Unilever partners with Google Cloud on 'agentic commerce'
Unilever has entered a five-year partnership with Google Cloud to integrate advanced AI and agentic workflows into its global brand operations. The collaboration aims to pioneer what the companies call “agentic commerce,” transforming brand discovery, campaign optimization, and supply chain management. The deal signals that large-scale, agentic AI integration is becoming a board-level priority for major global brands.
- The collaboration will utilize Google's Vertex AI platform and Gemini models to create what the companies are calling a "system of intelligence" that can reason, learn, and act. This will be applied to marketing, with the goal of better identifying demand signals and responding to consumer behavior shifts, as well as creating internal agentic workflows to automate complex business processes. - This partnership is part of Unilever's broader AI strategy, which already includes over 500 AI-driven initiatives in areas like demand sensing and R&D. The company has been building an in-house "Beauty AI Studio" with The Brandtech Group, using generative AI to create hundreds of digital ad assets for brands like Dove and TRESemmé. - The deal involves migrating Unilever's key enterprise applications and data platforms to Google Cloud, creating a unified "AI-first digital backbone." This is intended to generate demand more quickly and turn data into actionable insights with greater agility. - For security, the collaboration will be protected by Google's Mandiant, which provides services like AI security assessments, threat modeling, and hardening recommendations based on Google's experience securing its own AI systems. - The move reflects a wider industry trend of major brands preparing for a shift in how consumers discover and purchase goods through conversational interfaces and AI agents. Google has also recently formed agentic shopping partnerships with major U.S. retailers. - In the London tech ecosystem, AI and fintech are the dominant sectors for venture capital funding, with London raising £2.69 billion in Q1 2025, more than France, Germany, and Spain combined. However, overall UK tech funding saw an 11% decline in 2025 compared to 2024, with a notable drop in seed and early-stage investment. - The adtech landscape is simultaneously navigating significant disruption from the deprecation of third-party cookies, forcing a shift toward first-party data, contextual targeting, and other privacy-focused strategies. Programmatic ad spending is still projected to grow, with video and connected TV (CTV) being key drivers. - Pre-season testing for the 2026 Formula 1 season is underway in Bahrain, with significant discussion among drivers like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton about the new car regulations and their potential impact on racing.
