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Unilever in the UK

For more than a century, Unilever has been a pioneer - creating great brands and products which improve everyday life for millions of people. From our first factory in Port Sunlight, to our world-class innovation hubs of today, pioneering is in our DNA. One of the biggest companies listed on the FTSE 100, Unilever is a truly global business, selling products in 190 countries.

The UK is one of Unilever’s biggest markets, with an annual turnover of around £2 billion. We have around 5,000 UK-based employees, who work at sites across the regions, responsible for some of the nation’s most loved brands - including Dove, Persil, Hellmann’s and Vaseline - found in over 95% of UK homes.

Our five UK factories produce nearly 4.5 million products every day, delivering 1.5 billion products annually in the UK and beyond. We work with our partners in retail, hospitality and online commerce to provide the best possible experience for shoppers. We partner with around 3,000 UK suppliers, spending around £500 million each year, which strengthens local economies and supports jobs across the country.

Over the last two years we have committed over £300 million investment across our R&D labs, offices and factories. This includes the transformation of our Port Sunlight factory into a fully integrated supply chain hub, building a world-class fragrance facility at our Port Sunlight R&D hub, and creating a new state-of-the-art Unilever UK HQ in Kingston.

  • 90+ years operating in the UK and Ireland

  • Over 20 brands, found in 95% of UK households

  • Around 5,000 employees in our factories and offices

  • c. £500 million invested in UK suppliers each year

  • c. 1.5 billion products delivered annually to retailers in the UK and beyond

  • c. £2 billion annual turnover

Summary

A range of Unilever products being used, as well as advertising lifestyle imagery.

Detailed description

The text “Creating Desire at Scale” appears. The overall look is clean and modern. The curved, white U-shaped design element of the Unilever “U” branding is present throughout the video.

A woman with dark, coily hair stands outdoors. As she turns to the side she closes her eyes as she takes a refreshing sip from a bottle of water, covered in condensation. A woman opens a sachet of white Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier powder and sprinkles the contents into a glass of water. She is wearing a white vest top and a green and pink cardigan. The woman is wearing a gold necklace and two thin gold rings. The water and powder swirls around in a glass, fanning out to the edge of the screen.

A close-up of a blue flower appears, each petal is shown in detail.
The frame then switches to a close-up view of a bottle of Persil WonderWash, with the camera panning backward to bring more of the bottle and the background – all in deep shades of teal, blue and silver – into the frame.

The shot quickly transitions to a close up of a supermarket scence, then to a woman’s hand holding a can of Sure Whole Body Deo “Citrus Fresh”. We can clearly see the can – with bold orange writing and Sure’s signature navy blue tick logo – with the supermarket scene largely out of focus. The woman is wearing a light blue denim jacket and a maroon jumper, and as the camera pans up from her hand to her face, we see she has red curly hair and an appreciatory expression.

A smiling woman with long, brown hair wearing purple pyjamas falls in slow motion onto a bed with pink bedding in a brightly lit room. The room features teal panelled walls, a colourful wavy-patterned headboard, and large windows with yellow curtains. There are also hanging spherical lights, a plant near the window, and a cityscape visible outside. As the woman falls onto the bed, we see a vibrant explosion of multicoloured powder and flowers bursting across the room.

A woman with blonde hair lathers a bar of white soap around her shoulders. She places a bar of Dove soap onto a blue tray.

The shot transitions and zooms out to show 6 bottles of Cif Infinite Spray lined up – 2 blue, then 2 green, then 2 purple - alternating between those with white spray nozzles and slightly shorter refill bottles with white plastic caps on top.

The frame then switches to a colourful food dish, filled with rice, chicken pieces, tomatoes, courgettes, diced red onions and chopped green herbs. Small red tomatoes are thrown in the air, followed by roasted courgettes over a flame.

We then see the face and shoulders of a man with a dark beard underneath a shower, looking at peace with his eyes closed as he massages soap into his neck. The shot transitions to a bottle of Radox ‘Feel Relaxed’ shower gel filled with purple liquid as water droplets from the shower fall past in slow motion.

Next we see an ultra-close-up of a toasted burger bun, with creamy Hellmann’s Spicy Mayo being squeezed into a dollop on top. We then see another ultra-close-up of a person holding up the final burger – with crispy coated chicken breast, layers of vibrant green and purple lettuce, slices of gherkin and a visible layer of the creamy mayo – as though they are about to take a bite.

A droplet of golden liquid falls against a white background before it explodes in clear liquid, into gold and pearlescent bubbles which expand from the centre. A pale pink flower appears to the left of the shot as glistening liquid drips from its petals.

A thin white U-shaped line art appears overlaid throughout the video.

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Brands that inspire

In the UK we have 24 household brands and we make must-have products which deliver superior science, beautiful aesthetics and irresistible experiences. We are the UK’s second largest advertiser and FMCG leader in brand marketing investment. Recent industry recognition for our marketing includes being crowned number one in 2025’s Cannes Advertiser Ranking with 41 awards, including a record-breaking five Grands Prix.

Persil Wonder Wash bottles in the manufacturing process.

World-leading science and innovation

The UK is one of Unilever’s global centres of innovation, with around 1,300 R&D professionals shaping the future of global consumer categories at our three R&D sites in Port Sunlight, Leeds and Colworth. Over the last three years, over 400 patents have been filed.

Our R&D ecosystem in Liverpool and the Wirral covers every stage of product development. The Material Innovation Factory, developed with the University of Liverpool to lead our cutting-edge research, houses the world’s highest concentration of robotics for materials chemistry. At Port Sunlight, the Product Innovation Lab develops this science into superior products our shoppers love, while the Advanced Manufacturing Centre, a digitally enabled pilot plant, allows our scientists and engineers to test and scale prototypes.

A group of people in a modern office engaged in discussion around a table, with one person gesturing while speaking. An open laptop is on the table, and the Unilever logo and branding is visible on a white wall in the background.

People and culture

We are proud of being a business that grows and develops world-leading talent, with over 150 apprentices and over 100 graduates joining us each year. We partner with a range of organisations to strengthen and diversify our talent pipeline, building on long-standing collaborations with partners focused on advancing inclusivity in the workplace.

Aerial view of a vast solar panel farm followed by a wind farm among fields and lakes

Sustainability

We are driving progress on climate and circularity with clear focus and action – from powering all UK sites with 100% renewable grid electricity, to cutting carbon in logistics and leading industry collaborations like the Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF), of which Unilever was a founding member. All this helps us move towards our goal of net zero across our value chain by 2039.

Action to reduce our use of plastics and improve recyclability is also a key focus. Through the FPF we have been trialling flexible plastic household collections in the UK over the past three years through the FlexCollect trial. Working with ten local authorities and 160,000 households, this trial has provided a blueprint for how flexible plastics (e.g. sachets, wrappers, packets) can be collected, sorted and sent for recycling, ahead of mandatory kerbside collections starting in 2027.

Unilever UK is a founding signatory of the UK Packaging Pact, which brings together over 100 organisations from across the value chain, supported by PackUK and the UK Government, to help transform packaging to be better for people and planet. This now decade‑long voluntary agreement is designed to transform the UK’s relationship with packaging and accelerate the move towards a circular economy, designing out waste by keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible.

A worker walks past a FareShare van.

Community

In 2025 we donated over 1.9 million products to charity partners including Felix FareShare and In Kind Direct, supporting communities nationwide. We work closely with our retail partners on national charity campaigns in store and online, further increasing the volume of donations we can make. The UK business participates every year in The Great Walk, our biggest annual fundraising event which has raised over £330,000 since its inception for several small charity partners. Our brands also support communities with campaigns such as the Dove Self-Esteem Project, for which hundreds of UK employees reached almost 5,000 young people in 2025 with ‘Dove Day’ self-esteem workshops.

A Future for Growth

From Sunlight Soap to iconic global power brands, Unilever’s UK story is one of pioneering and progress. As we invest in science, talent and technology, we’re building the next chapter; a home for world-class innovation, well-loved brands, and a workforce determined to win.

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