Unilever To Focus Resources On 400 "Core Brands"
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Unilever plans to cut its worldwide product stable of 1,600 brands to a core portfolio of approximately 400 leading brands that are "number one or number two in their market or segment" and have "worldwide market reach," the company said. The personal care products, food and household giant presented its strategy to investors at conferences in London, Rotterdam and New York City the week of Sept. 20.
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Unilever
Advertising efforts shift to emphasize 400 core brands rather than previous 1,600 in order to allocate more spending to top revenue producers, firm says. Brands such as Dove and Suave will benefit from change with higher ad budgets, while brands that do not rank in top two within their category will be marketed without promotions, divested or will cease to be manufactured within four years, company says. Strategy is part of portfolio restructuring announced in 1999 (1"The Rose Sheet" Sept. 27, 1999, p. 8). Unilever already has divested more than half of proposed 1,200 brands to be disposed. Additional 8,000 job cuts, 30 factory closings announced during recent analyst call. New round of cuts, primarily related to Best Foods acquisition, in addition to 25,000 announced last year