Unilever to debut logo in consumer ads

LONDON - Unilever, which owns brands including Flora, Persil and Marmite, plans to feature its logo in consumer advertising for the first time, in a bid to leverage the value of its corporate reputation.

Unilever
Unilever

It is understood that the FMCG company's logo will appear in its product advertising across all media later this year in the UK and Ireland. A spokesman for Unilever confirmed the decision.

'Our research tells us that people who already buy one Unilever brand will buy others, if they know they come from the same maker,' he said.

The spokesman declined to comment on whether there were plans to introduce a strapline, in a similar way to SC Johnson ads which carry the line 'A family company'.

Some Unilever ads in Asian and Latin American markets already feature corporate branding, but it has not been applied consistently.

Professor Patrick Barwise, emeritus professor of management and marketing at London Business School, said: 'If consumers do have a positive opinion of the company there could be some sort of endorsement benefit.'

However he warned that the inclusion of the logo could also dilute advertising messages and increased the risk of harm across the portfolio if issues arose on one product.

Unilever has already had some experience of this. Feminist groups claim that Dove's '±±¾©Èü³µpk10 for real beauty' is hypocritical because ads for Lynx, also owned by the company, feature sexist images.

 

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