To Ride the Cultural Zeitgeist, Authenticity is Paramount, Marketing Exec Says

The currency of attention and visibility continues to evolve with the changing social landscape of modern marketing for even the most established brands. For the local office of one of the world's biggest multinational companies, heritage players need to avoid being tone-deaf especially when it comes to a generation that sniffs out anything inauthentic.

But with the influx of new social platforms and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence tools, this question is constantly posed: is there still a human role in modern marketing in the vertical age?

Unilever Head of Marketing for Beauty & Wellbeing Dennis Perez says that the existing marketing landscape is all about becoming more human rather than losing the organic element of the industry.

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“Actually, there are more opportunities to do more human marketing because artificial intelligence is taking out or is getting the task of creating a lot of assets, freeing up a lot of time when it comes to handling, managing, and creating more experiences,” he told Esquire Philippines on the sidelines of Digicon 2025 on October 17 held at the Grand Ballroom of the Marriot Hotel in Pasay City. “The value of AI is not just in the output that it generates, it's in the time and energy that's released for us to do more human marketing.”

The exponential growth of AI models and platforms has fueled the discourse on if these tools are jeopardizing media and creative endeavors and if tasks still require a human touch.

Algorithms online are  driving consumer expectations and demand, which is why Perez notes that marketers need to understand the capacity to speak to the algorithm, not just the people.

During his speech at DigiCon, Perez said that there must be a balance between the digital, or URL, and real-world, aka IRL (in real life) experiences.

Perez at DigiCon 2025 on October 17

“Whether you’re Gen X, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha, we now share experiences shaped not by our age, but by interest, identity, and belonging,” the seasoned marketer said. “In short, we are shaped by the communities we belong to, not by the generation we were born into.”

Unilever Philippines is a heritage brand producing some of the most established and influential grooming, food and beverage, and home care products that have dominated retail, supermarket, and household shelves for decades. Some of these products include Dove, Sunsilk, and TRESemmé hair products; Surf, Breeze, Cif, and Sunlight cleaning products; and food products such as Lipton, Knorr, and Lady’s Choice.

Even the most seasoned marketers must continue learning in order to adjust to the dynamic consumer behavior fueled by trends found on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), and even on Reddit. Staying relevant and on the wave of being with the times requires crafting a "cultural moment” for brands to appeal to the mass market.

“So as brands, whether you are spending hundreds or billions, what is important is you understand what is the cultural moment that your brand can play in,” Perez said. “Once you understand that, it becomes easy for brands to create content that works with the algorithm that feeds it in order for it to have maximum distribution.”

Striking a balance adaptability, personas, and authenticity

Effectively adapting with trends and consumer habits is all about creating experiences on platforms targeting personas, the Unilever marketer said. Culture is understandably the new currency of enticing new consumers and to capture this is targeting all the facets each person embodies.

“And in the process of making sure that our ads work with that persona, in a way, we make people feel that they're seen. And in return, those people also see our brands,” Perez stressed.

A Halloween-themed advertisement from Dove

A Cream Silk advert part of the "Queens" campaign

The executive also highlighted the concept of shifting from marketing a “you” to the marketing of “I,” which entails crafting stories based on actual feedback found on prominent social platforms. This is what makes for authentic narratives that aren’t based on out of touch and are just preconceived notions.

Unilever demonstrated this when it partnered with Reddit to go deep into misconceptions, myths, and personal stories about hair care as the brand angled for a community-type environment that involved real stories.

The Dove X Reddit campaign showed the brand’s awareness of listening and providing a platform for these experiences rather than dictating and manufacturing insights.

Another recent campaign that showcased this knack for appealing to the Gen Z audience, was the Cream Silk Queens campaign. The project was powered by AI and put personalities from drag, sports, fashion and entertainment centerstage to represent the modern idea of beauty. This naturally resonated with the Gen Z audience who seem to be craving fresh figures to look up to and to identify with, rather than traditional and anachronistic stereotypes.

“So I think that's a very good value exchange when we become social-first. That we respect people and who they are, their real persona. And at the same time, we return that through brand advocacy and brand visibility,” Perez said.

Heritage brands that refuse to partake in this shift to immersing themselves into experiences and algorithms risk fading into irrelevance, he warned.

“It came to a point that we realized that we don't have a choice but to be part of that zeitgeist. Because that's where people live right now, that's where people engage, that's where people shop and get more information. Everything is social,” the Unilever marketing head says.

This isn’t a case of choosing technology and humanity, but rather a prospect of enhancing each component to ride the cultural zeitgeist.  An endeavor that translates into campaigns that have a competitive edge that respects human complexity and its accompanying nuances.

There’s a responsibility to stay genuine and rooted in shared experiences when a brand’s narrative reaches millions of Filipinos daily, and eventually contribute to consumer behavior and the cultural consciousness as a whole.

“So we use a lot of, for example, creators, real people creating content, advocates, affiliates, in order for us to drive that authenticity and relevance that not just Gen Zs but people in general are looking for,” according to Perez. “So it's not just the brand talking but the people that are basically advocates of the brand also speaking about you or about the brand.”