Steve Barrett’s Post

The #PRWeekAwards2025 - the Oscars of PR - are open for entries. With 5 new categories to recognize specialist agencies, new revenue bands for the small and midsized categories and General Mills CCO Jano Cabrera as our chair of jury, the 2025 edition is set to be bigger and better than ever - start working on your entries NOW! #PR #communications #OscarsofPR #excellence #awards

Even the most beautiful love stories come to an end. A few months ago, I have decided to leave Unilever and the past few days were my last as the leader of the Dove brand. I am leaving with a deep feeling of Pride and Gratitude.   PRIDE... After helping start the Real Beauty movement 20 years ago, with the launch of #Campaignforrealbeauty, I had the privilege to lead a brand that has become the #1 provider of body confidence education in the world, with 114mn children educated… tripling its business to a 6Bn Euro iconic brand. We never stopped growing since those days in 2004 and have kept accelerating; hitting our best result in more than a decade in ‘23 and now carrying an even greater impetus in ’24. This allowed us to demonstrate that Social impact, when fully embedded into a business, not only does not trade off with Profit, but is a phenomenal driver of growth. And those who know me well, know how much of an obsession this has always been for me: to keep demonstrating that there is a ‘better’ way of doing business.   GRATITUDE… Ending my adventure with the 20 years anniversary of Real Beauty is such a beautiful closure of a circle. I joined Unilever more than two decades ago attracted by three things. The humanity of its leadership, the humanity of its unique marketing philosophy, deeply rooted in building emotional bonds with people, and the humanity of its purpose. Throughout my career within Unilever, I was allowed to cultivate these incredible assets and inject them into the brands I was lucky to work on, which makes me forever grateful to this company. I will always carry the torch of this humanity, wherever I go, whatever I do next.   Huge thank you to all my beloved teachers and mentors for their trust and wisdom, my wonderful teams, and lifelong partners for sharing with me their passion, steady commitment to our brand’s mission and our common ’allergy to second best’. Finally, thanks to all those precious friends I met during this beautiful chapter of my life.   Forever. #LetsChangeBeauty 💙 💙     #Ogilvy #Edelman

As we head into the thick of summer, PRWeek's Gen Z contributing column Gen Zeitgeist is looking for pitches to fill out our July - September calendar. We're looking for Gen Zers interested in sharing insight and perspectives on the Paris Olympics, second half of the year predictions, summer campaigns and social moments and election-related projections/reactions as we inch closer to November. Does this sound like you or someone you know?? Pitch us at genzeitgeist@prweek.com 📨

At Burson, we don't just think outside the box – we redefine it.   At last week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Burson’s Global Chief Creative Officer Simon Shaw and Karim A. (Senior Content Creator & Film Creative, Burson Dubai) sat with Steve Barrett on the PRWeek Podcast to discuss how businesses can leverage creativity in their strategies.   Listen: https://lnkd.in/eQ-qNf_U