The interplay between brand and business model architecture decisions (part 2): The logic of Unilever and TMICC

In a previous contribution, I already talked about the important interplay between business model and brand architecture decisions (based on an academic article I wrote in 2021). The relevance of this interplay was illustrated in the previous blog contribution with Colruyt's recent Move and Save initiative. In this contribution I give another illustration why this interplay is so crucial for many companies.

This time I focus on Unilever. The company focuses on the business groups "Beauty & Wellbeing", "Personal Care", "Home Care" and "Foods", while Ice cream has been separated into a separate, standalone public company named The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC). From a business model perspective this separation certainly makes sense. Ice Cream has distinct characteristics compared to Unilever's other business groups, such as a supply chain and point of sale that support frozen goods, a different channel landscape, more seasonality, and greater capital intensity.

TMICC has a multi-brand portfolio, containing the flagship brand Magnum itself, and other brands such as Ben & Jerry's, Cornetto, etc. What is very interesting in this case is that Magnum has made a transition from a standalone product brand to a corporate brand name, which can be perceived as a brand elevation within a brand architecture. This means moving a brand from the bottom of the hierarchy (a single product) to the top (an overarching corporate identity that can house multiple sub-brands or product lines).

Returning now to the four business groups Unilever still focuses on (after the Ice Cream separation), it is important to note that these business groups have complementary routes to market as they target the same retail channels. Moreover, key activities like R&D and Manufacturing are shared. In this context, Unilever recently reveiled for instance that its planned digital-first, AI-powered R&D facility in North America will accelerate scientific discovery and development for the beauty, wellbeing and personal care Power Brands.

Unilever's "Desire at Scale" strategy shifts how the company generates revenue (an important business model driver) from these Power Brands. The strategy is mainly driven by elevating brands (in another way than the brand elevation we talked before), making premium product variations, based on the SASSY principle (validated by Science, delivering Aesthetics, creating Sensorials, being Shared by others, and being Young-spirited). An important key activity in the business model behind these power brands is social-first demand creation (being shared by others). Advanced AI studios are used to monitor micro-trends on social media in real time, searching for hyper-relevant, premium product variations that make sense for consumers.

References

Logman M. (2021), "The interplay between brand and business model architectures: A conceptual grid, Marketing Intelligence &Planning, 39 (8), 1005-1023. 

TMICC (The Magnum Ice Cream Company) (2025), Demerger information, retrieved from: https://corporate.magnumicecream.com/en/investors/demerger-information.html

Unilever (2024, March 19), "Unilever to accelerate Growth Action Plan through separation of Ice Cream and launch of productivity programme", retieved from: https://www.unilever.com/news/press-and-media/press-releases/2024/unilever-to-accelerate-growth-action-plan-through-separation-of-ice-cream-and-launch-of-productivity-programme/

Unilever (2025, October 10), "Unilever's Personal Care business: growth, desire and premium brand experiences", retrieved from: https://www.unilever.com/news/news-search/2025/unilevers-personal-care-business-growth-desire-and-premium-brand-experiences/

Unilever (2025, November 10), "How AI is transforming Unilever's Personal Care business", retrieved from: https://www.unilever.com/news/news-search/2025/how-ai-is-transforming-unilevers-personal-care-business/

Unilever (2026, February 12), "Sharper focus and disciplined execution driving competitive performance", retrieved from: https://www.unilever.com/news/press-and-media/press-releases/2026/sharper-focus-and-disciplined-execution-driving-competitive-performance/

Ulilever (2026, May 28)," Unilever unveils plans for $270 million US-based global innovation centre", retrieved from: https://www.unilever.com/news/news-search/2026/unilever-unveils-plans-for-270-million-usbased-global-innovation-centre/