Unilever has become synonymous with the idea of placing purpose at the heart of its brands – but its new CEO looks set to change that.

Former Heinz chief financial officer Hein Schumacher took over as CEO of the consumer goods giant in July. Today (26 October) he told investors that the company would stop “force fitting” purpose to all its brands.
Under the leadership of his predecessor Alan Jope, Unilever faced criticism for focusing on purpose at the expense of growth.
Schumacher did not dismiss the concept of purpose outright, however, acknowledging the company’s focus on delivering on purpose “inspires many people to join and stay with Unilever”.

“When done well, and with credibility, [brand purpose] can be highly effective,” he said, pointing to examples like Dove and Lifebuoy.But we will not force fit this across the entire portfolio, for some brands it simply won’t be relevant and that’s okay,” he added.
The CEO continued he hoped this would “simplify” the job of the company’s brands. In recent years, debate around brands’ sustainability and purpose has arguably generated more heat than light.

In 2022, a major Unilever investor and founder of Fundsmith Equity, Terry Smith, launched an attack on the company’s focus on purpose across all its brands.
“A company which feels it has to define the purpose of Hellmann’s mayonnaise has in our view clearly lost the plot,” he said.
Previous CEO Jope had stuck with the company’s commitment to purpose in the face of criticism. Earlier this year he pointed to the strong growth the company was seeing in its Prestige business as an example of how “putting purpose at the heart of your business is a pathway to sustainable growth”.

While his successor Schumacher today stated he saw purpose as a growth-driver for certain brands, he said Unilever’s approach to the issue had not “advanced the cause of purpose”.
“In recent years, debate around brands’ sustainability and purpose has arguably generated more heat than light,” he acknowledged.
He sought to separate the business’ overarching sustainability agenda from the idea of integrating a social or environmental purpose into every brand proposition. Every brand will be “full active participants” in Unilever’s sustainability objectives, which he stressed it is “not walking away from”. However, not all brands will need a purpose, in the way Dove has, for example.

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