Unilever has appointed KBS Toronto as agency of record for Unilever’s Magnum Ice Cream and social agency for Unilever Refreshments – including Magnum, Fruttare, Lipton, Red Rose, Klondike and Popsicle.
Appointed following a review process, the Canadian agency has been briefed to differentiate each refreshment brand across social channels, creating relevant and engaging posts for each.
Maura Cowan, at Unilever Canada, said KBS stood out from other review candidates for its creative work and for the social data insights it offered. She said KBS was best positioned to develop an overall content strategy for Magnum, and to help Unilever’s brands react in real-time to newsbytes and events.
“We thought KBS would be a great partner to leverage our global assets as well as help us develop some local content that was really relevant to Canadians,” she said.
For Magnum, KBS Toronto will be expected to develop inventive creative and increase appeal of the ice-cream product.
Cowan said this is the first time Unilever will be able to have a “laser focused approach” on each of those brands.
“What I’ve seen from KBS is how they approach getting insights in the digital space — both monitoring and measuring them, and turning those into creative and content. It’s really about … understanding the metrics that a lot of agencies use, but then taking those metrics and turning them into actionable insights to drive the specific brand’s objectives.”
It was also be involved in the development and execution of a multi-year integrated activation platform.
KBS Toronto president Nick Dean said the agency plans to apply a blend of social and content to create unique social strategies tailored to each brand’s objectives.
“The combination of KBS and Capital C this year gave us the ability to bring a really strong social footprint, along with a strong creative footprint,” said Dean, referring to the agency merge that took place earlier this year. “Capital C had a long history working with Unilever. It’s a brand that we’re very proud to be associated with.”
The first brand campaign for Magnum by KBS will launch in early 2015.
