Closeup let the frog stay a frog for Kiss Day — and won a 4.7pt Meta brand lift

Closeup wanted a Kiss Day territory instantly recognisable as its own, built with humour on the popular expression of the 'frogs' people kiss.

Retell the frog-prince tale with the opposite ending — the frog stays a frog, because a good kiss is about the mouth and fresh breath, not a beauty stereotype.

Model-comedian Nicole Bahls — known for naming her farm animals after celebrities — found a frog and named it Diogo Defante. On Kiss Day she called for 'Diogo Defante' and the comedian himself appeared to share the kiss. Created by Rafael Parra and Karina Schubert under CCO André Havt, produced by Sand.

A 4.7 percentage-point brand lift in Meta's Brand Lift Study; Meta's Marketing Science team elected the campaign a global Facebook Success Story, with brand and purchase-intent lift above Meta benchmarks.

For Dia do Beijo 2026, Unilever's Closeup ran 'Beijo dos Sapos' ('Frog Kiss'), created by Drum, the Omnicom full-service agency in Brazil. The concept argued that in a kiss what really matters is the mouth and long-lasting fresh breath — not a beauty stereotype. So the fairy tale gets the opposite ending: the frog that would normally turn into a prince stays a frog, to show that frogs kiss too and 'the good kiss can be in any mouth'.

The campaign starred Nicole Bahls, a model and comedian known on Brazilian social media for her farm routine where the animals get celebrities' names. In the film she finds a frog and names it Diogo Defante, after the comedian; on Kiss Day she calls for 'Diogo Defante' — and instead of a frog, the comedian himself appears to give her the kiss.

The results were measured where platforms measure hardest: a 4.7 percentage-point brand lift in Meta's Brand Lift Study, which measures a campaign's direct impact on perception and purchase intent. Meta's Marketing Science team elected the campaign a global Facebook Success Story. 'A brand lift and purchase intent so far above Meta's benchmarks shows that when creativity meets the right channel strategy, the message doesn't just engage, it moves the needle,' said Drum CCO André Havt.

The twist is structural: everyone knows the frog becomes a prince — keeping him a frog is the joke and the product argument at once.

Casting follows the idea's logic: a comedian famous for naming farm animals after celebrities names a frog after another comedian.

The result is proven in the platform's own controlled methodology — 4.7pp lift, above benchmarks, elected a global Success Story.

Let the platform's own measurement be the award: build the campaign so its success registers in a rigorous Brand Lift study, not just in views.

Meta's Marketing Science elected the campaign a global Facebook Success Story — Closeup's third consecutive year leading the Kiss Day conversation in Brazil. No sales figures were reported.