Unilever has appointed Leandro Barreto as chief marketing officer as Esi Eggleston Bracey prepares to leave the business after eight years.

Barreto, who is currently CMO of Unilever’s beauty and wellbeing business group, will take on responsibility for the company’s enterprise-wide marketing agenda on 1 January, combining the group CMO role with his existing remit.

Eggleston Bracey, who has served as Unilever’s chief growth and marketing officer since 2022, will step down at the end of January following a transition period.

The move reflects what Unilever describes as the next phase of its marketing transformation, which will bring global marketing capabilities closer to its business groups to drive faster execution and impact.

Fernando Fernandez, who took over as Unilever CEO earlier this year, framed the change as a logical evolution.

“With groundwork now in place, I know Leandro will make a big impact in his expanded role as we accelerate desire at scale and turn Unilever into a true marketing and sales machine,” he says, while also thanking Eggleston Bracey for her contribution.

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She has been widely credited with redefining how Unilever builds demand at scale. Since joining the company in 2018 to lead its beauty and personal care business in North America, she oversaw a turnaround in performance in the US and later spearheaded a global overhaul of marketing, designed for what Unilever called an “era of digital revolution”.

Her work placed greater emphasis on data, cultural relevance and modern creativity across brands such as Dove, Persil and Marmite.

Barreto is now tasked with taking that groundwork and embedding it more deeply within Unilever’s operating model. With more than 20 years’ experience, he is recognised for his focus on disruptive creativity and culturally relevant brand building.

By uniting enterprise-wide marketing strategy with business group execution, Unilever believes it can accelerate growth while maintaining long-term capability development.

Barreto’s appointment marks a return to a straight CMO role heading up marketing. Eggleston Bracey was chief growth and marketing officer, while her predecessor Conny Braams was chief digital and marketing officer and latterly chief digital and commercial officer.

Speaking in March, Fernandez said “brands are by default suspicious”, suggesting that messages from large corporations are increasingly met with scepticism by consumers.

His proposed solution has been a significant shift towards creator marketing.  Fernandez has said Unilever will increase the number of influencers it works with and the proportion of its ad spend allocated to creators.