The social face of Unilever Asia

An interview for the Association of Dutch Businessmen (ADB) was a great opportunity for me and editor Maaike Peerenboom to talk to Bhaskar Sharma, VP Marketing Operations Asia (, Africa, Middle East & Turkey) of Unilever. It was an interesting conversation about the differences in marketing and branding between Europe and Asia, theme of the next issue of the ADB magazine.

Bhaskar Sharma told us more about the social aspects of marketing which are necessary in the sometimes underdeveloped economies in Asia, especially India. The whole marketing strategy in Asia has been based on changing habits, trying to move people from non-consumption to consumption. Contrary to the West, where it’s all about consuming more.

Next to that, Unilever introduced a Social Change program with which they market their products in a social way. Part of this program is a project where inhabitants of smaller villages, mostly female, are given the opportunity to cook and sell their own food (of course, with Unilever ingredients) and make a profit by that. If they do, they pay Unilever for the products they’ve been using and keep the margin. It’s a great way of giving these people a perspective for better life, both financially as mentally, by giving them a lot of self-esteem building their own little business. At the same time Unilever can market their products in a country where it’s hard to penetrate.