Kimberly-Clark, Unilever Join Forces at Retail

CAROL ANGRISANI

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Unilever here and Kimberly-Clark, Irving, Texas, are seeing positive results from a new co-marketing effort aimed at driving consumers to specific retailers and encouraging multi-category purchases.

“With two companies working together, the value of the promotion is much stronger than if we did it alone,” said Kelly Downey, Unilever's shopper marketing director.

Downey and Mark Scott, Kimberly-Clark's shopper marketing vice president, are managing a partnership involving shopper-marketing efforts in all channels, with particular focus on value, mass and grocery.

The manufacturers have already executed a handful of events, and are planning several more for the next year.

“It's a natural connection since our portfolios are complementary,” Downey said.

Preliminary results of the combined effort, formalized in February, show mid-single-digit category growth and higher basket rings. “We've seen stronger results than by not partnering with Kimberly-Clark,” said Downey.

The marketers are focusing on shopper marketing because it's an integrated approach based on a deep understanding of shopper attitude behaviors, from when they're at home choosing which retailer to shop to when they're in the store browsing the aisles.

“What we're doing is helping get our brands on shopping lists,” Scott said.

Targeting consumers who are in a shopping mode and a purchasing environment is much more valuable than targeting those who are not, Downey said.

“This is much more effective compared to when they're sitting in a chair at home and not able to make a purchase,” she said.

Shopper marketing involves much more than simply placing a shipper in-store, said Downey. Rather, it makes much greater use of the store as a marketing medium.

“We view the store as a marketing channel to distinguish our brands and grow our categories,” Scott said.

Such a strategy is especially important in these troubled economic times.

“The economy has helped our portfolio of offering essentials resonate with consumers,” Downey said.

Most of the co-promotions have focused on helping families save money, with themes like “Save on the Brands Your Family Loves” and “Save on the Essentials.”

“The economic downturn is moving people to purchase things they need vs. things they want, and our portfolios fall into that thinking,” Downey said.

Kimberly-Clark and Unilever are cautious, though, not to harp on the negative effects of the economy. Rather, promotions emphasize the positive by rewarding those who buy multiple products with future savings.

In one mass merchandiser chain, those who purchased $20 worth of Kimberly-Clark and Unilever products in one trip received a Catalina checkout coupon for $3 off on their next shopping trip. Those who purchased $30 of product got a $6 coupon; $40 purchases got a $10 coupon.

The goal of the coupon was to get Kimberly-Clark and Unilever products on the shopping list, while driving a secondary trip to the store.

A significant amount of consumers opted for the higher $40 requirement, according to Downey.

“Even in this economy, we are getting a good amount of people to stretch to the higher purchase,” she said.

The message was communicated via in-store ads, endcap displays and shelf tags.

Another program, this time in the value channel, included temporary price reductions on Unilever and Kimberly-Clark products, coupled with an economic stimulus-themed sweepstakes. The sweepstakes awarded different levels of financial help, such as covering a mortgage or car payment.