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Vice Media Cannes Lions Unilever

Vice Media deepens Unilever ties with female-focused channel

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

June 23, 2015 | 4 min read

Vice Media and Unilever have joined forces to launch a channel that promises to cover the subjects that matter most to women in the first phase of a multi-year partnership between the two companies.

The media owner's channel was announced today (23 June) at the Cannes Lions and wil host content that is sponsored by the FMCG giant.

Through Broadly, Unilever is hopeful of unlocking more sophisticated ways of building loyalty for brands such as Dove and Tresemmé by linking them to the issues women care about. It will host daily editorial, franchise video series and long-form documentaries, spanning politics, culture, sex, and fashion. Consequently, the shows will lean away from the typical content on Vice, which has been more male-orientated.

Keith Weed, chief marketing officer at Unilever, said: “We are looking forward to this partnership with VICE. This platform represents a perfect opportunity to combine Vice's reach and relevancy with the authenticity and values of our brands, which include Dove and Tresemmé. We believe that Broadly can drive purposeful, authentic and lasting conversations with our consumers, particularly the worldwide community of young women who can now engage with content that focuses on what matters most to them.”

Weed teased something was imminent with Vice earlier this month at the Financial Times’ Marketing Innovators Summit. He said he had met with the business, along with other innovators in the advertising space, over the last two months in order to ensure the company’s marketing is on top of emerging business models and upcoming trends.

For Vice, the partnership is a chance to further monetise its content and push those shows to a broader audience. Like Vox, Vice’s commercial proposition is predicated on online video and deeper, more creative brand partnerships. However, there is growing competition for those budgets now that bigger publishers are starting to catch on to the potency of the medium.

Eddy Moretti, chief creative director at Vice, said: “Broadly has completely captivated the energies and emotions of everyone here at VICE, it’s been amazing to watch it come to life over the past few months. We’re proud to be able to launch a new channel devoted to women’s issues, it’s a statement of our continued commitment to documentary storytelling that reveals the world we live in today.

There is an amazing group of strong, creative, dedicated (and all around awesome) women at Vice that are building this special new space within which they will be telling stories that matter to young women that are either not getting told, or are getting told in the wrong way – (which is just as bad). I am thrilled to watch this Broadly team go forth and chart some bold new territory in women’s media.”

Broadly is expected to launch this summer and is led by director of ontent Tracie Egan Morrissey and publisher Sharon Kelley.

Vice and Unilever have been working with one another since 2012 but the latest announcement is the first time they have committed to a long-term deal.

Vice Media Cannes Lions Unilever

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