In which segments are you present? Which segments are the most promising?
We are present in the toilet soap, toothpaste, deodorant, skin care, and hair care segments. The most important segments are toothpaste and toilet soap, which account for 58% and 36% of our sales in the Ivorian market, respectively.
Which of the existing brands on the market are performing best?
The Monsavon brand is performing very well. It enjoys significant brand awareness and a long history with Ivorian consumers. We want to maintain this brand awareness. Today, Monsavon sells more than 3 million units each year in Côte d'Ivoire.
Dove is also one of our strong brands and has been growing over the years. We believe that Ivorians are attached to this brand because it promotes natural beauty. The LUX brand has also been an integral part of everyday life in Côte d'Ivoire for many years.
Have you developed specific brands for African markets, particularly Côte d'Ivoire?
Of course. For example, in August 2017, we launched a "Shea Butter" variant under the Belivoir brand. This variant was designed primarily for our West African countries, as shea butter is an ingredient that is highly valued for its moisturizing properties.
Building on its success, this variant has since sold just over 2 million units in Côte d'Ivoire since its launch.
What strategy are you implementing in the face of competing local brands?
At Unilever, we are proud to have a portfolio of several brands that have been accompanying Ivorian consumers for several decades now. Building on our legitimacy, we have opted for a differentiation strategy by adapting our offerings to the uses and habits of our consumers. At the same time, we capitalize on the recognized quality of our products.
How would you describe your consumers? What are their expectations? Their uses? Their needs?
Our consumers are mainly based in urban and peri-urban areas. They buy our products both in modern retail outlets and in traditional points of sale. They are also particularly price-sensitive and therefore less likely to buy expensive products without a guarantee of quality.
Their purchasing decisions are therefore motivated by price, availability, and trust.
Do you see a difference in consumer perception between international and local brands? Are international brands still as popular as ever?
Our consumers are more sensitive to international brands. The brands they use give an idea of their identity and their place in society. The reputation and, above all, the history of brands are very important to them, as they associate them with a guarantee of quality. Our consumers are therefore more likely to value brands that have been around for generations.
Which sectors are important for you in
terms of communication?
From a global perspective, digital is the most important communication sector for Unilever. However, we need to adapt our communication strategy to local specificities. Given the low digital penetration rate in our French-speaking African countries, traditional media such as television, radio, and billboards remain very important.
In terms of the distribution of our media investments, television accounts for 65% of our spending, compared with 15% for billboards and 9% each for radio and digital.
By segment, which media do you use and what type of strategy do you implement? Do you focus on one medium or several?
The goal is to ensure effective and continuous visibility and mental availability for our brands, so we opt for a cross-channel communication strategy. The choice to highlight a particular channel will be based on its audience reach and the type of message we want to deliver.
What about social media? How do you use it?
We also use social media as a means of communication to consolidate the appeal of our brands among our online consumers. Social media is also an effective platform for recruiting consumers via influencers and web activists. We regularly use it for the viral promotion of our launches and other social initiatives.
For example, we recently launched a free dental consultation campaign around our Signal brand as part of World Oral Health Day.
To do this, we associated our brand image with a panel of local influencers and web activists, which enabled us to attract a considerable audience throughout the duration of our roadshow.
Private TV channels will soon be available in Côte d'Ivoire. Could this change your habits?
The advent of new private TV channels in Côte d'Ivoire will undoubtedly shake up the media landscape by increasing the number of ways consumers can access television. We see this as a tremendous opportunity to recruit new consumers, which we intend to seize.
Do you also use the media in original or event-driven ways? Have you developed any special operations?
Yes. For certain specific brands, we regularly organize viral contests via social media in order to focus our consumers' attention on our brand, as well as sporadic operations that we carry out.
How do you organize your campaigns in general? Do you prefer a big communication push for a product over a short period of time, or a linear, long-term campaign?
At Unilever, we want to maintain a high level of spontaneous awareness of our brands among our consumers. It is also important for us to have the same level of presence in consumers' minds as we do in terms of visibility at points of sale. On this basis, our communication strategy consists of maintaining a continuous level of visibility among our consumers by favoring linear, long-term campaigns.
The overall market for toiletries and beauty products in terms of communication has been estimated at one billion CFA francs in Côte d'Ivoire. Is this accurate?
For example, our media investments for the toiletries and beauty category represent just over 650,000,000 CFA francs per year. We don't just invest in media in Côte d'Ivoire. We also communicate via sub-regional and pan-African television channels (Novelas, A+, etc.) and certain key radio stations in the markets where we operate. This amount also includes advertising costs in Côte d'Ivoire and in the countries where we operate.
In Côte d'Ivoire, what is the overall hygiene and beauty market worth in terms of revenue?
The hygiene and beauty segment is booming, partly due to the growth of the middle class, but also because products are more accessible on the market. With the development of modern retail outlets in Côte d'Ivoire, consumers have a wider choice of products. We expect the market to continue to grow at a minimum over the next two years.
How do you see the market evolving, particularly in view of the ever-growing middle class?
The African middle class has tripled in size over the last 30 years and is driving demand for cosmetics on the continent. As a result, cosmetics companies are competing for market share.
The emergence of national and regional champions demonstrates the potential of this market and the diversity of consumer habits expressed by this middle class.
At Unilever, we welcome this emerging competition and intend to defend our position in this segment.