In Jakarta, Unilever's Sketch Pro shows the power of AI-first, culture-led marketing

Jakarta is at the heart of a quiet revolution inside Unilever. Through Sketch Pro, its newly launched AI-powered design studio developed with IPG Studios, the company is testing a faster, culturally-attuned approach to content creation - and the early results are hard to ignore.

During Ramadan, a key cultural and commercial moment in Indonesia, the Jakarta team tapped into live social trends to create agile, hyper-relevant content for Home Care brands such as Rinso and Sunlight. The assets delivered more than 6 million organic views, boosting the brands’ TikTok visibility by 22.5%.

This is the kind of performance Sketch Pro was designed to deliver. Built as an in-house centre of excellence for graphic design, Sketch Pro blends creative talent with the latest AI tools to deliver assets up to three times faster than conventional production models.

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In Jakarta - one of four launch markets alongside London, São Paulo, and Mumbai - the studios have become a testing ground for what Unilever calls a social-first, culture-shaped marketing model.

“The magic of Sketch Pro lies in how it fuses top-tier human creativity with best-in-class technology,” said Mario Dughi, global marketing director at Unilever. “Our partnership with IPG supercharges our ability to ideate, iterate and deliver high-quality design assets with speed and cultural relevance, reflecting how consumers now engage with the home care category.”

Sketch Pro is more than an efficiency play. It reflects a deeper shift in Unilever’s creative philosophy: moving away from traditional, linear TV-first production cycles and toward real-time, insight-driven storytelling. With Sketch Pro, teams can go from idea to consumer test in two hours, allowing for quick iterations based on live feedback and shifting trends.

Each studio operates with a flexible stack of Large Language Models and AI platforms - including Adobe Firefly and Google Veo3 - instead of locking into a single tool. This adaptability allows the design work to reflect local nuance, while staying aligned with each brand’s broader identity and goals.

“This integration allows us to create compelling, culturally relevant content at speed,” added Sebastiano Mura, head of business leadership at IPG Studios EMEA. “Our flexible tech stack is tailored to Unilever’s needs and adaptable to each Home Care brand’s unique identity.”

Globally, Sketch Pro supports some of Unilever’s most recognisable Home Care brands - including Persil/Omo, Comfort, Cif, and Domestos - with Unilever planning to scale the model across 21 markets by 2026, including upcoming launches in Istanbul, Durban, and Shanghai.

Unilever’s portfolio covers beauty, personal care, home care, food, and ice cream, with products used daily by 3.4 billion people across more than 190 countries. In 2024, the company reported €60.8 billion (US$71.2 billion) in sales and employed approximately 128,000 people globally.

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