Unilever’s Lifebuoy in India: Implementing

the Sustainability Plan

Lifebuoy’s Origins

 William Heskrth Lever born in 1851 North of England.

 In 1888, Lever setup Sunlight soap factory.
 Birth of lifebuoy soap – 1894.
 Exporting the soap.
 It was the first soap to use carbolic acid, which gave it a red color and strong,
medicinal scent.
 Lifebuoys goal is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health
solutions that enable people to lead a life without fear of hygiene anxieties
and health consequences
 First launched in UK Country was under severe grip of plague during mid-
1890s.
Campaign of Swasthya Chetna

 Tag Line Of this campaign was ‘Visibly clean is not really clean’
 Initiated in 2002 as a rural health and hygiene initiative in India. Started
with 8 state & covered 70million people.
 In partnership with local Govt. bodies, visited rural schools to teach the
importance of hand wash with soap.
 The element of Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna that involves children focuses on
fun, using stories, games, songs and quizzes.
Cont.….

 Recruited school children & their parents on a voluntary basis to spread the
message.
 Efforts are made to ensure that the learning does not fade over time.
 According to HUL it was a “Marketing Programme with Social Benefit.”
 Till Date this campaign becomes the largest privet hygiene education project
in the World, Covering more then 130million people in 30,000 villages since
2002.
Cont……

 According to HUL it was a “Marketing Programme with Social Benefit”

 Covering 130 million people in 30,000 villages since 2002, becomes largest
private hygiene education project in the world.
 Sales during this period increased by 20%.
Targeting Rural Areas

 One innovative response was to recruit women as local distributors.

 Appointed women are called Sakti Ammas (Strength Mothers).
 The company offered them training, microcredit, and products in small pack
sizes affordable to people on low incomes.
 These Shakti women entrepreneurs could earn Rs. 1,000 a month or more.
Implementation in India

The KKD Rural Outreach Initiative

 It emerged as a replacement for the SC “Health Awakening” program
 The innovative Khushiyon Ki Doli (KKD)—or “Caravan of Happiness”— was a
collaborative.
 KKD involved teams visiting villages and hosting meetings at which all
sponsoring products were presented.
 KKD component was a scaled-back version of its SC routine, retaining the
“Glo-Germ”
 Focused on housewives rather than children.
 Promoters went door-to-door with coupons and offers
 The MP Partnership Initiative

 A clinically proven 21-day intervention built on the Unilever Handwashing

Program.
 Lifebuoy Indonesia had integrated this program into schools' program in
partnership with the Indonesian government and some NGOs.
 Singh had convinced Sitapati to sign an agreement with UNICEF to bring a
similar handwashing program to Madhya Pradesh.
 Under the contract the MP government would provide school access and
support.
 This program would adapt Indonesia’s proven “School of Five” materials for
the 900,000 children initially targeted in 5,700 government schools.
 The Urban Schools Liquids Initiative

 Like KKD, this program was designed primarily as a marketing initiative, but
differed from KKD on several dimensions:
 it was focused solely on Lifebuoy, not on multiple products.
 it was aimed at urban markets rather than rural locations.
 it targeted children not housewives.
 its objective was to increase the use of Lifebuoy Liquid Handwash rather than
Lifebuoy soap bars.
 To implement the program, Indonesia’s “School of Five” educational program
was adapted.
FIVE LEVERS OF CHANGE

 Lifebuoy has used Unilever’s Five Levers for Change methodology to make
people understand why handwashing with soap is important.

 1.) MAKE IT UNDERSTOOD

 2.) MAKE IT EASY
 3.) MAKE IT DESIRABLE
 4.) MAKE IT REWARDING
 5.) MAKE IT A HABIT
 Urban
  KKD MP Liquids  
Outreach Partnership
2013 Program Parameters Assumptions/Comments
  (All values in Indian Rupees)  
8,500,000 4,500,000 KKD and MP usage impact assume that they both
1,500,000 influence
Estimated number of family behavior, justifying an X5
contacts in 2013 multiplier.
Total Program Cost for 54,500,000 28,000,000 35,000,000 Lifebuoy’s Share of costs (KKD: 20%; MP: 33%;
Lifebuoy (in Rs.) Urban Liquid: 100%.)
Cost per Contact (in Rs.) 6.4 6.2 23.3  
Incremental Lifebuoy 25,250,000 8,285,000 19,800,000 Post-program soap consumption assumptions:
Revenue (in Rs.) Lifebuoy obtains 30% of forecast post-KKD
increase; 20% of post-MP’s increase (due to
unbranded soap); Urban Liquids program
converts 12% of households to Lifebuoy
Handwash averaging Rs. 110 use p.a.
Gross Margin (in Rs.) 6,312,500 2,071,250 9,900,000 25% for bar soap; 50% for liquid.
Investment Payback for 8.6 years 13.5 years 3.5 years  
Lifebuoy
Investment Payback for 5.7 years 8.9 years 3.5 years Post-KKD and MP programs, Unilever retains
Unilever 45% rural market share for its
soap brands.
Key Goals Of Unilever To Achieve Before
2020 are:-
 sourcing 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably .
 Changing the hygiene habits of 1 billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin
America.
 Making safe drinking water available to half a billion people.
 improving livelihoods in developing countries .
Thank You