VMLY&R COMMERCE: Unilever & Lifebuoy's Handle on Hygiene 3.0

In 2020, the pandemic amplified the need for sanitation and hygiene.

VMLY&R COMMERCE (formerly Geometry) reaffirmed its commitment to providing sustainable retail hygiene solutions by re-deploying its Handle on Hygiene innovation, a first-of-its-kind product developed in-house in 2015, in partnership with Barrows. The device, attached to the shopping trolley handle, allows customers to apply a thin layer of Lifebuoy hand sanitiser liquid with a single swipe across the handle – killing 99.9% of germs in one go.

Providing retailers with the opportunity to implement a safe, customer-first response in the fight against the spread of COVID-19, through an exclusive partnership in 2020 with Unilever globally, there was a limited rollout throughout the pandemic with a projected +500k devices to be rolled out worldwide.

In phases one (the Middle East - 2015/16) and two (Greater China - 2017) the campaign saw a 53% and 321% sales increase of the Lifebuoy sanitiser range respectively. Whilst the mechanism has been successfully tried and tested in supermarkets around the globe, the technology is easily malleable enough to apply to airport trolleys, public transport handles and numerous other railing that see frequent public usage.