Nathalia Amadeu, Global Brand Director for Vaseline at Unilever told the MAD//Fest audience about how Vaseline’s award-winning campaign Vaseline Verified built brand resonance and connected on social media to leverage the power of community and create “culture that converts”, and adapt the brand approach to marketing.

Taking a risk to become social-first

Speaking on Vaseline’s approach to the creator economy, Amadeu shares that in order to properly engage and interact with their community on their level, it was necessary to change their perspective and to ensure they “stopped looking at them as influencers, as media channels, and we started treating them as co-authors of our stories.”

 Taking a bold approach certainly reaps rewards, but is not necessarily a straightforward path - Amadeu shares that when starting the campaign, there were “lots of discussions”, both internally and with agency partners, but that by leaning into social media “chaos”, the result was “unparalleled brand trust and authenticity”. 

The end result? A “living dialogue between the brand and the people. Culture feeding culture,” and a product that not only operates in skincare, but also beyond. 

Tackling the social media maelstrom, and supporting a creative community 

Nathalia also shares how Vaseline’s verification process utilising the brand R&D labs acted as a counter-weight to the multitude of myths present on social media surrounding hacks - by acting as a “lighthouse in this chaotic sea of social media hacks”, Vaseline was able to not only tap into culture, but support a creative community and become a “24/7, self-feeding culture engine.” It was through this, Amadeu explained, that the brand was even able to discover new uses for the product, such as its role in aiding hayfever sufferers. 

“We turned this social wild west into a safe, fun playground, and we did this by fusing our community’s creativity with the credibility of our heritage brand.”

Building partnerships and giving back to your community

This campaign was more than just verifying creator hacks - it also found a way to give back and further champion the brand community. Amadeu divulges her highlight from the campaign - turning “our hackers into official Vaseline dealers” through the TikTok Shop affiliate program, allowing Vaseline to “unlock…the creator economy by putting money back to the hands of the communities.” More than just giving back to creators, Amadeu stresses that in turn, this has “earned the creator’s hearts.”

Watch Nathalia’s full keynote session here to explore these points and more in detail and also discover:

  • How Vaseline harnessed the connection between culture, commerce and brand love
  • How Vaseline took the campaign one step further by activating in store during specific moments
  • The process of getting all internal brand teams on board to execute the campaign, and the resulting impact