REDMOND, Wash., June 18, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Unilever PLC has once again selected the MSN® network of Internet services, with its
230 million unique users worldwide, to serve as the exclusive Web provider of its Hellmann’s/Best Foods Salad Dressings innovative Click Here to Refresh campaign. The program is aimed at helping women refresh their minds, bodies and souls this summer with fresh tips and tricks for healthy living and will utilize the increasingly powerful marketing medium of digital media using Microsoft® Windows Media™
Technologies.
MSN tailored an interactive digital marketing solution to Hellmann’s/Best Foods Salad Dressings branding objective for the Click Here to Refresh campaign. They noted the flexibility of the broad array of offerings from MSN in its selection of MSN as the exclusive portal for its online promotion.
“The interactive marketing solutions created by MSN give us a unique way to engage women online,”
said Christiane Paul, senior product manager for Hellmann’s/Best Foods Salad Dressings.
“By hosting the Click Here to Refresh healthy living courses on MSN WomenCentral, we reach our target audience of health-conscious women and are able to offer them the tools to bring out their best.”
“Hellmann’s/Best Foods Salad Dressings’ choice of MSN to execute this campaign shows that traditional advertisers are looking to the Web as an alternative to traditional advertising mediums — such as print and broadcast — to build brand awareness,”
said Jed Savage, national director for MSN sales at Microsoft.
“MSN technology is fueling the industry’s advancement toward online marketing, with its full promise of an interactive consumer-branding experience that is not possible with traditional offline media.”
Utilizing Microsoft technology, Hellmann’s/Best Foods Salad Dressings’ online marketing campaign includes three live courses that will webcast in the United States using Microsoft Windows Media on MSN WomenCentral. Hosted by well-known healthy cooking consultants, the courses will discuss useful self-improvement tips to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and improve women’s minds, bodies and souls through food. Following each course, consumers can pose questions to the celebrity host on MSN Chat. The live courses and subsequent chats will be broadcast beginning this week, on June 20, July 26 and Aug. 23.
MSN also created a cobranded minisite on MSN WomenCentral to promote the courses, offer consumer product information about Hellmann’s/Best Foods Salad Dressings’ new pourable salad dressing and promote the Bring Out Your Best consumer contest, the capstone of the summer campaign. Offline activities will direct online users to visit http://www.womencentral.msn.com/bringoutthebest/ to nominate women who strive to bring out the best in themselves, their family or their community. The site also provides more information — including scheduled hosts, dates and times — on the live courses.
According to a recent study conducted by Millward Brown IntelliQuest for MSN,*
78 percent of women said they use the Internet to obtain product information before making a purchase. In addition, 40 percent of women said they regularly visit educational and health-oriented Web sites. The study showed that the majority of women find the Internet helpful in making more informed purchasing decisions, affecting both online and offline purchases.
About Unilever Bestfoods North America
Unilever Bestfoods North America is the maker of Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® brands of premium salad dressing. For a vibrant and refreshing eating experience, try any of our 20 delicious salad dressing flavors to rejuvenate your salads. A full line of Regular and Light varieties is available, along with the Citrus Splash™ subline of tasty vinaigrettes containing Florida citrus juices. The Hellmann’s brand name is sold east of the Rocky Mountains, and Best Foods products are sold West of the Rockies. Pour on the Hellmann’s or Best Foods and
“Bring Out The Best® .”
About MSN
MSN is the world’s most popular destination on the Web, attracting more than 230 million visitors per month. Available in 33 markets and 17 languages, MSN provides consumers with their home on the Web — where they can get everything they need from the Web and make the most of their time online. MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
* The study was conducted from Dec. 7 to Dec. 20, 2000, and had a 95 percent confidence level. The general sample included 2,222 women who completed interviews and were solicited randomly across the MSN network. A subsample of 936 new mothers was also collected.
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