With the World Cup set to captivate hearts globally, Unilever, the UK’s number one deodorant manufacturer[a], is unleashing a raft of limited-edition products and exciting new innovations across its leading brands. As official sponsors, Sure, Dove, and Lynx are poised to dominate the personal care aisles, offering retailers a prime opportunity to capitalise on heightened consumer engagement.
Unilever’s Personal Care brands have a proven ability to convert cultural passion into purchase. By embedding brands in sport, across matchday moments, creator partnerships, fan zones, gaming, and retail theatre, the business consistently sees increased emotional connection, share of conversation, cultural relevance and long-term brand loyalty.
The comprehensive Unilever portfolio includes:
Lynx
Marking its first major sports sponsorship, Lynx, the UK’s number one male toiletries brand[b] , is investing a significant £5.4 million into its campaign. This comprehensive activation introduces a new Marshmallow Smoke variant to its premium Fine Fragrance collection, which is initially available in a gold, limited-edition Lynx World Cup design. The iconic Lynx Africa range is also receiving a special World Cup refresh, whilst Lynx has also expanded its core range with a new Number 10 body spray and shower gel – also initially available in Lynx World Cup branding.
To directly engage its core male audience, Lynx is pioneering a creator partnership with The Sidemen, ahead of their highly anticipated charity match on April 18th. This strategic move directly reflects Unilever’s social-first approach, which focuses on leveraging digital communities and authentic creator voices to connect with consumers where they already are, driven by social insights into changing behaviours. In total, Lynx will work with up to 2,000 creators to produce 5,000 pieces of social content ahead of the tournament. This strategic approach embeds Lynx directly into the conversations and communities most relevant to its consumers. Awareness will be further amplified by in-store activity.
Sure
The UK’s number one deodorant brand[b] , is set to drive significant consumer engagement with its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup 2026™. The brand is unveiling three new limited-edition designs* across its Nonstop range (Aerosol), each featuring unique, rotating World Cup themed artwork that encourages shoppers to collect all three. Furthermore the new cooling range (Aerosol & Roll on) will launch to help keep fans cool during the sweaty and emotional rollercoaster this summer.
Sure will activate a social-led World Cup campaign featuring ambassador Cole Palmer, launching with a 100-day countdown and peaking during key moments in the football calendar. The brand builds on proven success from its £1.5M multi-channel sports campaign fronted by Lucy Bronze in 2025, which spanned TV, OOH, digital, creator content and retail.
Dove
Dove Men+Care enters football for the first time with two limited-edition deodorants* - including the Dove Men+Care Advanced 72hr FIFA Active Comfort spray - and a limited-edition 3-in-1 Active Comfort Hair, Face & Body Wash, designed exclusively for the FIFA World Cup 26™. Dove Men+Care will also unleash a powerful ATL, and social-first campaign for the tournament, centred on care – utilising the line “care for your skin like you care for the game” - amplified by prominent influencers attending fixtures.
This expansion into a major global sporting event builds on the brand’s robust track record with sports sponsorships, as demonstrated by its highly successful 2025 Lions Tour campaign, which engaged 453,000 match attendees and resonated with half of UK & Ireland households, significantly boosting performance during the crucial Father’s Day gifting period.
Complementing this, Dove has introduced limited-edition packaging for one of its most popular SKUs, the vibrant Dragon Fruit Advanced Body Wash & Deodorant for female shoppers, to drive collectability and excitement. Whilst the world will be talking about men’s teams during the tournament, Dove will also engage consumers with dedicated activity heroing women and girls and their involvement in sport, ensuring broad appeal and maximum brand visibility throughout the tournament.
Radox
The UK’s number one shower and bath brand[c] , joins the line-up with a limited-edition Feel Energised FIFA World Cup 26™ shower gel. This launch links the nation’s biggest sporting moment with one of the category’s best-loved household brands, building on strong 2025 activity, including Radox’s partnership with the London Marathon, which placed the brand at the heart of training and recovery for more than one million entrants.
Komal Patel, European Sports & Entertainment Partnerships Director – Personal Care, Unilever said: “Here at Unilever, we’re passionate about the power of sport, and this summer is set to captivate the hearts of football fans around the globe. Sports sponsorships enable brands to connect and engage people through their passion points.
Our multi-brand innovation for the FIFA World Cup 26™ offers retailers a significant sales opportunity by tapping into the buzz of competition and allowing fans to get into the football spirit from the very start of their day. With unmissable in-store presence and competitions to win tickets, these ranges are set to drive category growth. Crucially, our sport sponsorships ensure our Personal Care brands show up at key cultural moments throughout the tournament, helping retailers tap into increased demand and excitement among football fans. This entire initiative forms part of Unilever’s broader commitment to sport-led growth.”
To maximise visibility and conversion, FIFA World Cup 26™ POS and free-standing display units will launch across major grocery and beauty retailers. Unilever will support this with cross-brand and brand-specific retail media across in-store and online channels. Listings have been secured across all major UK retailers, with further rollout across convenience, independents and wholesale.