Unilever agrees to sell North American Laundry Business - Transcript

Keith Weed

Unilever has been competing in the laundry market for many, many years.  And that's the reason why, wherever you travel in the world, you will see Unilever brands competing.  It started right at the very beginning with William Hesketh Lever determined to lessen the work for women.  And that is still true today.

Patrick Cescau

It's a very important category for Unilever. It's the backbone of many of our D&E businesses. We're doing, top line-wise, extremely well. I think the team should be complimented for a first-class performance.

Voice Over

Unilever has created Market-leading brands that meet consumers' everyday laundry needs the world over. Its flagship brand positioning, Dirt Is Good, promotes child development through the Omo, Persil and Breeze brands.

Robert Davidson

Believe it or not, Omo in Brazil is the most famous brand bar none for the last ten years. In the whole of Latin America, the concept of Dirt Is Good is something which really rings bells with consumers.

Aline Santos

We're not only doing a new piece of advertising, we are doing a complete revamp of the brand, really changing the market because we do believe that childhood is important.

Robert Davidson

So every child has the right to experience and to develop and getting dirty is doing so. And Omo has the right to remove it.

Rohit Jawa

The brand is an icon that stands for not just cleaning powder in a box, but it stands for really values.

Voice Over

Complementing Dirt Is Good, Unilever has Surf, its value cleaning brand, Skip, which offers premium garment care, and Rin, which delivers extra whiteness. Unilever is also at the top of the conditioning market with Comfort and Snuggle, which as well as softening and fragrancing clothes, offer added benefits like reduced drying time.

Aline Santos

When we are playing a portfolio game, it is very important to think about the price points that you want to play. In this market you have the big range of prices on the shelf. So one brand cannot do it all. You have to have different brands to really compete.

Voice Over

Whether you consider its 70% market share in Brazil and Argentina, or 80% share in South Africa and Vietnam, it's clear that Unilever delivers much-loved laundry brands on a massive global scale. Unilever's unique and detailed understanding of consumers around the world ensures its brands are a trusted part of daily life for millions of people. But while marketing may connect with consumers on an emotional level, it's ultimately the product that has to step up and deliver superior performance.

Keith Weed

And those two going together, the brand, the communication, the engagement, and then products that really deliver against that with differentiating technology is becoming a winning mix for us in laundry.

Voice Over

It's a winning mix that's fuelled by first-class innovation. Unilever continues to invest heavily in its research and development capabilities.

Patrick Cescau

There's been some outstanding successes. The one I would privilege is Small & Mighty. There's outstanding technology, first-class packaging, a point of view on environment and saving the planet, which is exciting, energising. It's loved by our customers. That's the perfect innovation.

Voice Over

Unilever manufactures on a massive scale. With the largest powder factory in the world in Brazil, it uses cutting-edge technology to produce 600,000 tonnes of soap powder a year.

Keith Weed

The consumer is very much king. And we're passionate about understanding how we're going to win in the market place.

Voice Over

Unilever also has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, and that's not just about reducing its own impact on the environment, but about empowering consumers to reduce theirs, too, by enabling them, for example, to use less water.

Alan McKinnon

We're very much leaders in the industry and leaders in terms of our approach on sustainability, both in terms of the materials we use, the care we take in how we source them, and also looking at how these materials behave when they’re in the environment. That has very much been Unilever's heritage in laundry and it is very much our plan to remain there going forward.

Voice Over

It's Unilever's passion for excellence in all areas of its global laundry business that will continue to drive success in high-growth markets around the world.

Keith Weed

Unilever has an exciting laundry business and we're committed to an innovative and growing future.