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Is Unilever on The Right Track with its “Brands with Purpose” Strategy?
Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, has pushed each of its 400 brands to have a social or environmental purpose. As its stock price growth has trailed other consumer product companies like P&G and Nestle, Wall Street analysts have questioned Unilever’s focus on “purpose” versus things like innovation and cost management makes any sense.
In my book “Branding Between the Ears” (McGraw Hill 2022), I warn marketers against taking advice on how to manage their brands from PE firms … and you could Wall Street analysts to that list. And, yet, we do have to question if all brands can have a purpose and what is the right way to architect a brand with purpose.
Mr. Jope is on to something here and should hold his ground. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article[1], he has gone so far as to say that Unilever may sell brands for which it can’t identify a mission. That is visionary … but is it right?
Under pressure from the analysts, he has toned down the rhetoric a bit “It (purpose for brands) is the icing on the cake … (but not) a substitute for having fantastic quality, innovation, advertising and distribution.” While I don’t take issue with the latter (what consumer business doesn’t need those?), I do think “Brands with Purpose” as a strategy is the cake itself, not the icing.
