Unilever Leverages an Inspirational Vehicle
Launched in November of 2013, Unilever Project Sunlight is a long-term initiative designed to bring the Unilever purpose to life and inspire Americans to take small actions that add up to a big difference — whether it’s wasting less, sharing more, turning off the tap in the shower, turning on community activism or even simply recycling.
In 2014, Unilever partnered with Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization, to help those facing hunger nationwide by donating millions of meals and launching education programs to get others involved. In the United States alone, 16 million kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from. That equates to one in every five children — enough to fill 18,000 school buses and 223 football stadiums.
That is why when Hatch by SheKnows Media went to Unilever with The Hunger Project video concept, it perfectly aligned with its already established “Share A Meal” program initiative, which asks people to share a meal with someone in need in their neighborhoods, and then join the conversation on social media using, “I #ShareAMeal because…”
SheKnows’ Hatch teamed with Unilever to help families build awareness and take action around child hunger in America. This Hunger Project video has been a key component in the many moving parts of this multi-faceted campaign, and has helped Unilever to further find success leveraging film in other parts of the organization.
Unilever’s VP of Sustainable Living and Corporate Communications, North America, Jonathan Atwood, explains, “The difficult challenge presented to the children in this video [The Hunger Project] brings to life the harrowing truth about hunger in America. We hoped the eye-opening perspective the children provided served as a source of inspiration for those that watched and drove them to get involved, even in the smallest way, to make a difference.”
“The Hatch Hunger and Unilever video and workshop aims to create empathy by showing kids what it means to shop for healthy, filling meals for an entire week on a thrifty budget, promoting important math and teamwork skills,” says Atwood, reinforcing that it is about action — empowering kids to have an impact on their communities.
So far, the campaign has quickly generated over 31,000 SheKnows article page views and 1,215,000 video views.
He adds, “When we saw the first cut of the film — we knew we had something special on our hands. Not only was the video educational, but it was also very inspiring to see the passion behind today’s leaders. Using social media to share the film and getting our audience to react allowed us to shine a light on the issue and open up the conversation about how kids can get involved in the fight against child hunger.”
Atwood says that Unilever has realized the powerful nature of film. “Through captivating storytelling and compelling visuals, we’re able to truly bring to life and paint a clear picture regarding the social issues we’re talking about.”
He includes, “From The Hunger Project to our four-minute documentary, ‘Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Child Hunger,’ that we created in partnership with award-winning filmmaker and Unilever Bright Future Award recipient, Patrick Creadon, Unilever is leveraging this technology as a tool to make an impact.”
As far as the future of campaigns like The Hunger Project at Unilever, Atwood says, “Our partnership with SheKnows and Hatch was a part of our continued commitment to make strides towards change and this will be an on-going topic for Unilever in future initiatives.”
“For us it’s about aligning with social issues people care about and finding a great idea that gets people engaged and talking. From our work on Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches Film to the launch of Unilever brightFuture, we foster passionate communities and engage them in conversations and experiences in a meaningful way,” he closes.
The Hunger Project
This video illustrates how to teach children the practicalities of shopping for a week’s worth of groceries on $36.50, the average amount of money Americans living in food insecure households have for seven days of groceries.
In 2014, Unilever partnered with Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization, to help those facing hunger nationwide by donating millions of meals and launching education programs to get others involved. In the United States alone, 16 million kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from. That equates to one in every five children — enough to fill 18,000 school buses and 223 football stadiums.
That is why when Hatch by SheKnows Media went to Unilever with The Hunger Project video concept, it perfectly aligned with its already established “Share A Meal” program initiative, which asks people to share a meal with someone in need in their neighborhoods, and then join the conversation on social media using, “I #ShareAMeal because…”
SheKnows’ Hatch teamed with Unilever to help families build awareness and take action around child hunger in America. This Hunger Project video has been a key component in the many moving parts of this multi-faceted campaign, and has helped Unilever to further find success leveraging film in other parts of the organization.
Unilever’s VP of Sustainable Living and Corporate Communications, North America, Jonathan Atwood, explains, “The difficult challenge presented to the children in this video [The Hunger Project] brings to life the harrowing truth about hunger in America. We hoped the eye-opening perspective the children provided served as a source of inspiration for those that watched and drove them to get involved, even in the smallest way, to make a difference.”
“The Hatch Hunger and Unilever video and workshop aims to create empathy by showing kids what it means to shop for healthy, filling meals for an entire week on a thrifty budget, promoting important math and teamwork skills,” says Atwood, reinforcing that it is about action — empowering kids to have an impact on their communities.
So far, the campaign has quickly generated over 31,000 SheKnows article page views and 1,215,000 video views.
He adds, “When we saw the first cut of the film — we knew we had something special on our hands. Not only was the video educational, but it was also very inspiring to see the passion behind today’s leaders. Using social media to share the film and getting our audience to react allowed us to shine a light on the issue and open up the conversation about how kids can get involved in the fight against child hunger.”
Atwood says that Unilever has realized the powerful nature of film. “Through captivating storytelling and compelling visuals, we’re able to truly bring to life and paint a clear picture regarding the social issues we’re talking about.”
He includes, “From The Hunger Project to our four-minute documentary, ‘Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Child Hunger,’ that we created in partnership with award-winning filmmaker and Unilever Bright Future Award recipient, Patrick Creadon, Unilever is leveraging this technology as a tool to make an impact.”
As far as the future of campaigns like The Hunger Project at Unilever, Atwood says, “Our partnership with SheKnows and Hatch was a part of our continued commitment to make strides towards change and this will be an on-going topic for Unilever in future initiatives.”
“For us it’s about aligning with social issues people care about and finding a great idea that gets people engaged and talking. From our work on Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches Film to the launch of Unilever brightFuture, we foster passionate communities and engage them in conversations and experiences in a meaningful way,” he closes.
The Hunger Project
This video illustrates how to teach children the practicalities of shopping for a week’s worth of groceries on $36.50, the average amount of money Americans living in food insecure households have for seven days of groceries.