Unilever’s Weed takes global homecare helm

Unilever UK chairman Keith Weed has been promoted to head of the global homecare business.

As group vice-president, homecare, Weed will sit on the main board and have global responsibility for power brands such as Dove and Persil.

The move is part of an overall “simplification” strategy, to make the company structure more like rival household business Procter & Gamble. In February, chief executive Patrick Cescau scrapped Unilever’s two separate divisions – health and personal care and food.

Weed first joined Unilever in 1983 and was made chairman of the UK home and personal care business in 2001. He was responsible for the roll out of Sunsilk in the UK (MW January 16, 2003) and the recent launch of Pink Domestos.

In the past, Weed has worked for Unilever in the UK, France and the US, as well as in a variety of marketing and general management roles globally.

As the president of the Marketing Society and vice-chairman of the Advertising Association, Weed is known to be a committed champion of the “positive impact” of marketing on business.