CANNES – The Cannes Lions Festival always plays host to some of the most prominent figures in advertising and business, and this year was no different.
“There’s one secret formula that brings together all these founders and that is they’re pioneers of purposeful growth,” said Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer, Unilever, at the opening session of Cannes Lions Festival, Day 3.
Addressing the session on ‘The Founders Formula: Pioneering for Purposeful Growth’, Weed said founders are very important to Unilever and it is a principle that runs through their veins. “It’s nurtured, we encourage our marketers to be very much engage in the thought about how founders build purposeful businesses,” Weed opined.
He discussed how a ‘founder’s mindset’ is the secret to success. “Lever wanted to make cleanliness commonplace, and he wanted to lighten the burden on women. He understood that the best way to have a healthy business was to have a healthy society. And he understood the power of trust. A brand without trust is just a product.”
With marketers having, at the moment, limited scope to precisely measure how far an influencer can actually engage with an audience, Unilever is looking to work alongside social platforms for increased visibility and transparency. As such, Weed announced that their three commitments are:
- Transparency from Influencers: We will not work with influencers who buy followers.
- Transparency from Brands: Our brands will never buy followers.
- Transparency from Platforms: We will prioritize partners who increase transparency and help eradicate bad practices throughout the whole ecosystem.
“At Unilever, we believe influencers are an important way to reach consumers and grow our brands. Their power comes from a deep, authentic and direct connection with people, but certain practices like buying followers can easily undermine these relationships.”
He went on to state: “We need to take urgent action now to rebuild trust before it’s gone forever.”
Also featuring in the session were a trio of purpose-driven founders: Richelieu Dennis, Founder- CEO – Executive Chairman of Sundial Brands; Guido Martinetti, Founder – CEO of Grom; and Jane Wurwand, Co-Founder – Chief Visionary of Dermalogica®, The International Dermal Institute® and FITE.
Richelieu Dennis, Liberian founder, CEO and executive chairman of Sundial Brands
“We started making and selling natural black soaps in our kitchen, the way my grandmother did back home, and selling them in the streets of Harlem,” said Richelieu Dennis, the Liberian founder, CEO and executive chairman of Sundial Brands. “We realized there were no brands in those days—the early 90s—that were focused on women of color. We started to focus in on that and also support women, to make sure a percentage of our profits went to our providers in the supply chain.”
Guido Martinetti, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grom
Having worked in a winery, Guido Martinetti, founder and CEO of Grom, had learned the importance of “treating the agriculture and the grape with kindness” and felt that principal could be applied to “making the best gelato in the world.” He left and started to build up a relationship with the farmers who would be the company’s suppliers.
In all cases, the founders were driven by a sense of mission that went beyond the product.
Jane Wurwand, Co-Founder – Chief Visionary of Dermalogica®, The International Dermal Institute® and FITE
Jane Wurwand, co-founder and chief visionary at Dermalogica, explained further: “As a start-up entrepreneur you look for pain in an industry you love. I am a skin therapist and we saw skin therapists who were not successful because of a lack of training and education. We believed if you could upskill the industry, we could move them away from selling a ‘miracle in a bottle’ to selling real solutions. We started as an education company and product came later.”
Weed concluded saying the way to be successful sustainably into the future is to invest in the people around you. “We believe responsible business is not just about our factories and our offices and our day-to-day business, but also in our extended supply chain, which most people think of in terms of agricultural and industrial processes, but it also includes the digital supply chain and the company’s marketing activities.”
Watch the full session here:
