Article originally published: 11th August 2021
For our next feature, we had a chat with Lucius Young, Head of Unilever Foundry SEAA as he shares with us more about the partnership and collaboration between Try and Review and Unilever Foundry.
What’s interesting is that Lucius used to lead all things digital & PR for Lux (a brand under Unilever) and although it was for a different department altogether, he has worked with Try and Review since the very beginning. The working relationship has also moved from brand campaigns to a current partnership with the Foundry team focused on landing and leveraging Try and Review’s capabilities for Unilever’s marketers across SEAA.
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Could you share more about yourself and your role in the company?
Hi, I’m Lucius and I head the Unilever Foundry SEA team based in Singapore.
We are one of the Unilever pillars for corporate innovation and we focus on solving Unilever’s challenges and opportunities through the deployment and awareness of innovation, driven through startups and small-medium enterprises (SMEs).
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How did you first work with Try and Review?
I don’t remember the year but it was quite a long time ago when I was still at Unilever working in the global Lux team doing digital and PR for the brand.
I don’t do campaign work with Try and Review right now as Try and Review works more closely with the markets directly but I must say, Try and Review has been quite a solid partner for the Unilever Foundry. When we talk about start-ups that have found a level of success through this model of collaboration, Try and Review is definitely one of them.
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Can you share more on the collaboration between Try and Review and Unilever Foundry?
Beyond the campaign work that Try and Review works on, we’ve also included Try and Review, and specifically Alexia, as part of our mentorship program. This year’s mentorship is really focused on getting beyond survival - in 2020, it’s all about survival for businesses, but in 2021, it’s all about redefining the new north star for start-ups that have not only survived but also on how they can thrive. So we got Alexia onboard and pegged her with two of our mentors - from the Brand and the Consumer Insights (CMI) team. It really is a two way relationship as they not only get to learn more about what it's like to be a part of a start-up. At the same time, Alexia’s also tapping on both their skills and expertise and how she can better sharpen her offerings to the FMCG industry and she gets to bounce ideas off them as well. Another reason why we matched Alexia to the Consumer Insights Mentor was so she can get more depth and understanding in the Consumer Insights space. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about sampling, sampling is just the door in. Consumer insights is really where we get the value to develop and plan our campaigns and sales initiatives.
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What are your views on reviews? How powerful do you think reviews are these days in affecting consumer’s decision making in purchase?
Reviews are super important in the decision process. Just take a look at the top marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada - you have multiple people selling similar products and the decision to buy would almost always fall on the reviews. At the end of the day, it really is about the effectiveness of the product you are buying, the seller reviews, etc. If I see a merchant that has no reviews or a few bad reviews, because of the wide choice and similarity of the products in the marketplace, I will not order from them.
From an FMCG point of view, reviews are also very important. But where Try and Review has done very well is that they go beyond the reviews and have expanded beyond it - not only through asset creation but Try and Review has also leveraged the community very well. Try and Review not only looks at what kind of insights we can get outside of a good or bad review but also how we can use that to drive our advertising, future product development or future launch plans. That’s the larger win that Try and Review has enabled for their clients.
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How was your experience working with Try and Review and anything you’d like to say as we celebrate our 5 years anniversary this year?
Try and Review are one of the few startups in the Foundry Ecosystem that has constantly thrived due to their adaptability and their speed of change. They have been very collaborative and the results can be seen in both the work and their stakeholder relationships.
Alexia has a level of openness and tenacity that I wish I had. She not only listens to what Unilever wants but is very proactive on pushing ideas on how her team and business can work better with us. The fundamental business of Try and Review is already quite aligned with what Unilever needs. The differentiating factor is the effort and tenacity she has to unlock barriers - locking a Master Service Agreement, identifying local champions and delivering solid value. I believe her leadership in paving the way for her team is how Try and Review grew from a small team to what it is now.
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If you could describe Try and Review in 3 words, what would it be?
Go Beyond Sampling.
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I think it is safe to say that a lot of our clients and partners whom we have worked with from the beginning are still around because of the hard work that our co-founders have put in in not only building and maintaining relationships, but also always listening to what their client/partner wants and going beyond that to provide them with so much more.
Thank you Lucius for your kind words, we are both humbled and excited to continue to see how Unilever Foundry and Try and Review can continue to grow and flourish together.
