Unilever's skin care head Rampal quits

MUMBAI: Vivek Rampal, category head, skin care of the regional innovation group, Unilever is understood to have quit following differences of opinion with the management. He is believed to be joining another company based in Singapore, it is reliably learnt. Mr Rampal was part of a team headed by Ralph Kugler, president, HPC, Unilever and reported to Simon Clist, head (marketing), HPC, Asia.

Informed sources said that there was a serious disagreement with the Unilever management over advertising strategies and people management. HLL officials refused to comment on the issue.

Vivek Rampal, earlier Hindustan Lever’s category head for skin care — a segment in which the company has more than 50% of the market share — moved to Singapore in ‘05. An A-lister in the Unilever set-up, he was responsible for strategy and brand innovations in the category for the Asian region.

Mr Rampal has been credited with much of the success recorded by HLL’s skincare division in the past few years. Within HPC India, the innovation marketing and technical resources has been aligned to the regional innovation structure. HLL’s success in skincare brands like Fair & Lovely, Lakme, Ponds, Dove and Vaseline put the category in Unilever’s focus.

The cosmetics and personal care sector accounts for around 26% of Unilever’s sales. As the largest consumer products group in the world, the company had a turnover of  39.1bn in ‘04. Europe accounts for 43% of sales and the US 32%. Asia and Africa accounts for 25% of turnover.

In the personal care category, Unilever has been hard-pushed by biggest competitor P&G, which has continued to threaten its position as the biggest consumer goods business in the world.

As part of efforts to concentrate its personal care on its core activities, Unilever announced last month that it had sold its fragrance business, Unilever Cosmetics International to US player Coty. The deal will leave Unilever to concentrate its efforts on hair and skin care.