Unilever’s new CEO, Fernando Fernandez, made headlines last month when he told the Financial Times the company would raise its social media spend from 30% to 50% of total marketing investment.
“Messages of brands coming from corporations are suspicious messages,” Unilever was also switching to a social media-first advertising model, he said.
It was a striking view to the future from one of the world’s largest advertisers — and a signal that trust no longer flows from corporate voice to consumer ear. But it wasn’t the size of the spend that drew fire. It was the phrase used to describe it: “social-first.”
And Marketing professor Mark Ritson called the approach “crap,” arguing that media should never dictate strategy. Tactics follow objectives — not the other way around. He did so in response to an article contributed to WARC by agency strategist, Harvey Cossell.
Ironically, this debate unfolded on socials, via LinkedIn - Have a read of the comments:
It’s a fair concern. But the critique misses the broader reality. Unilever isn’t being reckless. It’s trying to catch up.
Challenger Brands Were Built for This and Why Ritson is Wrong
While legacy marketers debate sequencing and media mix, a generation of digital-native challenger brands have already demonstrated what modern brand-building looks like — and they’ve done it from the ground up.
Glossier is a prime example. What began as a blog — Into The Gloss — became a $1.8bn beauty brand by turning readers into product collaborators and everyday users into brand advocates. Glossier scaled by treating its customer base as a content engine: sharing UGC, encouraging product feedback loops on social, and leaning into the credibility of influencers and real users.
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The brand didn’t market to people — it grew with them.
Glossier doesn’t label itself “social-first.” But its embodies the approach. And it's just one of many new-generation brands gaining market share without legacy infrastructure or budget — because they know where culture, trust, and consumer decisions are happening.
What Unilever Is Actually Building
According to The Grocer, Fernandez’s ambitions extend far beyond reallocating media budgets. Unilever plans to increase content production twentyfold, hire 20x more influencers, and activate creator networks across 19,000 Indian zip codes and 5,746 municipalities in Brazil.
This mirrors L’Oréal, which works with over 50,000 influencers globally and uses its AI tool BetIQ to optimise 60% of its media spend — generating 10–15% productivity gains.
Unilever is trying to build a distributed engine for brand trust — not by speaking to the consumer, but by embedding brand voice within culture.
But there's a structural constraint.
Unilever Isn’t L’Oréal — Yet
L’Oréal’s gross margins sit at 74%, and it reinvests over 30% of sales into advertising. Unilever’s margins are approximately 45%, with ad spend at 15.5% of revenue.
That difference isn’t cosmetic — it’s foundational. Social-first strategy at scale requires economic headroom and operational agility. To compete, Unilever is reshaping its portfolio — divesting its ice cream division and aiming to grow premium brands from 35% to 50% of its mix.
But premiumisation alone isn’t enough. What matters is whether its systems — creative, organisational, financial — are ready to support the shift.
Authenticity Can’t Be Announced
Here’s the real tension: if social media runs on trust, can you announce your pivot to influence?
Declaring a move toward authenticity risks sounding manufactured. On social, trust isn’t signalled — it’s demonstrated. And audiences can detect the difference between a brand that participates versus one that performs.
Unilever’s credibility will not come from its press release. It will come from how it behaves, day after day, in-feed.
Distribution Has Become Strategy
In legacy frameworks, distribution is tactical. In modern brand-building, it’s strategic terrain.
Social isn’t downstream of the brand. It is the brand — in discovery, in meaning, in momentum. And in that world, brands no longer own narratives. They set conditions, and relevance is co-authored.
That’s what “social-first” really signals: a recognition that brand-building now begins in the cultural environments where consumers actually live — not in planning documents.
What Leaders Should Do Next
Executives questioning whether to embrace a social-first mindset are asking the wrong question.
The better question is:
“Is our brand capable of earning belief where trust is built today?”
If the answer isn’t yes — if your operations, creative, and culture aren't built for speed, participation, and feedback — the strategy won’t matter.
Because in today’s market, relevance isn’t declared. It’s designed — and built in the feed, not the boardroom.
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