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

UNILEVER - Discounting saves the day

The company said that discounting had enabled it to raise sales volumes in all regions, particularly in Europe, where in the second quarter volumes rose by 1 per cent, compared to a fall of 1.2 per cent for the first six months of the year.

• All other regions showed stronger increases during the quarter, with like-for-like sales increasing 8.2 per cent in the Africa and Asia region, to €3.85bn, while sales in the Americas rose 4.9 per cent to €3.33bn.
• But discounting proved to be very market and product specific, as overall the company reported that it had raised group prices by an average of 2.1 per cent during the quarter.

more under Cosmetics design-europe.com

PROMOTION - Facebook Users Scoop Up Free Starbucks (Unilever) Ice Cream

To introduce consumers to its new ice cream, Starbucks and Unilever are offering free pints to Facebook users.

• From July 6 to July 19, participants can visit Apps.facebook.com/starbucksicecream. At the top of every hour, they will have a chance to give a pint of Starbucks ice cream to a friend or family member.
• Each hour, 800 pints will be given away, with a total of 280,000 for the duration of the promotion. While the promotion encourages participants to send the treat to friends, less generous users also have the option of simply sending the coupon to themselves.
• Users who don’t jump on the opportunity fast enough have to check back later if the supply of 800 has already been given away
• The promotion touts the four flavors of Starbucks ice cream, which debuted in the spring. Based on Starbucks beverages, the flavors are: Caramel Macciato (coffee and vanilla ice creams with swirls of caramel), Mocha Frappuccino (coffee and chocolate ice creams), Java Chip Frappuccino (chocolate ice cream with chunks of dark chocolate) and Coffee (coffee and espresso ice creams).
• Unilever signed a licensing agreement with Starbucks in September 2008 for the exclusive manufacturing, marketing and distribution of Starbucks ice cream.

written by Alex Palmer, Brandweek

UNILEVER (P.Polman CEO) and World Heart Federation announce new initiative

09/06/2009 Unilever and the World Heart Federation announce a joint initiative to promote awareness of Heart Age - a new, personally motivating way of expressing an individual’s risk of developing heart disease and stroke. At a global media launch, leading worldwide cardiovascular disease (CVD) experts - including Professor Pekka Puska (President, World Heart Federation) and Professor Rod Jackson (Head of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Auckland) - pledged their support for the new concept, which they believe could help in the global effort to reduce CVD, the leading cause of premature death worldwide. Professor Puska stated, “If Heart Age can engage individuals and motivate them to change their diet and lifestyle for the better, no matter what their level of risk, then this could be a breakthrough in the global effort towards improved CVD prevention, which could save hundreds of thousands of lives and sparing many more the misery of heart disease and stroke.” Heart Age, based on the well-established and highly respected Framingham Risk Score, uses standard risk factors for heart disease or stroke (such as age, weight, gender, cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking) to estimate your ‘Heart Age’, which could be higher than your chronological age if your personal CVD risk factors are high. Today’s gathering supports the fact that this could be a powerful way for health professionals to help motivate people, at all levels of risk, to make the behavioural changes needed to keep their hearts healthier for longer. At the global media launch, Unilever unveiled a new report entitled ‘What If People’s Hearts Stayed Young?’, which publishes, for the first time, the theoretical effect on the numbers of heart attacks and strokes (CVD events) over the next decade that might be achieved if people estimated to have an elevated Heart Age were able to reduce it by three years. The modelling used data from the UK and USA as examples. The results are inspiring. They suggest that if people estimated to have elevated Heart Ages lowered them by three years, predicted CVD events could be reduced over ten years by an estimated 216 000 in the UK, and by an estimated 1 million in the USA. The modelling further calculates that, if everyone – not just those with elevated Heart Ages - managed to keep their Heart Age as young as their chronological age, the predicted number of CVD events over ten years could be reduced by an estimated 986 000 in the UK and by an estimated 5 million in the USA. Unilever has built on the concept of Heart Age and developed an accurate and simple online tool to enable people to find out their own Heart Age and for health professionals to better engage their patients in their own heart health. After piloting the Heart Age Tool in 18 countries, Unilever has developed it further, adding a tailored heart health plan to guide and motivate people to make lifelong changes to their diet and lifestyle that can help reduce their personal cardiovascular disease risk factors. Unilever’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Polman, says : the company will track and share information on progress by publishing data at regular intervals for the benefit of the wider heart health community. It is intended that the Heart Age Tool will also be available for doctors to use in patient communications. Paul Polman comments: “We are excited by the potential for Heart Age, combined with our consumer-friendly Heart Age Tool, to make a real difference in motivating people to look after their heart. We are indebted to the World Heart Federation for their strong support for this Heart Age initiative, and to individuals and organisations whose expert collaboration has made it possible. ... Over 2 million people have taken the Heart Age test to date. ...

UNILEVER - Cool ice cream innovations - HEALTHIER and really tasty

Unilever has found a way to make ice cream healthier as well as really tasty. It has all been possible thanks to a new ice cream ingredient discovered by Unilever's ice cream scientists.

Less fat, more fruit

The new ingredient is called ‘ice structuring protein’. This protein allows us to make ice cream and ice lollies which are lower in fat, sugar and calories and at the same time include more fruit. We can also now make ice creams and ice lollies which better hold their shape and are less messy to eat. Combining ISP with stabiliser technology gives products that additionally don’t melt so easily – great for small children and for hot countries.

Ice structuring

How was ‘ice structuring protein’ discovered? Ice structuring proteins are widely found in nature, in for example fish, carrots and grass. They allow fish to survive in freezing arctic waters. The protein works by changing the shape of the ice crystals. Unilever’s ice cream scientists took this idea from nature and have applied it to ice cream with great success. It only takes tiny amounts of ISP to have the desired effect.

Baker’s yeast

As sourcing ice structuring protein from a crop or a fish is not environmentally or economically sustainable ice structuring protein (ISP) is prepared with a genetically modified baker’s yeast using a fermentation process. ISP is prepared by a genetically modified baker’s yeast in a fermentation process which is similar to that used to make other food ingredients such as flavourings, vitamins, enzymes and chymosin which is found in vegetarian cheese. To ensure that the ISP is as pure as possible the yeast cells are removed through several stages of fine filtration at the end of the process.

Safety & approvals

ISP is a new ingredient so safety has been Unilever’s number one priority. The company’s safety specialists have conducted exhaustive tests to demonstrate the safety of ISP. The results of these tests have been reviewed by a panel of independent world experts including allergists, toxicologists and paediatricians. The safety of ISP has also been adopted by the US Foods and Drug Administration and endorsed European Food Safety Authority and Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

ISP

technology was submitted EU regulatory body for clearance for use as a novel food in 2006. After nearly 3 years of consultation, approval was given for the use of ISP in all EU member states in April 2009. Unilever now plans to sell Europe’s first ISP containing ice creams in 2010. All products containing ISP will include ISP in the ingredient list and information will be made available via customer carelines and websites. Low fat products and novelty ‘popsicle’ products have been on sale, and enjoyed, in the USA, Mexico, China, Philippines and Australia for several years now.