Unilever - Below Zero

The explicit assignment is to develop a multi-year innovation program that brings growth back to frozen. Not as an internal plan, but as a visible platform that gives direction to brands, retailers and partners. In the analysis, the focus shifts. The problem is not only a lack of innovation, but above all a structural lack of trust.

Consumers experience frozen as outdated. Retailers invest cautiously. Internally, belief in the category’s future also weakens. Without restoring that trust, every innovation remains marginal and fragmented.

The key insight is that frozen is not a convenience technology from the past, but a fundamentally efficient and future-oriented solution. The blockage sits in perception, not in product. Growth starts only when that conviction becomes shared again, collectively, and is made visible.

Unilever therefore chooses a different role. Not optimizing within existing rules but acting as category architect. The strategic choice is to move the entire category forward and in doing so indirectly strengthen its own brands. From that choice we develop the organizing idea Below Zero.

Below Zero is an overarching innovation and marketing platform that repositions frozen as a smart, sustainable and inspiring technology. It functions as both strategic framework and creative compass for all category initiatives. Not brand-driven, but category-driving. Not tactical, but directional.

Within this framework, marketers from different product groups are connected around one shared ambition: give frozen new meaning and make the category visibly move again. We develop the strategic framework, facilitate collaboration and ensure choices translate consistently into concrete interventions in market and retail.

Embedding sits not in a campaign, but in a working ecosystem. In-store, Below Zero becomes visible through innovations that reload the shelf with meaning. Mobile freezers bring frozen closer to the shopper and refresh the shopping experience. Retail trainings improve availability and presentation. An iconic example is the Below Zero Shopper with integrated cooling compartment, designed by Richard Hutten, which literally carries the frozen story into the store.

This coherent approach restores energy around a forgotten aisle. Below Zero turns frozen into a source of pride and renewal, internally and externally. Not as a temporary activation, but as a movement that rebuilds trust and makes growth possible.

In collaboration with:
• Richard Hutten
• Madelon van Dijk-Scholten