Unilever Food Solutions Wins Silver Drum Award for Real Talk with Matty Matheson and Hellmann's Mayonnaise

The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas announced the 2025 winners at an awards ceremony in New York City on June 12.  Unilever Food Solutions took home a Silver Drum Award in the Food + Beverage category for their “Real Talk” campaign featuring Matty Matheson and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.  The campaign was created in partnership with The Food Group, a food and beverage marketing agency.

The goal of the campaign was to underscore Hellmann’s mayonnaise superiority in a relatable and authentic way, by getting real about the risk of cutting corners on menus. Hellmann’s invited guest chefs into the kitchen with Chef Matty Matheson to share recipes and hacks in an online culinary series, “Real Talk with Matty.” The videos feature Matty and guest chefs preparing notable recipes while discussing why Hellmann's is an essential ingredient to consistently deliver superior flavor and performance while also having a positive impact on an operator's menu and bottom line.

“We created ‘Real Talk’ as a breakthrough B2B digital creative, PR and influencer campaign designed to prove Hellmann’s mayonnaise superiority in the marketplace. We showcased our points of differentiation through bold, ownable creative that didn't mince words as it reminded our targets that investing in a quality product makes a positive impact on the entire restaurant operation,” said Ximena Hernandez, Unilever Food Solutions North America Marketing Director.

Chef Matty Matheson was a natural fit for a chef-to-chef foodservice partnership. Not only is Matty a respected chef and well-known Hellmann’s fan (he calls the brand out by name in his cookbooks and online cooking shows), but his practical cooking style is relatable to Unilever’s casual dining target. As a crossover star, his 2 million Instagram and 1.56 million YouTube followers helped the campaign reach new consumer audiences.

In addition to the chef cooking segments, the campaign launched with a custom recipe developed by Matty and a testimonial video in which Matty shared his love for Hellmann’s. The testimonial video on the Unilever Food Solutions Instagram account had the most views of any other UFS post ever.

The “Real Talk” campaign created buzz with high-impact, multichannel activations and exceeded all KPIs, including generating +197 million impressions, 948,139 clicks, 2,362 leads, and a +60 bps market share.

“This was the first external marketing award for Unilever Food Solutions globally, and we’re incredibly proud of this recognition,” said Mary Cate Whelan, Associate Brand Manager at Unilever Food Solutions. “We’re even more excited for more realness, more Hellmann’s, and more Matty coming in 2025,” said Mary Cate Whelan, Associate Brand Manager.

To continue to spread the tub love, Unilever Food Solutions and The Food Group recently launched “Kitchen Confessions with Chef Matty Matheson.”

About Unilever Food Solutions

While Unilever is known for its iconic brands, such as Hellmann’s, Knorr and Maille, its professional foodservice unit focuses on providing chefs and operators with cutting-edge solutions and guidance to support menu planning, pricing and culinary training. Unilever Food Solutions is a business built by chefs for chefs, with a global team of more than 250 experienced chefs located in 70 countries. 

About The Food Group

The Food Group is a premier full-service agency that blends foods and beverages with culture and marketing expertise to deliver powerful integrated ideas that feed our clients’ success. With over 50 years of building some of the world’s most iconic food and beverage brands and businesses, The Food Group is uniquely positioned to deliver a full suite of marketing, advertising, planning and public relations services designed to connect brands with people, buyers with sellers and sales with marketing.