Clift, who was recently appointed to the newly created position, added that Unilever would continue to focus on sustainable and environmentally friendly practices despite the economic downturn.

Clift told the audience at the conference, billed as “Winning in the Downturn”, that Unilever made and supplied products people needed and used and so was not as vulnerable in a recession. He added that the company was “not planning any deceleration in our innovation programme … in a recession we just have to look much harder at where we might be wasting money.”

He pointed out that 75 per cent of the company’s growth came from developing markets and added: “It would be naïve to think we won’t be affected but the market will continue to grow.”

He added that the company experienced recessions in developing markets every three years and had amassed experience in dealing with the challenges.

Clift added; “My feeling is that people still want good products but they will just buy less of them. It would be a tragic thing to strip out quality.”

Looking at marketing budgets, he said that there will be some “fantastic bargains” to be had for advertisers but the market was not yet at the point where the downturn was being reflected in media pricing.

Addressing the challenge of investing in sustainability during tough economic times Clift said that manufacturers had a responsibility to keep their nerve.

He said: “All consumer behaviour regarding the environment is about delegating to manufacturers. It puts a lot of responsibility onto us. In the end it is an important challenge to us.

“Consumers’relationship to capitalism is going to go through a fundamental change through this financial crisis. People will realise unleashed capitalism does not have all the answers.”

Clift added that sustainability was not necessarily a cost and that when companies were forced to think they often came up with greater creative solutions.