Vice President, Entertainment & Sports

Role Purpose: Lead the development of high-impact brand partnerships, on-ground experiences and culture-led activations for Unilever brands, connecting real-world consumer moments with digital amplification, commerce journeys and measurable business outcomes. The role will own the end-to-end creation of experiential platforms across festivals, retail, sports, entertainment, campuses, communities, congregations and high-attention cultural moments. The mandate is to make brand experiences more participative, more shareable and more effective by blending physical activation, platform thinking, creator ecosystems, media amplification and technology-led consumer journeys. Role Summary: This is not an event execution role. It is a senior partnerships and experience leadership role for someone who can turn real-world consumer moments into scalable brand platforms.

Responsibilities

IRL Experience & Activation Leadership: Build and lead large-scale on-ground activations across markets, occasions and consumer cohorts; Create activation models that are not only visible on-ground but designed to travel across social, digital, PR, commerce and creator ecosystems; Ensure every activation has a clear consumer role, brand role, participation mechanic and measurable outcome; Offline-to-Online Experience Design: Create seamless consumer journeys that connect physical experiences with digital participation; Work with production partners to design scalable tech and new-to-world experience formats that can be piloted and/or replicated across brands and markets; Strategic Partnerships: Identify and build partnerships across event platforms, fandom, festivals, malls, campuses, transit systems, rural ecosystems, etc. and create long-term models that allow multiple Unilever brands to participate with differentiated roles stretching across market development, trials, conversions, sales and sampling; Media, Content & Amplification: Use strong understanding of traditional and digital media to amplify on-ground experiences; Work closely with media teams to integrate TV, print, radio, OOH, cinema, digital, social, influencer, commerce and PR amplification around activation properties; Design content capture, creator amplification and social-first distribution plans before the activation goes live; Ensure every IRL idea is built with a clear content engine: hero assets, live coverage, creator formats, UGC prompts, PR hooks and post-event storytelling; Innovation & Emerging Experience Formats: Identify new formats in experiential marketing, immersive technology, gaming, AR, AI, virtual try-ons, mixed reality, digital twins, live commerce and interactive installations; Evaluate which technologies are worth using and which are distractions; Create practical innovation pilots that can be executed within real brand budgets, timelines and compliance guardrails

Requirements

15+ years of experience in partnerships, brand activations, experiential marketing, content, media, events, retail activation, platform partnerships or integrated brand solutions; Proven experience in creating and executing large-scale on-ground brand experiences across India; Strong understanding of how traditional media and digital media can work together to amplify physical experiences; Experience in building offline-to-online consumer journeys using QR, WhatsApp, social, commerce, AR, AI, gaming, creator content or CRM-led mechanics; Ability to work across both premium urban experiences and mass / regional / Bharat activations; Strong network across event IPs, production houses, media owners, creators, commerce platforms, retail ecosystems, technology partners and cultural communities; Commercially sharp, with the ability to negotiate, evaluate partnership value and manage budgets responsibly; Strong client and stakeholder management skills; Ability to lead teams, manage ambiguity and deliver under tight timelines; Strategic thinker with hands-on execution depth

Nice to have

Experience in media agencies, experiential agencies, event companies, platform partnerships, brand marketing or integrated marketing roles; Exposure to FMCG, beauty, personal care, foods, home care, youth brands or mass consumer categories would be preferred; Experience with large cultural properties such as festivals, sports, cinema, OTT, music, college festivals, religious congregations, retail activations or regional market activations will be an advantage

Benefits

competitive medical, group retirement plans, vision, and dental insurance, significant paid time off, preferential partner discounts, and employee mental health awareness days