Jan Zijderveld

It recently completed expansion plans that will see a 25 per cent increase in production at its factories, which said Jan Zijderveld, chairman of Unilever North Africa and Middle East, is being driven by the 'phenomenal' opportunities and population size in this region.

'In the other parts of the world like Europe and Africa, you see population going down. Here the population is healthy and is consequently growing by three per cent, and half of it is below 25 years old. In addition, if we speak of the GCC or the region as a whole, the GDP is bigger than that of India, Brazil or Russia. And again it's growing, fuelled by the oil and energy.'

A look at the GCC market shows that a marathon race has been going on for some time now to grab the hearts and minds of consumers. While these markets are growing at the same pace, they are at different stages of development, with the UAE and Qatar clearly the richest markets with the biggest portfolio of products.

'If we compare the GCC markets with the other Middle Eastern ones, we see that it is far more developed and has more expensive products, mainly because the incomes here are much higher. But strangely enough, we see that things are going well also in Syria, Jordan, Libya, and Morocco. Even Iraq is clearly growing with increasing exports from Egypt.'

Unilever is well known for its strategy that focuses on innovation and pushes the health benefits of its products, and this is clear in its advertising campaigns in the region. Examples include its campaign in Africa, which highlights the number of infections and illnesses caused by not keeping clean when promoting its soap Lifebouy.

'Unilever is a company that people don't know as much as they know its brands. The trick here is following what people want. People have issues; they want to be clean, they want to have good food and their expectations grow all the time. So to stay ahead you have to satisfy their needs, and the first step in that process would be to identify these needs.'

Unilever relies heavily on research, technology and advertising, to develop and promote its products in the Middle East. Zijderveld admits the company spends millions of dollars a year on quantitative and qualitative research, but this helps it understand Arab consumer needs far better. This builds 'consumer intimacy', he said.

'Second comes technology. We have a lot of people working on technology, keeping an eye on the latest innovations, take the best of it and then try to know how it can contribute to our functionality and make our products look better.

Unilever spends more money than any other company on advertising in the region, dealing primarily with the top four advertising agencies in the world.

'We usually, lead global advertising campaigns then try to adjust it locally when needed. Take Dove, for example, we have an international idea but we adjust it by using local models. The same applies to Lux, where we have an international idea - beauty - but we adjust it locally by using Elissa as a local model. In short, it always depends on the situation and the consumers.'

Despite the company's efforts to understand the local markets and their sensitivities, Unilever recently had to pull free bath towels emblazoned with the Indian national flag off shop shelves, following an objection raised by the Indian Consulate in Dubai. 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.'