Observed Signal · Mar 25, 2026 · Strategy Update · Source: https://marketingtechnews.net/feed/ · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Unilever speeds marketing with 'Desire at Scale' strategy
Unilever’s Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Esi Eggleston Bracey described the company’s “Desire at Scale” strategy as a way to connect brands with consumers “authentically and at speed” by tightening links between culture, community and commerce. The approach — framed as relevance-driven growth and part of a push to become a faster, simpler, technology-enabled organisation “Fit for the AI Age” in Unilever’s 2025 report — asks marketing teams to work more closely with product and retail timing. Sunsilk’s recent Wondermist launch, reshaped around Gen Z social trends and promoted via social-first marketing, is cited as an example. Unilever referenced Kantar research showing eight in ten people now seek holistic beauty routines. The article stresses the trade-off between speed and credibility when turning social signals into product and marketing decisions. It also notes Unilever’s broader AI partnership activity (see Google Cloud reference).
Signals a broader marketer trend of linking social listening, product decisions and commerce — relevant to brand, product and martech teams but not a platform-level or regulatory shift.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Esi Eggleston Bracey, Unilever Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, described the "Desire at Scale" strategy.
- Unilever’s 2025 annual report positions "Desire at Scale" as part of building a faster, simpler, technology-enabled organisation "Fit for the AI Age."
- Sunsilk reworked a recent launch into Wondermist, a social-first product aimed at Gen Z beauty trends.
- Unilever cited Kantar research that eight in ten people now seek holistic beauty routines.
- The article references Unilever’s partnership activity with Google Cloud to expand AI use in marketing and commerce.
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Related Market Signals & Shifts
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Unilever’s Yokoi: Intelligence Drives Brand Growth
Kantar and Unilever executives say brand consistency plus actionable intelligence — including AI — are key drivers of long-term growth. Kantar’s BrandZ Global Top 100 reached a combined value of $13 trillion, up 22% year-on-year, with four brands now exceeding $1 trillion. Jeff Greenspoon (Kantar) and Ryu Yokoi (Unilever) argue that AI accelerates marketing execution but that the leading brands use intelligence to build consistent, culturally resonant identities over time. Unilever has shifted to a social-first approach and developed a “brandverse” framework to maintain consistency across touchpoints; Dove’s Cannes Grand Prix campaign used generative AI to demonstrate how long-term brand behaviour can shape LLM outputs. Both speakers emphasise disciplined cross-channel measurement, attribution modelling and cultural insight as foundations for converting intelligence into growth.
Unilever Doubles Down on Social and Creators
Unilever has shifted a large portion of its marketing mix toward social and creator-driven marketing. Eighteen months ago CEO Fernando Fernandez pledged to allocate 50% of the company’s $9 billion ad budget to social and to work with 20x more creators. Unilever CMO Leandro Barreto, speaking at an Adweek press event, said the pace and extent of the shift varies by brand and business group, and that the company still spends about $4.5 billion on broad-reach channels such as TV. Barreto — appointed in January — defended the strategy amid external criticism and expressed internal conviction in the direction.
Unilever Makes Creators Central to Marketing Strategy
Unilever is restructuring its marketing approach to put online creators at the centre of campaign development rather than treating influencers as post‑production amplifiers. The company — which runs a roughly $9bn marketing operation and has earmarked about 50% of media budgets for creator‑led marketing — is asking agency partners to collaborate with creators from the brief stage. Examples include the Arsenal 'Part of the Game' campaign (MullenLowe) that was reshaped after creators pushed back on the original idea. Unilever says it has grown its creator roster from ~10,000 to ~300,000, is testing outcome‑based creator pay (percentage of sales), and is using an “agentic solution” (AI) to surface user‑generated video content. The company reports creator campaigns delivering up to 17% gains and as much as four‑times view‑through rates when done well.
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