Unilever and Unox: The Dutch New Year’s Dive in times of Covid-19

Unox, a food brand owned by Unilever, brought the North Sea to consumers' homes in the Netherlands so they could continue their New Year tradition of swimming in the North Sea despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every New Year's Day, 10,000 people dive collectively into the icy cold sea water at Scheveningen, a beach resort near The Hague, since 1960.

Since 1998, Unox, Unilever's flagship food brand in the Netherlands and often associated with winter, adopted this Nieuwjaarsduik (English: New Year's dive), and ever since it is tradition to wear Unox branded orange winter caps and gloves.

Because of the corona pandemic, the event on January 1st, 2021 in its original form had to be cancelled. The aim of the campaign was to generate publicity for an alternative version of...

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