Unilever Food Solutions is the Food Service division of Unilever. The nature of the business meant that it had not been viewed, managed or recognised as a brand, resulting in an indistinct equity and untapped potential. In 2011 the organisation embarked on a brand re-launch across 74 markets. PR, identified as the lead channel, was tasked to increase brand awareness by 50% in 12 months amongst key target audiences (chefs and operators).

A new proposition, visual identity, and promise to chefs ('inspiration everyday'), sat at the core of the re-launch. The critical success factors were: investing the brand assets with real meaning, giving the brand a point-of-view on chef issues; creating global engagement platforms; and embedding a chef-centric mind-set into marketing, enhancing the business offer and customer relationships.The World Menu Report was born, tapping into rich consumer insights on eating out of home. This gave a global voice to the brand on issues of real importance to chefs, positioning it as a thought leader. It allowed the brand to leverage its scale as a force for good (part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan) and created a platform to align business services and sales conversations. The re-launch was a huge success. All markets achieved PR targets, generating a global media reach of 681m. Brand awareness increased by 50% among chefs, without using corporate advertising. A stellar 2011 business performance followed (significantly ahead of the market, in line with the growth ambition) and a sustainable communications model was created.

Build a global PR infrastructure As the majority of countries had never conducted PR, the global PR team up-skilled local markets creating PR modules, cascaded monthly. Modules included, working with local PR partners, best practice PR, and inspiration for high impact events.Establish a thought leadership platformInnovative research was carried out for World Menu Report 1 & 2 to generate mass consumer, trade, digital media awareness. PR toolkits were created to support local executions, containing: global PR strategy, creative ideas, template media materials and key performance indicators.

Sustain an always-on conversationGuest Book provides a quarterly, expert-authored content with fresh media-ready statistics. Top Table is an international panel of independent food, sustainability experts and chefs, providing forewords for reports, fresh content for Guest Book and experts for PR events.

External outputs: PR was the only significant channel used in all 74 countries. The total global media reach is 681m, 8,415 brand mentions, 5,464 key messages, 2,721 media hits and 2,203 Unilever Food Solutions spokesperson quotes over 12 months.

Brand awareness increased globally by 50% amongst chefs and the business saw the strongest growth year on record, significantly ahead of the market, in line with the growth ambition.Internal outputs:All local markets achieved or exceeded PR targets. Witnessing the success of the launch has created high levels of motivation and internal engagement. Further investment in PR, including training, capability-building and in many markets a stronger voice on Leadership Teams, has followed.The PR campaign has helped align and integrate internal functions; and also inspired new business 'services', helping provide practical solutions to the issues raised in the World Menu Report e.g. Wise up on Waste.