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Muhammad Zulhusni
20th February 2026
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Global consumer brands are reworking how they track customers, measure campaigns, and connect online shopping with marketing data as AI reshapes digital commerce. Unilever’s new five-year agreement with Google Cloud shows how large firms are starting to build those changes around artificial intelligence.
The partnership focuses on AI-driven marketing intelligence, shared data systems, and what both companies describe as “agentic commerce,” where AI systems help guide shopping actions like discovery and purchase flows. The deal aims to support Unilever’s global portfolio of brands by improving how the company understands customer behaviour and manages marketing performance.
Unilever plans to use Google Cloud technology to improve brand discovery, conversion tracking, and campaign measurement in markets. It’s working to connect more of its consumer data into unified platforms so teams can analyse performance and respond faster to shifts in demand.
The effort reflects a wider move among consumer goods companies to bring marketing data, commerce platforms, and analytics tools into a single environment. Coverage from ITPro notes that the collaboration also supports Unilever’s broader push toward digital transformation, with AI tools expected to help automate parts of marketing analysis and improve how insights are shared in teams. By tying marketing intelligence to cloud-based systems, the company may be able to test campaigns faster and refine targeting using real-time signals not delayed reports.
An important part of the initiative is the concept of agent-supported commerce. In practice, this involves looking into how AI systems can assist with product recommendations, search visibility, and online shopping experiences. Brands are exploring how AI can help connect consumers to products earlier in the decision process.
The change comes as marketers face growing pressure to show measurable returns on digital spending. Industry research has highlighted how complex marketing stacks and fragmented data often limit the value companies get from analytics tools.
A Gartner study often cited in marketing technology coverage has found that organisations typically use only about half of the features available in their martech platforms, suggesting many systems remain underused or poorly integrated. That gap has pushed firms to rethink whether AI-based tools can simplify how insights are gathered and applied.
Unilever’s move also reflects how large advertisers are adapting to changes in online discovery. Search engines, retail platforms, and social media are increasingly reliant on automated ranking and recommendation systems. As these systems alter what consumers see first, brands are attempting to understand how AI affects visibility, pricing strategy, and promotional timing.
Google Cloud positions its AI services as infrastructure for this kind of work. The company offers tools for data processing, predictive analysis, and automated campaign insights, which businesses can plug into their own systems. By working directly with Google Cloud, Unilever gains access to these abilities with Google’s broader ecosystem, including advertising and analytics platforms.
The partnership may also help address the scale challenge that comes with operating in many markets at once. Unilever sells products in more than 190 countries, according to its corporate publications, which means marketing teams often need to balance global brand consistency with local campaign needs. Cloud-based AI systems can help central teams share insights while allowing regional teams to adapt campaigns for local audiences.
While the long-term impact of such partnerships depends on execution, the direction is that marketing technology is changing from isolated tools toward integrated platforms where data and shopping experiences connect more closely. Unilever’s collaboration with Google Cloud shows how major brands are testing that model as they look for better ways to understand customers and manage digital sales channels.
(Photo by Shutter Speed)
See also: AI search is changing brand visibility – EZY.ai shows how
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Muhammad Zulhusni
Journalist
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