Do major brands like Unilever and P&G also do creator marketing?

Yes — and at industrial scale. What started as a niche tactic for small brands has become, in 2025-2026, a central strategy at the largest FMCG companies in the world.

The clearest signal came from Unilever. In March 2025, the new CEO Fernando Fernandez — an ex-CFO, which matters — announced that 50% of the marketing budget would shift to social and influencer marketing, up from roughly 30% before. The number of creators Unilever works with went up 20-fold. By the end of 2025, they were already at nearly 300,000 creators worldwide. The first results: 3.8% sales growth in Q1 2026, of which 2.9% volume growth.

Other giants are following the pattern. General Mills, Gap and Procter & Gamble are accelerating their strategies. Budgets are shifting en masse away from traditional TV channels toward creator-driven content on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

What this signals for smaller brands: the mechanic is proven. An ex-CFO making his first big move as CEO by radically reallocating money to creators — in front of a room of analysts and investors — doesn't do that on intuition. That's a calculated decision.

For brands considering creator marketing, the takeaway is mostly: it's no longer an experiment. It's an established strategy. The question is no longer whether it works, but how to translate it to your own scale and niche.