The Role of Strategic PR - Unilever UK - Essay Example

? Unilever UK is placed in a tough position, expanding growth and revenue in a time of economic stagnation. However, new methods of doing business, brought about by the proliferation of the Internet and its associated structures, provides Unilever UK with an opportunity to increase market share and penetration in the UK. From January 2011 to December 2011, it is necessary for Unilever UK to embrace certain modern movements to ensure their firm is in the best possible position. This we be accomplished by pushing “feel-good” market strategies utilizing a variety of public relations campaigns. The first priority will be entrenching the image of Unilever UK as a healthy, eco-friendly, and happiness-inducing company. With this foundation should come smaller, internal and external campaigns to spread the firm declaration of these ideas to the Government, trendsetters within the community, investors, Unilever UK employees, and both traditional and social media outlets. Each situation has unique challenges and potential rewards, and thus must have tailored campaigns. In addition, Unilever UK will push into the young boy and girl deodorant market with the introduction of Dove Boy and Dove Girl. This will utilize some of the strategies of Unilever UK as a whole, with the addition of some specific marketing moves. The first step is to analyze the position and necessary response for Unilever UK to achieve its goals in 2011. A combination of anti-corporatism and fiscal restraint by individuals and the government alike has resulted in a new set of problems for Unilever UK. The UK had a .5% decrease in the fourth quarter of 2010, and expected GDP for 2011 was recently reduced to 1.5% (Archer, 2011). Because of this, consumers in the UK will spend less than before the global recession. Thus, marketing techniques and results must be upgraded if Unilever UK is to maintain or expand its current position. Positively, commensurate with the decline in the global economy came a decline in demand for advertisements, making advertising prices in the UK through traditional media fall significantly (Daily Mail Reporter, 2009). But pure economics will not make Unilever UK’s advertising plans successful- it will take a seasonal, trendy, and multi-genre campaign to ensure Unilever UK improves its sales and image as much as possible. Also, Unilever UK needs to maintain positive relations with the government of the UK, which has taken the middle ground on corporate relations, both prosecuting (Murphy, 2011) and permitting (Sweney, 2011) anti-competitive practices. Good relations with the media, influential individuals, investors, employees and the traditional media will depend on a personal relationship with each, coupled with the enforcement of the companies values across the spectrum of society. Next, it is necessary to determine the aim of Unilever UK for this year. 2011 needs to be a year of enforcing the values of Unilever UK. That is: always working with integrity, positive impact, continuous commitment, setting out our aspirations, and working with others (Unilever). To promote all of these values, Unilever UK should utilize a widespread campaign to garner public support. This should include traditional and nontraditional media. Also, Unilever UK should ensure the support of the government, influential individuals, investors, employees, and the media. Some specific objectives of the campaign should be increasing the positive public opinion of Unilever UK, to be determined through non-invasive surveys and scouring opinions on the Internet. If an instance of a negative public image of Unilever UK comes about, Unilever UK should respond with a reasonable out showing of goodwill, addressing the problem directly, on as personal a level as possible, and positively. Another of Unilever UK’s objectives for 2011 should be to establish a personal relationship and dialogue with as many players in the UK marketplace as possible. This means Unilever UK must establish itself as an available resource on social media, as well as promoting functions of the traditional media. Public relations are key to this effort. To both ensure a positive image is produced and prevent backlash, Unilever UK needs to promote an honest strategy. Sony attempted to garner goodwill with its consumers by establishing a personal relationship and communication with them through a paid blog. This effort backfired, however, when consumers saw the attempt as annoying, invasive, and insulting (Laurie, 2006). With this in mind, Unilever UK needs to make sure it does not make its attempt seem too pushy, but rather let actions speak for themselves. This could mean a quiet investment in the public good, perhaps allowed to “leak” by itself. These messages should include a reiteration of Unilever UK’s core values. Therefore, Unilever UK should promote integrity, positivity, loyalty, ambition and cooperation. All of these values can be embraced through a campaign focusing on athletics. Sports involve dedication, ambition, loyalty to the team, teamwork, and a stated value on integrity, all of which Unilever UK aligns with. But the traditional sponsorship model of becoming involved with a sports team is dated, and does not directly benefit the community, and also ostracizes certain, non-interested segments of the consumer base. To avoid this, Unilever UK should focus its message on the far-reaching benefits of outdoor and adventurous activities. Coupling physical and educational roles is a movement, which increases the health, knowledge, and social capabilities in all those involved. Unilever UK can increase its public image while improving the community by sponsoring these programs amongst the young, and then having an information campaign, which explains the benefits of the activities. These should not focus on Unilever UK itself, but the activities, so not as too seem as if the sponsorship is solely for public attention. The strategy of this campaign is to use as many tools as possible to spread the message. Unilever UK should therefore gain a dominating presence on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. A variety of tailored traditional advertisements will target the segments of the market not usually reached by social media, encompassing men and women over the age of 35. These will include the traditional print and television advertisements, which, while relatively expensive compared to viral campaigns, have proven results and consistency within this segment of the population. Unilever UK needs to be seen as the sponsor of a larger movement, one that transcends social boundaries by supporting the universal goal of improving the youth.The activities movement should be built on a grassroots campaign, driven by sponsored individuals who have a presence in their respective communities. This will mean those who the community trusts spread the message. The strategy must encompass a variety of tactics. Facebook, for instance, is no stranger to companies trying (and failing) to make a significant impact on their public image. Unilever needs to utilize unique concepts like IKEA (Warren, 2009) but not copy the exact idea. One idea is to harness the power of the public by creating a Facebook group and then offering a sizeable donation or prize to the member who submits the most interesting idea. This idea could be for the campaign itself, but the primary reason for it will be to draw attention to Unilever’s Facebook presence. On Twitter, short-term, large deals will keep people following the companies twitter feed, in hopes of getting free items. And finally, on Reddit Unilever should use the sponsored advertising, as the community has often backlashed against companies trying to piggyback on the website for free advertising. To ensure the campaign is running on schedule, it is necessary to create a timetable. It is vital that Unilever begins its movement immediately, since it must have momentum once it reaches the spring and summer months, when outdoor activities are most common. By the time school starts, Unilever should have a foundation built for an after-school activity program as well. Unilever should also ensure it has a presence throughout the year, to reinforce the message of the campaign. Through a consistently positive presence, Unilever will increase its public image throughout the year. The most vital resource of this campaign will be the people. Unilever needs individual sponsors within the UK to promote its campaign. These people could be teachers, business owners, or any other community-focused people with a presence in their areas. To find and ensure the satisfaction of these sponsors, Unilever UK can use its existing goodwill and financial resources to compensate and support. In addition, the variety of brands within Unilever UK allows it to cooperate between the brands. This variety allows Unilever UK to reach the whole market, from kids to seniors. Unilever UK currently is not hated by the community (as evidence, a Google search brings up no sites defaming Unilever UK on the front page) and thus is in a better position than many other companies that have faced a scandal in recent years. To further improve media relations, Unilever UK should open its doors, not keeping secrets, and allowing media access to all of its public records. Its direct effects in the community will measure the success of the campaign as a whole. By measuring the improvements in the lives of those involved in the outdoor activities campaign, their test scores, physical capabilities, and even the number of friendships, Unilever will be able to document the tangible results of its campaign. The government may even adopt a similar program, or support the efforts of Unilever UK, when the great results of the program are realized. This should produce a generational effect, as the children, thankful for their sponsored program, will grow up as life long supporters of Unilever. And those not directly involved will see the improvements and have no choice but support these near-universally accepted goals. In evaluation, the campaign plan should not be focused on pleasing everyone directly. Rather, it should embrace the outdoor activities movement which promotes a cause that is supported by most of society. And, importantly, the promotion of the campaign should encompass a variety of media. These should include a Facebook-specific, Twitter-specific, and Reddit-specific public relations campaign. The goal of the campaign will be to spread Unilever UK’s values and improve the community. The plan is to have high visibility by the spring and summer months, which will improve the abilities of the outdoor activities and correspond with an increased sports presence. Obviously the campaign will not be without issues. Campaigns take a careful, monitored presence to ensure they are running on time. If campaigns are allowed to derail, if they go off course, if they cease to promote the goal, than the campaign can collapse, and sometimes backfire. Some issues include the community seeing the campaign as a ploy, and therefore not supporting it, or seeing right through it and thus gaining a negative view on Unilever UK. One way to avoid this is to not spend too much effort on promoting Unilever UK itself, but instead ensure that the public sees the primary message is the campaign itself, with Unilever’s support as a secondary focus. For instance, this means not making commercials all about how Unilever is helping society, but how the activities are improving themselves, and how Unilever is just helping communities get the resources needed to accomplish their goals. In the case of a crisis, there needs to be a plan of action for each possible measure. If, for instance, there is an overwhelmingly negative reaction to a specific aspect of the campaign, Unilever UK needs to place the power in one executive body to terminate or alter that aspect as they deem fit. For example, if an online community says that Unilever UK is just trying to trick the people into seeing past bad corporate practices, Unilever should directly address the concerns of the detractors, regardless of how negative or even vulgar the negative speakers comment. One interesting and exciting opportunity for Unilever UK is expanding their product line to including Dove Boy and Dove Girl, deodorants tailored for young boys and girls. Currently, the deodorant market for young boys and girls is controversial, as there is no social consensus on when deodorant use should begin, or whether there are negative effects of too early deodorant use. The campaign should include specific young boy and young girl related packaging and advertising. Also, it is important that the campaign does not offend the parents of the children, or make the children feel uncomfortable about what is being marketed to them. No one wants to be told that they need deodorant, so Unilever UK must tread carefully. If a campaign towards children is seen as promoting bad values, there can be a large negative reaction by parents and children alike (Handley, 2006). The best way to do this is to downplay the awkwardness of the issue, and to embrace the idea that it is natural, and perhaps even promote the idea that to start using deodorant is an important milestone aspect of growing up. Children do not always know what specific courses of action they should take in response to a problem. If a child smells, for instance, they may think their only option is to take a shower, when in reality the application of a deodorant would solve the problem. Also, some children do not like being “told what to do.” It is important that they see the idea as their own. Smelling is also a potentially embarrassing situation. But shaming children into using deodorant will not give them a good relationship with the product. Instead, the product should be marketed, as a tool to improve your image, rather than fix something that is broken. Unilever UK must be especially weary of falling into the trap of making a video that shows a child being bullied because of his odor, as this kind of marketing would only spread negativity and hurt Unilever UK’s positive image. Most children targeted have developed their own morning routine, which might include a shower, brushing of teeth, and dressing. Incorporating the application of deodorant must be subtle. The effects of getting deodorant assimilated into the morning routine of these children will make them customers at an earlier age, and if they are first exposed to Dove Boy and Dove Girl, and have a positive experience, that may translate to purchasing habits throughout their life. Children may also be more sensitive to fragrances, as they have had less exposure to the fragrances throughout their lives and their nasal capacities are still fresh. So it is important that the line has both non-scented and scented varieties. This campaign needs to be driven with the input of the children themselves. Thus, Unilever UK should test each possible campaign advert with a test group of children. The campaign should be two pronged- it needs to get parents to buy the product, and it needs children to like and use the product, enforcing the parent’s habits. A marketing plan tailored to parents should be primarily informational, explaining, for instance, that children may need deodorant as young as 9 (Dowshen, 2010). This campaign should include educational material, like scientific reasons why children begin to smell. In addition, the campaign should explain the social effects of not using deodorant. No parent wants their children to be ostracized because they smell funky. Then, the material needs to explain that Dove Boy and Dove Girl are specifically tailored to young children, to ensure that the parents, if they decided to buy deodorants for their children, buy Dove. This all must be factual, as well. It would be detrimental to Unilever UK to be exposed as spreading false information, as it would destroy any positive public relations gains made by previous campaigns. To ensure the campaign is true, Unilever UK must ensure that Dove Boy and Dove girl are specifically tailored to children in the actual product, not just the packaging. For the children aspect of the campaign, it is necessary to guarantee the children do not feel uncomfortable. Unilever UK should not be paternal, but needs to come off as part of their group without seeming clunky and outdated. This is where the children’s individual input will be necessary. One aspect should be incorporating the use of deodorant on a popular children’s show, as children often view the characters of their television shows as sources of information. Another facet of the campaign could be to have teachers explain using deodorant as a part of their education routines on puberty. Also, the packaging of the material needs to be child friendly. Perhaps it could include a popular children’s figure. One idea would be to get a famous athlete to spearhead the project. Since children involved in athletics are both more likely to need deodorant and more likely to look up to athletic figures, this idea would be especially beneficial. And the application should be easier for the children, it should be easy to understand and the application head should be smaller, to accommodate for their smaller size. Axe Deodorant, in trying to promote its new body wash, created a video, which turned viral. This video was specifically targeted at the young men market, and was extremely successful in promoting Axe body wash among their target demographic (Wasserman, 2010). The way Axe Deodorant made quirky, young-adult specific campaigns to promote its body wash and deodorant, Unilever UK needs to mold a children specific, revolutionary, and memorable campaign. In all, it must be seen as a quick way to smell good, just as important for the self-image as brushing your teeth and showing. And so, to get the most out of the promotion of Dove Boy and Dove Girl, Unilever should first make sure their product adds something new to the marketplace. It is on a strong foundation that of a new, innovative, children-tailored product that the marketing campaign will survive and thrive. First, the campaign needs to target those who make the purchases- the parents. Then, reinforcing the children with both a positive experience and children-tailored advertising, the campaign will continue, building on the spreading knowledge of the effect of its product. Once Dove Boy and Dove Girl are incorporated into the routines of children, Unilever UK can continue promoting its brand by never ceasing to impress, and thus create customers who are loyal for life. Works Cited Archer, Howard. (2011). UK GDP Figures: What the Economists Say.Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/25/uk-gdp-figures-what-the-analysts-say. Last accessed 19th April 2011. Daily Mail Reporter. (2009). UK's Trinity Mirror, Jonston See Ad Decline Easing. Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1181217/UKs-Trinity-Mirror-Johnston-ad-decline-easing.html. Last accessed 8 April 2011. Dowshen, Steven, MD. (2010). Questions & Answers. Available: http://kidshealth.org/parent/question/growing/deodorant.html. Last accessed 7th April 2011. Handley, Ann. 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