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Unilever Plc.

CONTENTS

Company Overview ...............................................................................................................................................4

Business Sector .....................................................................................................................................................4
Operating Geography ...........................................................................................................................................4
Revenue ...................................................................................................................................................................4
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) Analysis ........................................................................5
STP Analysis - Unilever .......................................................................................................................................6
Segmentation......................................................................................................................................................7
Targeting ..............................................................................................................................................................7
Positioning ..........................................................................................................................................................8
Closing Thoughts ..................................................................................................................................................9
References ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
Unilever Plc.

The Unilever STP Sample Analysis report was published in March 2020. The information and analysis
are relevant to the data available before the publishing date.
Data in the actual ‘Complete Reports’ (available for purchase on the website) are updated on a periodic
basis.
Data in customized reports (placed on demand, e.g., Value Chain Analysis Report) are updated to the
current date on which the order was placed, based on information available in the public domain.
Unilever Plc.

Company Overview
Unilever Plc. is an Anglo-Dutch multinational consumer goods company founded in 1930, by the merger
of Dutch firm, Margarine Unie and British firm, Lever Brothers. The Company started off in the 1890's
with William Hesketh Lever, founder of Lever Brothers, who wanted to make his vision for cleanliness
commonplace and penned down his ideas for the Sunlight Soap. Unilever has over 400 brands across
food, personal care and household cleaning segments and is co-headquartered in Rotterdam,
Netherlands and London, U.K. With a range of over 400 unique brands, on any given day, 2.5 billion
people use Unilever products in their daily life. The multinational FMCG, is parent to some of the world's
leading, household-name brands like Lipton, Knorr, Dove, Axe, Hellmann’s and Omo, Lifebuoy, Sunsilk,
Close-up etc. Kantar Worldpanel has hailed Unilever as the company with the largest number of brands
in the world. It is the world's 4th largest FMCG based on net sales, after Nestle, P&G and PepsiCo. 12
of its brands generate sales of over €1 billion annually. As of May 2021, the company has approximately
169,000 employees in over 190 countries.

Unilever's vision has a simple yet clear purpose, "to make sustainable living commonplace. We believe
this is the best long-term way for our business to grow." Unilever's USP or unique selling proposition lies
in its being one of the oldest FMCG companies in the world having the largest brand portfolio, great brand
recall by consumers, contributing immensely to sustainable living.

Business Sector
Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)

Operating Geography
United Kingdom (London), Netherlands (Rotterdam), Global

Revenue
€50.72 billion – FY ending 31st Dec 2020 (y-o-y growth -2.4%)

€51.98 billion – FY ending 31st Dec 2019

Unilever Plc.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) Analysis

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning helps companies develop their marketing approach.

• The process of categorizing customers into groups which share some common characteristics is
termed segmentation.
• Targeting deals with assessing each segments attractiveness and potential and determining one or
more segments to enter
• Positioning involves highlighting uniqueness and value of the product or service through which it can
occupy a clear, discrete and desirable place with respect to competitor’s offerings in the mind of the
consumer.

An effective STP strategy will allow the relevant message of the product to reach the targeted audience
and how the company wants to position itself in the market.
Unilever Plc.

STP Analysis - Unilever

Unilever is a global company currently present in 27 countries, with a wide range of product portfolio in
consumer goods. The company’s growth strategy is based on five growth fundamentals- Purposeful
Brands, Improved Penetration (especially in emerging markets), Impactful Innovation, Design for channel
and Fuel for Growth. It is an environment and health positive group, promoting sustainable and positive
nutrition products. The company is also involved in various sustainable and social initiatives in countries
it operates in. On an overall level, Unilever has strived to connect with consumers through its digital
strategy The company is also involved in which banks on four key aspects of marketing - relevance,
quality, segmentation and targeting. The individual aspects of Unilever’s STP strategy are presented
below in detail.
Unilever Plc.

Segmentation

Unilever uses effective segmentation by dividing the market into groups so as to have a sustainable
competitive advantage. Unilever manufactures and sells products in three different categories, namely
Beauty & Personal Care, Foods & Refreshments and Home Care. In Beauty & Personal Care, Unilever’s
largest categories are Deodorants, Hair care, Skin care and skin cleansing. Unilever has acquired some
of the largest brands in this segment, such as Axe, Dove, Lux, Pond’s, Sunsilk and TRESemme. This
product category caters to segments such as women, men and teenagers. In 2020, Unilever collaborated
with Capgemini to build and design the People Data Centre, a business and social analytics capability
which delivers unprecedented insights at high speed. This capability allowed Unilever to combine large
data sets, advanced machine learning tools and deep category understandings to develop powerful
analytics and insights into its consumer segments. With this, Unilever has revolutionised its ability to
deeply understand its consumers in different countries and enabled a data driven approach to marketing
and business decision making. By linking its PDCs (People Data Centre) to Google Cloud AI, Unilever
generates insights faster and also gets deeper understanding of the consumer needs. It helps in strategy
and trends understanding and then does the audience segmentation. It also helps in campaign, content,
communication. It is also trying to identify some segments that are common across all its three offerings
of personal care, health care and food and refreshments so that it can leverage these segments. This
mainly includes segments like vegans or fashionistas. Due to this PDC capability, Unilever has seen
significant boosts in marketing ROI, reduction in external research costs and increased sales
effectiveness.

Unilever also caters to the segment of sustainability conscious consumers. The company’s merger and
acquisition strategies include acquiring businesses which serve this segment. Its recent acquisitions like
Pukka Herbs, Sundial, Seventh Generation etc. have met stringent environmental and social criteria.

Targeting

Customers are highly conscious environmental and social factors and they bear a major influence on
buying decisions. In 2021, the London marketing segment of Unilever decided to eliminate the work
‘Normal’ from all of its beauty products and personal care brands advertising and packaging, in alignment
with its new Positive Beauty Vision and Strategy. Unilever’s marketing and targeting efforts take into
account Economic, Political, Environmental and Social aspects and landscape of each country and tailors
its advertisements and campaign in sync with ongoing trends. The company’s ads also address and
Unilever Plc.

counter societal stereotypes which resonate with people in every country, backed by research and
marketing fundamentals. Non-stereotypical advertising increases brand impact by 37%, and increased
purchase intent and enjoyment by 28% and 35% respectively according to the latest data by Kantar.

In a similar fashion, the latest Unilever logo is made in such a way that it represents the core values of
the enterprise. The Unilever logo is made up of 24 icons that form a U shape. In another ad featuring the
company’s overall brand, its ad features images of Martin Luther King and Gandhi alongside youth
demonstrating the adversities of child hunger, the ad closes with the U logo as well as those of some of
Unilever's prominent brands.

The company has also taken social and ethical stand regarding the targeting of its products to kids. In
early 2020, the company announced its decision to stop advertising its food and beverage products to
kids aged under 12 years. Another relevant targeting strategy adopted by Unilever was towards the
increasing number of consumers seeking natural beauty products by launching ApotheCARE Essentials,
its first innovative brand after several years. Addressing the global pandemic, Unilever marketed Lifebuoy
as a product which is culturally relevant and important to people. Therefore, Unilever’s Targeting activity
is extremely tailored to contemporary events and the segment which its products cater to. It holds ad
campaigns through television, social media and other channels, as deemed relevant in various countries.

Positioning

Positioning helps a brand to create its image in the eyes of the consumer and helps the consumer connect
with the brand and company. Unilever positions itself as a brand with purpose, a People-Positive, Planet
Positive and socially-conscious brand. With this it is able to drive consumers’ concerns towards global
issues and makes consumers feel that they are contributing for a good change. Its advertisements also
deliver the same message, such as Dove which helped 19 million young people to build positive self-
confidence, and Domestos helping 5 million people access toilets. Such positioning which gives more
meaning to purchasing its products helps Unilever in gaining trust from the consumers. It also projects
itself as working for social good by reducing environmental damage and increasing positive social impact.
The brands which engage with sustainability or social purpose are performing better for Unilever with
10% annual increase in sales for last 3 years. The company advocates for sustainable, safe chemicals
and cruelty free products. 23 of Unilever’s personal care and beauty brands including Suave, Dove,
Simple, Chistaya Linia, Zendium and Sunsilk have certified approval from animal protection organization
PETA. Unilever promotes its Food and Refreshment category products as Healthy and sustainable and
Unilever Plc.

the company adapted to people’s shifting preference to eating at home. Unilever thus pushed it’s take-
home and packaged foods. The company also pushed plant-based options in partnership with Burger
King most recently in Latin America and China.

The company, despite being a large Group, keeps Start-Up fundamental at it core. It positions itself as a
Planet Positive, People-Positive, Environmentally and socially conscious business, pushing for
sustainability.

Closing Thoughts
Undertaking a Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) process is probably one of the most
important processes a company needs to undertake both at the onset of a new product creation as well
as part of a periodic revision of the product portfolio. The STP analysis of Unilever shows that creating a
profitable STP strategy involves an active understanding of the market and management needs to be
aware of the competition and trends.
Unilever Plc.

References
1. About Unilever:
https://www.unilever.com/about/who-we-are/about-Unilever/

2. Unilever Annual Report 2019: https://www.unilever.com/Images/unilever-annual-report-and-

accounts-2019_tcm244-547893_en.pdf

3. Unilever Annual Report 2020: https://www.unilever.com/Images/annual-report-and-accounts-

2020_tcm244-559824_en.pdf

4. Unilever says no to ‘normal’ with new positive beauty vision: https://www.unilever.com/news/press-

releases/2021/unilever-says-no-to-normal-with-new-positive-beauty-vision.html

5. Unilever partnered with Capgemini to rapidly build and scale the People Data Centre, a data-driven
approach to marketing: https://www.thedrum.com/profile/capgemini/case-studies/unilever-
partnered-with-capgemini-to-rapidly-build-and-scale-the-people-data-centre-a-data-driven-
approach-to-marketing

6. 12 Unilever ads that smash stereotypes: https://www.unilever.com/news/news-and-

features/Feature-article/2019/12-unilever-ads-that-smash-stereotypes.html

7. Cannes Lions 2021: The three marketing commandments – Get real, be good, be unmissable:
https://www.campaignindia.in/article/cannes-lions-2021-the-three-marketing-commandments-get-
real-be-good-be-unmis/470589
Unilever Plc.

Unilever Plc. Segment Target Positioning (STP) analysis has been conducted and reviewed
by senior analysts from Barakaat Consulting.

The Unilever Segment Target Positioning (STP) Sample Analysis report was published in
March 2020. The information and analysis are relevant to the data available before the
publishing date.
Data in the actual ‘Complete Reports’ (available for purchase on the website) are updated on
a periodic basis.
Data in customized reports (placed on demand, e.g. Value Chain Analysis Report) are updated
to the current date on which the order was placed, based on information available in the
public domain.
Unilever Plc.

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• Investors presentations
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of data to extract meaningful information to create these analytical reports which equip our clients to
take their research forward or make business decisions with acuity.
Unilever Plc.

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Unilever Plc.

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