Unilever is committing €100 million to enhance its global capabilities in fragrance design and creation. This initiative aligns with the company’s strategy to drive growth and improve efficiency by enabling greater control over the development and refinement of its fragrances.
By integrating advanced scientific approaches such as neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and digital product development with existing collaborations, Unilever aims to deliver products that are both consistent in quality and accessible in pricing. This approach is expected to accelerate the delivery of innovative solutions across its brand portfolio.
Growing its in-house capability will also give Unilever the agility to identify and respond to new fragrance trends, moving swiftly through product creation, formulation, design, manufacturing and launching to market.
The company has already started to hire expert perfumers across the UK, US and India and will grow its global team to focus on fragrance creation, fragrance evaluation, measurement, testing and data analytics.
Richard Slater, Chief Research & Development Officer at Unilever, said: “We are thrilled to announce a €100 million investment to build a leading-edge fragrance house. “This initiative will allow us to create and develop our own fragrances, as well as continue to work closely with our important existing partners in the industry. “By recruiting expert perfumers and leveraging new capabilities including digital technology and AI, we will help drive unmissable brand superiority in line with Unilever’s Growth Action Plan, developing fragrances that consumers love and enhancing the overall experience of our products.”
Last month, Mathieu Lenoir was also appointed Unilever’s Global Creative Centre Director for Fragrance, after working in the fragrance world for more than 30 years, including roles at several leading perfume houses. Mathieu said: “I look forward to being part of Unilever’s fragrance transformation journey. My dream, as a perfumer, has always been to be as close as possible to the consumer and I feel Unilever is the best place to transform this dream into reality,”
