Updated 2:16 p.m. ET July 28

LONDON — It may not play ball, but Unilever was a big winner at the FIFA World Cup 2026, where it was the official personal care sponsor promoting more than 35 of its brands across 120 markets during the six-week tournament that wrapped this month.

The sponsorship, which involved some 50,000 social media content creators, was the biggest activation in company history, and management is expecting the halo effect to last well into the future as Unilever’s sales momentum builds.

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In the first half, the brand saw underlying sales climb nearly 5 percent to 25.6 billion euros, fueled by double-digit growth at beauty “power brands” Dove, Sunsilk and Vaseline. The growth came from volume rather than price, with particularly strong sales in both the personal care and the beauty and well-being divisions.

Those two divisions accounted for more than half of company revenue, and will be Unilever’s focus, along with home care, as it divests noncore categories to become a leaner and more agile operator.

Personal care brands were the center of Unilever’s FIFA push in June and July, with ads for Dove skin care, Rexona deodorant and Axe body sprays and shower gels beaming from screens large and small during the event, which attracted billions of live and virtual viewers.

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Although chief executive officer Fernando Fernandez said it was too early to gauge how big the FIFA bounce will be, his hopes are high.

“We don’t do an event like FIFA for a two-month impact, we do it to increase the awareness and differentiation of our brands through a massive cultural event like the World Cup,” he said during the first-half results presentation on Tuesday.

“We believe there will be a residual effect that will strengthen our brands. We believe we’ll see a significant uplift in the image of our brands, particularly in our personal care business, and an improvement in competitiveness in the long run,” he added.

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Fernandez added that Unilever’s work with 50,000 content creators worldwide is “proof of what we are creating in terms of a new social first model of rich engagement for our brands at a scale that I personally believe very few companies can match.”

Unilever, one of the largest corporate advertisers worldwide with an annual budget in the billions, takes its marketing seriously. During the presentation, Fernandez mentioned that the consumer giant was the most decorated advertiser at Cannes Lions in June, scooping 35 prizes for its marketing campaigns.

The market responded with gusto — to the first-half results and the advertising swagger — sending shares up nearly 5 percent to 48.50 pounds on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

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In the first half ended June 30, beauty and personal care performed strongly overall.

The beauty and well-being divisions accounted for 25 percent of group turnover. Sales grew 5.9 percent, with 4.5 percent coming from volume and 1.3 percent from price. Although the “power brands” led the way, Unilever said its smaller prestige beauty brands also performed strongly. 

Hair care delivered high-single-digit growth fueled by Dove’s premium innovations, including the Fibre Repair technology range, and K18, which posted “very strong double-digit growth” driven by biotechnology-led formulations. Skin care grew low-single digits, with double-digit growth at Vaseline and “strong performances” from Paula’s Choice, Hourglass and Tatcha.

Well-being grew low-single digits overall, led by Liquid I.V. and Olly, which delivered double-digit growth. The company said that actions are underway to optimize new customer conversion at Nutrafol, with plans to promote the hair growth supplement as a complement to a GLP-1 regimen.

The personal care division accounted for 27 percent of group revenue with underlying sales up 4.8 percent, mainly from volume. 

Unilever’s largest brand, Dove, grew in the high-single digits with “good performances” in deodorants and skin cleansing bolstered by the World Cup campaigns and activations.

Deodorants and skin cleansing grew in the midsingle digits. Dove grew in the high-single digits supported by the success of its premium Serum Body Wash. Lux grew in the midsingle digits with premium innovations including a new fragrance-led range in China.

Unilever’s operating profit rose 2.6 percent to 4.9 billion euros on a reported basis, reflecting operational performance and lower restructuring costs, the company said.

The company added that its 800 million euros productivity program, launched in 2024 to simplify the business and remove overheads related to the now-divested ice cream division, was completed ahead of schedule.

Unilever is working toward becoming a pure-play home and personal care company following the spin-off of its ice cream division into a public company and the proposed merger of its foods division with the U.S. spice firm McCormick & Co. The deal is on track and set to close in mid-2027.

Following the strong first-half performance in the first half, Unilever has upgraded its 2026 outlook.

It now expects underlying sales growth in the second half to land “within” the 4 percent to 6 percent range rather than at the bottom end. It is also anticipating a “modest improvement” in underlying operating margin for full year 2026 versus 20 percent in 2025.

Fernandez said the results demonstrate Unilever’s “ability to continue performing while transforming our portfolio. Our brands are stronger, our execution is sharper and we are driving desire at scale. Our combination of foods with McCormick is progressing well and will unlock significant value, making Unilever a focused pureplay [home and personal care] company, while giving foods the platform to thrive as part of a global powerhouse in flavor.”

The CEO added: “The macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, but our consistency, discipline and strong first-half performance give us confidence that we are well positioned to deliver our upgraded full-year outlook.”

Source: WWD