What do you see?
Even though Unilever’s primary goal might not be to sell margarine
to financial analysts, brands play an important role on the corporate
homepage. The FMCG company thoroughly discloses and introduces its
brands and promotes a healthy lifestyle through its main navigation.
The section ‘Cooking and eating’ discloses all food related brands,
with use of colours, images, and videos, but also supports this good
lifestyle. Unilever elaborates on its device “feel good, look good and
get more out of life”. The company entertains and creates a
community-like environment, presenting recipes, diet tips and polls.
How to brew the perfect cup of Lipton tea? How to prepare a zesty
seafood salad with Hellmann’s mayonnaise? Depending on the
communication strategy of your company, your stakeholders and the
purposes of your corporate website, the focus of your website - and
therefore your homepage - will differ. Roughly we distinct three styles
of homepages:
- A business oriented homepage with one link to corporate information
- A corporate oriented homepage with a clear link to business information (www.ahold.com)
- Double navigation menu: one corporate – one business (www.akzonobel.com)
Regardless of the style you choose for your website, you are able to
effectively introduce your business, your brands or your products to
clients and other stakeholders. Unilever has chosen solution No. 1: a
business oriented corporate homepage.
Why is it effective?
Vividly disclosing Unilever’s business, really brings all brands to
live for corporate stakeholders and firmly positions Unilever in
society. Clients experience being part of the Unilever community. This
strengthens the image and reputation of Unilever. Financial
stakeholders do not fall short: in one click they can use the fast
tracks to find the information they are looking for.
What to remember
- Is propagating your business very important to your company? Then give space to brands and products on the corporate homepage.
- In
order to bring across the message, visualise! The combination of text
and vision – maybe sound as well – will be more effective in bringing
across the point of the message.
- Always provide specialist stakeholder groups easy access to ‘their worlds’.
source: corporatewebsites
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