At Cannes Lions 2025, Esi Eggleston Bracey, Unilever’s Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, made a clear argument: brands need to stop chasing awareness and start building desire—across categories, across cultures, and at scale.
With 400 brands in 190 markets, used by 3.4 billion people each day, Bracey outlined how Unilever is rethinking its approach. “Everything and nothing is changing,” she said. The fundamentals—understanding people, creating differentiated brands, and ensuring visibility—remain. But what’s shifting is how people spend their time, who they trust, and the technologies they use to decide.
One of those shifts is AI. Bracey described a future where personal agents make shopping decisions. “You set a budget, and your agent shops for you—your toothpaste, your food—based on your preferences and habits,” she said. “Your choices are outsourced. You’re not going to think about brands unless they matter to you.”
Her punchline: “If marketing today is about capturing hearts and minds, marketing tomorrow is about capturing hearts and machines.”
Defining Desire
“Desire does not mean perfection,” Bracey said. “It’s emotional, not rational. It’s about taking our brands beyond simply meeting people’s needs and wants—to meeting desires they didn’t even know they had.”
To help Unilever achieve this, they built a framework: SASSY—short for Science, Aesthetics, Sensorials, Shared by Others, and Young-spirited. These five cues help infuse emotion into every brand touchpoint.
From Science to Scent
Science, she said, is one of the core cognitive drivers of trust. Brands like Sif now use natural probiotics, creating products that “keep cleaning for up to three days” and “make your home smell like a spa.” With Nexxus ProMend, the product is “crafted to be seen, felt, and remembered.”
Even in home care, design plays a key role. The launch of Wonder Wash was driven by “gorgeous aesthetics,” helping a cleaning product stand out like beauty.
Sensorials matter too. “Think of Magnum’s iconic crack... the creamy texture of Hellmann’s... the unexpected birthday cake scent from Dove,” Bracey said. That Dove product? Sold out in 90 minutes.
Community-Led Desire
In the campaign Vaseline Verified, Unilever scientists tested viral TikTok “hacks” in a lab—debunking some and verifying others. The result: 43% sales growth, 63 million social interactions, and an unprompted post by Madonna. “We do not have a commercial relationship with Madonna,” she added. “That makes it even more exciting.”
The model here isn’t one-to-many. It’s many-to-many. “We didn’t just invite people in—we handed them the mic.”
Culture and Local Relevance
Bracey showed how Dirt Is Good (sold globally under names like Omo, Persil, Surf Excel) tackled period stigma in sport, from partnering with Arsenal Women to a powerful campaign in Saudi Arabia using henna to discreetly educate about blood stains. “We didn’t break tradition,” the campaign noted. “We spoke through it.”
In another case, the launch of whole-body deodorants showed how different brands own the same category in unique ways: Dove partnered with creators to highlight beauty rituals; Lynx (Axe) brought humour and attitude.
From Culture to Cart
It all comes back to translating cultural relevance into sales. Bracey highlighted Dove’s limited-edition Strawberry Crumble body care range, created with viral cookie brand Crumbl. The packaging, content creators, and distribution were built to convert. “It was so successful, Walmart featured it in their earnings call,” she said.
The Bigger Picture
Bracey closed with a broader message for marketers. “Marketing needs a new model. It’s about shifting from broadcasting to belonging, attention to connection, social to sales.”
She reminded the audience of Dove’s legacy—from tackling harmful beauty standards to standing against AI-generated perfection. “When Black hairstyles are discriminated against, we take action. When filters harm self-esteem, we step in. When AI becomes the next threat to beauty representation, we take a stand.”
The core belief: humanity is the superpower. “It isn’t our ability to be more machine-like—it’s our ability to be more human.”