Unilever boss admits to challenges with social media

In his final interview before retiring, Simon Clift, the outgoing marketing chief of Unilever, warned of a “lost generation” of brand managers who do not understand the web and social networks.

Traditional advertising agencies are struggling to adapt to the digital world, he said, and the array of new, online marketing tools which are now presented to them.

Clift has been at international marketing giant Unilever for over 30 years – a time which has seen the marketing process revolutionized by the worldwide web, with consumers empowered by the ability to research products and services and publish their views online. He pointed to a “lost generation of marketers”, both in-house and at advertising and marketing agencies, who need to get involved in a “really rapid catch-up.”

“If you are 25 or 20, you know this stuff – you are brought up with Facebook and YouTube. If you are 50, you see your kids do it. Most of our brands are managed by people who have had to learn it,” he said. “The people who have most needed it are aged between 30 and 45, running global brands because they grew up after it and haven’t seen their kids doing it.”

Although Unilever has encouraged its staff to use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to help them better understand and to “live” the space, Clift admits, “We are all learning. Unilever is ahead of much of the competition but behind consumers, which for marketers is not a comfortable place to be.”

Clift also said that he believes PR agencies have taken an early lead in the social media world. “I think you could argue that word of mouth has always been the most effective form of communication,” he said. “Digital PR is like word of mouth on steroids.”

The fact that Keith Weed, who will replace Clift as Chief Marketing Officer, will also be in charge of communications at Unilever reflects the blurred lines between PR and traditional advertising today.

Unilever doubled its digital investment in 2009 over the prior year, according to a report in The Financial Times, and intends to double it again in 2010. But the fact is that all advertisers are still experimenting with how best to position their brands on social networks, in order to increase the efficiency of marketing campaigns and to aid global brand management.

“We are finding social media the biggest challenge of all because there is a question to be raised about whether you have any right to be there,” added Clift. He said that Unilever currently has “no idea” about the value of paid advertising on Facebook.