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According to the Unilever Archives, the Blue Vitality design was unveiled on 12 May 2004 by the chairmen, in London and Rotterdam at the same time. It was launched as part of the Vitality mission, which aimed to simplify the company and bring it closer to consumers.

The logo it replaced was the Blue U of 1990, a solid letter in corporate blue above the name. The new U is made of 25 symbols, each standing for part of the business, from the sun, which the archive calls the ultimate symbol of all vitality and links to Port Sunlight, to the bee for creation, pollination, hard work and biodiversity. The name below was redrawn in a softer script.

The Grocer quoted chairman Niall FitzGerald at his last AGM: "Our old logo is reliable, solid, distinguished, and we don't want to lose those characteristics. But it is not, perhaps open enough to be introduced into everything we make." The paper put the cost of developing and marketing the logo at about 6.7 million pounds, and said Unilever planned to brand all of its goods with it by the end of 2005.