problems seems to be price. Lewis said that new Mintel consumer research in the UK found that 40 per cent of consumers think that beauty foods and drinks are too expensive.
• In a recent report on functional food failures, New Nutrition Business magazine said price became an issue for Essensis because of its positioning on supermarket shelves.
• “Essensis was merchandised in the supermarket alongside the regular yoghurt, where it’s easy for consumers to see that it sells at quite a premium to regular yoghurts.
• The reported added: “Essensis isn’t differentiated enough to justify a price premium; the only thing that sets it apart from other yoghurts is its beauty benefit.”

By Guy Montague-Jones, Cosmetics design-europe.com

COMPANY TRANSFORMATION - Inside the Kraft Foods Transformation

Eleven of the top leaders from the largest food and beverage company in the U.S. talk about their three-year turnaround and their campaign to reorganize for growth. Introduced by Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld

• When a company’s corporate core gets too far from its businesses, from the marketplace, and from its consumers, then a new organizational model may be needed. That was true of Kraft Foods when I returned as chief executive in June 2006. I had just spent three years running the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo, where decision making was highly decentralized. That experience had reminded me how powerful it is when people come to work every day aligned with and focused only on the business, rather than on the internal organizational demands.
• Kraft, too, had gone through periods of decentralized decision making, as I knew from my previous 22 years with the company. But the company in 2006 wasn’t operating that way. Not long after I arrived, a request to review and approve a pricing decision in the German coffee business arrived on my desk in Northfield, Ill. It created a lot of unnecessary work when people asked us in corporate headquarters to make decisions that were not our province. Moreover, we weren’t managing our brands and categories at the appropriate level to understand their competitive dynamics. We weren’t as nimble or responsive as we needed to be, and it was affecting our results.
• Now, three years later, we’re delivering. We had an exceptionally strong year in 2008, on both the top line and the bottom line, despite the challenging macro­economic environment. And there has been an equal impact on the effectiveness of our management. Today, I spend the bulk of my time on strategy, on understanding key drivers within our business units, and on putting the right people in critical positions — where they have much more responsibility than in the past.
• One of the vehicles for achieving these results was the “Organizing for Growth” (OFG) initiative that we began at Kraft Foods in 2007. Rewiring our organization was one of the four key strategies of our three-year turnaround plan to restore the company to sustainable, long-term growth. To achieve this, we had to essentially dismantle the existing organizational matrix and replace it with a decentralized structure that gave our newly reorganized business units more direct lines of responsibility. This was an enormous undertaking, both in concept and in implementation. It involved changing reporting lines, structures, and operating units. And it was only one part of a larger change initiative that involved operational changes — building up our sales capabilities, reframing our food categories, and implementing new operating metrics and financial rewards for our executives and managers.
• There is often a tendency to believe that when you make a structural change first, everything else will follow. However, structural, cultural, and operational changes are typically made together, and they influence one another.

This is the story of our reorganization and the changes that it helped deliver. It is an initiative that is best described by those within Kraft who participated in it. —Irene Rosenfeld

Read their stories under: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/09307?gko=399b2&cid=enews20090922

NEW PRODUCT DVLPMT - Democratizing product development

Last year, Mountain Dew's "Dewmocracy" brought the conversation to the social space. Today, Vitaminwater is turning to Facebook fans to come up with its next flavor. "This isn't the most creative initiative" says Richie Cruz from Digital Strategist Agency, "but bringing the conversation to the social space has proven it's effectiveness. Especially because of the dialogue's transparency: Facebook users who aren't engaged will be able to see their colleagues and friends taking part in the conversation". Another reaction could be "Does the world need another MangoBerry-CranMint-Guarana Fusion?" Anyway, The "Flavorcreator" Facebook app, which launched this week and runs through Oct. 20, is designed to crowdsource the company's next product.

• Eric Berniker, vp-marketing for Vitaminwater, said that in the first phase, the company will "eavesdrop" on conversations on Facebook and Twitter about which the hot flavors are.
• After that, the company will diagnose which vitamins and minerals consumers want via a Facebook quiz. Finally, fans will be called in to develop a name, design and copy for the bottle. The winner will then be selected by 50 Cent and Carrie Underwood. The product will hit shelves in March.
• Vitaminwater started its fan page on Facebook in March and now has about 450,000 fans, thanks in part to TV ads that ran that month to promote the page.
• Berniker said that traditional media is still important to Vitaminwater, but the brand is tapping social media to "keep an ongoing dialogue with fans and drinkers." Added Berniker: "It's not just a fun program, it's about handing control over to our fans."

FAIR TRADE - Cadbury continues to spread its strategy

Cadbury has pledged to achieve Fair Trade certification for its Dairy Milk bars in Canada ... after successfully making the Fair Trade transition in Britain and Ireland.

• Cadbury announces today an historic agreement that will transform the accessibility of Fair Trade Certified chocolate in Canada and enable Canadians to make an important difference in the lives of thousands of cocoa farmers. By summer 2010 Cadbury(i) Dairy Milk(i) bars will begin to proudly display the Fair Trade Certification mark, bringing Fair Trade certified chocolate to grocery stores, gas stations, convenience shops and corner retailers across Canada. Cadbury Dairy Milk is the first major confectionery brand in Canada to be Fair Trade Certified. With an estimated 22 million bars sold annually, it is expected to double the amount of Fair Trade Certified chocolate sold in Canada.
• "We are deeply proud to make Fair Trade certified chocolate accessible right across Canada by working together with TransFair Canada to achieve certification for our biggest global brand and one of Canada's leading chocolate bars," says Gary Scullion, General Manager for Canada, Cadbury North America. "Fair Trade is designed to improve the lives of the cocoa farmers in Ghana, Africa that we source from by guaranteeing fair payment for their crop, and also paying an additional social premium fee that goes to community improvements. Canadians have the opportunity to be catalysts of change by purchasing Fair Trade Certified Dairy Milk chocolate, knowing it will improve the lives of 40,000 farmers in Ghana, and that is truly extraordinary."
• Mr. P. K. Tekper, the Vice-President of Kuapa Kokoo cooperative from which Cadbury is sourcing Fair Trade cocoa, said: "We are very happy that Cadbury's have made this further commitment. The premium that we have already received from Cadbury has made a real difference to our lives. Our plans for the future are to build fourteen community projects next year, invest in the health care of our farmers and to put in place a 'Kuapa Kokoo Extension Services' to farmers to ensure sustainability of cocoa in the world market."
• Cadbury's partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation in Britain and Ireland - which welcomed Fair Trade Cadbury Dairy Milk bars in July - has already resulted in the transfer of the equivalent of approximately $883,000 CDN to Ghana, the first instalment of the Fair Trade social premium. This is part of Cadbury's overall investment into cocoa sustainability though the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership.
• Cadbury has a century-old commitment to sustainable and equitable cocoa farming in Ghana, Africa, where Cadbury was instrumental in developing the cocoa trade and this year, Cadbury celebrated the 100th anniversary of its first full cocoa crop from Ghana. In 2008 Cadbury established the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, an initiative that will guide efforts to improve the lives of cocoa farmers, including Fair Trade certification. With the certification of Cadbury Dairy Milk across five markets, including Canada, Cadbury will quadruple the sales of Fair Trade cocoa from Ghana under Fair Trade terms, from 5,000 to 20,000 tones. As the number one buyer of Ghanaian Fair Trade cocoa, Cadbury is signaling to cocoa farmers its belief that Fair Trade is the preferred, rigorous certification system, and one that is committed to delivering tangible change for them and their communities.
• "The certification of Cadbury Dairy Milk will improve the lives and communities of over 40,000 cocoa farmers and 6,000 sugar farmers, ensuring a guaranteed income, viable growth and hope for a prosperous future," says Rob Clarke, Executive Director of TransFair Canada, the national Fair Trade Certification body and Canadian member of the Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO) International. "Cadbury Dairy Milk going Fair Trade also provides Canadians with an unprecedented opportunity to share in the success of these farmers and the presence of the Fair Trade Certification mark on every bar provides independent assurance that Fair Trade standards were met."
• Cadbury Australia/New Zealand also announced today Fair Trade certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk in their markets, further expanding Cadbury's commitment to ethical and sustainable sourcing and cementing Cadbury Dairy Milk as the largest Fair Trade Certified chocolate brand in the world. These two announcements follow the initial commitment by Cadbury in March of this year for Cadbury Dairy Milk to go Fair Trade in Britain and Ireland - the first Fair Trade certified Cadbury Dairy Milk bars were shipped to retailers in Britain and Ireland this past July.

Fair Trade Certification of Cadbury Dairy Milk

• Cadbury's commitment to Fair Trade in Canada will mean that approximately 11 per cent of all chocolate products Cadbury sells in Canada will be Fair Trade Certified. This announcement applies to the entire pure chocolate Cadbury Dairy Milk range: Cadbury Dairy Milk 42g, 100g and 200g; Cadbury Dairy Milk Thins, the first 100-calorie bar in Canada and Cadbury Dairy Milk treat size for Halloween. Cadbury intends to ship the first Fair Trade certified bars in Summer 2010.

The Cadbury Cocoa Partnership

• Last year Cadbury announced the establishment of the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, a groundbreaking, global initiative supported by the United Nations Development Programme under which Cadbury is investing the equivalent of approximately $82 million CDN to secure the sustainable socio-economic future of cocoa farming. The equivalent of approximately $55 million CDN is allocated to Ghana, Africa, where Cadbury and its partners are addressing the challenges farmers face and working to improve productivity and grow the industry. The Cadbury Cocoa Partnership works on the ground to improve farmer yields, expand biodiversity of crops, invest in community development and establish progressive partnerships. The scale of investment and the level of company commitment make this the largest cocoa program of its kind.
• Prior to the establishment of the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, Cadbury had committed to community improvements in Ghana and by 2008 Cadbury had led the construction of 850 wells, benefitting more than 130,000 people; donated books and provided support to help communities build libraries and educational facilities; and Cadbury will send 5,000 bicycles to Ghana, Africa in November 2009 as a result of The Bicycle Factory promotion. The bicycles will be donated to communities in Ghana, where they are to be used in the communities, including helping children get to school and improving access to education.

Fair Trade Certification

• Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional trade and is based on a partnership between producers and consumers. Fair Trade Certification is an independent monitoring and auditing system that ensures standards have been met. It directly impacts more than 1.5 million democratically organized producers and workers in 58 developing countries and provides consumers with a simple and reliable method to make a difference in peoples' lives through their purchases. Fair Trade is specifically designed to help producers improve the quality of their lives and take more control over their futures.
• Fair Trade Certification aims to ensure democratic associations of family farmers receive a guaranteed fair price for their goods to cover the cost of sustainable production and provide security during fluctuating world markets;
• Fair Trade Certification ensures an additional social premium fee is paid that farmers invest to improve the social, economic and environmental conditions within their communities;
• Fair Trade Certification offers long term contracts with producers and ensures access to advance credit of up to 60 per cent of the value of contracts.

The certification of Cadbury Dairy Milk products will be monitored and audited by TransFair Canada and FLO-Cert, the independent certification arm of the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations (FLO) International. Together they ensure compliance with internationally-recognized Fair Trade standards from the producer to the point of packaging.