UNILEVER - STICKY PROBLEM, STICKY SOLUTION

Trying to trace the behaviour of children is challenging in any country,

but becomes even harder in developing markets where literacy levels
are low. Finding ways of explaining to children in these markets what
you’re trying to research, and what information you’d like from them,
can be very difficult.

Unilever Indonesia had invested substantially in a social project

intended to encourage young kids to brush their teeth. They had used
TV advertising and run PR programmes in schools and child care
centres, but were still struggling to assess whether their efforts were
actually changing kids’ habits.

Enter TNS Indonesia with a deceptively simple method! One that was
fun for the kids, cheap to implement and very much focused on the
children’s actual behaviour.

The usual procedure would involve interviewing the kids and asking
them to keep their own record, but what TNS came up with was so
much more fun – a sticker diary! A simple chart hung on the wall onto
which kids would stick pictures representing all kinds of daily
activities – sleeping, washing, eating, watching TV and of course,
brushing their teeth.

This pictorial technique helped overcome the literacy issue. And the
diary format meant Mums could also lend a hand, teaching their
children how to use the chart.

And so, this simple solution - which came in at a fraction of the cost of
other methods and technologies – proved highly effective for Unilever,
allowing them to accurately measure their oral care project in
Indonesia.

For instance, before the sticker diaries were introduced the claimed
daily frequency for brushing was 2.4 times a day. The stickers revealed
a lower actual rate of 2.1 times a day. And in the “night-brushing”
category, where two-thirds claimed to brush regularly, the stickers
showed an actual figure of just one-third. Uncovering these disparities
enabled Unilever to adjust the content of its media communications
and schools programme accordingly.

On the back of the success of the Indonesian project, the TNS model is
now being actively considered for all kinds of projects involving kids in
developing countries.

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