Unilever has appointed SAMY, a social-first agency, to develop and activate a global influencer strategy for its Foods business group, covering 13 markets across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East.

The account encompasses Unilever’s two largest food brands, Hellmann’s and Knorr. According to the announcement, SAMY will run the account from the UK, supported by local teams across Indonesia, the Philippines, Germany, France, Poland, Pakistan, Argentina, Canada, Turkey, the UK, the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. The agency employs more than 1,000 staff across 20 offices and 55 markets, with clients including L’Oréal, Diageo, Microsoft, and Samsung.

Seven agencies competed for the business in a pitch run without an intermediary, per Campaign. Previous incumbents included ITB Worldwide on Knorr, Weber Shandwick, Billion Dollar Boy, and Ogilvy, which worked on ad-hoc influencer projects as Hellmann’s retained creative agency.

Technology and Strategy

SAMY’s proprietary Maia platform will anchor the engagement, providing Unilever Foods with access to more than 120 million influencers worldwide, along with performance data. The agency will also develop deployment frameworks and measurement models to track creator partnerships across markets.

Meg Bass, Global Media Manager for Unilever Foods, said the approach centers on cultural authenticity. “Working with SAMY will allow us to combine technology and data with deep knowledge of the whole social ecosystem, leading to more informed decisions around where and how we activate creator partnerships across markets.”

SAMY Chief Growth Officer Sonsoles Piñeiro Kruik said the agency will “bring hyper-local intelligence into a shared global system, enabling Unilever to orchestrate influencer activity at scale while ensuring creator partnerships are shaped by the realities of each local market.”

Broader Context

The appointment follows Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez’s announcement last year that the company would hire “20 times more influencers,” shifting social media investment from 30% to 50% of total marketing spend. Unilever also works directly with creators through its in-house U Studio team, operated in partnership with Oliver, part of The Brandtech Group.

The SAMY mandate comes as Unilever faces questions about the future of its Foods division. The company confirmed it has received an inbound offer from McCormick & Company and is in active discussions, though it cautioned that no transaction is guaranteed.