Unilever Canada Limited is best known by its products which have been a part of Canadian households for more than 100 years—ever since William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers, introduced Sunlight Soap into Canada. Today, Unilever serves Canadians from coast to coast and has earned a place in the life of virtually every consumer. Sunlight has remained a very popular brand but, in addition, Lever Brothers now produces a broad range of soap and detergent products including Snuggle fabric softener, Wisk laundry detergent and Dove beauty bar. Thomas J. Lipton Inc., another major Unilever subsidiary, manufactures such well-known brands as Red Rose Tea, Imperial, Becel and Fleischmann's margarines, Lipton's own packaged soups and Cup-a-Soup, and MexiCa  sa, a range of Mexican cuisine. Unilever's meat operations include brands such as Shopsy's, Hygrade, La Belle Fermiere, Overlander and Puritan. In toiletries, Q-Tips, Vaseline, Cutex, Close Up toothpaste and Pond's are well known names marketed by Chesebrough-Pond's. Finally, A & W's fast food restaurants are a familiar sight across the country offering Teen-burgers, fries, fresh onion rings and, of course, a frosty glass of A & W root beer, Canada's number one selling root beer.

Unilever's subsidiaries have a heritage of entrepreneurship and innovation which continues to be the hallmark of the company. It began when William Hesketh Lever, originally a wholesale grocer from Lancashire, England, built his first Canadian factory in Toronto as part of his expansion outside the U.K. The company prospered and by 1914, Lever Brothers was a national enterprise with eight plants serving the country. During the next fifteen years, Lever Brothers continued to grow, not only in Canada, but throughout the world.
 

1. A & W is recognized nationally for Root Beer and the Teenburger. 2. Thomas J. Lipton manufactures quality food products coast to coast.

Demand for vegetable oils and fats put Lever in competition with another international manufacturer, Margarine Unie based in the Netherlands. The two companies shared common interests. Both were large-scale marketers of household necessities, used similar distribution channels and needed the same raw materials—one for soap and the other for margarine. In 1930 they joined forces to form Unilever - a name which has since achieved worldwide respect and recognition. Less than a decade later, a second significant step was taken which was also to have far-reaching effects. Lever Brothers acquired Thomas J. Lipton Ltd. This move brought together two kindred corporate spirits both founded on product innovation and strong marketing leadership.

Canadians had been enjoying Lipton's teas since the turn of the century. just as William Hesketh Lever had done with soap, Sir Thomas Lipton built his tea empire with entrepreneurial spirit and merchandising imagination. Lever was the first to produce a specialty, household brand of bar soap to replace what had been strictly a commodity product. Lipton achieved a similar transition for tea. He packaged it in quarter, half and one-pound packets—a simple but new idea. Lipton shrewdly guessed that consumers would feel this neatly packaged tea was fresher and more accurately weighed than tea sold in bulk from an open chest.

The post World War II boom heralded an era of unprecedented demand for consumer products. The marketplace was changing rapidly and the company embarked on a programme of diversification acquiring a variety of new businesses to meet consumers' needs. When Newfoundland entered Confederation in 1949, The Newfoundland  Margarine Company, which was owned by Unilever in the UK, came under Canadian management. Its Good Luck and Eversweet brands, still manufactured on the island, remain unique to this day. Through the late sixties and early seventies, Unilever evolved into a multi-faceted manufacturer and marketer of household products. Five separate meat businesses were acquired and, in a majority of cases, the original entrepreneurs who had built the companies remained a part of the Unilever management team. This included Sam Shopsowitz who not only ran the famous Shopsy's Delicatessen but whose image still resides on the packaging of Shopsy's branded products. Other acquisitions include Monarch Fine Foods, Lawry's, A & W and, more recently, Brooke Bond Inc.
 

1. Lever Brothers is a marketer Of national household cleaning products such as Sunlight, Snuggle and Dove. 2. Chesebrough Ponds is a recognized leader in personal care products with Vaseline, and QTips.

Although Unilever remains predominantly a consumer goods business, it has a growing presence in the industrial field. Lipton is a major supplier to the food service industry, markets a wide range of specialty product for bakers through Monarch Fine Foods, and other subsidiaries supply industrial users with flavours, fragrances and specialty chemicals. A recent addition, Oxoid, markets medical products to hospitals and laboratories.
With the example of its two founders firmly in mind, it is not surprising that Unilever has always maintained an interest in new products. The company has kept pace with changing Canadian lifestyles, with products like Cup-a-Soup, Noodles and Sauce, Salad Sensations, Sunkist Fun Fruits, and low fat Country Crock margarine. All were developed to meet consumer demands for nutrition, convenience and health directed products.

Sensitivity to customer preferences, a commitment to quality and vigorous brand-name marketing have ensured Unilever products a place on the shelves of millions of Canadians. Sunlight Soap, the product which started it all, has passed its 100th birthday but, over the years, it has been joined by more than 2,500 equally trusted products.

There is a saying at Unilever which represents the company's commitment to carry the world-class standards of William Lever and Thomas Lipton forward into the next century and beyond. We are "in business forever."