The Campaign

Being the #1 lotion brand in the world, Vaseline believes that truly healthy skin starts with deep healing moisture. Vaseline was the first to commercialize petroleum jelly in the 19th century. But Filipinos are neither aware of Vaseline’s brand heritage nor interested in petroleum jelly. To make Vaseline’s deep healing moisture exciting to Filipinos, we set out to create a live demonstration – the ultimate proof of Vaseline’s effectiveness in moisturization. Something of scale that would cut through both on-ground and online. We covered a billboard in Manila’s busiest highway with real leaves. Just like human skin, leaves battle it out against the elements daily. Half of the leaves were treated with Vaseline Jelly and the other half were left untouched. In the course of 3 days, consumers could follow the live demo. The untreated leaves wilted in the end. The experiment was documented and amplified online.

Execution

The Live Billboard Demo was mounted along C5, one of Manila’s busiest highways, during the hottest month of the year from April 7-9, 2016. It was scheduled on a Monday when traffic is heaviest. Leaves were used to mimic skin since they’re also exposed daily to the elements. It took one month of trial and error to find the perfect leaf. Leaves from Ilang-Ilang trees in the province of San Pedro, Laguna were harvested and transported to a warehouse where half of them were applied with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. The leaves were individually attached onto panels which were later assembled on a 70-foot tall billboard. The demo ran for 3 days, letting consumers witness the moisturizing power of Vaseline. The demo was documented and turned into a timelapse video that was later on amplified and shared in social media.

Vaseline Jelly got the whole nation talking. Our combined efforts offline and online resulted in 911% return on investment in terms of media mileage. Our performance exceeded the KPI we set by 3x. This was driven by the following factors: • A 37% increase in branded conversation compared to the quarter before campaign launch • 22 million online users reached (6 million online views and 15.8 million online impressions) • More than a million commuters witnessed the demonstration during those 3 days But more importantly, the PR effort drove business growth. Vaseline’s sales was 108% higher than initial projections – the highest ever for petroleum jelly. And we reached the annual sales target in just 4 months.

The Situation

No one talks about Vaseline Petroleum Jelly in the Philippines. In fact, hardly anyone knows it can moisturize and heal dry skin. We needed to get people talking, and create a demonstration of scale – big enough to cut through on-ground and online. We mounted an experiment made of real leaves on a billboard along Manila’s busiest highway. Half the leaves were treated with Vaseline, the other half were not. Filipinos watched the untreated leaves turn brown and dry, while the treated leaves remained vibrant. ROI from online and offline media mileage was at 911%. We exceeded sales projections by 108%.

The Strategy

Our audience is composed of young Filipinos, ages 20-35. They work in urban areas and are exposed to its harsh conditions. Because of this, they need to take care of their skin. Most of them use Nivea, the market leader. Our challenge was to switch them to Vaseline by asserting its skin expertise through something talkable. To reach them, we needed to take advantage of word of mouth. Young Filipinos rely heavily on word of mouth in deciding what products to use. The Live Billboard Demo was complemented by a PR mix that consisted of social media, blogs, online publications and magazines which focused on Health and Beauty. Influencers received PR kits with a scaled down version of the demo. Consumers were encouraged to share in social media their own Vaseline experiment. Knowing that the market likes watching funny stunt videos, we targeted them with our video documentation on YouTube.