How Unilever's huge bet on influencers led to a creator economy gold rush

Creators are ringing in a banner year for influencer marketing, and they might consider sending a thank-you note to Unilever CEO Fernando Fernández. In March, Fernández unveiled a new "influencer-first" strategy. He said the consumer-goods company would work with 20 times the number of influencers it had previously worked with. The owner of well-known brands such as Dove, Hellmann's, and Vaseline also said that it would spend half of its ad budget on social media, up from 30%.The result has been a galvaniz ...