How does one of the world’s largest brand groups approach marketing opportunities when all around is changing?
Unilever finds itself at the apex of a changing media environment, a commerce media explosion and a fundamental shift in the shape of television as a medium – oh, and the world’s biggest sporting event.
Aaron Sobol, head of NA media investment and data governance, Unilever, is looking forward to a new year of partnership and plans.
Blurring the lines
Sobol advocates for an integrated approach where retail media is not a siloed channel but a connected part of an “end-to-end” plan. “The lines (between retail media and traditional media) are blurring,” he said. “It’s getting very integrated.”
That integration is critical as retail media advertising explodes into a major category. Global spending is projected to reach $312 billion by 2030, according to a forecast from Forrester, while eMarketer projects it will be the fastest-growing advertising channel in the U.S. through 2027.
The key is leveraging data to connect with consumers across multiple touchpoints, which Sobol said ultimately drives greater media impact and sales. He pointed to the collaboration between Walmart Connect and Vizio as an example of this convergence. “It’s not just search or onsite display,” Sobol said. “It’s actually being smart with the data and how you could show up with the right content on any screen or device that is part of the life of a consumer.”
CTV collapses the funnel
For a consumer good company like Unilever, the ability to purchase via a TV is appealing. It represents the potential for a truly full-funnel medium, collapsing the traditional journey from awareness to purchase into a single, frictionless experience.
“The consumer doesn’t necessarily know the difference of an awareness, consideration, conversion ad,” Sobol said. “They see compelling content that gets them more leaned in and ultimately they want to engage, they want to learn more or they want to shop. And if we could do that in the most simple way, that’s going to make our marketing more effective.”
This vision of shoppable TV is rapidly becoming a reality. Retail media ad spending on CTV is expected to jump by nearly 46% in 2025, according to eMarketer, as retailers and streaming platforms partner to close the loop between viewing and buying. “The fact that you could actually watch something and click and add to cart, that’s going to be more prominent in the industry,” Sobol added. “The funnel’s collapsing because you can really deliver multi-objective.”
Partnering on the pitch
Unilever’s personal care brands are heading into the new year alongside FIFA World Cup 2026, held in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
Unilever struck a long-term partnership with the tournament in 2023. According to a company retrospective: “the team created more than 570 pieces of content, which delivered over 251,000 engagements and 56.3 million impressions, boosting our average engagements year on year by 112%.”
Sobol said its brands can create a multi-year content strategy.
“By leaning into the partnership of FIFA World Cup, our runway is really long and from social to CTV, to linear, to all the channels, we’ll be building content around that partnership,” Sobol said.
