Fragrance transforms our products, locking in loyalty and adding meaningful moments to consumers’ daily routines. Discover how we’re investing to build Unilever’s new world-leading, digital-first fragrance creation house.
- Unilever is investing €100 million to build in-house, digitally enabled fragrance design and creation capabilities
- They’re recruiting expert perfumers in the UK, US and India to work across our global portfolio of brands
- The move is in line with our Growth Action Plan, which sets out to deliver unmissably superior products
Unilever are investing €100 million to scale up Unilever’s fragrance design and creation capabilities across their global portfolio.
This supports their strategy to accelerate growth and increase productivity by allowing Unilever to gain greater control of the design and refinement of their fragrances, a key component of product formulation and consumer preference.
Creating Unilever’s own fragrance house
Fragrance forms a vital part of many Unilever products, from indulgent shower creams to invigorating deodorants and the satisfying scents that their brands leave on freshly washed laundry.
Blending science and art, the perfumers behind these signature scents skilfully combine aromatic ingredients from a palette of as many as 1,000 possible raw ingredients to create a unique fragrance formula.
Historically, they’ve partnered with fragrance houses around the world to create the scents that consumers know and love. Such partnerships remain important to us as they move to grow capabilities in-house which will see Unilever transition to a hybrid model, where their digitally enabled teams are involved in every step of innovation, formulating fragrances that fit perfectly with our products.
They’ll combine their own scientific expertise in areas such as neuroscience, AI and digital product development with existing strategic partnerships, to help deliver consistent and affordable product superiority across their brands more quickly.
Acting on trends and exceeding consumer expectations
Richard Slater, Chief R&D Officer at Unilever said:
“We are thrilled to announce a €100 million investment to build a leading-edge fragrance house at Unilever. This initiative will enable us to create and develop our own fragrances, as well as continue to work closely with our important existing partners in the industry,”
“By recruiting expert perfumers and leveraging new capabilities including digital technology and AI, we will help drive unmissable brand superiority in line with Unilever’s Growth Action Plan, developing fragrances that consumers love and enhancing the overall experience of our products,” Richard adds.
Our new fragrance house, powered by the latest digital and AI technologies, will operate at the intersection of science and innovation. We use neuroscience techniques to understand how fragrances can impact mood and measurably improve emotional wellbeing, for example confidence, ensuring our products not only meet but also exceed consumer expectations.
Growing our in-house capability will also give Unilever the agility to identify and respond to fragrance trends, moving swiftly through product creation, formulation, design, manufacturing and launching to market.
Building a team of fragrance specialists
Unilever have already started to hire expert perfumers across the UK, US and India and will grow their global team to focus on fragrance creation, fragrance evaluation, measurement, testing and data analytics.
In October 2024, Mathieu Lenoir was appointed Unilever’s Global Creative Centre Director for Fragrance, after working in the fragrance world for more than 30 years, including roles at several leading perfume houses.
Mathieu said:
“I look forward to being part of Unilever’s fragrance transformation journey,”
“My dream, as a perfumer, has always been to be as close as possible to the consumer and I feel Unilever is the best place to transform this dream into reality.”