2014 winner: Unilever, Marketing for Sustainable Consumption - case study

In 2013 Unilever set out to revolutionise the aerosol deodorant category as we know it.

With 80% of consumers in the UK and Ireland preferring aerosol deodorants to roll on and stick formats, change was vital. Unilever’s mission is simple: to halve the greenhouse gas impact and waste associated with the disposal of its products by 2020 while significantly reducing consumers’ environmental footprint through its ambitious Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

The compressed aerosol can was born.
A result of 10 years research and innovation, the compressed technology marks the first packaging reduction initiative for the traditional aerosol in almost 50 years. It is also the first major move by any manufacturer to make the category more sustainable. Using 50% less propellant gas than previous formats, 28% less aluminium packaging and with a 25% lower carbon footprint per can the NPD was rolled out simultaneously across Unilever’s Sure Women, Dove and Vaseline brands.

Half the size of traditional aerosol deodorants but containing the same amount of product with the same RRP, the format’s sustainability credentials promised to shake up the industry for the first time in almost half a century.

It did.
In just 12 months 12 million compressed cans have been sold and Unilever’s year-end sales target was met three months early. The smaller cans mean more can be included per delivery, resulting in fewer lorry journeys. As a result of the market-changing launch Unilever is compressing its entire female portfolio and conversion of men’s deodorants is underway, meaning that in 2014 42% of Unilever’s deodorant portfolio will be compressed.

Unilever predicts that if one million consumers switched to compressed deodorant cans  it could save 720 tonnes of CO2 and enough aluminium to make 25,600 bikes every year

That’s a lot of bikes.

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