There used to be one way to sell a product in developing markets, if you bothered to sell there at all: Slap on arnlocal label and market to the elite. Unilever changed that. The Anglo-Dutch maker of such brands as Dove, Lipton, and Vaseline built a following among the world's poorest consumers by upending some of the basic rules of marketing. Instead of focusing on value for money, it shrunk packages to set a price even consumers living on $2 a day could afford. It helped people make money to buy its products. "It's not about doing good," but about tapping new markets, says Chief Executive Patrick Cescau.rn"Unilever was among the first to prove you can build brands at the bottom of the pyramid," says Martin Roll, head of Singapore branding consultancy Venture Republic. Companies from Nokia to Royal Philips Electronics have followed suit.
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