Unilever's influencer shift, why Tesla is worried about a trade war, and the forgotten brands making a comeback

Issue #47

Mar 14, 2025

Weekly Exhale

Unilever wants to be an influencer now. This week, the big blue U announced plans to increase its spend on social media influencers from 30% to 50% of its total brand marketing investment. That’s in the context of raising marketing spend from 13% to 15% of sales. A couple of percentage points on €60.8 billion in sales is a pretty good score if you’re working with Unilever.

What’s driving it? Unilever is bored of being a food company. It’s spinning out its ice cream division and looking to offload quirky local brands like Marmite. Two weeks ago, the board pushed out Hein Schumacher after just two years and a 10% jump in share price. Even the Financial Times was confused. But it’s not complicated when you look at his replacement: Unilever lifer Fernando Fernandez.

Schumacher’s background? Food. Fernandez’s background? Beauty. His view: “Unilever is not a classic food company. I call it edible personal care.”

Fernandez is late to the influencer party. YouTube birthed user-generated content in 2005, and today the influencer industry is worth over $20 billion. What does “influencer” even mean anymore? The money has moved toward everyday affiliates—‘normal’ people earning commission from their bedrooms. I doubt Fernandez minds. User-generated ads convert at 3x the rate of big-budget productions. That’s what Fernandez means when he says Unilever will become a “demand creation machine.”

The problem is that we’re kinda over it. How many times can you watch, “Hey guys!!” (big smile, eye contact with camera). “So… you’ve been asking—” Hard swipe up. The influencer is still talking, but you’re already gone.

Returns on influencer funnels have been stressed for a while. 50% of Gen Z say they’re reluctant to buy from influencers, and #deinfluencing has billions of views. Sure, phones are our third eye, and they have direct access to our desires. But the relationship has soured. People can taste the battery acid of the algorithm now.

TikTok was fun in 2019, but after January’s U.S. Supreme Court-induced blackout, my feed is a shadow of its former self. Creators are migrating to Substack, Reddit, and even Pinterest—platforms where knowledge and expertise are valued. Paid Substack subscriptions have doubled in the last year from 2 million to 4 million. Small, but the trendline is there. And that’s what fashion and beauty brands are trying to get in on right now.

Fernandez has an action plan for growth called, er, the Growth Action Plan. No kidding. You’d think with €1.4 million in basic comp and €14 million in share options, he could have popped that into ChatGPT and come up with something catchier. But that’s also a clue: Fernandez is a CFO turned CEO. He needs brands like Hourglass and Dermalogica to grow in markets like China, which hates U.S. brands. He doesn't want to be early to the party. He doesn't want to be cool or showy.

So, the real question isn’t whether Unilever should be investing more in social—but how much more. Fernandez is a master of the fiscally controlled marketing company. I think he’s got this.

Social commerce proliferated with TikTok post-2019 and was accelerated by that small event we never talk about anymore—the pandemic. This week, five years ago, the UK government told us to cease essential travel. Days later, the situation hardened: full lockdown.

Sitting in the glorious spring sunshine of 2020 between Zoom meetings was pretty good. But the six-week timeline was a mirage. And sure enough, we developed a taste for being on our own and living through a screen.

Today, we talk about a pandemic of loneliness, but our fear isn’t being alone—we’ve mastered that. What we fear more is being together. I don't mean sitting in the same room, I mean the vulnerability of being fully present with another person. Of truly seeing them—and being seen.

Even those of us who are good at getting together find it more tiring than it used to be. Our biology hasn’t changed—but the way we’ve been conditioned to relate to each other has.

It’s Friday. My son, now twelve, has his first ‘date.’ Later today, he’ll head to Starbucks with a girl from his class. I’ve loaded a gift card onto his phone. Unbeknownst to him, I’ll probably make sure I’m nearby—just in case.

During the pandemic, when he was seven, he developed a compulsion to wash his hands endlessly. His knuckles became cracked and flaking, streaked with dried blood where the skin had split open from the relentless scrubbing.

That’s in the past now. He’s resilient that way.

I’m, of course, riddled with free-floating anxiety about today’s ‘date.’

But I hope that on the way home, as they dawdle through the late afternoon light, laughing about nothing in particular, his mended hand might drift over and—almost without thinking—softly close around hers.

And maybe, just maybe, they’ll both feel that incredible spark of human connection.

Like we used to.

Market Movements

UK economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% in January | CNBC

Shrinking economy offers unhelpful backdrop | The Guardian

S&P 500 tumbles into 'correction' on fresh tariff threats | Financial Times

Covid's impact five years on in 30 charts | New York Times

Brand Beat

50% of Unilever ad spend to go on influencer | The Drum

Netflix to spend $18bn on content is 'nowhere near ceiling' | The Verge

Expo West 2025: Honey as sweetner, jerky as protein | Forbes

Capri Sun does glow-in-the-dark pouches for lunar eclipse | Food & Wine

Six forgotten brands making a comeback | Metro

M&S launches one-ingredient range - is it healthier? | The Grocer

Very unveils cross-category fashion ads | Marketing Beat

Everyone wants a piece, KFC on distinctiveness to win | MarketingWeek

Ad targeting failures–why brands are missing their intended audiences | AdAge

Tofu brand Clearspring launches first consumer campaign | The Grocer

Every McDonald's warned in Britain over sexual abuse | BBC

BMW posts 37% drop in net profit, due to a subdued China | CNBC

Tesla tells US government trade war would harm EVs | The Guardian

Investors react dimly to Demna's arrival at Gucci | Women's Wear Daily

How Substack creators are pooling audiences with live video | Digiday

System1's ad of the week is Starbucks | System1

Trending: Medshrum makes mushroom supplements | Thingtesting

Starting Up

Wonder acquires Tastemade to create a 'mealtime super app' | Wall Street Journal

Building bridges between the UK and Ukranian tech ecosystems | Maddyness

Before you scale, you've got to learn to grieve | Sifted

Who needs revenue when you're a multibillion AI start-up? | Financial Times

UK lawtech funding booms | Startups

Tech Tidbits

Is Google Search cooked? | New York Times

Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's Campaign for a presidential pardon | Wall Street Journal

Super Micro CEO's collaboration with Musk on xAI's Colossus | Fortune

Building bridges between UK and Ukrainian tech | Maddyness

What's lost when human car drivers are gone? | Wired

France's high-speed trains just got a makeover | Fast Company

Venture Vibes

The Silicon Valley Christians who want to build 'Heaven on Earth' | Wired

Inside Klarna's boardroom as it edges towards IPO | Sifted

VC Aileen Lee sees promise in 'unsexy tech' | TechCrunch

Can America's tech mindset build a luxury conglomerate | Vogue Business

Design Driven

Apple's Major League Soccer logos change the rules of co-branding | Fast Company

Colourful cut-outs at heart of Kyung's joyful designs | It's Nice That

Design is deciding, can AI outdesign a pro? | Design Week

Consultants warned Aberdeen boss against Abrdn rebrand | Financial Times

Christie's hosts first AI art auction despite outcry | Christie's

Happiness

Lady Gaga's latest experiment - happiness | New York Times

The Big 5 personality traits you can change | Big Think

Harvard expert: virtues that help happiness find you | Make It

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