Vitality for growth
At a European press event in Barcelona on 30 May, Ralph Kugler, Unilever's president for Home and Personal Care (HPC), said: "Vitality represents a massive business opportunity for us and has never been as important as it is today."
Euromonitor values the overall 'Healthy Options' segment of the global Food and Beverages market at approximately €253 billion (2005 sales), with an estimated annual growth rate of around 7%, reaching €407 billion in 2012.
"We now spend the majority of our €1 billion annual Research & Development budget on vitality-driven innovation – in Foods 60% of our innovations currently in the pipeline are vitality-related and in HPC all of our brand positionings include a positive effect on emotional wellbeing," added Ralph.
Unrivalled consumer insights
Vindi Banga, Foods president, explained how Unilever's Vitality mission is supported by extensive research. Six areas of universal global consumer drivers – Vitalty Life Goals – have been identified, based on our unique consumer insights.
Our research found that people all over the world want to – Achieve More, Give Children a Good Start, Look Better, Be free from Health Problems, Feel Good Daily and Be Healthy for Longer.
"Unilever's Vitality Life Goals tap into people's fundamental needs. We can identify opportunities across our brand portfolio that truly deliver holistic Vitality solutions – helping people to look good, feel good and get more out of life," added Vindi.
Emmo Meijer, head of Unilever Foods R&D, gave the Barcelona audience a sneak preview into future innovations by articulating some of the Vitality innovation areas that Unilever is currently looking into.
During the two-day event Ralph Kugler added: "Research shows that next to a healthy diet and good hygiene, emotional wellbeing is the other most important contributor to a longer and healthier life.
"Through our Vitality Life Goals we can identify opportunities right across our portfolio of Foods and HPC and exploit Vitality to the full. By doing this, we will be well on the way to fulfilling the true potential of our business."
Making healthy choices easy
Unilever has launched a global programme that will make healthier choices easier for consumers through a front-of-pack 'Choices' logo on packaged food and beverage products.
The new 'Choices' logo aims to help consumers choose foods that have limited amounts of trans fats, saturated fats, sodium and sugars, consistent with international dietary guidelines.
Unilever has developed its Nutrition Enhancement Programme (NEP), which sets out nutritional benchmarks. Products have to meet these benchmarks to earn the logo, which makes healthier choices clearly visible for consumers. Unilever has shared the NEP methodology and resulting benchmarks with nutrition experts in different parts of the world. Their feedback has been positive.
"As part of our commitment to Vitality, we see it as our responsibility to help people make healthy choices – and Unilever is constantly improving its products by making them healthier," said Vindi Banga.
Unilever is willing, where it's appropriate, to make the Choices programme and benchmarks available to other parties, with the aim of helping more people to make the healthy choice the easy choice. In the Netherlands, Unilever is part of a government-supported coalition (including food and beverage manufacturers, major retailers and caterers) that has started applying a 'Choices' logo.
The 'Choices' logo will be launched globally over the next 18 months.
Fight against child hunger
Unilever is committed to providing nutritional expertise, as well as financial support to assist poor families in the developing world. It has announced a global partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to help fight child hunger.
The three-year partnership supports the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, specifically the first – to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger – and the second – to achieve universal primary education.
This is in line with Unilever's long tradition as a responsible company, firmly rooted in local communities around the world.
The co-operation with the WFP will initially focus on helping to fight child hunger and promoting primary education through school feeding programmes, and by raising funds through cause-related marketing activities. Unilever's Family Goodness brand, which includes Blue Band and Rama, will be the first to bring the partnership to life.
