Assignment :Integrated marketing by Unilever Nepal
Integrated Marketing is an approach to creating a unified and seamless experience for consumers
to interact with the brand/enterprise; it attempts to meld all aspects of marketing communication
such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media,
through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities, so that all work
together as a unified force. It is a process designed to ensure that all messaging and
communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centered on the customer.
Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of
communications and messages are carefully linked together. At its most basic level, Integrated
Marketing Communications, or IMC, as we’ll call it, means integrating all the promotional tools,
so that they work together in harmony. Promotion is one of the Ps in the marketing mix.
Promotions has its own mix of communications tools. All of these communications tools work
better if they work together in harmony rather than in isolation. Their sum is greater than their
parts – providing they speak consistently with one voice all the time, every time.
About Unilever
The journey of Unilever Nepal started in 1992 when Nepal Lever Limited, set up a factory in
Makwanpur district with an initial investment of 73.65 million NPR. The factory started with the
production of detergents, cleaning powders, toothpaste and toilet soaps. The manufacturing
activity of UNL commenced with the commercial production of Wheel washing powder in one
kg packaging in February 1994. UNL began exporting its products from 1995 and started to earn
profits from the third year of production.
The exports gradually decreased from the early 2000 and stopped completely in 2004. UNL then
explored the option of shifting focus on expanding Nepalese markets and that was when the
company was renamed to Unilever Nepal Limited.
The company spelled out its goals publicly in its Sustainable Living Plan but acknowledged it
had no clear roadmap for how it would achieve them. From the beginning, however, Unilever's
corporate leadership recognized that all brands under the Unilever umbrella are integral to the
company's new strategy to source more sustainable raw materials; reduce waste, water and
energy consumption; and meaningfully improve the lives of its customers around the world.
Unilever's progress, two years after its announcement, proves that brands can be the catalyst
behind a multinational company's bid to improve the lives of people, heal the planet and boost
profits. And internally this program has had a key role in engaging the company's employees as
well. In a recent phone interview, Unilever's SVP Global Marketing, Marc Mathieu, explained
that the plan's results so far have inspired a greater sense of resourcefulness, creativity and
empowerment within the company's workforce.
After announcing the Sustainable Living Plan and its goals, Unilever faced daunting challenges
during the initiative's first several months. First, the company had to identify consumer behaviors
that the brands needed to change, and then determine the most effective and sustainable options
the company wanted those same consumers to embrace. To that end, a cross-functional team
developed what it described as five levers that can modify consumer behaviors in ways that
would both build brand loyalty and ameliorate those same products' effects on the planet. First,
these changes had to be understood and clear so that people would know what to do. Next, these
steps not only had to be easy so that consumers would follow the path of least resistance, but also
desirable. It was also critical that these new behaviors were so rewarding that in the end they
would become habits Unilever's consumers would embrace.
Unilever's challenge starts with the massive volume of its products sold daily. Over two billion
times each day, people consume Unilever products in almost every nation on earth. Whether
consumers purchase them at “big box” stores in wealthy nations or buy small amounts in sachets
at kiosks in poorer countries, the company's collective environmental and social impacts are
huge. But Unilever's brand portfolio also offers opportunities for a deeper, more meaningful and
positive impact on both people and the planet. Examples within the company now abound,
including educating customers about ethical ingredients; certifying farmers so they grow crops
sustainably; and teaching health habits that Unilever insists will save millions of lives in the long
run.
