Ad:tech 2015: Digital strategies need to be people-first, says Unilever's Rahul Welde

Delivering his keynote address at Ad:tech Delhi 2015, Welde stresses on the need to turbo-charge digital while crafting brands for life in a connected world

Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy | Delhi | March 20, 2015

Ad:tech Delhi 2015 kicked off with a keynote address from one of the largest advertisers, Unilever, talking about their digital experiences and the changing mindsets adopted internally to tackle the fast growing medium. Rahul Welde, Vice-President (Media) - Asia, Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia, Unilever Asia, presented the opening address, titled 'Crafting brands for life in a connected world' to a packed audience.

Adopting a people first approach, Welde maintained that Unilever looked at people as people rather than as consumers. To that extent, the organisation is looking at ways to connect with them at a level which is deeper than just being a consumer, for which the multitude of digital channels at disposal come to play. Simplifying the marketing vision, Welde said, “It is about reaching more people in more places and making sure that we bring alive all the amazing experiences.”

Talking about how social and mobile have become complicated with the addition of many platforms which did not exist even two to three years ago, Welde said that it was something that we had to find out how to navigate. “It is very easy for marketers to get lost in this wild ecosystem and to forget the importance of scale and engagement. One of the key mantras for us is not to be fazed by everything that we see around. We try and simplify as much as we can. Therefore, we have adopted something internally, called 'Turbo charging digital'.”

To execute this agenda, Unliever is trying to bring a culture of experimentation within the company, and has started infusing the start-up mentality into the marketing division and making sure that all its marketeers are trained and understand digital in a very big way.

With increasing mobile penetration, Welde wondered whether mobile had become a part of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in the order of food, mobile, clothing and then shelter.

Unilever doesn't want to focus on mobile just because it is growing, but wants the campaigns to be 'fit for purpose'. “There is too much of cool stuff happening out there. But it has to serve the job to be done. It must be absolutely critical to the strategy and align with whatever the brand campaign is about,” remarked Welde. He cited the example of the much recognised 'Kan Khajura Tesan' (KKT) campaign, where the company managed to engage with consumers in a media dark area like Bihar, primarily using feature phones. “If you look at it, at one end you have the smartphone, where we can have mobile-enabled assets include mobile-enabled websites, and equally on the other hand, we have to have solutions which cater to a different kind of audience, for whom we have to use IVRS and other simple techniques which are equally engaging,” he explained.

Speaking of mindset and culture, one of the things that Unilever started in 2013 as part of the experimentation within the company, and across markets is the 'Digital Experimentation Foundry'. It works like an internal VC pitch, where brand teams and manager can come up and pitch for projects which otherwise don't have funding within the company. A panel of judges pick the best among that and funds those campaigns, which are disruptive. Welde pointed out that KKT was born out of a similar pitch.

Last year, Unilever launched another initiative, called Unilever Foundry, which is a platform that brings together start-ups and technology companies with Unilever brands. The Foundry, which was initially set up in London, has found presence in the Philippines and Singapore as well, and will soon move into other markets.

One of the other big initiatives from Unilever as part of the turbo charging agenda is the digital command centre in Singapore, where they have state-of-the-art tools for digital listening and bring campaigns to life and make it better. The center will soon find its way to Jakarta, Manila and Mumbai. Welde pointed out that a temporary command center was in place at Lakme Fashion Week, which is currently underway in Mumbai.

Addressing the way Unilever looks at measurement in digital, Welde noted that the real metric was what business impact did it have. “Is it able to have an impact on the brand equity or the sales or the market share? It is not easy to measure every time. Sometimes, people get carried away by the vanity metrics like views and impressions. Some years ago, it was likes. Over the years, the vanity metrics changes, but the vanity remains. We have to shift that conversation to real business impact, scale, growth or market share gains,” he elaborated.

Summing up his address, Welde concluded, “Turbo charging digital remains the agenda and it is simply because consumers are taking on to the medium faster than ever before. The pace is only growing faster. In countries like India, there is still a massive runway when it comes to Internet penetration and how many people are using digital in general. A lot of that is getting leapfrogged because of mobile. Using some of these platforms and technologies, more and more consumers can be engaged very meaningfully at scale. Within the turbo charging agenda, partnerships with digital and technology companies plays a major role.”

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