Unilever launches website resource for direct sellers

The initiative is a new approach to Network Marketing, providing a much stronger element of support to the independent sales person.

Unilever's global chairman, Niall FitzGerald, explained that the launch of Unilever Network is in line with the organisation's strategic objectives, as well as the socio-economic needs of South Africa.

Visiting SA during the opening of the first Unilever Network Centre in Durban recently, FitzGerald, who is a member of President Thabo Mbeki's International Investment Council (IIC), says that the network provides additional routes to marketing products and services that meet consumers' needs.

Key to the Unilever Network website is Pilotfish's Content Management System (CMS), which gives management the ability to update the site on a daily basis without the intervention of specialist staff or complex web tools.

"The site provides us with an up-to-date marketing and communications tool to convey brand information to sellers who can in turn send us feedback. The fact that it's easy to use and requires no training nor professional assistance, makes the tool invaluable," says Craig Stone, business analyst at Unilever SA.

Adam Shapiro, marketing director at Pilotfish, says that the development team at Pilotfish had to "burn the midnight oil" in order to meet the tight deadline. "We used Microsoft tools to optimise the use of graphics reducing download times to the minimum, yet still maintaining the image and branding that Unilever Network required," says Shapiro.

The task was made simpler, he says, by working closely with the communications partner to Unilever Network, Motivation Africa, which supplied Pilotfish with the necessary print media graphics, which were converted into digital format.

The Unilever Network model has already been proved successful in Thailand and India. FitzGerald says that apart from offering a face-to-face purchasing experience, Unilever Network also provides an opportunity to get closer to consumers and receive feedback about products and their needs.

Unilever is one of the world's largest consumer businesses with more than 265 000 employees and a turnover of over R520 billion in 2001. The launch of Unilever Network in SA is modelled on its international success, as well as that of Aviance, the Direct Selling business that Lever Pond's has operated in Durban for the past 12 months.