A WALK IN THE PARK WITH ALINE SANTOS FARHAT ( Senior Global Vice President OMO at Unilever) We leave our pousada just after breakfast and hail a taxi at the street corner. “To the Parque da Luz next to the Pinacoteca,” I say in my best Portuguese. The taxi turns left, then right, then left again, winding through the streets of Jardim Paulista. “I love this part of town,” Maarten says as he looks out of the window. “It doesn’t feel like we’re in a metropolis of 20 million inhabitants.” Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the Pinacoteca, Brazil’s oldest and perhaps most important museum, which is housed in an impressive classical building. This is where we are meeting Aline Santos Farhat, the senior global brand vice-president for OMO detergents. We find Aline in the museum café, sitting on the terrace overlooking the park. “Instead of meeting in my office, I wanted to bring you here, to tell you my story in the right setting,” Aline says, pointing at the large trees in the park. We look at the trees and back at Aline. “Is Omo into tree washing these days?” Anouk asks. Aline laughs. “No, not the trees, it’s about the children playing behind the trees,” she says, and indeed, in the distance we see kids running around in the shade of the trees. “A few years ago, we were sending out more or less the same message as all the other detergent brands: ‘Dirt is bad, stains are bad’. We were using the same language and the same images as everyone else. We realised this was dangerous: there was a threat of commoditization – OMO was becoming ‘just’ another brand. Besides, we didn’t want to just be talking about ketchup stains anymore; we needed a message that mothers would remember even after the laundry was folded away in the cupboard. We realised that brands without a greater purpose have no future in today’s competitive market.” “So Unilever came up with the ‘Dirt is Good’ concept, which was a revolution in detergent land. Dirt is usually the enemy. We started encouraging parents to let their children play outside more and discover the world. ‘Let them get dirty,’ we told them, ‘OMO will take care of it.’” Aline points at the trees – or rather at the children behind the trees. “I remember my own childhood: I played outside with my brothers all the time, climbing trees, building tree houses, running around, feeling free and getting the opportunity to explore the world around me. This is not only important for kids, but also for the adults they will become.” The São Paulo sun is shining as we leave the café and stroll into the park. I watch the kids running around and ask Aline: “So ‘Dirt is Good’ has become a philosophy?” She pauses for a few seconds. “You could say that it has outgrown OMO as a product and has become a wake-up call for mothers.” “Using OMO as a vehicle, we started spreading the message about the importance of playing and exploring – the physical and emotional development that go with it. Children have the right to play, to be children,” says Aline. “Of course, in the end, we are a detergent brand and I have to make sure we grow our business, but we also want to make sure that we have a purpose in society.” We walk back towards the Pinacoteca and I turn to Aline. “It is a most interesting challenge you have, creating a higher purpose for a detergent,” I say. “It probably isn’t a walk in the park at all.”
A walk in the park with Aline Santos Farhat 2
May 12, 2015
We’re in Aline Santos Farhat´s office at the Unilever headquarters, a light and airy suite with a view over São Paolo. We’re lucky to be in town at the same time as Aline: as OMO’s Global Senior Vice President, she seems to be constantly on the move. “It’s part of the job, since OMO is present in more than 70 countries,” she says as we sit down at a large round table.
Aline Santos Farhat, CoolBrands, OMO, Unilever, #CoolBrands, CoolBrandsHouse, Brazil, São Paulo, Dirt is Good, Every Child has the right to play, Aline, Santos, Farhat,
Aline Santos Farhat, CoolBrands, OMO, Unilever, #CoolBrands, CoolBrandsHouse, Brazil, São Paulo, Dirt is Good, Every Child has the right to play, Aline, Santos, Farhat,
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Transcript
A WALK IN THE PARK WITH ALINE SANTOS FARHAT( Senior Global Vice President OMO at Unilever)
We leave our pousada just after breakfast and hail a taxi at the street corner. “To the Parque da Luz next to the Pinacoteca,” I say inmy best Portuguese. The taxi turns left, then right, then left again, winding through the streets of Jardim Paulista. “I love this part oftown,” Maarten says as he looks out of the window. “It doesn’t feel like we’re in a metropolis of 20 million inhabitants.”
Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the Pinacoteca, Brazil’s oldest and perhaps most important museum, which is housed in animpressive classical building. This is where we are meeting Aline Santos Farhat, the senior global brand vice-president for OMOdetergents. We find Aline in the museum café, sitting on the terrace overlooking the park. “Instead of meeting in my office, I wantedto bring you here, to tell you my story in the right setting,” Aline says, pointing at the large trees in the park. We look at the trees andback at Aline. “Is Omo into tree washing these days?” Anouk asks.Aline laughs. “No, not the trees, it’s about the children playing behind the trees,” she says, and indeed, in the distance we see kidsrunning around in the shade of the trees.
“A few years ago, we were sending out more or less the same message as all the other detergent brands: ‘Dirt is bad, stains arebad’. We were using the same language and the same images as everyone else. We realised this was dangerous: there was athreat of commoditization – OMO was becoming ‘just’ another brand. Besides, we didn’t want to just be talking about ketchupstains anymore; we needed a message that mothers would remember even after the laundry was folded away in the cupboard.We realised that brands without a greater purpose have no future in today’s competitive market.”
“So Unilever came up with the ‘Dirt is Good’ concept, which was a revolution in detergent land. Dirt is usually the enemy. Westarted encouraging parents to let their children play outside more and discover the world. ‘Let them get dirty,’ we told them,‘OMO will take care of it.’”
Aline points at the trees – or rather at the children behind the trees. “I remember my own childhood: I played outside with mybrothers all the time, climbing trees, building tree houses, running around, feeling free and getting the opportunity to explorethe world around me. This is not only important for kids, but also for the adults they will become.”
The São Paulo sun is shining as we leave the café and stroll into the park. I watch the kids running around and ask Aline: “So ‘Dirtis Good’ has become a philosophy?”
She pauses for a few seconds. “You could say that it has outgrown OMO as a product and has become a wake-up call formothers.”
“Using OMO as a vehicle, we started spreading the message about the importance of playing and exploring – the physical andemotional development that go with it. Children have the right to play, to be children,” says Aline. “Of course, in the end, we area detergent brand and I have to make sure we grow our business, but we also want to make sure that we have a purpose insociety.”
We walk back towards the Pinacoteca and I turn to Aline. “It is a most interesting challenge you have, creating a higher purposefor a detergent,” I say. “It probably isn’t a walk in the park at all.”
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