Unilever ‘triples’ its gaming investment: A Q&A with global head of sport and entertainment partnerships Willem Dinger
By Alexander Lee • October 4, 2024 •
Like many other businesses, Unilever wants to get its brands in front of more gamers — but the consumer goods company is still taking a measured approach as it determines just how much gaming could actually impact its bottom line.
The way Unilever talks about its gaming efforts says it all. The company has tripled its spending in the sector, according to its global head of sport and entertainment partnerships and Personal Care media lead, Willem Dinger. However, he declined to share hard numbers — in keeping with Unilever’s general reticence to share non-public financial figures — despite the fact that gaming is clearly an area of interest for Dinger and his colleagues, who have funded activations touching on just about every facet of the burgeoning gaming community.
There’s an Axe-branded Fortnite world, an official Dove video game and a Lifebuoy Minecraft build, among numerous other examples of Unilever’s gaming presence. It’s just not yet clear how big a focus area gaming is for the future. While Unilever currently boasts a network of about 30 internal gaming experts, these marketers do not have the word “gaming” in their official titles. For the moment, the company is still leaning on internal staff to take on gaming responsibilities as part of their regular day jobs, rather than making dedicated gaming hires.
To learn more about why one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies is starting to lean into gaming, Digiday spoke to Dinger for an annotated Q&A.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Willem Dinger: “From a cultural perspective, it really helps our brands to become more relevant and to drive talkability within gaming — it’s where all of the different passion points collide, from fashion to film to music to sports, kind of a cultural epicenter, from an engagement perspective. But also, from a commerce perspective, in terms of using gaming as a platform to help drive culture that converts. Because, at the end of the day, we are a business; we need to sell products.”
Digiday: Dinger’s answer about the potential commerce benefits of the metaverse provides some insight into the long-term value of platforms such as Fortnite and Roblox for Unilever. In the past, brands’ forays into the metaverse have often included “digital twins,” entirely virtual recreations of their products that users can own and display inside virtual worlds. This type of activation makes a lot more sense for a fashion or lifestyle brand than for a consumer goods brand; after all, there just aren’t that many gamers interested in owning a virtual can of Axe body spray. But as platforms such as Roblox roll out real-life e-commerce tools, it could be wise for Unilever to develop a presence inside the metaverse ahead of its e-commerce revolution.
On the interplay between custom-branded game worlds and intrinsic in-game ads
Willem Dinger: “We would do a bit of both, right? We would definitely run in-game inventory and advertising, but in order to connect properly with gamers and fans who are actually playing Minecraft and Fortnite, it’s really important to be endemic and actually add value to their overall gaming experience, which is why we’ve been working with Dove to make sure that Black hairstyles are being represented in different gaming environments. So, yes, we will still be able to drive in-game ads to make sure that we’re staying top of mind, but to tell these social impact and product stories in a fun, relatable way, is important. You need to be in the game, at the game, around the game and away from the game.”
Digiday: Although Dinger acknowledges that both custom activations and intrinsic in-game ads are important elements of Unilever’s marketing mix, his answer demonstrates one of the weaknesses of programmatic in-game ads: namely, that they are viewed as more impersonal, and inherently less valuable, than more in-depth branded game worlds. As platforms such as Roblox look to build out their programmatic offerings, they will have to contend with this perception of in-game ads, which are sometimes viewed as less authentic within a community that values authenticity above all else.
On the role of esports within Unilever’s gaming strategy
Willem Dinger: “I think esports, in a sense, gives you unprecedented scale. It gives you fandom. I’ve been to ‘League of Legends’ finals before, and it’s like being in a FIFA World Cup football match. So, it’s passion, it’s excitement, it’s competition. Just even looking at the Esports World Cup, it’s an eight-week competition, with over 500 million viewers who are consuming 250 million hours of content. 500 teams, 1,500 players. It’s massive, it’s growing, it’s global. So, for us to be able to integrate ourselves within content, within media, within players — to be able to activate on the ground in Saudi Arabia — you can’t ignore that.”
Digiday: Unilever was one of several major non-endemic brands to sponsor the Esports World Cup, alongside advertisers such as PepsiCo, Amazon and Adidas.
As brands bought into the Esports World Cup, some observers speculated that developing closer ties with Saudi Arabia could be one motivation for sponsors to support the event. Although Dinger mentioned Unilever’s enthusiasm about being able to activate on the ground in Riyadh, he made it clear that this was not a driving factor behind the company’s sponsorship of the event. He said that Unilever had approached the EWC as more of a global opportunity, intended to “unite all of our different global markets and our global brand.”
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