Unilever Canada has combined its $41-million media buying and planning business with Harrison, Young, Pesonen & Newell, the Toronto-based firm that has handled media buying for the consumer products goliath for the past 15 years.

The decision came after a review that included Toronto-based media management firms Initiative Media (MacLaren McCann) and Mindshare (J. Walter Thompson/Ogilvy & Mather).

The planning duties switch from Unilever’s individual creative agencies to HYPN effective April 3.

The assignment encompasses the buying and planning for Lever Pond’s, Lipton, Good Humor-Breyers, Lipton Monarch, Loders Croklaan, BlueWater Seafoods, DiverseyLever Canada, Calvin Klein Cosmetics (Canada), Elizabeth Arden Canada and Bertolli Canada.

Esther Lem, vice-president of brand development for Unilever’s Lever Pond’s division, says the decision to consolidate Unilever’s media planning and buying was not a cost-saving measure but rather came out of a desire to improve the planning process.

As the trend toward consolidated planning and buying has grown around the world, Lem says it was important that Unilever Canada explore this option as part of its commitment to improved brand communications.

She says the Lever Pond’s division is a perfect example of how this strategy is paying off.

After consolidating its business throughout 1996 and 1997, and focusing its efforts on fewer, larger brands, Lever Pond’s enjoyed double-digit growth last year and netted a fistful of awards for its advertising.

Lem credits Lever Pond’s success in large part to made-in-Canada marketing plans and advertising creative – and a strategic direction that is decidedly contrary to that which many of its competitors are taking.

She says Lever Pond’s is putting all its support behind consumer advertising when other packaged good marketers are channeling most of their marketing money into the trade side of the business – and directing most of these efforts out of the U.S.

‘We went through a bit of a cultural revolution in that we were a classic packaged goods company where we market researched everything and ended up with pretty good advertising.

‘We said if we’re going to grow at these kinds of rates, we need stuff that really gets noticed.’

To give the agencies the budgets they needed to create breakthrough creative, Lem decided to stop putting modest budgets behind several brands and to redirect that money toward core brands Sunlight, Finesse, Salon Selectives, Dove,

Q-tips, and Vaseline Intensive Care.

Campaigns for these brands took top awards at Canadian and international competitions including a gold at Cannes for Palmer Jarvis DDB’s work on Finesse, the first such award for Canada in 10 years.

TAXI Advertising & Design, meanwhile, picked up gold at the London International Advertising Awards for Salon Selectives and Ammirati Puris Lintas received multiple awards for its Sunlight and Vaseline Intensive Care campaigns.

Ogilvy & Mather also chalked up honours for Dove and Q-tips.

‘We just don’t take for granted that the American execution is the solution,’ says Lem.

‘Picking up from the U.S. doesn’t save you money,’ she adds. ‘The talent costs alone and having to produce a Quebec execution ends up being very expensive. We can do a better job here.’