Unilever’s €100 Million Investment in Fragrance Development

Unilever is investing €100 million to scale up its own fragrance design and creation capabilities across its global portfolio. The effort supports its strategy to accelerate growth and increase productivity with having gain greater control of the design and refinement of fragrances, said the maker of Dove, Cif and other leading brands in personal care, homecare and beauty.

Unilever said it plans to transition to a hybrid model and that its partnerships with fragrance houses will “remain important” as it grows out own teams.

“This initiative will enable us to create and develop our own fragrances, as well as continue to work closely with our important existing partners in the industry,” said Richard Slater, chief R&D officer at Unilever. “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.”

Earlier this year, Unilever joined the Fragrance Creators Association.

The new fragrance house will have the latest digital and AI technologies. Unilever plans to iemploy neuroscience techniques to understand how fragrances can impact mood and measurably improve emotional wellbeing.

Expert perfumers have already been hired across the UK, US and India. Unilever says it will continue to grow its global team to focus on fragrance creation, fragrance evaluation, measurement, testing and data analytics.

Global Creative Center Director for Fragrance

Mathieu Lenoir was appointed Unilever’s global creative center director for fragrance, after working in the fragrance world for more than 30 years, including roles at several leading perfume houses. Lenoir was named to the post in October.

Prior to taking on the new role in October, Lenoir was perfumery director UK at CPL Aromas. His tenure in the fragrance world has also included roles at EFF (European Flavors & Fragrances), Firmenich and Givaudan.