Unilever’s test trial makes miracles

November 2 2009, 8:46am

Unilevers’ new Age Miracle face cream by Pond’s hasn’t exactly been leaping off the shelves in the Chinese market over the past year. So, they have decided to turn on the charm with a digital campaign that hopes to generate buzz, establish the product’s credibility and encourage Chinese women to give it a try. The anti-aging cream is up against a long list of strong competition from brands such as Clinique, L’Oreal, Lancome and Olay which have made their mark as trusted favourites to a loyal consumer demographic. Unilever and Ogilvy PR Worldwide asked volunteer bloggers to participate in a blind trial program and quickly signed up 150 official testers. The Chinese blogging community is large and influential with more than 100 million claiming to communicate via forums and discussion boards and 41 million heavy social media contributors, according to Netpop Research. With such a high risk campaign Unilever was relieved to find that hundreds of posts boasted about the product during the seven-day trial last month. As well, the brand notes that even after the trial was complete, nine out of 10 bloggers continued to endorse the product and became unpaid, brand ambassadors. “This is the first time used we’ve used social media in China. There is no doubt we will use it more to connect with consumers,” said Shanghai-based Laercio Cardoso, VP-marketing for Unilever’s home and personal-care brands in China. Two other social media based campaigns are being developed for other Unilever beauty brands that are due out at the end of this year. “We’re conducting social media campaigns in a wide range of ways with many types of clients across Asia. The hunger for it is huge,” said Thomas Crampton, Hong Kong-based director of 360 digital influence for Asia/Pacific at Ogilvy PR.