HUL LIME Season 17
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)
HUL LIME Season 17: Stages and Timelines
HUL LIME Season 17 - Digital Launch
All the registered teams will attend this session to gain knowledge and clear their doubts about the Stage 1 - Opening Round - Brand Campaign. You can now access the case document from here.
Stage 1 - Opening Round - Brand Campaign
No more snooze-worthy slides. No more hot-seat interrogations. No more copy-paste ideas.
Put on your agency cap! Think creative, fun, beyond your textbooks. For this, we need you to create a 20-second ad campaign for a brand, aimed at a specific target group. Read the case doc carefully before you submit!!
Deliverable: Choose a new target group (TG) for one of our brands (Surf Excel, Lifebuoy, Vaseline, Horlicks, or Lakmē ). Find a relevant proposition and create a piece of social content to communicate this proposition. In the first 10 seconds, add a static frame which explains your TG, proposition and creative idea is less than 200 characters- Think a tweet that encapsulates your idea. Attach your creative content after this- and since consumers have low attention span- we recommend a video not more than 20 seconds, excluding the first frame. (Submission format - Video not more than 30 seconds and file size less than 20mb)
Stage 2 - Semi-Finals - Marketing Plan
Left and Right Brainer Thinking! Flex those creative and planning muscles.
Build a full marketing plan for the Ad Campaign that you submitted in Round 1. Cover your target cohort sizing, organic reach and influencer strategy, media plan with budget allocation, revenue ambition and metrics – along with your execution roadmap.
Add anything more that you believe will make your planning stand out!
Deliverables: (3 slides)PowerPoint Presentation – All semi-finalists will present to a special jury who will evaluate the performance based on the 7-minute presentation + 3-minute Q&A and identify the top 4 teams to move to Grand Finale.
Stage 3 - Grand Finale
4 Teams From the Country Battling It Out For The Top Spot.
You will work on a social impact campaign with a 4-person task force, including an influencer, a brand manager, an R&D partner, and a finance partner.
You will build a 360-degree marketing and media plan for a purpose-led campaign, which you will launch live in collaboration with the influencer in your task force.
Deliverables: PowerPoint Presentation + Video Campaign – which you shall present to the jury in 10 mins (7-minute presentation time (includes 5-slide PPT + Videos if any) + 3-minute Q&A)
The finalist teams will present to the final jury consisting of the most revered names in India, including advertising & marketing specialists and academicians.
All that you need to know about HUL LIME Season 17
HUL presents L.I.M.E. Season 17, an inter-B-School marketing and business challenge to give students an opportunity to stretch their imagination and write the future!
Eligibility Criteria:
This competition is open to 1st-year students pursuing any full-time MBA programme.
Team Rules:
- Students must register in a team of 3 and register via the Unstop website.
- Follow LinkedIn @Unilever and Instagram @unileverdiariesindia to stay updated on registration and case submission timelines.
- Only the teams that register on the website by the deadline will receive an exclusive invite to attend the virtual case launch of LIME Season 17.
- HUL reserves the right to check the validity of the registration information submitted at any point in time.
- Please note that access to the launch event without registration or any changes to the team constitution post-launch will not be allowed.
- A team should consist of team members from the same campus.
- All three team members need to be present on call on the day of the jury, failing which their entry shall stand disqualified.
- Teams should be available for a dry run before the jury round to ensure a smooth jury process.
- Any deviation from the above will result in immediate disqualification of the entire team.
Competition Structure:
Opening Round - Case Submission:
- Assessors & Jury members will evaluate the case submissions & subsequently top entries across campuses.
- Teams are requested to upload the same on the Unstop website.
- This round will be eliminatory and will be used to assess teams that will proceed to the semi-final stage.
Semi-Finals:
- Brief for the semi-finals will be shared with the shortlisted teams subsequently. This will involve logical next steps to sharpen and implement the idea proposed in the qualifying round.
Key Deliverables:
- A PowerPoint Presentation
Jury Evaluation:
- All semi-finalists will present to a special jury. The jury will evaluate the performance based on the 7-minute presentation + 3-minute Q&A and identify the top 4 teams to move to the Grand Finale.
Grand Finale:
- The final presentation by the top 4 teams will be a 10-minute-long interaction per team (7-minute presentation + 3-minute Q&A)
- The Finalist teams will present to the final jury consisting of the most revered names in India Inc., Advertising & Marketing specialists and academicians.
- The HUL Category Heads and Marketing Managers who mentored the top teams would be invited to attend the Grand Finale.
- The auditors will collate the final score, and the results will be declared on the same day.
Please Note:
- Any deviation from the rules and regulations mentioned above will solely be at the discretion of the management.
- These rules may be modified without any prior notification. Teams are advised to regularly review terms. If there is any disagreement with any of the terms and any amendments thereto, the team must not participate in the competition.
Prizes and Rewards:
- The Winners from the Grand Finale will win a grand prize of INR 10,00,000. They would also represent India at the global Unilever case study competition - Unilever Future Leaders League 2026 in London.
- The First Runners-Up Team will win a cash prize of INR 3,00,000.
- The Second Runners-Up Team will win a cash prize of INR 2,00,000.
- The Third Runners-Up Team will win a cash prize of INR 1,00,000.
Note:
All Timelines & Deadlines at all stages will be updated on the @unileverdiariesindia Instagram page.
Important dates & deadlines?
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15 Sep'25, 07:00 AM IST Registration Deadline
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14 Sep'25, 11:59 PM IST Round 1: Submission Deadline
Contact the organisers
Send queries to organizersRewards and Prizes?
Winners
The Winners from the Grand Finale will win a grand prize of INR 10,00,000. They would also represent India at the global Unilever case study competition - Unilever Future Leaders’ League 2025.
First Runners-Up Team
The First Runners-Up Team will win a cash prize of INR 3,00,000.
Second Runners-Up
The Second Runners-Up Team will win a cash prize of INR 2,00,000.
Third Runners-Up Team
The Third Runners-Up Team will win a cash prize of INR 1,00,000.
About Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)
- India’s largest FMCG company with 65 brands in more than 20 categories.
- A turnover of Rs. 60,680 Crores with an EBITDA of Rs. 15,144 crores.
- The company holds 45000 distributors, 8 mn stores and 1150 suppliers under its vast distribution network.
In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). These three companies merged to form HUL in November 1956; HUL offered 10% of its equity to the Indian public, being the first among the foreign subsidiaries to do so. Unilever now holds 61.9% equity in the company.
Unilever acquired Lipton in 1972 whereas Brooke Bond joined its fold in 1984. In 2007, the company’s name was formally changed to Hindustan Unilever Limited and in 2010, the company’s head office was shifted from the landmark Lever House in Mumbai to its new campus in Andheri East
Product/Business Portfolio-
HUL categorizes its brands under 3 major categories:
Beauty and Personal Care:
The beauty and Personal care segment is the largest segment in the kitty of HUL with 32 brands and clocked a total of Rs. ₹21,831 Cores with an EBITDA of Rs.5,597 crores. The brands that come under the category are as follows:
- Axe
- Dove
- Lifebuoy
- Love Beauty and Planet
- Lux
- Pepsodent
- Rexona
- Sunsilk
- Tresemme
- Vaseline
- Aviance
- Breeze
- Citra
- Clear
- Close Up
- Glow and Lovely
- Lakme
- Pears
- TIGI
- Tony&Guy
- Brylcreem
- Clinic Plus
- Elle 18
- Glow and Handsome
- Hamam
- Indulekha
- Ayush
- Liril
- Pure Derm
- Rexona
- V Wash
Foods and Refreshments:
Foods and refreshment is the next category under HUL. It is the second largest category in terms of the number of brands but falls behind the Home Care category in terms of revenue. In FY 2022, the foods and refreshment category clocked a total revenue of Rs. 14,876 crores with an EBITDA of Rs. 2,662 crores. The brands that fall under the foods and refreshment kitty are as follows:
- Boost
- Cornetto
- Hellman’s
- Horlicks
- Horlicks Cardia Plus
- Horlicks Growth Plus
- Lite Horlicks
- Horlicks Mother’s Plus
- Horlicks Protein Plus
- Horlicks Women’s Plus
- Junior Horlicks
- Knorr
- Lipton
- Magnum
- Bru
- Annapurna
- Brooke Bond 3 Roses
- Brooke Bond Red Label
- Brooke Bond Taaza
- Brooke Bond Taj Mahal
- Kissan
- Quality Walls
3. HomeCare:
The third category classified by HUL is the Homecare category, which achieved a total turnover of Rs. 21,230 crores and an EBITDA of Rs.3,875 crores with 10 brands, which are as follows:
- Cif
- Comfort
- Wheel
- Domex
- Rin
- Surf Excel
- Vim
- Love & Care
- Nature Protect
- Sunlight
Recent Mergers and Acquisitions
- In one of the largest mergers in the FMCG industry, GSK consumer healthcare was merged with HUL for $3.8Bn. This deal will give HUL a strong foothold in the Nutrition and health drinks category with brands like Horlicks
- Another major acquisition in 2019-2020 was that of V-Wash, the female intimate hygiene brand
- HUL also acquired the ice cream and frozen desserts business of Vijaykant Dairy and Food Products Limited, giving it access to ‘Aditya Milk’ and its distribution network
- HUL also acquired Indulekha in 2015, the premium hair oil brand to foray into the upcoming category of Ayurveda
Top 5 Competitors:
- Procter & Gamble India
- ITC Ltd
- Nestle India Ltd
- Reckitt Benckiser
- Patanjali Ayurveda
Recent News and Developments:
- HUL rejigged its top management and appointed Kedar Lele as its Executive Director for customer development.
- HUL sets up a fully owned subsidiary Unilever India Ltd to save on corporate taxes.
- HUL partnered with KVN foundation and Portea healthcare to airlift 4000 oxygen concentrators to bring to India.
- HUL partnered with Invest India to launch the ‘Grand Water Saving Challenge’.
- HUL boss Sanjiv Mehta honored with AIMA-JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award.
- HUL also joined hands with SBI to provide its retailers with an instant OD facility and transform retailer payments digitally.
Opportunities at HUL:
Main Roles offered to Students: For management students, HUL hires them as Management Trainees and takes them through their 15-18 month training program known as the Unilever Future Leaders Program. After completion of the training program, the trainees are employed in various areas of work like Sales and Marketing, HR, Supply Chain, Finance, etc.