Unilever invests half of its budget on an ‘influencer-first’ strategy

The news: Unilever will spend half of its ad budget on social media and work with 20 times more influencers as part of its new “influencer-first” strategy, per CEO Fernando Fernandez. The move is one of Fernandez’s first major decisions since he replaced previous CEO Hein Schumacher earlier this month.

• Unilever’s investment in influencer marketing will rise from about 30% to 50% of the company’s total ad spend.
• Fernandez suggests that an influencer-first strategy will make Unilever more trustworthy to consumers who are skeptical of traditional corporate messaging.