Unilever Leverages
First-Party Data to Drive
Insights andPersonalization at Scale
Popularizes liquid detergents in the Philippines using
mobile research, custom audiences andprogrammatic advertising.

Introduction
In the Philippines, Unilever provides consumers withlaundry products under the brand name 'Breeze'. These
products can be used for washing clothes either by handor with the washing machine.
The detergent market in the Philippines is dominated bypowders and bars, with more than 95% of consumers
preferring these formats over liquids. Breeze had theobjective of growing the liquids penetration in themarket, familiarizing consumers traditionally used to thepowder detergents with the new format.
To this extent, Unilever needed to understand, identify,
engage and acquire customers in a manner that drives aparadigm shift in their washing behavior. With a legacy of
increasing convenience and brightening the lives of
millions of households around the world, Unilever had tohelp consumers in the Philippines leap forward for
effective washing through liquid detergents.

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Digital Transformation

The Road Ahead for Unilever
Unilever is a global pioneer in every field – marketing, advertising, branding,operations, research, customer-centricity – anything and everything. And, evenmore so in digital transformation.
Unilever aims to future-proof the business by sharpening
its digital investment to better understand, engage andserve consumers. This underpins an even morecustomer-centric approach through data-led marketing,which ensures we better segment, enrich and focus on
activities that drive higher ROI.
Enzo Devoto - Executive Vice President Fabric Solutions,
Digital & Disruption

By leveraging first-party data, Unilever aimed to deliver a personalized experience that
demonstrated relevance – reflective of its in-depth understanding of consumer habits
and preferences.

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The Data Value-Exchangewith Connected Consumers
When It comes to relevance, access to the right kind of data
becomes essential. Strong companies consider first-party data asa two-way value exchange, where the researcher gets data fromauthenticated sources to plan better marketing strategies, while
the customers get valuable information that helps them enhancetheir daily lives.
While there is a multitude of anonymous data sources available
online, including browsing and search behavior on websites andapps, or clicks and impressions from media campaigns, informationon consumer interests and purchase intent from surveys remains
crucial for marketers to understand their audience and get trusted
opinions.

Leveraging Mobile to Understand,
Identify, Engage and Acquire Customers
The Philippines has a 71% internet and 89% mobile penetration. Thistranslates to millions of connected consumers across the nation.
Keeping this in mind, Breeze built a mobile in-app strategy tosurvey consumers In the Philippines and bring about theattitudinal shift among them. Unilever identified InMobi as thedigital partner of choice to understand the nature of its audiences,
identify key behaviors and then engage and acquire themthrough a tailored experience.

4Chapter 1

Understanding the Customer
The Challenge : Gathering Fast
and Actionable Insights
Today, consumers are bombarded with marketing messages
and advertisements, making it very difficult for brands todifferentiate themselves in the mind of their audiences.
Unilever, through traditional research methods, gathered
seven key barriers for consumers to switch from powder toliquid detergents. However, their previous targeting solutions,
including demographics, interests and location fell short inproviding the lower funnel triggers that are required to create
sharp brand messaging.
These qualitative insights were not sufficient to precisely
understand such a broad category of consumers and toaction a plan that drives a shift in their washing behavior.

Location

Demographics

Interests

5Chapter 1

Understanding the Customer
The Solution : Leveraging Mobile for Research
Unilever partnered with InMobi to solve this issue through InMobi Pulse, theleading mobile consumer intelligence platform. InMobi Pulse accesses over
20 million monthly active smartphone users (MAUs) in the Philippines.
Through the platform, Unilever surveyed over 11,500 consumers tounderstand their category preferences, usage and key barriers to adopting
liquid detergents. Unilever gathered several granular insights that helped
them understand and identify their audiences while shaping how they
engage and acquire them.

How likely are you to buy
online in the next threemonths?

Not very likely
Unlikely
Neutral
LikelyMonica Zymberg
Senior Global Brand & Innovation Manager, Unilever"In consultation with InMobi, we designed a survey aimed at answering
questions for both research and targeting purposes. We were able to learn
more about Filipino consumers, their laundry preferences, consumption
barriers and key messages to promote liquid detergents adoption. And byusing mobile research as starting point, we created a precise, fully
Integrated and agile go-to-market strategy."

Pulse

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Chapter 1

Understanding the Customer
The Solution : Leveraging Mobile
for Research
Washing Mode Preferences

To begin with, it was important to understand how Filipinos
prefer to wash clothes – methods of washing clothes, thepenetration of washing machines and other detailed
washing modes such as laundromats.
From our survey of over 11,000 respondents, InMobi foundout that 43% of Filipino consumers, especially mothers
and homemakers, still prefer washing by hand.

6
%

24
%

27
%

43%
Wash by Hands
Front Loading Machine WashTop Loading Machine Wash
Laundromats
7Chapter 1

Understanding the Customer

31%

The Solution : Leveraging Mobile for
Research

23%

The smell of clean laundry is the mostimportant thing

Reason for Detergent Selection

12%

Need products that solves difficult stains

Alongside with washing methods understanding, the mobile

12%

Want a one-size-fits-all productresearch disclosed drivers of preference for detergent choice(category adoption), how Breeze (liquid detergent) can unlock
an improved laundry experience and an adequate mapping

12%
9%

of audiences based on interests (for creating effective

Like using the latest and best products
Use different products for different needs
Buy the cheapest product in the market

communication).
As our research uncovered, 31% of Filipinos feel that the smell of clean laundry is themost important thing in the washing process.

Barriers to Buying Liquid Detergents
Alongside with washing methods understanding, the mobile research disclosed drivers of preference for detergent choice(category adoption), how Breeze (liquid detergent) can unlock an improved laundry experience and an adequate mapping ofaudiences based on interests (for creating effective communication).
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Chapter 1

Understanding the Customer

The Outcome: Unique Customer Personas
InMobi further sliced and diced the responses based on the following parameters to categorize Filipinos into threebroad segments: Bargain Hunters, Skeptics and Laggards.

Spending habits

Age group

GenderWhat they use
for washing

From the detailed survey responses,

How they use it

Barriers to
Liquid Usage

Need from theproduct (Detergents)

Unilever clustered its prospective
customers into three segments of
non-liquid detergent buyers.
9Bargain Hunters

Chapter 1

These are price conscious consumers,
who tend to be particularly sensitive to
price fluctuations and always prioritise
the most cost-effective solution.

Understanding the Customer
The Outcome: Unique Customer
Personas
Mobile-Driven Insights and Impactful
Communication
Abhinav Mohan
VP and GM - Pulse, InMobi“A problem well understood is a problem half-solved.
To gather actionable insights on their customers
from time to time, brands must invest in asustainable approach. Using a mobile-first platform,
brands can stay in touch with the evolving consumer
needs by capturing the real voice of the customer.
Through this clustering, Unilever defined thecommunication and advertising strategy for theirbrand.”

Skeptics
Skeptics are comfortable with
their current laundry solution andhave their reservations about theefficacy of alternative products.

Laggards
Laggards are slow decision
makers as they lack theknow-how and are often
unaware of all the productbenefits

10Chapter 2

Identifying the Audience
The Challenge : Scaling
Seed Audiences
Unilever developed a rich understanding of theirconsumers through a survey on Pulse – a leading
mobile consumer intelligence platform. However, toactivate its communication strategy, Unileverneeded to precisely target each of the segments,
Bargain Hunters, Skeptics, and Laggards, at a
massive scale. At the same time, the brand had totarget these mobile audiences while staying up todate with their changing shopping habits,
preferences or media behavior as micro-moments
unfold in their daily lives.

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Chapter 2

Identifying the Audience
The Solution : Data-Driven
Lookalike Audiences
Unilever used InMobi Audiences tocreate lookalike audiences with highprobability scores to match the threetarget segments. The Audiences
platform amplified the threecustomer segments created using
survey intelligence into a larger
audience of similar preferences andbehavior.

Factors Considered

Nature of Audiences

Category of Audience

Mothers,homemakers

Age

25 to 50 years old

Income Group

Middle class, upper-middle classand affluent

Data Considered

Data Signals Used

Appographic Data

Type of apps the audiences use
and their inclination towards
specific genres of apps

Technographic Data

Mobile device types, operating
systems and network data

Geographic Data

Location of the user

Ad Preference

Brand, category and ad formats

12Chapter 2

Identifying the Audience
The Solution : Data-Driven Lookalike Audiences
InMobi’s machine learning-based model used over 2000
different attributes to create lookalike audiences based on:

From the initial 11,000 Pulse survey respondents, who in this caseare the seed audience, InMobi amplified the reach of thecampaign. These “always-on” audiences are constantly updated
based on near real-time demographic, location, app and web
usage data.

Bargain Hunters
Geolocation context: Mothers and homemakers most likely to visitedplaces such as schools, supermarkets, shopping malls, movie theaters
and restaurants were identified as key locations for the campaign.
Device/app ownership: The most used mobile devices, their operating
systems, carrier networks, etc. were identified.

Skeptics

Demographic data: The age and income groups, social circles, etc.
were identified as key triggers to drive the campaign.
User search history: Trends in searches, keywords relating to the

Seed
Audiences

Lookalike
Audiences- 11000

1.5 million

search of detergents and trends in search history in multiple locations
were identified.

Laggards

Physical store data: Based on hygiene scores and recency of presence,
their recently visited locations were identified.

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Chapter 2

Identifying the Audience
The Outcome: Precision Targeting at Scale
Rishi Bedi
VP and Head of Business and Operations
SEA, Japan and Korea, InMobi

Mario Dughi
Senior Digital Transformation Manager
Unilever“While these users were segmented based on thesurvey results, InMobi Audiences had multiple otherdata signals about these users such as device
ownership, cellular operator, location, app ownership,
ad interaction, etc. Based on these signals, InMobi has
truly delivered, making precision marketing at scale for
Unilever a reality. The right kind of data and audience
platforms enhanced our seed audience of 11,500 users
into high quality psychographic and category
behavioral segments of 1.5 million consumers.”“At InMobi, we provide brands the ability to stayconnected with their ever-evolving audiences andtheir user states through the InMobi Audiences
platform. This means brands have the ability to drive
laser-focused targeting with a wide reach and at
scale in an ‘always-on’ fashion.”

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Chapter 3

Engaging and Acquiring
Customers
The Challenge : Driving
Personalization at Scale
Unilever identified three key target segments
for Breeze based on an in-depth understandingof the consumer. Armed with this data, it had tobuild tailored creative and mobile media
strategies for 1.5 million Filipinos. Whiledesigning the media strategy, Unilever had tobe mindful of the creative preferred by theconnected consumers and the channel for
maximizing media efficiency and impact.

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Chapter 3

Engaging and Acquiring
Customers

Bargain Hunters

Skeptics

Laggards

The Solution : Leveraging thePower of Programmatic Video
Unilever leveraged programmatic video todeliver ads with customized messaging andaesthetics to the audience segments ofBargain Hunters, Skeptics and Laggards. Thisway, different audiences saw ad creatives thatspoke specifically to their needs and concerns.
Mobile is the primary screen for connectedconsumers in the Philippines, as they stream
videos, play games, access news, and availbanking services on the go. Mobile video
advertising, with a 150% higher engagement
rate than other formats, is evidently thepreferred mode of engagement with brands.

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Chapter 3

Engaging and Acquiring
Customers
Unilever’s leadership in programmatic planningand buying meant an easy integration with bestof-breed technologies and capabilities such as
InMobi Exchange. InMobi Exchange provides thesafest premium-buying opportunities in theapp-based ecosystem to leading brands andadvertisers across the globe. Unilever’s commitment
to programmatic in partnership with InMobi
Exchange guaranteed digital media quality
measures around complete viewability, transparent
brand safety and high in-target delivery.

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Chapter 3

Engaging and Acquiring
Customers
The Outcome: Influencing PurchaseThrough Personalization
For Unilever, the brand awareness, preference,
recommendation and purchase intent of the consumers
were the most critical for the success of the pilot. To
understand the impact of the campaign on perceptions
and behaviors of the clustered audiences and how they
responded to the ads, Unilever conducted a brand lift
study.
The study observed a deeper level of interaction of thetarget audiences with the brand. As a result of themessaging, the audience seemed to prefer, intended topurchase and was likely to recommend Breeze in thePhilippines.

Customized Brand Lift Survey

How much do youagree
that the Ad talks about
the following
statement?

How much do you
agree that the Ad
talks about thefollowing statement?

Liquids are worth
the price

Liquids clean aswell as powders

Liquids work for
different types ofClothes

Not very likely

Not very likely

Not very likely

Unlikely

Unlikely

NeutralNeutral

LikelyLikelyPulse

Bargain Hunters

How much do you agree
that the Ad talks about
the following statement?

Unlikely
Neutral
Likely

Pulse

Pulse

Skeptics

Laggards

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Chapter 3

Engaging and Acquiring Customers
The Outcome

Intent to Purchase2

The exposed group said
they were likely and very
likely to purchase Breeze

Ad and Brand Recall
75% of the exposed group
recalled watching the ad.
83% of the people whorecalled the ad also recalled
the brand name correctly.

1
Ad Comprehension
70% of the audienceis impressed by thead content.

4

3

Brand Awarenessand Salience
While Bargain Huntersachieved the largest rise inawareness, the Skeptics
closely followed.

5
Brand
Recommendation
The exposed groupconsiders recommending
Breeze.

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Chapter 3

Engaging and Acquiring Customers
Ad Recall
25

Brand Recall
17

Yes

No

Base (Exposed) : 3015

BreezeOthersBase (Exposed & Recall ad) :217

Effect of personalized advertising on ad and brand recall, Brand Lift Survey,
Unilever20

Intent to purchase product 33%

Sales Metrics
The campaign saw a marked effect on
customer purchase patterns. Marketers
noticed that 13% of the viewers visited thewebsite, 19% checked the product online,
and 1 in 3 consumers went ahead andbought the product. The 33% of consumers
who stated their intent to buy the productdefines the campaign success in driving
the perception shift of powder-using
consumers trying liquid detergents.

Effect ofpersonalized
advertising onpurchase intent
and word of
mouth, Brand Lift
Survey, Unilever

Checked product online

19%

Social Media Following

13%

Visited Website 13%
Discussed with Friends 12%

Turnover of liquid detergents witnessed
a YoY uplift of 30.3% in September 2019and 24.8% in October 2019. This is an
initial indication that the campaign
drove a positive uplift among theFilipinos.

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The Best Bets that Helped Unilever to Demonstrate Campaign Success
A combination of intelligent mobile market research, precise lookalike audiences, intuitive ad content and programmatic
in-app advertising created a breakthrough in the buying behavior of Filipinos.

UnderstandIdentify

EngageAcquireBuyer Behavior

Thoughtful Opportunities

Through Personalization

Customers at Scale

InMobi delivered a feasible

Based off the audience

Keeping the communication

With data sources backed bysolution, personalizing

segments developed throughsuccinct and personalized forthe brand lift survey, InMobi

audiences and clustering

first-party data, InMobi

the audiences through theaccurately measured thethem based on actionable

identified lookalike audiences

most engaging in-app ad

reach, response and overall

parameters. This showed

and set priorities for eachformats, InMobi bridged theimpact of the ad campaign inmarketers the real audienceaudience segment to amplify

gaps between a strong plan

driving the mind shift in thethey needed to address andthe reach of the campaign

and a well-executed strategy

audience.

capture.

and change the perceptions

by providing a seamlessof the larger target group.

customer experience.

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“At InMobi, we believe that long-term brand success requires
a healthy consumer relationship. And with any relationship, it
is important to not only “talk” but also to listen, in order tocreate understanding. Successful brands such as Unilever,through this project, have focused on delivering the brand tothe consumer - not the consumer to the brand. They havebuilt relevant brand experiences that are personalized,
automated and delivered at scale. We are glad to be helping
brands solve the puzzle of understanding their data

“Today’s consumer learns, evolves and takes action in a waythat is too fast for many of us to keep up with (let alone getahead of). They are “always-on” and have more control thanever before on when, how and with whom they engage. They
seek contextual experiences — meaning their engagement witha brand reflects an understanding of past actions, productusage and a myriad of other factors. Through the application of
consumer-focused technologies that are data-driven andmobile intelligent, we have leveraged the always-on dimension

whereabouts and providing a safe platform to reach themof consumer behavior to build and execute an impactful

effectively on mobile.”

go-to-market strategy for Breeze in the Philippines.”- Vasuta Agarwal
Managing Director, Asia Pacific, InMobi- Rafael Hechanova
Home Care Mix Development Lead,, Unilever Philippines
23About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty &Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment
products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2.5
billion consumers a day. Since 2010 we have been taking
action through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to help
more than a billion people improve their health andwell-being, halve our environmental footprint and enhance
the livelihoods of millions of people as we grow our business.
We have already made significant progress and continue toexpand our ambition – most recently committing to ensure
100% of our plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable orcompostable by 2025.

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3About InMobi
InMobi drives real connections between brands andconsumers by leveraging its technology platforms andexclusive access to mobile intelligence. Its Marketing Cloudcreates new paths for brands to understand, identify,
engage and acquire connected consumers. As a leading
technology company, InMobi has been recognized on boththe 2018 and 2019 CNBC Disruptor 50 lists and as one of Fast
Company’s 2018 World’s Most Innovative Companies.

For more information, visit www.inmobi.com.

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