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.

The goal was to make Unilever Food Solutions a powerful global brand built by chefs for chefs. This proposition – and a strong ROI business case – inspired all countries to embrace PR as the main brand re-launch mechanic.

The specific global PR objectives were:1. Drive awareness of Unilever Food Solutions as the leading foodservice provider globally2. Position Unilever Food Solutions as the thought-leader on significant issues in the food service industry 3. Leverage PR to help achieve commercial goals (e.g. sell more products and contribute to the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan)

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.

The 12-month PR campaign focused on high impact activity (around World Menu Reports) and sustained bursts of PR (via Guest Book, containing expert-authored content and media ready statistics).The World Menu Reports identified global issues that were a real concern for chefs. Research was conducted with 4,000 consumers across 8 countries to find insights for provocative, newsworthy stories and social media conversations, supporting the brand launch.

World Menu Report 1 ('What’s in Your Food?') tapped into the obesity crisis and the food service industry’s responsibility to take action. A new conversation, bringing to life the brand promise, “inspiration every day”, was born.World Menu Report 2 ('Sustainable Kitchens - Reducing Food Waste') tackled food waste in professional kitchens. Unilever Food Solutions established the first multi-market coalition, ‘United Against Waste’ - a cross-industry solution to tackle waste. A new service, ‘Wise Up on Waste’ also launched, providing practical solutions for customers.

Before the re-launch engagement levels were low and relationships tended to be tactical, via product brands like Knorr and Lipton. Chefs were largely unaware of the umbrella brand; and those that knew it didn’t really understand what it stood for.There had been minimal brand investment and a fragmented visual identity globally. Critically, no compelling, unifying brand proposition existed, despite being a €2bn category where face-to-face sales lie at the heart of the business model. With branded products only accounting for 2-3% of chef’s purchases, Unilever Food Solutions had to become relevant to chefs’ needs fast.