Unilever is shifting its approach to how it builds brands, with influencers becoming a central aspect of its media strategy.

Upon assuming control of the consumer goods company in March, CEO Fernando Fernandez made influencer investment a priority for the business. He pledged the company would spend half its brand and marketing investment on social channels, up from 30%.

One of the biggest factors driving this shift was the idea influencers drive trust in a way big companies cannot.

“Today, brands are by default suspicious,” Fernandez asserted earlier this year.

He introduced the idea of “others say” – meaning brands being promoted by influencers – to drive trust and “desire at scale”. The notion of “desire at scale” might seem more natural in Unilever’s beauty and wellbeing portfolio (which Fernandez used to head up) than across some of its other everyday brands.

However, that concept of driving “desire” through a scaled ecosystem of creators is being adopted in the business’s home care division, which counts brands including Domestos, Cif and Surf among its portfolio.

Mario Dughi, digital, design and media director for Unilever’s home care business leads on ‘Cleanipedia’, a digital platform for the company’s cleaning brands. The platform sees Unilever work with influencers across its global markets, to create cleaning content for platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Cleanipedia actually began life as a website back in 2013, which consumers could visit for cleaning tips. However, post-pandemic, the concept has evolved into a creator platform, after the business saw increasing interest in its category on social media.

“The way the pandemic shifted the mindset of people towards their homes has really allowed us to look at home care in a different way. It has become almost like a high interest category,” Dughi explains.

People working, exercising and spending more time at home during the pandemic drove interest in home care. The pandemic also saw the emergence of #CleanTok, a TikTok hashtag where creators upload videos of themselves doing deep cleans of their houses, as well as “cleaning hacks” and tips.

What Cleanipedia really does is to bring to life the science behind our products, but in a way that feels engaging.

Mario Dughi, Unilever

While home care and cleaning may not have traditionally been thought of as a category consumers want to engage with on social media, Dughi says Covid changed that.

Having seen CleanTok take off on social media, Unilever believed it could play an important role with Cleanipedia and highlighting the science behind its products.

The business works closely with creators on Cleanipedia, providing them with tools to bring the brands’ scientific credentials to their content, while maintaining authenticity.

Under the leadership of Fernandez, Unilever follows something it calls the ‘SASSY’ framework, which stands for ‘Science, Aesthetics, Sensorials, Said by others, and a Young-spirited mindset’.

“Cleanipedia fits into SASSY beautifully,” Dughi says. “It fits the start of the SASSY framework with science, but it’s also the end of the framework with said by others and young-spirited, because what Cleanipedia really does is to bring to life the science behind our products, but in a way that feels engaging.”

Driving trust

That message is, of course, voiced by creators, with the programme aiming to work with around 2,000 influencers.

“I’m aligned completely with Fernando when he says that people now trust creators more than brands,” Dughi says.

The goal behind Cleanipedia was always to share the science behind Unilever’s home care products, but the business feels this message is best coming from influencers.

“We knew that, potentially, if that message was to come directly from our brands, it would have been perceived potentially as not as valid and that’s why we decided, therefore, to actually make sure that message could be shared by creators,” Dughi explains.

With information sharing the priority for Cleanipedia, sometimes consumers come across the content and don’t realise it’s a Unilever platform. This approach of information-first, as opposed to just “selling”, helps build trust in the brands, Dughi says.

For a big organisation like Unilever, which owns brands with decades of equity behind them, the idea consumers trust creators more than brands may seem like bad news. But for Dughi, there is still a role for traditional brand communication.

Inevitably, when you rely on so many creators to share a message, you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Mario Dughi, Unilever

“I’m not saying that there’s no space for our brands to communicate on social and it has to be done all by creators or gatekeepers like Cleanipedia,” he says.

Dughi returns to the SASSY framework, explaining the objectives of “aesthetics” and “sensorials” are messages best driven by Unilever brands themselves, which can then be “amplified” by creators.

“When it comes to aesthetics, sensorials and, of course, science, when it comes to product development, that’s where actually the role of the brands will become even more important,” he states.

Brands need to achieve the first part of the framework before they can be considered “young-spirited” or be shared by others.

“I actually see the last letters of SASSY almost like a consequence. If you’ve done the first part really well, it’s almost inevitable it will be shared by others, and it will feel younger and more modern,” Dughi adds.

‘Comfortable with being uncomfortable’

For a business like Unilever, an army of influencers will be needed to provide the scale required for its different brands across global geographies.

Cleanipedia has big expansion plans, the ambition being to recruit 2,000 influencers across different geographies. For marketers used to more traditional methods of brand communication and versed in the importance of consistency, having so many creators tasked with building a brand may feel daunting.

“Inevitably, when you rely on so many creators to share a message, you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Dughi says.

‘Deeper than little sprinkles of influence’: Are creators embracing ‘professionalisation’?

On Cleanipedia, Unilever works closely with creators. The FMCG giant runs a programme called Shine targeted at micro and nano influencers, helping them upskill and understand the products better. The team also incentivise influencers to create content with a strong brand fit by sharing these posts on the page.

The team is “infusing a bit of marketing science” in the way it briefs creators. However, he acknowledges unlike a TV ad, creator marketing does not give marketers complete control of the message like they are used to.

“The reality is that the times in which you had full control of your messaging, those are gone,” Dughi says. “The reality is marketers need to feel a little bit more comfortable with the idea of letting go a little bit of the messaging and see actually how creators can translate that in new ways that can speak to more people.”

As Unilever drives forward its new creator-led approach, Cleanipedia is acting as something of a “guinea pig”, meaning it is particularly important for the platform to demonstrate the impact it has.

Moving perceptions of the brands involved is the number one objective of Cleanipedia, with the team tracking how the initiative is impacting consumer awareness, consideration and purchase intent.

While it is still relatively early days for the platform, Cleanipedia content around Persil Wonder Wash’s 15-min cycle challenge delivered a 5.2% uplift in favourability. Ad recall is also significantly stronger for the Cleanipedia content versus the UK average, according to Unilever.

“At the end of the day, as a guinea pig we need to be able to prove to the business that we actually drive results for the brands, because that’s the ultimate goal,” Dughi says.