REXONA / SURE: TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2024 (in 2025) Final

While building the blueprint for how Unilever's global Personal Care brands (Rexona, Axe, Dove, Dove Men) show up in sports culture (and specifically for the FIFA World Cup 2026) through The Locker Room, an inhouse system we created for and inside Unilever, our cultural intelligence flagged a test-and-learn opportunity during the UK Summer 2025 pilot with Rexona.

Three of the biggest finals in women's international football landed within eight days of each other - TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), the UEFA European Women's Championship (Women’s Euros), CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina - each carried its own unmet need across the Cultural Pipeline of global women's football: visibility for WAFCON, perception for the Euros, recognition for Copa América Femenina.

Despite Rexona's sponsorship of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the WAFCON tournament had almost no visibility in the UK. As broadcasters focused almost exclusively on the Women’s Euros, one of the biggest moments in global women's football was being overlooked.

Missing WAFCON wasn't simply missing another tournament. It meant missing a community, a conversation and a calendar moment in womens football that the brand had already committed to supporting. For Rexona, whose promise is "It Won't Let You Down", this became the moment that mattered most and an opportunity to test the internal system.

A 150-person London screening was fully created, produced and locked within two weeks, until five days before the final it became clear no official streaming link could be secured.

Three days before departure, the call was made to fly to the final in Rabat instead, pivoting our plans from a screening in London to a money-can't-buy brand experience at the final itself.

We invited eight cultural voices from our network, who already had credibility and influence inside their communities of football culture - follower count was not a consideration. Cultural voices are the ones who bring access, trust and legitimacy to spaces a brand wants to be part of. That's brand equity and it can't be bought, only built.

The 72-hour (the same amount of sweat protection the brand gives) trip generated 141 pieces of content with engagement 186% above benchmark, reach 53% above plan and total content views almost 293% higher than forecast - using owned, UGC and organic content alone.

The work also generated press coverage across Complex UK, Sports Gazette and SEASON Zine, extending the conversation beyond the trip itself.

More importantly, it validated the internal system we'd developed to make this possible - this included trust fron senior stakeholders, streamlined approvals, expedited supplier payment terms and agile activation planning took this from idea to delivery in four days - proof that large corporate businesses CAN move at the speed culture actually moves at.