Samir Singh is ED - Personal Care, Hindustan Unilever.
Congratulations, you’ve been Client of the Year for the third consecutive year.
It feels absolutely fabulous. It is a third time in a row as Client of the Year. The award matters a lot to us because it is about effectiveness, about what is happening to the sales of the brand and to the equity of the brand. So it is about the creativity of business, and we are very, very happy and very humbled.
Creativity versus effectiveness is a big debate. For HUL, how much importance is given to effectiveness vis-a-vis creativity?
I think it is all-important because we are not in the job of entertainment. We are in the job of selling brands and making brands iconic with our consumers. At Unilever, we strongly believe in the mix of having strong, disciplined brands that are consistent over a period of time, and at same time trusting the fabulous agency partners that we have with the judgment and the ability to take risks and sort of go to new heights. It’s that combination you see which works at HUL.
Given a chance, as a marketer, would you prefer an Effie over a creative award?
I don’t mind getting any awards but like I said, I think effectiveness for a company or business matters much more because it is about business. You know we are not in the job of making films for just entertainment’s sake. We are in the job even when we do something like a Dove Sketches or Help a Child reach Five or a Kissan film. We are always looking for stuff that will further the equity of the brand or further its sales. So for us that is all-important, and that is why we exist.
Many of your brands have won awards at the Effies, which one according to you was the most effective?
All of them were effective. I have a personal favourite but I think some of the campaigns which won gold awards - like the Fair and Lovely postpone marriage or the Surf Excel campaigns - have been outstanding.
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