Jan Zijderveld (page 2 of 2)

The towels were being distributed free with the World Cricket Cup promotional packages by the company.

Zijderveld accepted that the company had made a mistake. "That's the thing about this market: sometimes you do something and it just goes wrong, especially when you have a big portfolio. We have had towel marketing before with the flags of all the countries on them and no one objected. But this time, we were faced by objections from the Indian Consulate and of course we withdrew the towels immediately because we don't want to offend anyone. This teaches us to check with everything before carrying out a promotion of any kind."

Globally, Unilever is committed to maintaining high levels of corporate standards and behaviour.

"When you're a big company, sustainability is a key word for you because sustainability is an important aspect in the world today. When you are in society, you need to be successful today and tomorrow, and to do that you need to be responsible. So you pick up a number of themes that you want to be involved in globally and launch initiatives according to them."

Unilever seeks to play its part in addressing global public health issues, principally through nutrition and hygiene. It works with a range of international health organisations such as the UNICEF on children's health and development, the World Heart Foundation on cardiovascular health, the FDI World Dental Federation on oral hygiene and dental health and the World Health Organization on combating chronic diseases including obesity.

"These global associations have helped us secure regional and local cross-sector collaborations and partnerships. For example, we have been able to secure partnerships with Arab professional dental societies across the region and have embarked on programs with them to encourage better oral health," said Zijderveld.

In addition, Unilever's investments in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Middle East are primarily driven by educational programs.

"With 65 per cent of the Saudi population under the age of 25, education is a key enabler towards finding gainful employment in an increasingly competitive global economy. Last year, we organised summer camps to provide practical sales training for high school graduates. These camps aimed to teach students, who did not achieve university degrees, the skills they need for a career in sales."

In Egypt, Unilever runs a project that, according to Zijderveld, defines the way it engages with communities, using its collective skills and competencies to make a difference in people's lives. The program aims to increase the quality of life of selected villages through promoting a healthy lifestyle.

A village in Alexandria was the first to join the program in 2006 and to date, 70 projects have been implemented. These include self financing projects such as cattle raising under the supervision and support of the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Alexandria, as well as a rice whitening project, initiated by one of the villagers who prepared a complete feasibility study.

For Zijderveld, these initiatives are a result to Unilever's belief that "the successful brands of the future will be those that not only satisfy consumers' functional needs, but also address their concerns as citizens." For this reason, Unilever is developing a global process that enables a full analysis of social economic and environmental issues relevant to each brand to be built into brand innovation and development strategies.

"An example of this in action is the work our Dove brand has been doing helping women and girls raise self esteem through its
Campaign for Real Beauty, launched across the world, including the Middle East earlier this year."

Zijderveld sees that CSR makes good business sense. "Consumers increasingly want to do good as well as look and feel good. Concerns about social and environmental issues provide opportunities for brands to connect with their consumers at a deeper level and in so doing gain competitive and sales advantage."

He concludes: "Corporate Social Responsibility for us is therefore about more than philanthropy, its business. It is about creating social benefits through our brands and through our interactions as a business with society. Giving money and our people's time to local causes and charities in turn also creates motivation and builds greater loyalty among employees."