Hindustan Lever sees changes on parent's line

Winds of change are blowing at the Hindustan Lever headquarters in Mumbai.

With the company's new CEO, Douglas Baillie, having taken charge on March 1, has moved into the corporate headquarters and the office is getting a makeover, with a new coat of paint.

While this in itself may not be significant, the blue and white color scheme adopted, which happen to be the colours of the Unilever logo have sparked off talks of the imminent name change once more.

So, is it finally time to say goodbye to 'Hindustan Lever'? When contacted, an HLL spokesperson said that while the name change has been discussed on and off, at present there has been no proposal that has been put to the board in this respect.

As part of the global reorganisation process, Unilever had rolled out its new corporate identity in March 2004, to create a uniform identity globally.

Harish Manwani, Hindustan Lever chairman and president, Unilever Asia and Africa had said earlier this year that the company would look at options to see the best way to be linked with the parent company, including a change in name. "We will do what is best for India," he had said then.

It will not be an easy move for the company to change the name, as it has a strong emotional connect with the Indian consumer.

This is one of the main reasons why the change to Unilever India has not been implemented although subsidiaries in all other countries have done so.

Lately, another option, Hindustan Unilever has also been doing the rounds, with a final decision expected within this quarter.

The name change would also mean discarding the green leaf logo and adopting the Unilever logo, which is a blue "U" composed of 25 different icons.

These include a sun, a flower, a heart and a palm tree among other things, each representing a particular aspect of either the company's brands, or its corporate mission, "adding vitality to life."

Once the name change is done with, it will be the third for India.

The company was initially called Lever Brothers, which was changed to Hindustan Lever in 1956.