Unilever eyes House of Fresh as cultural platform
The initiative generated 6,000 pieces of content and reached 2.5 billion people, with further results still being counted.
Unilever’s House of Fresh activation turned its FIFA World Cup 2026™ sponsorship into a large-scale creator marketing programme, attracting more than 2,100 creators and influencers across Mexico, New York and Miami.
Unilever’s creator-led World Cup activation
Sarah Potter, Influencer & Media Director for Unilever Personal Care: "House of Fresh™ was a creator-led experience in Mexico, New York and Miami hosted by Unilever Personal Care during the FIFA World Cup 2026™. We set out to design a space that could help us turn the scale of the tournament into thousands of pieces of culturally relevant, socially native brand stories – and I’m very happy to say, we succeeded."
The activation reflects Unilever’s shift from a one-to-many broadcast model towards a many-to-many, social-first approach. House of Fresh, known as Casa Fresh in Mexico, brought brands together with creators and communities through experiences designed to drive engagement, advocacy and awareness.
Sarah Potter: "Reflecting Unilever’s wider strategy of moving from a one-to-many broadcast marketing model to a many-to-many social-first marketing approach, House of Fresh™ (Casa Fresh in Mexico) brought our brands together with creators and communities, driving engagement, advocacy and awareness at scale when the world was watching. It was the largest in-person influencer event in Unilever’s history."
How House of Fresh drove creator engagement
The spaces were designed to give visitors opportunities to create social content throughout their experience. Activities included personalised Panini-inspired football stickers, custom jerseys, charm bracelets, meetings with football stars and games on an LED pitch. Lighting and refreshments were also planned with smartphone content creation in mind.
The brands were integrated throughout the experiences, with individual brand teams developing activities around their communities and messaging. Rexona hosted The New York Sweat Club, while Dove created the Confidence Arcade. Dove Men+Care focused on game-day rituals, and Axe offered fragrance creation sessions with a scent expert.
Sarah Potter: "We wanted to give our guests unlimited opportunities to capture shareable moments, so House of Fresh™ was a content engine by design. People could create personalised Panini-inspired football stickers, custom jerseys and charm bracelets. They met football stars and played on our LED pitch. Even the refreshments were chosen to look great in social content, and the lighting throughout was carefully planned for filming and photography on smartphones."
More than 2,100 creators and influencers attended, with some returning for multiple visits. The guest list included sports figures such as Roberto Carlos, Daniel Sturridge and Marshawn Lynch, alongside nano creators with smaller but highly engaged communities.
From World Cup sponsorship to scalable marketing
As the Official Personal Care Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026™, Unilever aimed to use the tournament to create demand for its brands through an experience connected to football culture.
Sarah Potter: "We wanted our brands to be talked about and our aim was to drive volume, variety and velocity of content. To do that we knew we had to come up with a creative, socially led and culturally salient experience that could compete outside our own categories. Something just as good – or even better! – than the event’s other sponsors."
The strategy put creators and their audiences ahead of product messaging. The objective was to build brand desire and associate Unilever’s Personal Care brands with the emotions, rituals and cultural moments surrounding football.
Content ranged from talent-led posts and match coverage to creators documenting their visits and building anticipation around the FIFA World Cup 2026™. Most of the content was organic, and Unilever did not require every visitor to tag its brands.
Sarah Potter: "We didn’t ask all our guests to tag our brands. It was clear from the footage they shot that Unilever brands were showing up – we made sure they were unmissably present without it feeling forced."
Connecting creator content with commerce
Unilever also incorporated commerce into the programme through Amazon partner content creators. They produced shoppable content promoting exclusive limited-edition products, creating a direct path from cultural participation to product discovery and purchase.
Sarah Potter: "Unilever Personal Care and Amazon had a seamless pathway from content to conversion, turning cultural participation from commerce to cart. Creator commerce content delivered 5x greater reach than traditional brand advertising."
The approach generated a broad mix of organic content, with some creators publishing directly from the events. The results indicate that brands can maintain visibility without relying on scripted endorsements or repeated product mentions.
House of Fresh reaches 2.5 billion
House of Fresh has so far generated 2.5 billion in reach across social and PR coverage and 6,000 pieces of content. The activation also recorded a top engagement rate of 16 percent, compared with an industry standard of 5 percent.
Sarah Potter: "We’re also thrilled that the content has performed so well, with a top engagement rate of 16% versus the industry standard of 5%. It’s shown us that brand visibility doesn’t require scripts and constant mentions."
The results have led Unilever to consider House of Fresh as more than a one-off World Cup activation. The company plans to develop the concept into a broader cultural platform for its brands ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™.
Sarah Potter: "I can’t give too much away but ahead of next year we’re codifying House of Fresh™ to become a cultural platform for our brands. We’re looking at the ecosystem we can create to land our brands in culture through brilliant content that drives Desire at Scale."
The next step will be to apply the model beyond football sponsorships, using the principles developed through House of Fresh across Unilever’s wider marketing activity.
Sarah Potter: "It’s about shifting from a successful activation to a scalable marketing opportunity, and that’s something that we'll apply not just in our football sponsorships, but in campaigns across Unilever into the future."
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