Unilever’s marketing reset puts beauty at the centre of its growth playbook

Unilever’s latest leadership shake-up may read like a routine executive handover, but beneath it sits a far more telling signal about where the retail giant believes growth and cultural relevance will come from next.

From January 2026, Leandro Barreto will take on responsibility for Unilever’s enterprise-wide marketing agenda, alongside his existing role as Chief Marketing Officer of Beauty & Wellbeing. In doing so, Unilever is effectively collapsing the distance between brand building at group level and its most strategically important category. This elevates beauty to the heart of its global marketing engine. Beauty & Wellbeing - home to some of Unilever’s most competitive, innovation-led brands including Tatcha, K18 and Hourglass - is no longer just a growth pillar; it is becoming the template.

Leandro Barreto, currently Chief Marketing Officer for Unilever’s Beauty & Wellbeing Business Group

The move marks the end of an era shaped by Esi Eggleston Bracey, who will exit Unilever at the end of January after eight years, most recently as Chief Growth & Marketing Officer. Under her leadership, Unilever reworked how it builds demand at scale, modernising its marketing model for a digital-first, creator-driven, platform-led world.

Esi Eggleston Bracey, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer

Barreto, who has spent more than 20 years in marketing, is widely credited internally for disruptive creativity and building culturally relevant brands - a skillset increasingly critical as mass consumer brands fight for attention in digital spaces.

Fernando Fernandez, Unilever’s CEO, said: "I would like to thank Esi for her significant contribution to Unilever and wish her every success in the next chapter of her career. With strong groundwork now in place, I know Leandro will make a big impact in his expanded role as we accelerate desire at scale and turn Unilever into a true marketing and sales machine."