Good morning, MadFest ears. Thank you for joining us here today. So, we are here today to talk to you about love. But, the kind of love that grows brands. So, I'm Lindsey Dyson from Kantar and it's an absolute joy today to share the stage with Nadine Sleeper from Unilever, where she looks after home cleaners. So, if we think about fandom, traditionally people often just think about sport, but this is actually a really rich and interesting world. It's about more than entertainment. Fandom really fulfills a deep psychological need for people. It's about their identity. It gives them agency. And importantly in this space, people can also be really active. They can drive real change. But, from the perspective of brands, it's a real opportunity for commercial growth. And in terms of consumers engaging with your content, this is also about participation. And we know that when consumers participate in content that you're creating, they remember it for longer and that's where real change starts to happen. Where this also matters is that today it's not just about developing an advertising campaign. It's about being really vibrant in culture. And when you're culturally vibrant, you grow more and that's because culturally vibrant brands are more different and they're more meaningful. What do we mean by being vibrant? It's about being visionary, inspiring, really bold in terms of how you show up, and exciting. A brand that people want to be associated with and want to be part of. And here's the proof of why that matters, because brands that are more meaningfully different grow more and they can command a higher price premium, too. It can be very tempting to chase the latest cultural trends to try and keep on top of everything, but actually what smart marketers do is they make sure the choices that they're making are aligned with what they want to be famous for as a brand. So, the first place to start is with your strategy and a real clarity on what you want to be famous and known for. So, what successful brands do is they don't chase culture. They They engage with it in a way that reinforces their magnetic field. And we know at Kantar that it's the consistency that coherence across all of the content that you're creating that really drives growth. So, it gives you a 111% growth advantage, and who doesn't want that? So, it isn't just about your positioning strategy. It's also about where you see that growth coming from in terms of occasions and moments, and it's all about the kind of people that you want to reach as well. So, I suggested that fandom is a really rich and interesting space. And when you take time to look at it actually, it really is. Now, you're probably thinking, I can't read that land. Hang on. So, let's deep dive in. Tribal fandom, this is all about that sense of shared allegiance about a sense of belonging being really part of something. Are there any football fans in the room? Hey. >> One. >> So, the work that Pernod have been doing with Arsenal is really trailblazing in this space. When it comes to identity, this is really understanding who people are. To show up successfully here, you've got to do it with nuance and understanding and really commit. So, if we look at a brand like Absolut, they've been supporting the LGBTQIA+ community since the 1980s. As a consequence, they get that real shared allegiance from their consumers. Worlds is another fantastic space to engage in. This is about a sense of shared imagination. Do we have any rivals fans in the room? Can I have a shout out? Oh, you're quiet my friends. Come on. I'm a Rivals fan. So, if you're looking for a brilliant example, look at how the golf has been integrated and also how Waitrose have done that. They're part of the experience. They don't show up just alongside it. They really add value. Occasions. So, there are many of those. It can be really tempting just to use the cues for that moment, Christmas being a prime example. But if you look at a brand like Cadbury, they're making themselves part of the ritual with their secret center content. And passions. What's fantastic in this space is it's about doing. So, again, you get that greater memorability coming through. It's about shared passions and activity. And M&S for me have absolutely nailed this space with their cooking programs and also with their dress the nation activity. And creators. Finally, no longer the baby in the room, definitely very much the grown-up, a key part of marketing today. Where these guys are important is they're trusted. Potentially for the things that they're really passionate about, but also for who they are, for their identity. So, they can really bring a lot to your brand when you use them and you use them well. But what's interesting is when we look at engagement measures, so we look at the performance measures and we look at brand impact, those two only correlate in a third of occasions. So, if you're making decisions solely based on engagement measures, the chances are you might not be backing the right kind of content. So, if you want to know more about how to succeed in this space, we've got a brilliant new report out or come over and see us at the cabana to find out more. So, how do you win when it comes to fandoms and showing up? I've already shared it's about aligning this in your magnetic north, being true to what you're about as a brand. It's about showing up in a way that's really distinctive and not predictable, not just picking up on the cues of of that particular fandom you're engaging in. You really need to understand your audience meaningfully to make it true emotive connections. This is about playing today. It's not just about showing up. So participation adding value are absolutely fundamental today. Brands that commit, so they become real fans, they're not just a sponsor, they're not just showing up for the occasion, also tend to win. And of course building with creators again in this space is really key. So now Nadine, you've been doing lots of brilliant work in this space. >> Yeah, we have Lynn. And actually the first example I'd love to share with you. Hi Medfest, good to see you this morning. Is from our Dirt is Good brand. So this is the brand it's called Omo or Persil in the UK. And we're so proud of this example and our incredible partnership with Arsenal. And what we've done is this was one example it's it's called it starts outside where we really elevated the idea that girls should get outdoors jump in, get dirty and and by doing so they have the chance to reach their max potential. Now the thing about the partnership and the thing that was really important to us is that we really have well aligned values with with the Arsenal club. So it wasn't just about the fans in the first instance, it was about reaching that ambition of getting young people into sports. And through this activation we actually had the women's team digging out their old school photos or their old pictures from their childhood where they were really immersing themselves in play and helping us to to close that gender play gap. So in that way we really tapped into those tribes, those passions that Lynn mentioned to make the most of our partnership and and to give the fans what they wanted to to see. >> So, the other area of fandom that's really interesting, which I think possibly is the teenager or maybe the baby in the room, is brand fandom. And there are different ways you can build brand fandom and amplify it. So, thinking about how do you embrace the love of your fans? And Nadine is going to go on to talk about how they're doing that brilliantly at Unilever. It's also about thinking what love ups or ties can you do with fans of other brands, you know, where do you each bring a new value to do something exciting or interesting? And finally, thinking about how can you use things like social or digital channels to build rituals and build cultural momentum that people want to be part of. And so, by nature, you win brand fans as a consequence. >> So, I'd love to introduce you to Cif fanatics, which is a really great example of brand fandom. And it is probably the world's cleanest fandom. Because as you saw earlier, I think when you when you think about fandom, you think sports, celebs, the Swifties. You're not necessarily thinking about a cleaning brand, right? So, but the interesting thing is this is one of Cif's most interesting growth stories. And it wasn't us trying to manufacture a fandom, but it was actually when we started to notice there was one forming. And there were many people out there in the world having fun with Cif and and we really wanted to learn a bit more about that. It really started Well, let me tell you a bit more about the the category. This is this is surface cleaning. It's a highly competitive, but also commoditized category. Many brands fighting for attention, talking about how powerful their brand is. And we knew that if we wanted to grow Cif, we couldn't just talk about how well the product worked. We actually had to build desire. We needed to really earn attention, and we need to find our place in in culture. And that really started when we stopped looking just at the research and what people were telling us directly, and we started looking out into the world um to see what was what was happening out there. Um and what we found was really surprising. Um so, we found that people were really uh seeing this brand not just as a cleaning brand, but it was had become a little bit more in their lives. Um they were creating memes. They were making Cif birthday cakes. Some people even naming their pets after the brand, which is a bit strange. Um but, it was really interesting to see how people were not just buying Cif, but actually sharing it, discussing it, uh and having a bit of fun with it. Um so, we really wanted to see that group not just as a group that we could target, uh but somewhat it's almost like an extended leg or an extended arm to our creativity. Uh a creative partner, if you will. And we called this group the Cif fanatics. Um so, let's have a look at uh what they're all about. >> All cleaning brands talk the same way, functional. For years, Cif was no different. Cif cleans 100 surfaces, but our brand had a higher price and lower penetration. So, how do you differentiate in a commoditized category? Instead of the same talking, we started listening. And we found a crazy fandom obsessed with Cif. >> Only Cif can clean my dirty mind. >> There's even a Cif birthday party theme. So, we dropped the category playbook to embrace the community's craziness. >> >> Cif presents Cif fanatics. Crazier the fans. >> All right. So, uh you can see some quite crazy examples there. But, what had happened along the way is that our promise, our product promise of cleaning over 100 surfaces, had almost become like a creative invitation. And and these fans were kind of going, "Well, what else could Cif clean? What else could be possible?" So, they were actually imagining possibilities for us far beyond where a traditional brief might have taken us before. So, we found that really great fun and we and we leaned into it. One of the examples I'd like to to share with you in a bit more detail is is this one. So, we noticed that a lot of people were saying, "Well, Cif cleans 100 surfaces. So, maybe it can clean up dirty mouths, too." And interestingly, in Brazil, one of our biggest markets, it's also the world's biggest podcast market. But, actually, swearing was demonetizing podcasts and and kind of reducing the reach and and the ability for creators to really make the most out of those podcasts. So, we created the dirty mouth sponsorship. And we basically decided to sponsor or clean up those swear words, and effectively helping creators to to hack or work with the algorithm. And also, making Cif's credentials feel completely fresh in that context. Let's take a look. >> What can you say on a podcast? >> Anything you like. >> Well, you. >> Swearing, the secret sauce that keeps top podcasts so funny and real. The sad thing is algorithms simply cannot get the joke. >> Why do you videos get demonetized? >> Wait, don't say it because I noticed that every time I say the word, my video gets demonetized. >> And yes, for most brands, it's a deal breaker. Until now. Unlike competitors, Cif cleans over 100 surfaces. So, why not clean some dirty mouths, too? Introducing Dirty Mouth sponsorship, turning censorship into sponsorship. >> >> Cif turned the swear words into a branded sound, keeping podcasts clean for the algorithm. A cleaning brand sponsoring swear words? yeah. Every Cif curse unlocks discounts for the audience. The dirtier the mouth, the cleaner the deal. And what started on podcasts quickly spread across all media. On audio, online, on air, and on brand. >> >> Cif became the unofficial way to curse on social media. We created an unprecedented media format, cleaning where no brand ever dared. Cuz we love it dirty, just so we can Cif it. >> So, I hope you'll agree a great use of what started as a joke, uh but we took the joke seriously and actually something we really leaned into. Uh so, all the podcast uh listeners out there, you're welcome. Um and um what we learned is that we really needed to listen, we really needed to lean in, uh and be brave and bold and and kind of take on the ideas from the community. Um and then uh what we found was that the fans did it again, right? So, again, we started to hear this phrase, uh if Cif can clean everything, perhaps it can clean my dirty name. Now, something to to note that in Brazil, uh again, we're in Brazil, a dirty name means being in debt. And this is a phrase that Brazilians understand instantly because, unfortunately, many of them are living with this reality every day. Um so, again, we could have treated it as an internet joke and just let it go, but we decided to think about, well, what if we really acted on this? What could we do? Um and so, we partnered with Serasa Experian, and we launched the first Cif product actually designed to help people clean their financial debts. Um so, again, we turned something that was a a joke into real um social and then business reality. >> Cif cleans more than 100 surfaces. It's so good that people started asking us to clean their names. Names. Really? In Brazil, we don't say, "I'm in debt." We say, >> >> And the dirt has never been dirtier. >> >> Dirty names? That's not our business. But cleaning them could be. Cif Clean My Name, the first product designed to clean dirty names. We partnered with Serasa Experian, Brazil's largest credit renegotiation platform, and found that the average debt settlement is just around $200. So, we did something no other brand had ever done. We redirected our promotional budget to clean dirty names. Every Sif clean my name could come with money. Just enter the receipt code on Serasa's platform. Found money? Clean your name. An never seen partnership turned into 380 tons of product and a cleaning brand into a financial relief. To avoid new dirty names, we brought in economists to keep them clean. Everyone got clean. People cleared the shelves. We cleared their names. >> >> And Serasa cleared debt records. >> >> Because no matter what the dirt is, we just Sif it. >> So, I hope you enjoyed that example. We're so proud of it because it did win us four lions in Can. One of them was a gold for retail and competitions, which we're super proud of. But beyond the awards, once again, we learned that something that was in the comment section can literally turn into your next great idea if you just lean in and and give it a go. So, really listening to those who care about your brand even more than you do can really pay off in the long run. You just need to be bold in order to lean in. I wanted to just end off with one last example. And because you can see that as we've progressed through this journey, the momentum has certainly built and we've gone a step further in this last example because we saw people all all along the the journey of this campaign that they were saying, "Well, this product is not just a cleaner, it's a miracle." And so we decided that we should probably listen to them and make it reality. So we actually changed our biggest format, cream cleaner, we changed the name of that product to miracle clean and not because of came from an agency or a research debrief, but because we really listened to those fans out there and and took that into action and that is really given us the answer that we needed. So just to end off my non-BS advice for all of you if you're thinking about fandoms is really to embrace the crazy fans. The crazier the fans, the greater the brand and we've really found that the more we participate, the more we interact with fans, the greater our brand power. So it really means that that love of the fans that started in the fandom can grow, it can grow your brand and it can grow your business. >> So I brought the evidence cuz I'm a Cif fanatic and even my 16-year-old loves Cif to clean his bike and his trainers. And look, it says miracle cream. This is what listening does. So what you can see is you know, fans are more than advocates. If you embrace them in the way that Cif has, they really are an engine for growth. You know, you can look at how they use their product, look at their lived experience, that unfiltered language that consumers speak that as marketers we so often don't. And they really bring that traction to your brand as well. And in today's world where we're also thinking about another audience that we're trying to engage in terms of those LLMs, actually having that fan content out there can help us be more visible as well. Especially if it's aligned with again that magnetic north in terms of what we want to be really famous for. Um so, a huge massive thank you to Nadine for joining me here on stage today. Brand Fandom is a a massive opportunity for everyone. Do come and see us at the Cabana. Thank you so much.