Next in Media: How is a Giant Marketer Like Unilever Going to Spend Half of Its Media Budget on Creators?

Host: Mike Shields
Guest: Selena Sykes, Global Transformation Lead, Beauty & Wellbeing, Unilever
Date: September 23, 2025

Episode Overview

Mike Shields sits down with Selena Sykes from Unilever Beauty & Wellbeing to discuss Unilever’s ambitious plan to allocate half of its media spend to creators. The conversation spans how the beauty giant is adapting to fast-moving trends, building scale in the creator economy, leveraging AI while maintaining human creativity, and the evolving intersection of brand, influencer, and consumer culture.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Speed of Change in Beauty Marketing

• Selena’s Role & Transformation Focus (01:57)

  • Selena describes her job as “spotting the new capabilities we need, figuring out how to codify them, scale them, and make systemic changes in our business.”
  • Emphasizes constant reinvention: “We're reimagining, we're reinventing models.”

• Consumer-Centricity Amid Change (03:02)

  • Despite rapid shifts, Selena grounds everything in marketing fundamentals: "We always stick with what's going on with people, what do they care about, what are they passionate about... We have this term, desire at scale."
  • The importance of cultural relevance in beauty: “How are we going to show up in a really credible, authentic way in the way that culture is moving?”

2. Staying Plugged Into Youth and Culture

• On Understanding Gen Z Media Habits (04:28)
  • Mike asks about the challenge of keeping up with young consumers.
  • Selena: “It’s mindset... curiosity, empathy, hunger to learn.” (04:50)
  • Tech enables better community understanding: “With social media now, there are so many ways that we can really understand the conversations and the things that are driving the zeitgeist... Now we can be, we can watch them.” (05:08)

3. The Unilever Creator Economy Mandate

• Why Commit to 50% Creator Spend? (06:30)

  • Reflects shift from “one-to-many” to “many-to-many” marketing.
  • Selena: “It's about inherently making your brand something that is... part of people’s lives and that people want to talk about and want to share with their [communities].” (06:50)
  • Harnessing communities and creators is crucial: "You really need to harness communities, creators, consumers themselves to share and shape your brand." (06:59)
  • The key insight: Word-of-mouth has always existed, but now brands can participate and drive it at scale.

• Operationalizing at Scale (08:01)

  • Building scale means working with agency partners and tech: "Unilever's mantra: we're a scale business, so anything we do, we have to build a scaled advantage." (09:41)
  • Not everything must be complicated; focus on outcomes, not just inputs.

• Finding and Vetting the Right Creators (09:53)

  • Authenticity and brand fit matter: “As much as our brands are authentic, the people we work with are authentic, relatable, trustworthy.”
  • Multiple tiers of creator relationships: "Co-founder type partnership" for depth and long-term, plus broader scale with micro-creators.

4. Partnering with Creators: From Transactions to Co-Founding

• The Shift to Long-Term Partnerships (10:57)
  • Selena: “A lot of those creators are moving away from transactional to these more long-term relationships. So I think that's a really good opportunity.”
  • True collaboration is about co-creation: "You're almost tapping into their human IP... their values, their creative vision." (10:57)

5. Creators Launching Brands & Unilever Collaborations

• Perspectives on Creator-Led Brands (11:44)

  • Selena sees creators as brands themselves: “If you have a strong sense of what you as a creator stand for... you can really form an amazing platform.”
  • Example: Collaborating with creators can give legacy brands fresh, community-driven relevance at scale.

• Case Study: Vaseline Verified Campaign (12:43–14:57)

  • “We lent into what the brand meant for [creators] and their own creative vision... in the form of Vaseline hair.”
  • Vast organic use-cases for Vaseline (3.5 million+ online mentions) became campaign content (“everything from polishing your handbag, to making your perfume last longer").
  • Vaseline Verified invited creators to submit their 'hacks', which were then tested by Unilever’s scientists: “We were led by them... it was genuinely creator and community led.” (14:40)
  • Results: Campaign drove double-digit sales growth, won multiple Cannes Lions.

6. Social Commerce & Affiliate Networks

• The Role and Growth of Social Commerce (15:02)

  • Topics covered: TikTok Shop’s rapid rise, affiliate marketing models, and the “TikTok made me buy it” phenomenon.
  • “If you make that [creator content] shoppable, you’re just really making that journey seamless.” (15:24)
  • Affiliates and network effects are a focus: “We're really investing, making sure you get that flywheel of growth... this network learns from each other.” (16:24)

• Balancing Content Types and Commerce (17:11)

  • Selena questions the ‘funnel’ model: “The funnel’s collapsing.”
  • Some content is built for direct purchase; some is for branding. “I don't know if everything would ever become shoppable in the kind of content creation that billions of pieces of content [generate].” (17:45)

7. The Role of AI in Marketing and Media

• AI for Content Creation and Supply Chain (17:50)

  • Unilever invested early in AI for content, building out a “content supply chain” and AI studios worldwide.
  • “How can we go from input to high-quality content at scale? That was the goal.” (18:18)
  • “The AI plus human plus the humanity is what gets the great results... human oversight [is] critical.” (19:50)
  • “What ChatGPT does for all of us is... augments our own capability and just makes us better.” (20:45)

• AI in Media Buying and Optimization (21:01)

  • Adopts AI to drive transparency and dynamic optimization, rather than as a total ‘black box’.
  • Selena: “We're using it to enhance rather than... seeing the same tradeoffs.” (21:25)

• The Rise of Agentic Shopping (21:53)

  • Selena is bullish: “Agentic shopping is going to be huge. I think it’s going to be a channel.”
  • New shopping experiences won’t kill old ones—much like supermarkets, agentic shopping will complement traditional retail: “One new channel isn’t going to take away from the others.” (22:23)

8. Looking Ahead: Optimism for AI & Creativity

• Selena’s Closing Thoughts on the Future (23:19)
  • “I’m hugely passionate about AI and how it can enhance human potential...”
  • “I’m really excited about the creators, because there’s just so much creativity and passion for our brands that exist.” (23:19–24:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Brand Relevance:
  “How are we going to show up in a really credible, authentic way in the way that culture is moving and communities are moving today."
  — Selena Sykes (04:09)

• On Creators as Scale Partners:
  "Harnessing communities, creators, consumers themselves to share and shape your brand as well as you, the marketeer or the brand manager."
  — Selena Sykes (06:59)

• On Long-Term Creator Collaborations:
  “It's a true collaboration... you're almost tapping into their human IP, their values, their creative vision.”
  — Selena Sykes (10:57)

• On AI + Human Creativity:
  “The AI plus human plus the humanity is what gets the great results ultimately when it comes to content and creative.”
  — Selena Sykes (19:50)

• Agentic Shopping Outlook:
  “Agentic shopping is going to be huge. I think it's going to be a channel... I don't think it will replace, I think it will complement and it will become a part of a new shopping channel.”
  — Selena Sykes (21:53–22:23)

• On AI as Enabler:
  "What ChatGPT does for all of us is... augments our own capability and just makes us better."
  — Selena Sykes (20:45)

Key Timestamps

• Intro & Selena's role: 01:26–02:38
• Consumer-first approach & social-first marketing: 03:02–04:28
• Navigating Gen Z/cultural trends: 04:28–06:07
• The 50% creator budget commitment: 06:07–08:01
• Scaling creator participation: 08:01–09:53
• Long-term creator partnerships: 10:39–11:44
• Brand/creator co-creation (Vaseline case): 12:43–14:57
• Social commerce and affiliates: 15:02–17:45
• Unilever’s AI content/creative strategy: 17:50–20:45
• AI in media and agentic shopping: 21:01–23:01
• Selena’s closing thoughts: 23:19–24:02

Summary Takeaway

Unilever is rapidly transforming its marketing model for a world where authenticity, creators, and technology are paramount. By directing half its media spend toward creators—not just as content partners but as true collaborators—Unilever is pioneering a scaled approach that combines the strengths of a legacy brand with the creativity and credibility of the creator economy. AI is embraced as a force-multiplier, but always with human oversight and vision. The convergence of tech, culture, and community is rewriting the rules, but Selena Sykes ends with optimism: new tools and new relationships are only expanding what’s possible—for brands, creators, and consumers alike.