Unilever 2009 Annual Report Download - page 11

Report of the Directors Our strategy
Winning with brands
and innovation
How we will win
Superior products
Our aim is to give people a great experience when they use
our brands – better than the competition. We are investing in
improving product quality and making stronger functional
claims. We are also focusing on design, packaging, marketing
and advertising, in order to get our brand benefits across
more persuasively.
Take Knorr Stockpot bouillon. Using a unique jelly technology
that delivers homemade taste and quality, this product is helping
people create a special meal at home instead of eating out. A
major success in the UK where it enabled Knorr to become
market leader in stocks, Stockpot (marketed under different
names in different countries) is also performing well in Belgium,
Greece, Ireland and Poland. It helped create the bouillon category
in China and we are now rolling it out to other markets.
Widespread appeal
Product superiority is essential, but we also need to offer a broad
range of choice which meets differing consumer needs and price
points wherever we operate.
Brands and innovation are at the heart of
everything we do. We develop our products to
keep pace with changes in consumer lifestyles
and to appeal to people at all income levels.
Success means getting bigger and better
innovations into the market faster, supported
by the very best marketing.
In the UK, understanding that consumers are looking for value
without compromising on quality, and recognising the importance
of fragrance in communicating a product’s benefits, we
developed a range of liquid concentrates for Surf detergent
with added essential oils, resulting in 29% growth.
In Russia, despite a severe economic recession, we achieved
growth of more than 20% in our tea sales by offering choice
across multiple price points with three distinctive brands –
Lipton, Brooke Bond and Beseda.
And in India, where water quality remains a major concern,
the breakthrough technology of Pureit, our in-home purification
system, is providing safe and affordable drinking water with
complete protection from the water-borne germs that cause
diseases. In 2009, Pureit provided safe drinking water for more
than 15 million people in 3 million households in India.
An invention by our R&D team has achieved what
has previously been impossible: to produce a low-fat
margarine that does not spit or burn when you use
it for frying. Launched in Europe in 2008, our light
liquid margarines from our Family Goodness and Heart
Health brands are offering consumers a new way to cook
lighter meals. Made of a combination of three vegetable
oils, and including the important vitamins A, D and E,
they make it easy to cook nutritiously for the whole
family. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by consumers.
Liquid margarine is the fastest growing segment in our
European spreads and cooking category, and our new
light liquid exceeded expectations, bringing new users
to the segment and our brands in both the Netherlands
and Belgium.
Case study: Liquid margarine
Low-fat frying?
If you’ve ever tried frying with low-fat
margarine, you’ll know why people use
full-fat instead, and try to reduce their
calorie intake by using less of it. Spitting
and burning, low-fat oils can often let
you down. Until now, that is.
and more @ www.unilever.com/blueband
8 Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2009