Unilever and Google Cloud on February 18, 2026 announced a five-year partnership aimed at accelerating Unilever’s use of artificial intelligence by moving key data and enterprise applications onto Google Cloud, in a deal the companies said will reshape how the consumer goods group conducts marketing, brand discovery and internal workflows.
The companies said the partnership will see Unilever migrate its integrated data and cloud platform to Google Cloud to create an “enterprise-wide, AI-first digital backbone” and support “agentic workflows”—systems designed to execute complex tasks across business processes. The announcement was issued in a media release distributed in Kenya.
Unilever said the collaboration will use Google Cloud technologies including Vertex AI, its enterprise AI platform, to build new capabilities in brand discovery, measurement and AI-augmented marketing for brands such as Dove, Vaseline and Hellmann’s. According to the media release, the initiative responds to consumer journeys shifting “toward more conversational and agentic experiences,” including conversational shopping.
The partnership matters for Kenya’s business landscape because it signals continued acceleration of cloud migration and enterprise AI adoption among multinational fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies operating in the region. While the media release did not provide country-level investment figures or deployment timelines for East Africa, the decision to route core data platforms to a hyperscale cloud provider is likely to influence how suppliers, agencies and retail partners integrate data, measure campaigns and manage demand forecasting across African markets where Unilever sells its products.
“Technology has moved to the core of value creation at Unilever,” said Willem Uijen, Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer at Unilever. “As brands are increasingly discovered and chosen in environments shaped by AI, we must lead this shift. This collaboration with Google Cloud sets a new level in how technology can power commerce and growth in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, ensuring Unilever is agile, fit for the future, and equipped to unlock value at every level of the company.”
Tara Brady, President, EMEA at Google Cloud, said the partnership will include deployment of Google’s AI models, including Gemini, alongside modernization work. “In partnering with Unilever as it boldly reimagines its business processes, we are not just modernizing legacy systems; we are deploying our advanced models, such as Gemini, to create a system of intelligence that reasons, learns, and acts,” Brady said. “This will set a new standard for agility and consumer engagement in the CPG sector.”
According to the media release, the collaboration will be structured around three pillars: agentic commerce and marketing intelligence; an integrated data and cloud foundation; and advanced AI. Under the integrated foundation pillar, Unilever will “transition key enterprise applications and data platforms to Google Cloud,” creating what the companies described as a connected environment for scalable AI deployment across the value chain.
For the Kenyan and wider East African market, the move highlights a growing expectation that marketing performance, consumer insights and demand planning will increasingly be driven by centralized, cloud-based data architectures and AI tooling. As global consumer goods groups standardize data platforms, regional teams and local partners may face pressure to improve data quality, interoperability and compliance, while also developing skills in AI-enabled marketing measurement and automation.
Unilever reported sales of €50.5 billion in 2025, equivalent to about KES 7.1 trillion (€50.5 billion) at an assumed exchange rate of KES 140 per euro. The company said it operates in more than 190 countries with 96,000 employees, and that its products are used by 3.7 billion people daily, according to the media release.
Next steps and milestones, including the pace of application migrations and rollout of agentic workflows, were not detailed in the statement. However, the companies indicated the partnership is designed to fast-track adoption of AI across Unilever’s operations and marketing as consumer discovery and shopping continue shifting toward AI-mediated channels.