CD Job Roles

2007 edition
CD Career Principles
& Options
World Class Customer Development

5
Introduction

This slide pack is designed to give an overview on the career options available in
Customer Development in the new Unilever.
It is not an exhaustive career planning tool, but rather is designed to give people
an overview of the opportunities available. A more detailed interactive career
planning tool will available by the end of 2006.
This subject is important to Unilever because it will enable the Company to:
• gain competitive advantage by leveraging expertise
• provide satisfying careers for people in Customer Development and attract
and retain the best in
• the field provide information to current and potential employees on career
priorities and principles
• make career development and appointment decisions against an agreed
framework
It is designed to enable you to build the career you want to have, knowing the
frameworks, principles and opportunities within the Company.
5
> 2
C o n t e n t s:
Context CD Careers in Unilever
Vision What does CD look like in the new Operating Framework?
Principles What are the key principles underpinning a CD career in Unilever?
Options What are the different options available to me?
Q & A’s
5
Context - CD in Unilever

The new Unilever operating framework has created distinct and interdependent
elements in the organisation: the Categories and the Regions. The CD function is
present in the Regions. Within the
region, the CD professionals work as interdependent members of a multi-
functional team with other functions, in particular those of Brand Building.
As a result, it is impossible to carve out the career options for CD professionals in
isolation from the Marketers. This has a significant impact on the career
development of CD professionals; Unilever’s
success depends on Brands, Categories and Customers, and this breadth must be
part of the deep professional development of the CD professional today.
The ‘4 Lane Professional Highway’, shown in the next slide, therefore is the stage
for careers in Customer Development, as well as Marketing, in Unilever. A
significant group of CD managers will have careers that span both, although
many will focus within Customer Development.
5
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Context - The 4 Lane Professional Highway

Caveat: In Customer Development we also need experiences in supply chain, customer service and/or finance
as much as Brand Building experience. This picture reflects the relationship with marketing only. See also
5
section 3: Principles.
> 5
Context - Marketing Professional Areas

Category and Brand Development
Brand and Category Development
Writing category strategy (including brand portfolio, innovation and channel
strategy)
Creating exciting and compelling visions for our brand portfolio and creating plans
across the full marketing mix to drive into reality.
Developing brand communications
Developing brand innovation and renovation
Developing channel specific propositions
Category and Brand Building

Category Building: The development of category visions and plans & the
achievement of category thought leadership, resulting in 4-8 Quarter activity plans
Brand Building: Lead the country brand
(operations) team to create, execute and evaluate, the insight-led brand
marketing plan, which delivers market share and financial goals. 5
> 6
Context - CD Professional Areas

Trade Category Management and Customer Marketing
Trade Category Management: To work with customers / or within channels, in
order to develop appropriate assortments, shelf- layouts, promotional strategies &
price positions, based on shopper, customer & channel insights
Customer Marketing: To develop & execute fully integrated, insight based
brand/category solutions & activities for customers / channels based on shopper,
customer & channel insights
Account Management & Field Execution (CD Operations)

Account management & field execution: to jointly develop a customer strategy
and business plan with our customers/channels, gain commitment from both the
customer and the organisation, resource it appropriately, and follow up on
execution
CD Operations: to ensure a smooth and cost effective operation between the
company,customers, and specific third parties 5
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C o n t e n t s:
Q & A’s
5
Vision - what is Unilever looking for from its CD
professionals?
Unilever CD professionals are seen as the best in market that set the standards in

partnering with their customers.
They are a corps of professionals with a broad experience cross functions, especially
Brand Building.
They have a business mind rather than just a deal making mind. They are strong
strategists that deeply understand the financial and economics challenges of their
customers or the channels. They know better than anyone else in the market how to
partner with them to jointly build profitable and growing businesses. They sell and
build a profitable and sustainable growing business.
They are seen as ‘edgy and tough’ but co-operative suppliers, sought for their
insights on shoppers.
They understand how to build categories and brands with their customers and
throughout the trade.
They drive innovation and challenge the status quo within Unilever to make us
customer focused.
5
Their Customer Service is second to none.
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Vision - what does a Unilever career in CD have to
offer me?

Making an impact on business results… working in CD means you lead the
business cross functionally. You bring the customer into the company and you
provide leadership within Unilever to go to the customer. You’ll develop a real
business mind not just a deal making mind.
Building your competitiveness... working in CD means you will build a broad

experience by working in different markets, with many international and large
customers and/or channels and at different levels: in- country, regional and global in
order to make you the most competitive CD professional. You will be trained in best
in class skills.
Best in class tools and processes… working in CD means working with and being

trained in the best in class tools, processes and approaches developed and
maintained through the Win with Customer Capability building programme and the
CD academy.
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C o n t e n t s:
Q & A’s
5
Principles

Career Principles are guidelines designed to maximise success for you as a
professional and Unilever. They are intended to guide and inform, albeit that there
will be individuals and situations for whom an exception is needed in order to
maximise success.
There are 4 key principles for careers in Customer Development:
1.Breadth of experience and consistent delivery are important
2.Deep core professional skills provide a solid foundation
3.Expertise and specialism are highly valued
4.Leadership roles require business insight and people management capabilities
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Principle 1:Breadth of experience and
consistent delivery are important
• The early stages of a career should be spent developing breadth across at least 2

of the 4 lanes of the highway.
• Breadth of experience builds flexibility and interdependency enabling people to
operate effectively as part of a multi-functional business team. It also builds the
agility and creativity to address business issues from various angles, capture
opportunities and implement optimal solutions.
• As you broaden your experience and deepen your professional skills, continued
career growth will depend on consistent delivery and a proven performance track
record.
• Experience is acquired by:
» Performing multiple roles in at least 2 lanes of the highway.
» Working in different market including high concentrated/dispersed,
modern/traditional/general trade, growth/shrinking markets
» Working on different categories and brands across Unilever’s diverse
portfolio 5
> 13
Principle 2: Deep core professional skills
provide a solid foundation
• Deep core functional skills acquired through a range of experiences provide the
foundation for competitive Marketing and CD careers.

• Developing deep functional skills is key to your professional advancement and to
the company’s competitiveness. The skills are described in the Marketing & CD
professional skills dictionaries and the job profiles for the positions. They are
frequently updated to ensure their market competitiveness.
• At each stage of your career, you will have the opportunity to develop and apply
the distinctive core functional skills critical to excellent delivery.
• Spending sufficient time in each role to fully develop and apply these skills is
important. Consistent with Unilever’s overall approach, suggested length of time
in a role is as follows:
» WL1 positions should be held for at least 12 – 16 months
» WL2 positions should be held for at least 2 years
» WL3 positions should be held for at least 3 years
• The specific skills to focus on will depend on the career option and the related
•
roles.
As a leader in Marketing or CD you will have a proven track record of applying the
5
professional skills and will need to model and coach these skills within the teams
you lead.
> 14
Principle 3: Expertise and specialism are
highly valued
• Breadth of experience during the early career stages should be complemented by deep

professional expertise and specialism as people progress through more senior levels at
WL2, WL3 and WL4.
• Professional expertise is achieved by performing multiple roles in one of the career
options namely:
» Brand Development
» Marketing
» Go To Market
» Customer Development
• True specialism is achieved by performing multiple roles in a particular pillar (Brand
Development, Brand Building etc), platform (eg. Heart health), Category (eg.
Deodorants, Spreads) and/or capability area (eg. Shopper Insight, Trade Management,
Modelling and Analytics).
• A significant percentage of the total Marketing and CD population may be considered
platform, category and/or capability area is preferable to broad experience across the 4
lane highway. However it is still important to acquire breadth during the early stages of
5
true and valuable specialists in this regard. To achieve this, depth within a pillar,
career development (see principle 1).
> 15
Principle 4: Leadership roles require business
insight and people management capabilities
• Principle 4 requires leaders to have sufficient business insight and people

management capabilities to drive profitable growth
• Deep business knowledge, category, brand, platform and/or customer insight,
and outstanding leadership competencies are thus key.
• Specifically leaders need to have:
» Proven experience in the professional area in which they lead: for example,
to be appointed to WL3 in Brand Development you must have held a
position at WL2 in that professional area. The same is true of Brand Building
or Customer Development.
» People management capabilities in individual and team development
» Business acumen and insight on the key drivers of category, brand, platform
and/or customer growth
• In building relevant experience, it is important to acquire strong local, and
regional or global experience. Careers in Brand Development require regional or
•
global experience.
International experience is preferred for advancement to senior leadership
positions in Marketing and Customer Development. This international experience
5
and awareness is needed to lead significant areas of Unilever’s business.
> 16
C o n t e n t s:
Q & A’s
5
Options - What are the options available to me?

The next slide shows the main options for careers in Marketing & Customer
Development.
These are not rigid career paths, rather are the most likely combinations of roles
which will:
• give the basis for an ongoing career based on delivery and strong professional
development
• meet Unilever’s needs based on the business realities and the resulting
operating framework.
In this context they will give the right balance of professional specialisation
and breadth.
• The timings provided are guidelines for career progression and are not
intended to be prescriptive or exact. Career progression will vary, based on
performance, development, individual circumstances, preferred career option
and opportunities available.
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> 18
The Career Options in the 4 Lane Highway

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Career Options (WL1)
• At WL1, you should aim to obtain broad experience in at least 2 of the 4

lanes through a balance of full roles and secondments.
» If you aspire to more senior Customer Development roles, you should aim to get
experience in Account Management / Field Sales and Customer Marketing / Trade
Category Management.
» If you aspire to more senior Customer Development or Brand Building roles, you
should aim to get experience in Brand Building and Customer Development.
• You should build a track record of consistent delivery and build a solid
foundation of professional skills.
• Decisions regarding a preferred career option should be taken once you have
around 5 years professional experience. Breadth of experience is thus helpful
in guiding this decision and in building longer term career success.
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Career Options (WL2+)
• Go to Market

» Likely path - at WL2, builds career across Brand Building, Customer
Marketing (and/or Trade Category Management) and Customer
Management roles. Time spent in each role will be approximately 2 - 3 years.
» At WL3, two or three leadership roles of approximately 3 - 4 years will be
spent in either Brand Building or Customer Development, preferably in both.
At WL4, likely roles are Managing Director, Marketing VP, Customer
Development VP or General Manager of a Business Unit.
» WL5 roles eligible for:- SVP MO, National Business Unit MD / Chairman
• Customer Development
» Likely path - at WL2, spends time in Customer Marketing, Trade Category
Management and Customer Management. Time spent in each role will be
approximately 2 - 3 years. A secondment in Brand Building is strongly
suggested.
» After being promoted to WL3, leadership roles in Customer Management
will follow. At WL4 likely role is Customer Development VP.
» WL5 roles eligible for:- National Business Unit MD / Chairman 5
> 21
Career Options WL2+ (cont)
• Brand Development

» Likely path - at WL2 performs a role in Brand Building and two roles in
Brand Development, each approximately 2 – 3 years in length. A
secondment in Customer Marketing or Account Management is strongly
suggested.
» At WL3, 2 or 3 roles of approximately 3 - 4 years each are spent in global
and/or regional teams in Category and Brand Development. After
success at WL3 moves to a Global Brand VP or a Regional Category VP
role at WL4. Some will then specialise in GBVP roles, whilst others will
continue to work across both.
» WL5 roles eligible for:- Category SVP.
• Marketing
» Likely path - at WL2 spends three roles in Brand Building and Brand
Development, and a secondment in Customer Marketing or Account
Management. Alternatively, they may take 3 full roles in each of Brand
Building, Brand Development and Customer Development. These jobs
need to be held for long enough to demonstrate enough depth in each
to compete for WL3 roles, typically 2 - 3 years in duration.
» At WL3, 2 or 3 roles of approximately 3 - 4 years each are spent doing
further Brand Building and Brand Development roles. After success at
WL3, moves to either a Regional Category VP role or a WL4 Brand
Building role, and builds career across both.
» WL5 roles eligible for:- Category SVP; SVP MO; National Business Unit
5
MD / Chairman (provided the candidate has sufficient experience in
Customer Development).
> 22
C o n t e n t s:
Q & A’s
5
Questions & Answers
How should I use this Career principles & options guide?
This material is designed to be practical and informative, and to help CD professionals (with their

leaders and HR partners) think through their own career, what they want from it, and what
Unilever can offer. Reflect on the work you love to do, the environment(s) you thrive in, the style
of work you enjoy, and the sorts of people you love to work with. Based on that, think 10-15
years ahead. Which roles in the 4 lane highway do you aspire to do? Plan back from there. Of
course, not everyone will move to a role at the next level, but from a planning point of view, it is
worth taking this as a starting point as decisions taken now will have an impact on the
opportunities later. Bear in mind the effect of the career principles.
We want you to take ownership of your own career. It is a partnership between you and
Unilever. Use your manager and your HR partner to get support, advice and career counselling.
I am a trainee and started in CD. Can I stay in CD for the rest of my career?
Trainees will need to have experience outside Customer Development either in their traineeship
or soon afterwards, so that they build up the breadth of experience across 3 of the professional
areas in the 4 lane high`way. They also need to build enough understanding to decide by the
time they have 4 or 5 years experience in which direction they wish to take their career. By the
time managers have 8 to 10 years experience their careers will have taken distinctive
directionsand some career directions will no longer be realistic. This is a logical outcome of the
need for deep professionalism, which can only come from focus. (NB: check your local trainee
programme)
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Questions & Answers
I am not interested in Brand Building, I want to be out on the street managing
our customers, will this hinder my career?

If you want to become really excellent in Customer Development you need to have a good
understanding of our business. This broader experience than just Customer Development is
critical to the way we manage our business. An excellent Customer Developer leads the business
(Marketing, Supply Chain Finance) in the way we work with our customers. Divers experience is
key, as it will make you stronger as a Customer Developer. If you want to be excellent in your
profession, you need to have other experiences outside Customer Development, be it in Brand
Building, Supply Chain or Finance.
I have a background in Supply Chain and combine this with recent Customer
Development experience,do I need to go and do a marketing job?
No. We want to build strong Customer Developers and need to have a diverse experience base
for that. If you want to focus on a career in Customer Development and you have a background
in Supply Chain or Finance this is very much welcomed. The more important question is then
what it takes to become an excellent Customer Developer given your
specific background in Supply Chain or a Finance. A lot of emphasise is being placed on building
deep skills. Where can I find the guide lines to develop my skills?
See for detailed information on how to assess and develop your skills the CD Professional Skills
Guide as published in January 2006. 5
> 25
Questions & Answers
I am a seasoned and experienced account manager and also have experience in
Customer Marketing, can I move on to become a Brand Developer in a couple of

years?
It is unlikely that your competency and skill profile will match those required for a Brand
Development role, if you progressed in your career substantially, already. Of course there will be
exceptions to the rules in a few cases. If you are still early on in your career, options are still open
but it is advisable to make a choice sooner rather than later (see also marketing career principles)
I am not interested in providing leadership to teams. Does this mean I can’t make
a career in CD?
No. We need to have strong professionals with deep and profound skills in specific areas. We
highly value and rely upon people that deliver year on year. They provide us competitive edge
through consistency and optimisation. (See also comments on ‘specialist’)
I am currently at WL 3 and do not have Brand Building experience. What are my

career options?
In Customer Development we bring the customer into the heart of our business. If you are in a
Customer Development leadership role we expect you to take the lead in this and to manage the
interdependencies with Supply Chain, Marketing and Finance. In the new model you will have a
lot of opportunities to demonstrate your capabilities in overseeing the whole business system
and making it work for the benefit of Unilever and it’s customers. Good solid
experience and track record in this area will open up bigger opportunities for you.
5
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Questions & Answers
Do the Career Principles also apply to Customer Developers in Foodsolutions?
Yes they do. Foodsolutions is an integral part of Unilever. People working in Foodsolutions can

broaden their experience base by moving to a retail environment. The other way around people
with strong retail experience can broaden their experience by moving to Foodsolutions to
become stronger professionals.
Does getting regional or global experience automatically mean I need to

expatriate?
No, there are many ways of getting international experience. Undoubtedly Customer
Development will internationalise more rapidly as markets consolidate and internationalise further.
We will expatriate talent to gain experience in different market/customer circumstances if the long
term benefits for both Unilever and the individual can be matched.
Next to that there will be full time and part time roles where you can gain international experience
such as: working for a regional or global account team out of your home country, working in
international project teams such as the Win with Customer teams, working in regional operational
roles out of your home country, working in Communities of Practice teams in your region.
I am working in a hybrid market where modern trade starts to pick up, how is my
background in general trade valued?
General Trade is a very significant part of Unilevers’ business and we will continue to innovate in
here. We are leading in D&E markets and we want to remain that position. We need to have
strong professionals with strong track records
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2007 edition

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

Context CD Careers in Unilever

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

Category and Brand Building

World Class Customer Development

Account Management & Field Execution (CD Operations)

Vision What does CD look like in the new Operating Framework?

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

Building your competitiveness... working in CD means you will build a broad

Best in class tools and processes… working in CD means working with and being

Principles What are the key principles underpinning a CD career in Unilever?

World Class Customer Development

1.Breadth of experience and consistent delivery are important

2.Deep core professional skills provide a solid foundation

3.Expertise and specialism are highly valued

4.Leadership roles require business insight and people management capabilities

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

Options What are the different options available to me?

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

World Class Customer Development

I am currently at WL 3 and do not have Brand Building experience. What are my

World Class Customer Development

Does getting regional or global experience automatically mean I need to

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