Beauty bets on summer sports season with partnerships

With the turn of the summer, the athletic season heats up, and the personal care industry is responding with sports partnerships and sports-inspired skin solutions.

In partnerships, Unilever has launched its largest-ever sports partnership activation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026. Medical aesthetic skin care brand, SkinCeuticals, has become the first official skin care partner of the Formula 1 racing team Scuderia Ferrari HP. 

Meanwhile, South Korean personal care company Helio Beauty has launched AI Skin, an AI-based personalized beauty brand that draws inspiration from sports data for skin care solutions.

Unilever + FIFA

Unilever Personal Care has launched a global FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign with over 35 of its brands — including Dove, Dove Men+Care, Rexona, and Axe. The company states that the tournament is expected to reach a global audience of approximately 6 billion people, creating opportunities for brand exposure and engagement.

“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is one of the biggest cultural moments on the planet. Our ambition is for our brands to show up in spaces where fandom lives and in ways that are authentic, native to social, and meaningful by bringing freshness and confidence to matchday moments that matter most for fans, players, and spectators,” says Afke van de Klashorst, VP of integrated brand experience at Unilever Personal Care.

“This activation reflects how we’re engaging with sport not just as sponsorship, but as a platform to build brand desire and cultural relevance to drive superior growth.”Unilever activates multiple brands for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The campaign centers on influencers, with Unilever’s brands collaborating with creators across various markets beyond sports, to also capture fans across fashion, lifestyle, and beauty

“The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be the most socially connected and inclusive tournament in our history. Football today lives in real time, in culture and on social platforms — and this tournament is designed to be experienced, shaped and shared by fans wherever they are,” says Romy Gai, chief of business operations at FIFA.

“Working with partners like Unilever helps turn moments on the pitch into meaningful conversations off it, reaching new generations and making the power of football more accessible, inclusive, and impactful than ever before.”

In an example of beauty brands expanding cultural relevance by connecting personal care and sports performance, Unilever subsidiary Paula’s Choice was named the Official Skin Care Sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027.

The brand launched its global campaign, “Proud Supporter of Your Skin,” alongside the announcement. The campaign positions skin care as part of a “performance mindset,” linking product efficacy to high-pressure environments.

Skinceuticals + Ferrari 

SkinCeuticals and Scuderia Ferrari HP are embarking on a multi-year partnership. SkinCeuticals boasts its decades of antioxidant research and previous work in the medical aesthetic skin care field, stating that both brands bring expertise and precision to their respective fields.

“This partnership marks an exciting moment for SkinCeuticals as we expand the brand into new cultural spaces that reflect the values we’ve always stood for — medical optimization, cutting-edge innovation, and the beauty of high performance,” says Julien Chardon, global brand president at SkinCeuticals.

SkinCeuticals showcases its partnership with Scuderia Ferrari HP.The partnership is set to debut via a global campaign following the Formula 1 season, joining forces across fan bases by reaching skin care savants and Ferrari fans together. SkinCeuticals will offer hospitality experiences and onsite activations at select Grand Prix locations as part of the campaign.

“As our first partnership in the skin care category, this collaboration further elevates the Scuderia Ferrari HP guest experience through a partner that shares our commitment to innovation, the pursuit of excellence, and delivering premium experiences for our global community,” says Lorenzo Giorgetti, chief racing revenues officer at Scuderia Ferrari HP.

“We look forward to bringing the partnership to life throughout the racing season.”

Sport-inspired skin

Helio Beauty’s AI Skin leverages performance management and data analysis, traditionally utilized in sports, to inform AI-powered, personalized beauty suggestions. The brand is touted to combine sports, beauty, and technology by analyzing consumers’ skin needs and tailoring solutions accordingly.

AI Skin is said to function by integrating skin analysis, product suggestions, routine building, and post-care feedback into a cohesive system.

The project was planned and launched by Kim Young-jin, chairman of the Korea Sepak Takraw Association. According to The Chosun Daily, Kim applied his knowledge of analyzing and managing athletes’ data to skin care.

AI Skin aims to inform skin care health and recovery through data, as one would for an athlete’s statistics.

The brand is made up of five collections to deliver results across various skin care needs: AI-Clean, AI-Balance, AI-Trouble, AI-Bright, and AI-Repair.