Unilever awards UK digital homecare duties to AnalogFolk as efficiency drive continues
Unilever has bundled the digital ad business for its homecare brands in the UK into AnalogFolk, widening the indie shop's remit.
AnalogFolk will now be the FMCG giant's digital agency of record for its homecare portfolio / Unilever
The move follows Unilever's enlisting of AnalogFolk to handle digital for its UK food portfolio last year, with responsibility for Marmite, Knorr, Colman's and Pot Noodle.
Now, the London agency will be the FMCG giant's digital agency of record for brands such as Persil, Domestos, Surf and Cif in the UK. The Drum understands it will be tasked not only with brand level work but also with driving consistency and efficiencies across the category.
The shop will additionally oversee digital content for Cleanipedia – the cross-category platform Unilever uses to publish household tips and tricks for consumers.
The appointment dovetails with the appointment of a UK advertising agency (Adam&Eve/DDB) for Surf. It's believed that AnalogFolk will collaborate closely with the Omnicom shop, as well as the number of other creative agencies on Unilever's homecare roster.
It will also work alongside the Persil owner's internal content production division, U-Studios.
Unilever's decision to consoldiate the business into one account comes amid an ongoing efficiency drive for business, which has seen it streamline the number of agency partners it works with and bring some creative and production capabilities in-house.
Last year, Unilever revealed its efforts had helped it pump some €250m worth of savings into media buying and in-store advertising.
When AnalogFolk took over food portlio last year, it was believed to have displaced around 20 agencies who previously worked on the different brands.
The Drum has reached out to Unilever to clarify which agencies were incumbents on the homecare roster, but at the time of writing it was unable to respond.
AnalogFolk declined to comment.
In a statement, Millie Powell, Unilever homecare UK digital lead, said: "We are looking forward to a brilliant 2019 with AnalogFolk at our side, helping us to navigate the complex digital landscape both by doing and by training others to do.
"We will leverage their strengths to drive digital capability and to deliver truly excellent online brand experiences."
Earlier this month, Unilever's outgoing chief marketing officer, Keith Weed, unveiled a cross-media measurement model that is fielding input from other advertisers, as part of its efforts to clean up the digital ad ecosystem.