Throughout this month, the whitefox Books for Brands series will highlight excellent manifestations of creative content marketing from around the world, revealing the power of editorial content, and books in particular, in elevating a brand’s visibility and credibility.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways of brand communication. With editorial content, brands can use story to build brand loyalty and positive consumer perception. 

This direct contrast can be seen in Unilever’s two marketing campaigns:

In 2012, it was widely reported that Unilever’s $6.3million television ad campaign for Axe body spray was not seen by 60% of the 18 to 24 year olds it was intending to reach.

In 2015, Unilever Philippines partnered with Wattpad, the online publishing platform.

The platform has a primarily teenage demographic and a stronghold of 5 million readers in the Philippines. In order to feature a cleanser product, Eskinol, Unilever commissioned an online novel for teens by a popular Wattpad author. Readers spent a combined 3.6 million minutes on the page and shared the story on social media, gaining 20 million social media impressions.

Using brand stories and interesting content, this 70 year old brand was able to engage with the elusive teenage demographic.

Text by Catherine Cho.