Why is this work relevant for Media?

In an age where consumers enjoy deeply personalized and customized communication, the category saw the need to create an efficient data collection campaign to properly cater to their varied needs and wants.  Unilever Skin category launched a rigorous data-driven strategy using social media, that allowed the category to have relevant and specific messages to each audience who are at different stages of their skin care journey, instead of just the generic communications.

Background

The skin care category is considered as one of the most important divisions within Unilever Philippines, from being considered a ‘category of the future’ to the ‘category of the now’. And with the local landscape, Unilever Skin still has a huge headroom to grow in terms of penetration and outpace the growth of the total beauty and personal care category.  As a highly fragmented category with multiple brands being supported all throughout the year, the Unilever Skin Care category aimed to accelerate its data-driven approach by gathering quality data to ensure efficient targeting and prepare for the cookie-less future. 

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

MULTIPLE BRANDS MEAN MULTIPLE AUDIENCES—A SINGLE COMMUNICATION MESSAGE WILL NOT WORK Being the heartland of innovations and trends, the category looks beyond its current market and existing audience pool. With multiple subcategories under its umbrella – housing known brands like Pond’s, Dove, Baby Dove, Master, Pond’s Men, Eskinol, and catering to a variety of audiences like Gen Zs, millennials, young moms, males – a one-size-fits-all survey and data collection strategy won’t work. CONSUMERS NOW WANT PERSONALIZED MESSAGES BASED ON THEIR NEEDS In an age where consumers enjoy deeply personalized and customized communication, the category aimed to create efficient data collection campaign to cater to their varied needs and wants.  A rigorous data-driven strategy allows the category to have relevant and specific messages to each audience who are at different stages of their skin care journey, instead of just the generic communications that wouldn’t have as much impact. 

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

UNILEVER SKIN LAUNCHES A DATA COLLECTION INITIATIVE THAT WILL PREPARE ITS BRANDS FOR MORE PERSONALIZED COMMUNICATIONS With the granularity of its different audiences, the category could not just rely on one data collection effort. To properly connect and target its different audiences, the category divided the campaign into four themes:   1. COMMUNITY AND PARENTING: moms heavily rely on parenting tips within their trusted communities.  2. COMMERCE CENTRIC: e-commerce penetration grew dramatically and influenced consumers to shop especially during major sale days. 3. KPOP/ POP CULTURE: the Korean wave is taking over not just in the music and entertainment, but also within the beauty space.  4. PURPOSE: Gen Zs are known to be highly expressive and opinionated, valuing and demanding brands to have their own purpose. With these themes, the category launched a year-long campaign tied to trends and offered incentives aligned with consumer interest. 

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Hinging on different interests and collecting quality data points, the campaign was supported with different executions targeting a range of audiences: 1. #REALMOMSVILLAGE CHATBOT The first leg focused on community building, specifically moms, prioritizing programs for moms who are coping with their motherhood journey 2. SKIN BEAUTY PAYDAY SALE Focusing on bargain hunters, this hinged on an insight of a consumer’s higher propensity to buy during payday weekends and offering discount vouchers in partner e-retailers 3. WENDY X PONDS Focusing solely on beauty-savvy latching on K-Beauty and K-POP trends, partnering with Wendy of Red Velvet, and launching a data collection effort via Facebook link ad. 4. LIFEBUOY’S 4-POINT AGENDA Centering on purpose, a timely project focusing on Lifebuoy’s agenda to promote safety amidst the pandemic. Targeting Gen Zs, this attracted consumers to sign up and be a brand purpose ambassador and done via Facebook link ad.

List the results (30% of vote)

The year-long campaign achieved remarkable results! • 85% decrease in cost - $ 0.53 vs $ 1.66 benchmark • 2.6% uplift in sign-ups within the first month of implementation • $ 0.43 average cost per completion vs other category at $ 0.68 • The Skin Beauty Payday Sale generated 60% more vs target (37k vs 23k) • The Wendy x Ponds leg collected 200% more than the target 10k • Baby Dove Real Moms Village exceeded the 100K moms sign-ups compared to the 50k full-year target • The purpose-driven leg has around 7k sign-ups which is 40% higher than target.  This Total Skin category data collection campaign contributed to around 25% of the total company data audience as of November 2021.  It also overachieved +50% of its target KPI in terms of data collection, where KPI was 100,000 data points, but has accumulated 150,000 over the course of its run.

Describe the use of data, or how the data enhanced the campaign output

Unilever Skin category launched a rigorous data-driven strategy primarily housed on social media, which allowed the category to have relevant and specific messages to each audience who are at different stages of their skin care journey, instead of just the generic communications that wouldn’t have as much impact.  It utilized Facebook as the main platform to seamlessly target and collect data based on their area of interest and content that they consume, based on trends and offering incentives aligned with consumer interest, using the following solutions within the social channel: • Facebook Conversions API measuring the number of signups and allowing Baby Dove to properly measure conversions happening within the Messenger flow and retargeting accordingly • Facebook link ads for the Pond’s x KPOP campaign and Lifebuoy’s Purpose campaign • Discount vouchers for partner e-retailers The gathered data will then be used in future brand campaigns for more personalized messaging.