Unilever Foods hired Samy

2026 · CPG / food

Four separate agencies were already doing Unilever Foods' influencer work, and Unilever wants 20 times as many influencer partnerships.

On the public record

The problem is documented by somebody with nothing to gain from the agency winning the work.

How we know

Four agencies were already providing influencer support across the Foods portfolio, and Unilever has said publicly it wants to work with 20 times as many influencers. The brief was to "develop and activate a global influencer strategy for its food business".

Who says so	Marketing Dive, Campaign, PRWeek UK, Campaign Asia, Retail Gazette and Storyboard18 all carry it. Campaign is the one that reports the seven agency field and names the four incumbents who lost. Read it
A second source	Campaign, PRWeek UK, Campaign Asia, Marketing-Interactive, Retail Gazette and Storyboard18 all carry the appointment. Campaign is the one that reports the seven agency field, the absence of an intermediary and the four incumbents who lost.
What the agency was asked to do	"develop and activate a global influencer strategy for its food business" (Marketing Dive)
How the agency was picked	Competitive pitch
How that happened	Competitive pitch/RFP, run without an intermediary - seven agencies competed. Samy beat four incumbents already providing influencer support on the Foods portfolio: ITB Worldwide (on Knorr), Weber Shandwick, Billion Dollar Boy and Ogilvy.
How long it took	Announced March 2026. Pitch length not stated, but the field was seven agencies and Unilever ran it itself rather than through a search consultant.
Recorded as	Unilever Foods (Hellmann's, Knorr, French's, Frank's RedHot)

Watch out for: My first version of this row said no pitch was described. That was wrong, and it came from using Marketing Dive alone, which did not carry the pitch detail. Campaign, PRWeek and Campaign Asia all do. Check more than one trade title before writing that no process happened.

Every other case where it had to run all year, not once →

The other 2 cases where a brand hired Samy →

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Every case here carries the one link that proves it, and names who said it. Where that is the agency describing its own win, the card says so rather than hiding it. Cases where nobody ever documented a reason are not on this page at all. Brought to you by Influencer Advisory, your influencer marketing partner for supplement, health and beverage brands.