• Promo , Monday, November 5, 2007 10:33 AM

With the goal of helping consumers make healthier choices and to connect the concept of vitality with its products, Unilever has been hyping the nutritional benefits of its brands over the past two years, according to Stephanie Kovner-Bryant, Unilever senior integrated marketing manager.

Its first move was to establish a Nutritional Enhancement Program to determine which of its 16,000 products fit U.S. health guidelines. In the course of aligning its products with those guidelines, Unilever excised 15,000 tons of trans fat, 10,000 tons each of sugar and saturated fats and 2,000 tons of sodium from those products. It then created "Eat Smart" and "Drink Smart" programs to promote brands such as Lipton Tea, SlimFast, Hellman's and Ragu.

Then Unilever struck an alliance with Bob Greene--Oprah Winfrey's personal trainer--around the release of his best-selling book "The Best Life Diet." Brands getting an imprimatur in Greene's book--and endorsed by Winfrey--were tagged with a "Best Life" logo. Unilever teamed up with General Mills and Barilla to promote their respective products in a marketing tour tied to Greene's book.

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