Unilever’s Agile Marketing Model: From “Boring” Products to Trend-Hijacking Brands

For decades Unilever was the classic example of a consumer goods giant that thrived on scale, reach and consistency. Its portfolio of everyday products, from soap and shampoo to margarine and mayonnaise, was built on trust and predictability. Few would ever call these products glamorous, but they dominated supermarket shelves across the world.

In 2025, however, the company is rewriting the rulebook. Unilever has embraced a new agile marketing model designed to make even the most mundane items feel relevant in a culture dominated by fast-moving trends and viral content. The idea is simple but radical: a boring product can be turned into a cultural participant if it joins the conversation at the right moment.

From Long Campaigns to Quick Fire Content

Traditionally, consumer goods marketing followed a long cycle. Market research would inform creative development, which then moved through layers of approval before being deployed in expensive campaigns across television, print and later digital channels. A single campaign could take months or even years to deliver. The strength of this approach was consistency, but its weakness in today’s climate is speed.

In contrast, agile marketing is about moving quickly. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, Unilever’s teams now monitor culture continuously and respond within days, sometimes hours. A viral meme, a trending sound on TikTok or a cultural event can spark a rapid-fire campaign that puts a mayonnaise brand or deodorant in the thick of online chatter. The point is not simply to advertise, but to show up as part of the cultural fabric.

How “Boring” Products Seize Trends

The concept of mayonnaise or soap hijacking trends once seemed absurd. Yet Unilever has shown how it works in practice.

Hellmann’s Mayonnaise has tied itself to the food waste debate. During football tournaments, the brand has created reactive posts that link leftover food with last-minute goals, producing witty social content that rides both sport and sustainability conversations.

Dove has tapped into viral beauty trends with a twist. When social media fixated on unrealistic beauty filters, Dove released quick-turnaround campaigns encouraging natural self-expression, neatly positioning itself in opposition to the fad while benefiting from the same wave of attention.

Lynx (known as Axe in some markets) has a history of cheeky advertising, but in recent years its agile teams have doubled down on festival and music culture. A trending sound on TikTok can be reworked into a deodorant clip overnight, allowing the brand to feel in tune with youth culture.

These interventions are often low-cost compared to traditional campaigns, but they punch above their weight in visibility. They transform functional products into conversational ones.

The Internal Shift That Made It Possible

Behind the scenes, Unilever has had to reorganise its marketing operation. Agile content cannot emerge from the same structures that produced year-long campaigns.

Small, cross-functional teams have been empowered to work more like newsrooms. They monitor social feeds, cultural moments and even political conversations, then pitch rapid responses. Approvals that once crawled up corporate hierarchies are streamlined. Dedicated budgets exist for experimental content so that creative teams are not shackled by the need to prove long-term ROI in advance.

Technology also plays a role. Social listening tools powered by artificial intelligence scan for emerging topics, while performance dashboards show in real time how reactive posts land with audiences. The result is a marketing system that is lighter on bureaucracy and heavier on experimentation.

Why Agile Works in 2025?

The logic of agile marketing is clear. In an era where audiences scroll endlessly through feeds, attention is fleeting. Traditional campaigns can easily be ignored. A witty, timely post, however, has a better chance of cutting through.

Agile marketing also spreads risk. Instead of investing millions in a single blockbuster campaign, brands can run dozens of smaller experiments. If one misses the mark, little is lost. If one strikes gold, it can be amplified and scaled.

Finally, agile content makes brands feel alive. A mayonnaise that responds to last night’s football match feels less like a corporate product and more like a participant in daily life. That kind of presence builds softer forms of loyalty that are increasingly valuable when products themselves are interchangeable.

Risks of Hijacking Culture

Yet the model is not without dangers. Joining conversations too late makes a brand look out of touch. Misjudging tone can lead to accusations of insensitivity. Some products also have natural limits on how far they can stretch into cultural conversations. A deodorant commenting on political debates, for example, might draw ridicule.

There is also the risk of shallow engagement. A funny TikTok may spark views, but will it really drive long-term preference for one brand of mayonnaise over another? Agile marketing is more effective when paired with deeper brand storytelling rather than treated as a replacement.

Unilever appears aware of these tensions. Its leadership continues to emphasise purpose-driven marketing, meaning quick-fire content must still align with broader brand values. Dove’s beauty campaigns, for example, work not just because they are timely, but because they are consistent with years of positioning around real beauty and self-esteem.

Competitors Watching Closely

Unilever is not alone in this experiment. Procter & Gamble, Nestlé and other fast-moving consumer goods companies are watching closely. Some have begun to adopt their own agile models, though often on a smaller scale. The challenge for all of them is the same: how to maintain brand coherence while moving at the speed of social culture. Smaller challenger brands have a natural advantage here. With fewer layers of approval, they can often act faster and appear edgier. Unilever’s achievement is showing that even a giant can learn agility. If it can sustain momentum, it may reset expectations across the sector.

The Consumer View

From the consumer’s perspective, the shift can be refreshing. Seeing a mayonnaise brand joke about a viral cooking hack or a deodorant respond to a summer music trend creates a sense of relevance. The brand feels less like a faceless corporation and more like part of the online community.

But consumers are also quick to punish brands that try too hard. Authenticity matters. If a post feels forced, the internet has little mercy. That keeps Unilever’s teams under pressure to strike the right balance between humour, relevance and brand voice.

The Bigger Picture

Agile marketing reflects deeper changes in culture. Attention spans are shorter, cultural cycles move faster, and audiences expect brands to be active participants. Companies that remain static risk invisibility. Those that move with agility can capture cultural relevance, even in categories once dismissed as dull.

It also reflects a shift in corporate mindset. For decades, safety and predictability defined consumer goods marketing. Today, adaptability and experimentation are valued just as highly. That change may be as significant as the content itself.

Conclusion

Unilever’s embrace of agile marketing shows how even the most functional household products can become part of cultural conversations. By empowering teams to move quickly, monitoring social trends, and daring to experiment, the company has turned mayonnaise, soap and deodorant into trend-hijacking brands.

The approach is not without risk. Mistakes can damage credibility, and short-term attention does not always translate into long-term loyalty. But as audiences demand relevance and authenticity, the risk of doing nothing is greater.

In 2025, agility is no longer a buzzword. It is becoming the operating system for global brands. And if Unilever can make mayonnaise a cultural player, perhaps no product is truly boring anymore.