You’ve been posting, and Vaseline has been listening!

Recently, Unilever’s Vaseline embarked on a campaign to seek out real life spokeswomen for their product.  Together with Bartle Bogle Hegarty agency in New York , Unilever is embarking on a campaign to save women from dry skin.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty is not new to Unilever; they also helped Unilever revive its product Axe, creating the Axe Effect, an award winning campaign that pushed the brand to be one of the top youth selling brands in America.

For the campaign, they scoured blogs, twitter, and Facebook to find people who were posting about their dry skin woes. They ended up contacting and interviewing 75 women and, from among these, chose three mothers to be spokeswomen for the campaign: Kari Ellen Aceto from Green Valley Lake, Calif., who reviews products on her blog, A Giveaway Addicted Mommy; Kailani Okamoto of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, who writes The Island Life blog; and Michelle Lee of Asheville, N.C., who writes The Adventures of Supermom blog.

If you haven’t yet clicked the link for the Bartle Bogle Hegarty agency yet, you might not have noticed their emphasis on research. Their organization self describes as one not just interested in creativity, but in results. They are out to help clients grow their business, and not waste money. To achieve this, they determine the specific goals of the campaign – brand awareness, sales, etc. – and then set out to measure whether these objectives are achieved over time. They are the kind of company that engages in excellent public relations, first because they know how to listen to publics, and second because they engage in campaign evaluation that focuses not just on output (how many ads were placed, for instance) but also on the outcome (measuring results among the target audience), outgrowth (looking at business results), and outperformance (looking at how your business compares with others in the industry) levels.

The campaign itself will use Integrated Communication strategies, starting with the spokeswomen and reaching out to other women to “rescue them from dry skin.” There will be a four stop tour across the country, including the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21, the  Aspen Winternational Women’s Ski Competition on in Aspen, Colorado on November 28, the Polar Bear Club annual New Year’s Day swim in Coney Island on Jan. 1, and the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Duluth, Minn., on Jan. 29. Of course, rescuing people from dry skin being the mission, these destinations are a perfect fit!

Vaseline will also have a Facebook page, media banner ads, advertisements in People, Health, and Real Simple magazines, and giveaways and product demonstrations will be held throughout the winter. To top it off, Delilah will help promote the product on her nationally-syndicated radio show, just in time for the holidays and dry winter weather.

Dear Diary: The Search for Understanding Consumer Behavior

Companies interested to do thorough research know to employ many types of research, ranging from qualitative and quantitative methods. For instance, you might use survey research, case study analysis, and content analysis to gain a full picture of what interests you. The most traditional method for public relations is  surveys and focus groups to understand consumers. However, one could also employ other methods, such as content analysis. In this methodology, researchers analyze social artifacts to gain an understanding of a phenomenon. For instance, analyzing news paper articles and company produced press releases from the year 1992 should tell how media used the messages you disseminated about your company and portrayed your company in the year 1992. This would tell you how effective you were in getting your message into the media.

Unilever, from 2005-2006, conducted a content analysis research project to understand consumer behavior in the Hispanic market. The research reviewed more than 3,600 diary entries and store receipts to understand actual consumer behavior (rather than relying on reported behaviors through question and answer surveys). The research looked at Hispanic markets in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York and involved about 800 participants, almost 90% of which were born outside of the U.S. (Mexico, Central or South America, or the Caribbean). Michael Polk, President of Unilever United States, stated the importance of this kind of research: "We're confident that the Hispanic shopper insights in this study will help retailers develop more specific actions as they look to build their strategies for reaching these increasingly important shoppers."

The research found that while shoppers of different country origins buy different things, much of their behavior is similar in the frequency and type of shopping trips they take and the emphasis placed on planning shopping and meals. The study also highlighted that the Hispanic consumer is a “highly food-involved, smart, efficient and value-oriented shopper; one that retailers ignore at their own peril.”

This research design required participants to keep journals and receipts for analysis, allowing the chance to really show Unilever what is important to them about shopping and food. This kind of information is highly useful for a company like Unilever. By understanding consumer needs and behavior, they can better tailor their approach to meet the needs of one of their keystakeholders: consumers.

Unilever listed additional key findings of their research:

• The Hispanic Shopper makes a higher number of bigger trips, Fill-In and Major Stock-Up, and far fewer Quick Trips than the general market consumer.
• Quick Trips are just 44% of all trips she makes vs. 62% for general market shoppers. Non-food items drive Quick Trips for the Hispanic Shopper. 
• Hispanic women are significantly more aware (by a 48% to 36% margin) of "specials" before going to the store than are general market shoppers. Even within the store, Hispanics' awareness of specials is higher than the general markets.
• Nearly 1 in 4 Hispanic shoppers walk or take public transportation (22%) compared to just 1 in 33 of general market consumers. Geography is responsible for choice, as is value.
• She knows her needs beforehand, hence a full 56% of her trips are routine vs. 26% in the general market.
• The Hispanic Shopper may spend less per routine trip, but a full 54% of her total grocery spending occurs on routine trips vs. 22% in the general market.
• Even more dramatic, only 2% of her trips are urgent, vs. 19% for the general market – that's 1 in 50 compared to 1 in 5.
• More than half surveyed use cash, one quarter used a debit card and 11% paid with a credit card. Only 2% paid by check.
• 35% of all Hispanic shopping trips occur after 6 p.m. compared to only 18% in the general market.
• Hispanic shoppers are shopping with someone else – most frequently with kids – on 29% of all trips, compared to 23% in the general market.
• They’re nearly twice as likely to be shopping with a non-family member, such as a friend, than is the general market.    

Collaborative Research

Sometimes, combining forces is the best approach to research. Team work has many advantages for an organization, including better flow of ideas and increased resources.

For instance, partnering with Mindshare and ESPN, Unilever was interested to explore consumer behavior and media interaction in the future. The companies used Scenario Planning, a corporate strategic planning activity (borrowed from military strategy) which attempts to predict what things will be like in the future.

The research project, called Media 2015, used third-party research and primary-sourced interviews with 14 media industry experts to attempt to understand how media in the year 2015 will look. These individuals (listed in the full report) are leaders in their respective fields, including digital marketing, mobility, consumer trend spotting, and media regulation.

The three company team identified trends they believe are certainties for the future of media – such as increased bandwidth, the digital generation getting older, and devices getting fasted – and others trends that are unpredictable – such as the overall shape of social networking, how much people and regulators will care about privacy, and the level of customization expected.

The research identified four possible future scenario's for consumer media. The predict that, “the four scenarios are not exclusive of one another, but together form pieces of a possible future of media, evolving differently for varied sectors, audience groups and geographies.”

In the first, consumer behavior will be highly fragmented – consumers will access information across a wide range of sources. The second, Portal Me, features consumers with narrowed and focused attention. Media will be constant, but customers will receive information that is customized to them based on stated and learned preferences. The third, Media Buffet, features consumers who pick and choose their media content using multiple devices. Brand marketers will need to deliver information through multiple channels. The fourth, Traditional New Media, is the most passive, where consumer attention is limited. The scenario is characterized by entertainment and less by connectivity.

Research projects such as Media 2015 allow companies to make strategic plans and decisions about their efforts to respond to changing business landscapes. Research projects and information projects like this one are invaluable tools for public relations and marketing practitioners.

Letting the Consumer Take the Lead

This past summer, Unilever was honored at the 57th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival  as the “Advertiser of the Year,” a global forum of communications professionals and companies coming together annually for seminars and debates about the world of communications. It is a seven day event that attracts top professionals in the advertising, media, marketing, production and design industries.

Unilever was given this award for its innovative efforts in marketing. This summer, Unilever announced some shifts it will take in revamping its website and social media presence. The company (currently the second largest advertiser behind Proctor & Gamble) states that it realizes that Unilever.com is very corporate and does not speak to the largest audience visiting the website: consumers. The company has found that 60% of website visitors are consumers and future-employees, and they wish to address that, by making the website more user-friendly and with less corporate speech.

The company is also doubling its digital marketing budget under the leadership of Keith Weed, Unilever’s new Chief Marketing Officer. In an interview, Mr. Weed discussed that in the U.S., 25% of people’s time is spent on digital engagement. Following this, he believes that marketing budgets should be ‘in that order.’ As he puts it, companies are in their infancy in realizing the power in social media, and the need to go “fish where the fishes are.”

What is interesting about these moves on behalf of Unilever is the implications it has both for research and public relations. First of all, through research conducted about consumer habits, Unilever is responding to what resonates with people. Additionally, Unilever is encouraging people to get involved, share their story, and create connections to the brand through digital forums, including Facebook and YouTube (if you haven’t already, be sure to check out Unilever’s latest and most expensive marketing technique, short videos with a Mad Men-esque approach).

It will be interesting to follow this effort to see how successful it will be in encouraging consumer creativity and feedback.

Bring out the Real! Real PR?

It’s time to get your sandwich on! For the first time, Unilever offered a unique experience at this year’s Food Network's New York City Food and Wine Festival. Hellman’s mayonnaise sponsored a contest between some of New York City’s finest sandwich experts, including BaoHaus, Blue Ribbon Restaurants, Blue Smoke Bake Shop, DOB 111,‘ino, No. 7 Sub, Porchetta, Resto, Fort Defiance, The Lobster Place, and Zampa in a competition to crown the Sandwich King. The event was held on October 10.

Along with the contest, participants got the chance to make their own unique mayonnaise at the mixology bar featuring herbs and spices. Guests could also have their photos taken as souvenirs to share with friends and family at the "Spread the Love" photo station. Didn’t get enough? The Hellman's Facebook page was a place to comment and check out the photos from the event for an added interactive feature.

The event was a chance for Hellman’s mayonnaise to reach out to people on a personal level and show them new ways to use the Hellman’s product to bring life to their sandwiches. In addition, it gave Hellman’s a chance to remind guests that their mayonnaise is made from only the purest ingredients; eggs, oil, and vinegar. Hellman’s also feature’s the real food project The Real Food Project, a campaign dedicated to increasing American’s consumption of “real” foods. Real food project shows families recipes and tips on how to eat foods with natural (unprocessed) ingredients.  The Hellman’s Real Food campaign is an effort to help American families find balance in their lives and enjoy healthy living and eating together. Unilever has definitely found a need among American families, and this is a great way to get involved in the relationship building for which public relations strives.

Operationalization: Making a Big Concept Measurable

A big word, but really, all it means is how we express the phenomena we are looking to explore. For instance, if you wanted to study religiosity, you might operationalize this as “attending church services once a week.” There can be many observables to explain a phenomenon under study, this is just one possibility.

With its Self-Esteem Weekend, Dove will be interested in evaluating its success. They may do this, as I discussed in my previous blog  by survey response. While I discussed sampling first, creating the research design would, in practice, have come first.

So Dove might decide that they are interested to study the level of girls self-esteem. There are many ways to capture this data. Today, I will chose to capture the level of self-esteem using an index. There are a few kinds of indexes. In an index, each variable being measured is given equal weight. So, I might ask questions like:

1.       How happy do you feel at school?

Happy  1(very)    2 somewhat)    3(neither)    4(somewhat)    5(very)  Unhappy

2.       Which describes you?

Pretty  1(very)    2 somewhat)    3(neither)    4(somewhat)    5(very)  Ugly

3.       Do you feel comfortable expressing yourself to your friends?

Comfortable  1(very)    2 somewhat)    3(neither)    4(somewhat)    5(very)  Uncomfortable

And so on…

In these few examples, I have operationalized self-esteem as measurements of whether a girl feels happy at school, thinks that she is pretty, and feels comfortable expressing herself to friends. These are a few of many ways to operationalize a very complex concept. On an index, these questions measure responses and weigh the value of responses equally.

So if one girl chose her answers, respectively, as 4, 3, 5 we might say she scored 12 points on the self-esteem index. Another girl whose responses were 2, 2, 1 would score 5 on the self-esteem index. This very clearly showed that first girl scored higher on the self-esteem index. If our operational measurements are valid and reliable, then we can conclude that girl 1 has more self-esteem than girl 2.

(To measure whether girl’s enjoyed the Self-Esteem Weekend, we might do something similar as above, but use questions that measure whether the girl’s felt they “learned a lot,” “had fun,” or “would like to do it again next year.”)

So, today we operationalized a concept (we came up with a way to measure or observe a phenomenon) and learned how to put them on an index.

Along with our topic of Dove research, appropriately, Dove has posted to their Facebook wall today that they conducted their 2010 research on women and self-esteem, and concluded that “women still don’t feel comfortable describing themselves as beautiful.”  Check out the results.

Finding Out More About Girl's Self-Esteem

The Dove Self Esteem Weekend will take place on October 22-24. During this event, people and organizations across the nation are encouraged to hold a weekend of self-esteem building activities. “One hour of your time can make a world of difference in a young girl’s self-esteem,” serves as the inspiring thought for the weekend.

Community members who wish to get involved in this initiative can get involved in many ways, by downloading a guide on how to talk to girls about self-esteem, joining the facebook group, finding a local organization to get involved with such as Girl Scouts, Girls Inc, or Boys and Girls Club of America, and even buy buying a Dove product, one can feel good that part of the proceeds will go to the Self-Esteem fund. Programs like this make consumers feel empowered and connected to the company. It also helps to demonstrate that the company is investing in their well-being.

The weekend activities planned around the nation are truly grass roots. “All events are the sole responsibility of the individual organizer or organization involved. Dove provides resources and suggested activity guides but does not hold the actual events and is not responsible for what takes place at events in connection with this weekend.”

Because this movement is being led by individual people, with the support of Dove, I believe that it is extremely important for an organization like Dove/Unilever to evaluate its success. Part of ensuring the success of the Fund is to track how many community members engage with the program and assess how they felt the program impacted their lives. For the Dove Self-Esteem Weekend event, (which, I am sure a company like Unilever has already begun this process), I would definitely advise having research methods in place to assess how the program was received. Now, this does not mean Dove has to survey every single participant. Rather, they can generate a random sampling reflective of those who participated. This can be done by first having the list of where programs will be taking place across the nation. From that list, Dove can choose to sample a certain percentage of participants. In order to ensure that each type of event in different regions is assessed, the best way to generate this sample is to start with a list of the types of events (individuals, neighborhoods, organizations), and then list them by geographically  

For instance, we could break the up the map by 4 regions (NE, SE, NW, and SW) and then by type of person/people organizing the event (i=individual, n=neighborhood, o=organization).

Right now there are 216 events planned across North America. For our purposes, let’s set make a smaller hypothetical situation, maybe 39.  To generate the sample, we could pick a random starting spot and then systematically select, say, every 5^th place (which would result in a sample size of 8, or about 30%). So let’s say we start at 4.

1.      NE, N

2.      NE, N

3.      NE, N

4.      NE, I

5.      NE, O

6.      NE, O

7.      NE, O

8.      NE, O

9.      NE, O

10.  NE, O

11.  NW, N

12.  NW, N

13.  NW, N

14.  NW, N

15.  NW, O

16.  NW, O

17.  NW, O

18.  NW, O

19.  NW, O

20.  NW, O

21.  NW, O

22.  NW, O

23.  NW, O

24.  NW, I

25.  NW, I

26.  SE, N

27.  SE, N

28.  SE, O

29.  SE, O

30.  SE, O

31.  SE, O

32.  SE, I

33.  SE, I

34.  SW, N

35.  SW, N

36.  SW, O

37.  SW, O

38.  SW, O

39.  SW, I

As you can see, events from each region and type were selected. (NE I, NE O, NW N, NW O, NW I, SE O, SW N, and SW O)

Next week, I’ll discuss operationalizing what we’re trying to find out with our survey. Thanks for reading!

Are you attending a Dove self-esteem event? Write about it below!