Capitaly: think of the future!

The sales and marketing plans had just been completed by Unilever for 2007, when the restrictive economic measures of the Government were announced in September 2006. This was when a selected team representing all fields met to revise their plans and points of focus defined for 2007. Their intention was to come up with a promotion which would persuade consumers not to abandon quality brands despite of harder times. The idea was to use the game “Capitaly”. The system was simple: consumers had to purchase five Unilever products between 15 January and 15 April and also had to send back the receipt with their names to Unilever. This was the largest multi-brand promotion organised by Unilever so far, which involved all eighteen brands. There was no value limit. 300 Ticket Restaurant vouchers were drawn each week and all participants had a chance of winning the main prize, HUF 15 million in a Citibank account. A classic example of integrated communication was born, where TV, newspapers, magazines, a web-site, and in-store tools were used and all international and domestic chains and store types participated in the promotion. As a result, “Capitaly” became the best known promotion of the period. Consumers got the message: stay loyal to your favourite brand even when times are hard. All of the 18 brands involved grew, many of them by double digit figures. Unilever not only monitors sales figures, but also keeps an eye on changes in market share, changes compared to preceding periods and what promotional activities competitors engage in. They use an algorithm to calculate the base line (sales without promotion). They also maintain a promotional phone line for feedback from consumers. Incoming information is used to set up a data base about consumers and their purchases. Anita Carra, head of trade marketing in the chemical and cosmetics division was in charge of directing, co-ordinating and analysing the promotion. According to her, the key to their success was in-store appearance. Spar Magyarország Kft. has always been an efficient partner for Unilever. At the end of 2006, when representatives of Unilever met with officers of Spar to discuss the plans for the “Capitaly” promotion, both the purchase director of Spar and the sales director of Unilever participated in working out the concept. Tamás Csongovai, purchase director of Spar Magyarország Kft. believes it was a very positive thing that Unilever began thinking about appropriate measures to counter the expected decline in demand as soon as the restrictive measures were announced. Decorations and POS materials were installed by Unilever sales reps, with help from store managers and heads of department. Many full page or double page umbrella ads about Unilever products and the promotion also appeared in the Spar leaflets. Spar contributed to the success of the promotion by reducing its margin for the products involved.