The arrival of Paul Polman means more than ruffled feathers and a fit of pique from Unilever directors passed over in the race to the chief executive's washroom.

This is not just any outsider - Mr Polman has been plucked from the unmentionable Nestlé and, even more hideous, the boss-designate has spent the best part of his career learning the dark arts of consumer products marketing at Procter & Gamble.

Outsiders to a seemingly banal industry that makes toothpaste, nappies and packet soup might not appreciate the full significance of Mr Polman's alma mater.

Procter & Gamble is held in awe among the marketing fraternity but not always liked. Its performance has been stellar in recent years, but the aggression and rigid focus of P&G's “proctoids” on brand promotion is sometimes seen as culturally insensitive, and even imperialistic.

Unilever felt P&G's hot breath back in 2001 when executives of the US group's shampoo business hired a team of Vietnam veterans to spy on Unilever. The sleuths foraged in bins outside Unilever's Chicago offices, retrieving documents outlining the Anglo-Dutch group's strategy.

Even P&G's top brass were shocked and made an embarrassed confession, paying Unilever tens of millions in compensation.

No one expects such antics from Unilever's new chief, but there can be no doubt that the chairman, Michael Treschow, is hoping for a little P&G aggression to filter into the more genial Unilever cultural mix.

The new man's CV at P&G reads like a list of Unilever frontline positions in the company's battle for market share and sales supremacy.

He knows Unilever's strengths, and he also knows where the skeletons are. They must be rattling.

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