Inside Unilever’s World Cup partnership

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has presented a lucrative opportunity for businesses both big and small. Even for a consumer goods behemoth like Unilever, the sporting event is an opportunity to reach a new global audience. Its multiyear partnership, launched in 2023, now includes a variety of initiatives across more than 35 of its personal care brands like Dove, Degree, and Axe.

“[The World Cup] touches everybody in a way that’s really different,” said Ryu Yokoi, chief media and marketing capability officer at Unilever North America. “It’s created a really wonderful opportunity for us to go out and bring our marketing philosophy to life, which is around driving desire at scale and really showing up in the moments of culture that matter for our brands.”

Social first strategy

Yokoi described this World Cup as the first “social-first” era for the tournament and Unilever capitalized on this with its “House of Fresh” initiative, an in-person creator hub in World Cup host cities Miami, New York, and Mexico City.

Yokoi explained the initiative delivered unprecedented engagement levels and allowed for greater social media experimentation, as the company transitions into a “commerce-forward, social-first marketer.”

“Crafting experiences for those moments that add value for those people and bring to life the benefits of our brands has been a real point of emphasis—it’s something new that we took on,” Yokoi said.

Brand synergy

For Unilever’s brand-specific World Cup initiatives, Yokoi said it was important to go about them in a way that was consistent and authentic to the individual brand’s messaging. For example, Dove is sponsoring Tori Penso, the first American woman to serve as lead referee for a men’s World Cup game. Yokoi said this partnership was a natural fit for Dove, which has run a campaign aimed at raising girls’ self-esteem for over 20 years.

Unilever’s Degree brand also teamed up with US men’s soccer star Christian Pulisic because his underdog story aligned with the brand’s “Here for Sweat” campaign.

“[The FIFA partnership] created a canvas where we can deliver against our brands in ways that are different and that tell their stories in ways that are still relevant, but reach different folks,” Yokoi said.

According to Anjali Bal, associate professor of sports marketing at Babson College, these types of initiatives that both center on the overall sporting event and connect with specific athletes lead to higher rewards for the brands themselves.

“It gives [companies] an opportunity to monetize those connections, and so people who are going to watch the World Cup…are self-selecting that they value what those athletes stand for,” she said. “Then the brand comes in and gives them an opportunity to buy [the] product that represents the values of that community.”

Keeping the momentum

Unilever’s FIFA partnership goes into next year for the women’s World Cup in Brazil. Yokoi said Unilever will keep the momentum going through next year’s event with similar activations and partnerships with brands like Dove and Degree.

“When you look at the amazing work that we’ve done across Super Bowls, March Madness, now even in the men’s World Cup—we’re landing [with] ‘The game is ours’ as a message for women, and continuing to drive body confidence and raise awareness of the self-esteem curriculum that we’ve built up to help coaches to better train young women,” Yokoi said. “The women’s World Cup is going to just be a massive platform to continue telling that story.”