MANILA, PHILIPPINES — As the world entered the “new normal” in 2020, brands and marketers were thrown in for a loop when people were forced to stay home, growing ever more reliant on the internet to sustain much of daily life. 9-to-5 professionals found themselves not on a commute to their office but working at home, as e-commerce platforms and courier service solved their retail needs.
Two months into 2021, and we are still reveling in last year’s disruptions. Evolving consumer behavior, as well as a shifting online landscape offers an opportune time for innovative marketing — one that was not lost on Unilever Philippines.
Despite housing some of the most iconic household brands, Unilever constantly strives for innovation and progress through groundbreaking strategies that merge data and creativity. According to Unilever Philippines Country Media Director Dennis Perez, digital evolution is inevitable, with the COVID-19 lockdown merely accelerating its arrival.
Looking back on 2020, Perez shares that last year’s events prompted a need to change how their brands interacted with people as digital usage soared. “We realized that we cannot just copy and paste what we historically did in traditional media to digital media. In traditional media, it’s all about one to many. But in digital, data and rich signals allow advertising to be really relevant to individuals rather than to a broad audience.”
According to Perez, the rise of digital enabled Unilever to make their advertising relevant to people instead of consumers– addressing each person’s individual needs. Enter U-COIN, a digital rewards and data program created in partnership with RUSH, one of the country’s leading loyalty and e-commerce solutions providers under 917Ventures, the largest corporate venture builder and incubator in the Philippines and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom.
It was a match made in digital heaven. Behind RUSH was an impressive portfolio that included the widely successful Globe Rewards program, a fact that the Unilever team was completely familiar with. RUSH CEO Stephanie Kubota shared that they have been working closely with the conglomerate for almost five years. “From the very beginning, [Unilever has] been the most progressive of our partners. It’s a mutual understanding that loyalty and digitalization is no longer a supplement in fostering stronger and longer lasting relationships our customers– it’s a necessity. Digital transformation has been a rather slow and ongoing endeavor for enterprises for the past couple of years, but the pandemic really expedited the whole process.”
Launched in October 2020, U-COIN is a program that promises shoppers and engagers exclusive rewards by participating in immersive experiences. Users can sign up on the U-COIN website and earn U-COINs by shopping Unilever products, answering in-website surveys and engaging in other branded touchpoints. With their U-COIN, they can redeem amazing freebies from a wide range of partners that include GrabFood, McDonalds, Globe, and more. And with richer data from continuous engagement with consumers, Unilever can drive more targeted and relevant experience to its users.
Glenn Estrella, Head of Ideation & Acceleration at 917Ventures, credits the early success of U-COIN to Unilever Philippines’ ability to embrace the start-up mindset. “Through the partnership with RUSH, we have empowered Unilever Philippines to practice a lean approach– start small, experiment, fail fast but learn faster.”
Estrella also cites this same solution-focused mindset as instrumental in Unilever Philippines’ ability to involve other brands such as McDonalds and Grab as reward partners in order to improve their value and core. “Companies usually partner up based on immediate commercial benefits. But U-COIN’s partnerships were based on a shared vision where revenue is not the obvious goal, but impact– not just on customers, but on communities.”
According to Unilever’s Perez, interactivity is at the core of U-COIN, providing people with valuable experiences and fostering personal relationships through heightened engagement. “U-COIN makes interaction with Unilever-branded experiences more meaningful. It’s gamified because they can actually choose to combine their coins or they can try to save it for a bigger reward in the future. There is a lot of expectation from users to be delighted with digital branded experiences. Unlike with traditional ads, people are looking for interactivity, rewards, and delight.”
Users met U-COIN with warm response. This prompted the Unilever and RUSH teams to introduce the rest of its features, such as the addition of new reward partners. Wence Wenceslao, Unilever Philippines’ Digital Hub Lead and Co-Lead for U-COIN, shares, “The beauty of rewarding consumers for continuously engaging with us is they are empowered to choose what reward they want– and we can easily unlock that with [RUSH]. We started the pilot at 38 rewards, and we’re now at 100 rewards. With these rewards and continuous re-engagement, we gain deeper insights on their preferences and behavior online and offline, and forms a unified consumer view.”
The program ties back to future-proofing the brand’s foray in a cookieless world, driving more targeted and personalized marketing. Jef Cruz, Commercial Head at RUSH, explains, “U-COIN was able to create a unified program to integrate different engagement channels. This enabled us to see customers from all touchpoints and how intricate it is to engage a specific set of audience. I am really surprised how each day is a brand new discovery when it comes to customer behavior that helps us create more rewarding experiences.”
Once users sign up for U-COIN, each of their brand interactions allows Unilever to learn more about them– shaping specific, nuanced consumer experiences. It’s a far cry from traditional advertising aiming for mass appeal, and inches closer to the near future of personalized ads that address a user’s particular needs.
While consumers clamor for more individualized branded experiences, this also comes with the expectation to respect user preferences. With growing concerns on data privacy worldwide, the digital sphere’s shift to a cookieless world seems imminent. This opens the field for both big and small players to come up with innovative and engaging solutions that offer personalized experiences based on consent and transparency.
Driven by meaningful engagement and stronger, long-lasting customer relationships, the U-COIN program is designed as a new solution towards mutual consent between brand and consumer in the digital sphere. According to Perez, unlike third-party cookies that lack visibility on how users are profiled, U-COIN promises a transparent and engaging process. “As people get rewarded for sharing valuable insights, U-COIN makes our marketing more anticipated. In fact, a lot of people are now waiting for the next U-COIN drop. And that’s what Unilever is trying to do, we’re maintaining that relationship for us to basically drive a higher customer satisfaction and lifetime value. We value the people that we serve, and, and at the end of the day, we want to make sure that the trust will remain and stay there for a long time.”
Unilever’s progressive mentality is what anchors their partnership with RUSH, allowing them to create strides in digital marketing here and worldwide. Within four months of its launch, U-COIN has already been lauded by marketing professionals worldwide– winning a global award for brand bravery during its pilot stage, a recognition for pulling off a feat that had yet to be accomplished in other markets. As a successful case study in the cookieless race, U-COIN’s launch has edged over other countries that may have more sophisticated infrastructure.
Pia Inserto, Digital Analyst and Co-Lead for U-COIN for Unilever Philippines, adds, “The beauty of this whole partnership and this whole program is it’s not just addressing consumer needs during the pandemic and introducing a shiny new toy for consumers. It’s about really trying to think of every single scenario with the consumer at the heart of it. And I think what we wanted to do for Unilever is make them accessible to their consumers and really provide a wonderful experience. One of the things that allowed us to do that is really connecting all of their fragmented experiences into one universal, seamless channel through U-COIN.”
Users can sign up on U-COIN here.
