Unilever is one of the biggest companies in the world. However, it had always communicated through its product portfolio. Unilever was a brand few people knew.

In the light of this scenario, we had to launch the first master brand campaign in Unilever´s history communicating its sustainable living plan: Project Sunlight. Its purpose was to create a platform that would allow long term interaction with consumers providing them with tools to create positive change and as a result, build trust in the company and increase brand awareness.

We needed to reframe the often negative and intimidating conversation around sustainability with powerful storytelling informed by deep insights and thought leadership. Extensive consumer research showed that children are the catalysts to inspiring adults to adopt greener lifestyles. So that became the gene of our strategy.

The global launch took place on Universal children’s day 2013. The central piece was a “pre natal” film that answered a tough question - why bring a child into this world? The film showed that we live in a world of unprecedented possibilities and how we are all capable of changing the storyline of the narrative we’re living in. Parents’ genuine reactions to it were turned into an online film that drove consumers’ attention to projectsunlight.com. Six months after the launch we had reached 1.2 billion media impressions and the embedded website counter showed 70 million acts of consumer participation.

We set the bar high for year 2. The continuity of the campaign was based on children who take the future in their hands to create and inspire change. We called them New Leaders. The Ghandis and MLKs in the making. Because sustainability is the civil rights movement of this generation. So we looked for real young activists from US to Indonesia and used their own words to express Unilever’s point of view: there’s never been a better time to create a brighter future. The campaign had global and local executions with programs that helped communities through Unilever’s NGO partners.

If you visit projectsunlight.com, you’ll find the counter shows 182.7 million consumer interactions with the brand. The brand equity and brand awareness indicators keep showing improvement as the campaign runs.

Above all, what this case goes to show is that even when apathy reigns, brand equity can be built and strengthened through creative work based on a truly human insight and the desire to prompt positive change.