Unilever is transforming its approach to marketing and brand building to deliver what we’re calling Desire at Scale. Elevating everything about our brands – from science to sensorials – so they go beyond meeting people’s needs and wants, to meet their desires.
Expressing a brand’s desirability starts with clearly defining what it stands for, then expressing that identity creatively – across all touchpoints – in ways that are relevant to how people are living their lives.
To be and to remain relevant demands a new way of connecting with consumers. Shifting from ‘broadcasting to belonging’ through ideas that are designed to be shared. Ideas that resonate on a very local level with communities and common interest groups.
Moving from functional to emotional with our Home Care brands
In today’s world, that means drawing on up-to-the-minute social media insights so we can engage with micro trends and cultural moments live, in real time. And that requires the capability to create high-quality content faster than ever before.
New in-house graphic design studios – called Sketch Pro – are giving us this capability.
This is particularly exciting when it comes to Home Care. In a category traditionally focused on functional benefits, like stain removal or germ-kill, Sketch Pro is helping reshape how our brands are perceived.
By creating emotionally resonant content and design that further accentuate features like fragrance and aesthetics, we’re shifting consumer perception from purely rational to deeply emotive.
Centres of excellence driven by talent and technology
Sketch Pro integrates highly talented designers directly with our marketers. And these experts use advanced AI to not only help improve the quality of creative work but also dramatically accelerate our speed to market.
Using AI empowers creatives by automating repetitive tasks, freeing up their time and mental space for high-value, strategic thinking. And it’s unlocking new levels of innovation, agility and impact.
With Sketch Pro, teams can go from idea to consumer test in two hours, allowing for quick iterations based on live feedback and shifting trends. With a traditional in-house or agency model, this process takes days or even weeks depending on the complexity of the brief.
Ultimately, it enables us to create content that feels more relevant, joyful and desirable – grounded in cultural moments – helping brands secure their place in broader lifestyle conversations.
Boosting social media views and engagement
During Ramadan, a key cultural and commercial moment in Indonesia, the Jakarta team tapped into social trends to create content for Rinso and Sunlight. One such trend was lip-syncing. We identified the trends in the mornings via social listening, then went live within hours to be hyper-relevant and drive brand engagement. These assets gained over 6 million organic views, boosting the brands’ TikTok visibility by over 22%.
When Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres was nominated for an Oscar, the local team quickly joined the conversation in a relatable way. To highlight what dress she might wear, Brilhante revived characters from the sitcom Tapas & Beijos, where Fátima (Fernanda’s character) worked at a dress shop. In the scene, the dress is washed with Brilhante, reinforcing the brand’s association with fabric care and self-expression.
This is what we mean by emotional resonance: tapping into trends as they happen.
Scaling up globally to move faster locally
Sketch Pro studios are already up and running in seven cities – London, São Paulo, Mumbai, Jakarta, Durban, Shanghai and Istanbul. We plan to scale the model across 21 markets by 2026, including upcoming launches in South-East Asia.
Each studio utilises technology that’s most suited to the task at hand, rather than locking into a single tool. This adaptability allows the work to reflect local nuance, while staying aligned with each brand’s broader identity and goals.
Faster go-to-market execution and more agile campaign deployment are ultimately driving better performance across digital channels.
The Sketch Pro start-up mindset and ability to rapidly adopt emerging technologies means the model will continually evolve, setting new benchmarks for how marketing operations can be both efficient and creatively ambitious.
Positioning Home Care for the future
As people increasingly seek joy and indulgence in everyday home care routines like laundry and cleaning, this new approach will support our global portfolio by seamlessly integrating brand strategy, cultural insights, creative excellence and AI innovation.
It’s an incredibly powerful engine to build Desire at Scale.
Social-first is the biggest change in marketing and communications in a long time and making our brands break through in culture requires a massive shift on content. In that respect, Sketch Pro is a strategic move: positioning the business for whatever the future of design and communication will look like.