Challenge
Unilever wanted to raise the bar on its craftmanship of effective planet-positive innovation. However, the accumulated knowledge & learnings within the business was scattered across initiatives and teams.
The plan was to produce a playbook that consolidated these learnings, with a clear framework and principles for sustainable innovation, focused around the Beauty & Personal Care sector.
Approach
We created a series of chapters in the form of critical questions for brand, marketing and R&D users, as they undertook an innovation journey.
Each chapter brought together an understanding of why the business question is important, with key insights from previous projects. These included links to relevant reports, and tips and relevant frameworks to help move thinking forward.
Insight
It wasn’t enough to write a playbook: we needed to get people to read it, use it and keep using it.
We did that by:
- Understanding the whole project and user cycle, including R&D;
- Leveraging genuine project learnings (not just the positives!); and
- Making the playbook a partner to Unilever’s existing innovation processes.
Impact
The playbook provides clear, compelling and inspiring guidance on driving sustainable innovation, with learning and best practice from across the business. The virtual cascade events were attended by a record number of Unilever participants, engaging people across levels, functions and divisions.