Unilever is going social with its Wall’s ice cream brand, choosing Omnicom’s 180 Amsterdam to handle a social-first campaign from 2026 onwards.
Unilever is undergoing a number of pretty dramatic changes, dispensing with the services of 18-month CEO Hein Schumacher in a surprise move this week following hard on the decision to list its £8bn ice cream business in Amsterdam (rather than London) as The Magnum Ice Cream Company. Schumacher (left), an outsider from dairy, is being replaced by CFO Fernando Fernandez, a Unilever veteran.
In terms of the agency appointment, 180’s Amsterdam location presumably came in handy.
Unilever ice cream CMO Leyal Eskin Yilmaz says: “We’re excited to be partnering with the team at 180 Amsterdam for this next chapter of our brand’s growth as we move towards building brands social-first – deepening the ways we engage with our consumers.”
180 ECD Stephane Lecoq says: “Wall’s is an iconic brand which deserves to be in everyone’s hands. It’s exciting to share the same ambition as the team at Unilever to disrupt and engage audiences in an innovative way.”
Departing CEO Schumacher said in a staff email: “I regret leaving Unilever earlier than anticipated but I stand by my record and approach.” He appears to have every reason to be aggrieved as Unilever has performed well by most counts since he took over from Alan Jope and began to ditch the purpose-driven strategy of former long-serving boss Paul Polman.
US activist investor Nelson Peltz is now a non-exec director and shareholder and Schumacher’s changes don’t appear to have come rapidly enough for Peltz and the rest of the Unilever board.
