BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 1 Welcome to the new edition of Brand Marketing Planning One of the key Must Win battles for Unilever is to create leading category positions through great brands. Superior brand mixes are our top business priority. We need to deliver differentiated market positioning for our brands and to drive their growth through rigorous plans and flawless execution. The Brand Planning Toolset provides a common language and framework for brand planning, which plays a vital part in delivering our brand growth ambitions across the business. At the heart of the Brand Planning Toolset is this new, simplified and high quality approach to the national Brand Marketing Plan (BMP). The role of the BMP is to align the resources of the business behind growing the brand and building equity towards the BrandKey Vision, at a national level. This approach provides the marketing backbone of the Annual Contract process. I want to emphasise that Brand Marketing Planning defines a substantial and critical part of Brand Building in the new Unilever and is therefore central to this role. High quality Brand Marketing Plans will create truly integrated and “zipped” activity plans which will drive our Brand and Category Strategies into action, and will generate sustainable growth. I am convinced that these tools, properly embedded and used in the business will lead to a significant improvement in the quality of our marketing and business planning and thus in our ability to deliver outstanding business results. Patrick Cescau Group Chief Executive BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 2 CONTENTS What is new? 01 What is new in the 2006 Upgrade to Brand Marketing Planning? 01 Brand Planning Toolset (BPT) Overview 03 What is the role of the Brand Planning Toolset? 03 What is in the Brand Planning Toolset? 04 How does the Category Strategy fit with the Brand Planning Toolset? 05 The flow of planning processes 06 Who does what? 07 Brand Marketing Plan (BMP) Overview 09 What is the role of the BMP? 09 What are the inputs to the BMP? 10 What is the output of the BMP process? 12 How do we create a BMP? 14 Who does what? 17 How does the BMP fit with other plans and processes? 21 BMP Process Overview 25 BMP Template 27 BMP 6 Steps 31 The 6 Steps of BMP 31 Step 1. Audit 35 Step 2. Jobs-to-be-Done 47 Step 3. Think Big 57 Step 4. Think Tight 69 Step 5. Integration 77 Step 6. Tracking 81 Example 85 OMO 85 Further training and information available 92 Glossary of terms 92 BLUE 2 DIVIDERS 6/3/06 7:18 pm Page 2 “A VISION WITHOUT ACTION IS JUST A DREAM. ACTION WITHOUT VISION JUST PASSES THE TIME. A VISION WITH ACTION CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.” NELSON MANDELA BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 1 01 BRAND MARKETING PLAN What is new? Development of the Brand Planning Toolset (BPT) began in 2004 and What is new it was rolled out during 2005. Since in the 2006 then, a new operating framework Upgrade to has been put in place, additional content has been developed and Brand Marketing learning has been gathered from Planning? user feedback. These changes have been incorporated into this upgraded 2006 Brand Marketing Plan tool. The content of the Brand Marketing Plan tool has been strengthened with the inclusion of the following: > Functional content from Customer Marketing, Finance and Communication Channel Management > Clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities of each member of the cross-functional local team (Marketing, Customer Marketing, CMI, Finance, Communication Channel Management) > A clear definition of what Brand Developers, Brand Builders and Customer Marketing contribute to Brand Marketing Planning > The fit of Brand Marketing Planning with Category Strategy > Specific reference to the timing of Brand Marketing Planning in relation to linked planning processes > A greater focus on practical advice and guidelines to help Brand Marketing Planning work better for local teams This book is designed to work as a business tool for defining, creating and tracking effective brand plans. It provides the essential information to guide teams successfully through each stage of activity. The book is complemented by workshops to help teams build their plans and additional, more detailed content is available on the http://marketing.unilever.com website (see All Tools and Guidance, Brand Planning, Brand Marketing Plan). BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 2 “THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE LUCKIER YOU GET.” GARY PLAYER BLUE 2 DIVIDERS 6/3/06 7:18 pm Page 4 “YOU READ A BOOK FROM BEGINNING TO END. YOU RUN A BUSINESS THE OPPOSITE WAY. YOU START WITH THE END AND THEN DO EVERYTHING YOU MUST TO REACH IT.” HAROLD GENEEN BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 3 03 BRAND MARKETING PLAN Brand Developing and building Planning successful brands has always Toolset (BPT) required world-class inspiration, Overview creativity and rigour, but these qualities are harder to develop and apply successfully today What is the role than ever before. The competitive of the Brand environment is busier, economic Planning Toolset? conditions tougher, consumers more demanding. The communication environment is more fragmented and customers more sophisticated. Against this background, our brand challenge has never been clearer. If Unilever’s business is to flourish and grow, it is vital that we: > Create compelling, differentiated BrandKey Visions that provide a clear and inspiring focus for everything we do > Develop clear Category Strategies that provide the road map for brand portfolio growth and development > Define tangible strategic business and brand equity goals and plans (Brand Vision Plans) which are aligned with the Category Strategy > Drive brand growth and development by turning vision into action in every market through rigorous and creative Brand Marketing Plans aligned to financial goals To help with these challenges, the Brand Planning Toolset has been further developed to provide a clear and common language that will enable Brand Developers, Brand Builders and Customer Marketers throughout Unilever to deliver our brand growth ambitions. BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 4 04 BRAND MARKETING PLAN BRAND PLANNING TOOLSET OVERVIEW What is in the The Brand Planning Toolset is divided into three parts: Brand Planning 1. BrandKey Vision and Range Architecture Toolset? The BrandKey Vision (BKV) is the single expression of the desired positioning of the brand. It makes clear what the brand will stand for and what it will do in the next 3-5 years. The term Range Architecture describes how Unilever structures, organises and communicates a brand range that delivers the BrandKey Vision. The Range Architecture aids consumer choice and maximises company efficiency. 2. BrandZip: Brand Vision Plan (BVP) NB: For more detail on the BKV and BVP, A Brand Vision Plan specifies brand equity and please refer to the http:// business targets for each brand across a 3-5 year marketing.unilever.com timeframe and describes a series of major strategic website (see All Tools activities designed to deliver that plan. The BVP helps and Guidance, Brand align brand building activity across all markets by Planning) or to the defining clear priorities and focusing on the key growth respective (red and green) drivers for each brand. By setting key measures of manuals available from success, it will ensure we track and assess brand the Unilever Marketing progress towards the Vision. Academy. The BKV, Range Architecture and BVP are written by the Brand Development team. 3. BrandZip: Brand Marketing Plan (BMP) A Brand Marketing Plan specifies the detailed actions brands will take to close the gap between local market starting points and the strategic brand vision. The BMP must also deliver the business targets detailed in the brand’s National Goal. Covering a 12-24 month timeframe, the BMP is jointly developed by a cross- functional team (Marketing, Customer Marketing, Finance, CMI, CCM and channel agency) at a national level, in liaison with the Brand Development team. This book focuses on the BrandZip: Brand Marketing Plan. BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 5 05 BRAND MARKETING PLAN BRAND PLANNING TOOLSET OVERVIEW BRANDKEY BRANDZIP BRAND DEVELOPMENT NATIONAL BRAND PLANNING TEAM How does Within T1 2006 (January – April) Category SVPs will update and clarify their Global / Regional Category the Category Strategy using the new CatStrat Toolset. Strategy fit The Category Strategy is the value creation road with the Brand map within each Category, describing Unilever’s agreed goals, objectives and strategies over a 3-5 Planning Toolset? year timeframe. It indicates where we will play, how we will win and where we will invest resource along three dimensions: a) brands and products b) channels and customers c) regions and countries “We lead through categories and grow through brands.” BLUE 2 TEXT 6/3/06 7:34 pm Page 6 06 BRAND MARKETING PLAN BRAND PLANNING TOOLSET OVERVIEW The Global / Regional Category Strategy provides broader strategic context and direction for the individual Brand Vision Plans and is translated into a National Category Building Plan. (NB: formats and templates for this are under development.) The Category Strategy is re-confirmed / updated each T1 to shape the plans created in that planning year. (See the definition of the National Category Building Plan under the BMP section ‘What are the inputs?’) The following visual summarises how the different planning processes are linked: FLOW OF PLANNING PROCESSES JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER NEW UNILEVER PLANNING CYCLES T3 T1 T2 Annual Contract Strategy Headlines Financial Planning Committed Q4 Amends to Global / National Category Regional Category Building Plans Strategy Plans HORIZON: 1-2 Years HORIZON: 3-5 Years Customer Business Plans HORIZON: 1 Year Amends to Brand Marketing Plans Brand Vision Plans HORIZON: 1-2 Years HORIZON: 3-5 Years (Customer Marketing Plans) NB: Exact timing may vary by category / region.