3. Unilever
United Kingdom; Rotterdam, Netherlands
www.unilever.com

Corporate Sales: $60.2 billion

Beauty Sales: $20 billion (personal care)

Key Personnel: Michael Treschow, chairman, Paul Polman, chief executive officer; Geneviéve Berger, chief research and development officer; Alan Jope, North Asia; Kees Kruythoff, North America; Dave Lewis, personal care; Jan Zijderveld, Europe.

Major Products: Skincare and hair care products, deodorants and oral care products including TRESemme, Brylcreem, Clear, St. Ives, Simple, Alberto VO5, Timotei, Tony & Guy, Axe/Lynx, Dove, Suave, Lifebuoy, Pond’s, Rexona, Signal, Close Up, Sunsilk, Lux, Vaseline, Tigi.

New Products: VO5 Choppy Cream Wax, Lifebuoy Clini-Care 10, Axe Anarchy For Him + For Her, Axe Anti-Dandruff Shampoo, Close Up Fire-Freeze toothpaste, Timotei Organic Delight, Dove Colour Radiance, Dove Revival Shampoo.

Comments: While P&G has seen its struggles in walking the line between developed and emerging markets, Unilever seems to see its way more clearly and continues full speed ahead, with sales growing in both sectors, while maintaining a good balance of price and volume growth. In emerging markets, sales rose 11%, and now account for more than half of the company’s annual revenues, as opposed to P&G’s third.

And there’s no sign of a slowdown. Chairman Michael Treschow stated the UK-Rotterdam-based company aims to double its size—and all while reducing its environmental impact, a key proponent of its future plans. Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan affects all aspects of its business, from sourcing materials, developing brands and manufacturing products, to the way they are used and disposed of by their consumers.

Despite the tough global economic environment, Unilever delivered a good performance in 2011, achieving a 6.5% rise in corporate net sales to $60.2 billion, with double-digit growth in emerging markets (11.5%) and mid single-digit growth overall. Growth proved strong in Personal Care.

Double-digit growth was achieved in a wide range of countries including China, India, Turkey, South Africa and Mexico—largely due to innovation. Unilever’s largest developed markets—the U.S., Germany, the UK and France—which together represent 61% of the company’s developed world business, grew between 1% and 4%. The launch of new brands into new markets was key, such as the case with Alberto Culver (Unilever’s largest acquisition in a decade). To ensure consumer awareness, Unilever also added nearly $200 million in advertising and promotional spending.

Unilever’s Tigi Bed Head line of products continues to be a top performer.

Personal Care accounted for about 33% of the corporate total, at $20 billion. Strong gains in North America, were attributed to hair care and deodorants; in China, skin cleansing and hair care proved strong. Personal Care became Unilever’s largest category, with underlying sales growth of 8.2%. The acquisitions of Alberto Culver (including brands TRESemmé, VO5 and Simple) and the Sara Lee brands started to contribute positively.

Following the integration of the Sara Lee personal care business and Alberto Culver, the company acquired the Russian personal care company, Concern Kalina. Unilever moved quickly to capitalize on these brands and within nine months, introduced TRESemmé into Brazil, Simple into the U.S. and Motions into South Africa.

Rexona for Women with Motionsense technology—a new way of incorporating time-released fragrance— gave Rexona a step up over its key competitors.

Sales of Dove reached nearly $4 billion in 2011, becoming Unilever’s first Personal Care brand to reach this level. Success has been attributed to three key objectives: better marketing—making Dove a premium brand; better innovation—for example, applying its leading-edge expertise to Dove hair care; and expansion into new markets, as with the Dove Men+Care range.

Sales of Dove reached nearly $4 billion in 2011.

Unilever also continued its direct sell approach to penetrating certain emerging markets, such as India. The company’s Shakti program features a direct distribution network of entrepreneurs. Door to door local distribution programs such as this have added more than $100 million in incremental turnover.

Unilever has installed new premium counters for Pond’s skin care, making the product more appealing and upmarket in a competitive environment. Innovations included LED counter lighting to reduce environmental impact and a handheld skin diagnosis iPhone tool for beauty advisers. These initiatives have resulted in significantly improved customer sales.

On the other hand, Unilever approached financially pressured shoppers in developed markets with new options. For example, its launch of new pack sizes across many brands in the UK allowed retailers to sell their products at about $1.29. In emerging markets, Unilever continues to offer small, affordable product sizes of its brands, and plans to do the same in Africa—with Lifebuoy, for one.

In 2012, Unilever expanded rollouts to more markets, including with successful brands Toni & Guy, Axe Hair, Dove Men+Care and Pond’s Anti Aging premium range.

In January 2012, Axe added a women’s fragrance, Anarchy, to its wildly popular men’s brand name.

Unilever’s Tigi Bed Head line of products headed for Olympic gold of sorts, by naming 22-year-old gymnastic medalist Nastia Liukin as its newest spokesperson.

In March, Degree Men’s Adrenaline Series of anti-perspirant/deodorant added what Unilever called the “world’s first movement-activated anti-perspirant technology for men.” While the average anti-perspirant/deodorant releases scent upon contact with sweat, Degree Men with MotionSense starts working to block wetness when you start to move. The technology contains motion-activated micro-capsules that sit on the surface of the skin. On first movement the technology activates causing the capsules to break and release bursts of freshness.

With Unilever’s penchant for launching and expanding brands at rapid-fire pace, this past spring, Gina Boswell, executive vice president-North American personal care at Unilever—who was brought on board along with her former employer Alberto-Culver in May 2011—launched two new brands in the U.S. within a few months of each other: Simple, billed as the No. 1 UK skincare range, which came to the U.S. in February, and Clear, a hair care brand sold in 40 countries and which arrived in the U.S. in May.