Great people make great brands

Unilever Sri Lanka emerged the most awarded FMCG company at the 2016 SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards, with a total of five awards spanning across heavyweights Sunlight and Lifebuoy, as well as emerging stars Vim and Knorr. Calling this a defining moment for Unilever, the company said in a statement that the awards ceremony witnessed the dominance of Vim and Knorr, relatively younger brands in the company’s fold. 

The awards bagged by Unilever Sri Lanka were as follows: Vim - Joint winner for FMCG Brand of the Year, Knorr - Joint winner for Food Brand of the Year and Winner for Youth FMCG Brand of the Year, Sunlight - Household Care Brand of the Year and Lifebuoy - Personal Care Brand of the Year. The People’s Awards is touted as the only award show in the country to be based on an independent, nationwide survey, representing the voice of the people.

Unilever attributed the company’s performance at the People’s Awards to a principal it takes pride in: great people make great brands. 

Senior Brand Manager for Sunlight Niyomi Delwita said that cross-functional teams contribute to growing a heritage brand such as Sunlight.

“Our teams are forging ahead with brand plans based on universal truths and insights that resonate amongst all Sri Lankans, which we leverage upon to achieve results. These great brands are built by great people and teams who have rallied together towards a single, unified vision: to provide the best products for the Sri Lankan consumers. The strength of our brand teams is their cross-functional nature, spanning Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, R&D and Legal. Integral to this mix are our agency partners, whether it be creative, media, or execution agencies, who are very much the lifeblood of our success,” she said.

Senior Brand Manager, Lifebuoy, Imeshika Kariyawasam  spoke about how this greater vision has led to the brand’s success over the years.

“Lifebuoy has taken on the mantle of inculcating the hand washing habit amongst the people of Sri Lanka to protect their health. This is Lifebuoy’s contribution to the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) goal of improving health and well-being of a billion people around the world,” she explained.

“Our collective efforts have clearly touched the lives of many consumers who continue to select Lifebuoy as their brand of choice, which is reflected in the fact that Lifebuoy has won the ‘Personal Care Brand of the Year’ award for eight consecutive years,” added Kariyawasam.

While Sunlight and Lifebuoy are heritage brands that have had years of practice to get it right, Knorr is a relatively young brand in the company portfolio, entering the market only in 1994. Senior Brand Manager, Knorr, Sachi Fernando said: “Although Knorr is Unilever’s no. 1 brandin the global context, in Sri Lanka it is a relatively nascent brand. The fact that it has made a dent in the minds of Sri Lankan consumers is a huge achievement for the brand.”

At Knorr, said Fernando, they strive to understand the problems of the Sri Lankan mothers who are faced with the eternal question of what to cook or how to make everyday dishes interesting and exciting.

“These are problems that bothered my mother, her mother, and now even myself. This has led to the creation of uniquely Sri Lankan innovations such as KnorrMaldive fish powder, and the ‘Dhal 7’ communication, which attempted to add excitement to mundane and simple dishes,” she said.

Brand Manager, Vim, Lishini Karunatillaka meanwhile said: “We are humbled to be awarded such a prestigious award such as FMCG Brand of the Year, given that there are so many brands that compete for the share of heart of Sri Lankans across the country. Winning an award such as this is truly testament of the place Vim holds in hearts and minds of consumers as the No.1 household care product in the country.”

Brand Manager , Signal, Keshini Subasinghe who managed the Vim brand in 2015 said: “Growing a mature, well-entrenched brand like Vim is not an easy task. It is one that requires innovative thinking and new strategies. Much of the work that led to Vim’s success in 2015 encompassed tailored offerings and campaigns based on deep-rooted consumer insights, catering to ever-changing consumer demands.”

The vested interest in providing solutions to homemakers across the country inspired the company to recognise the importance of empowering women to face the future and responded with a unique initiative - ‘Vim Diviyata Disne’ - aimed at enabling women across the country to harness their full potential. Vim Diviyata Disne is part of Vim’s contribution towards Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan pillar of Enhancing Livelihoods by providing ‘Opportunities for Women’.

Ultimately, for Unilever teams, their work is more than just a job. It is more than just coming to work every morning. They are part of a bigger purpose - whether it is to help Sri Lankan mothers provide great tasting food for their families, or to improve the health and well-being of millions of Sri Lankans by building the habit of handwashing, the company said in its statement.

Young, energetic, vibrant individuals are needed to sustain the performance of these brands – and these people are the DNA of Unilever Sri Lanka, Unilever went on to say. While years of hard work go into building brands, when the outcome is that which Unilever experienced at the SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards 2016, you know you have the right people in place who are breathing passion and magic into every brand, it added.