What it had to solve
Vaseline had been 'a quiet achiever' for 150 years until consumer advocacy and social media revived it with a new generation. Unilever Australia appointed PR agency FORWARD to turn that momentum into its largest-ever Vaseline influencer campaign and the biggest brand-advocacy effort in its Australian beauty business.
The idea
Canonise the meme: #SluggingwithVaseline recruits 30+ creators of all genders to teach the overnight jelly ritual, with Vaseline as the must-have step.
How it works
Over thirty diverse content creators posted slugging routines on TikTok and Instagram through August-September 2023; FORWARD partnered with PHD Media to launch with a TikTok Top View takeover and boost the influencer content; videos ran on @VaselineANZ and creator handles.
What it did
Per Unilever, it was the largest-scale influencer campaign in the Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio and Unilever Australia's biggest brand-advocacy effort in beauty, aimed at shaping consumer preferences, behaviour and sales. The material reports no sales or engagement figures.
Background
In August 2023 Unilever Australia appointed public relations agency FORWARD to launch Vaseline's largest-ever influencer marketing campaign, built on 'slugging' — the viral skincare practice of applying a thin layer of petroleum jelly or another occlusive after cleansing, leaving it on overnight to lock in moisture and restore dull, dry skin.
The #SluggingwithVaseline campaign recruited a diverse cohort of more than thirty content creators of all genders and backgrounds to demonstrate the ritual and position Vaseline Petroleum Jelly as the must-have product for it. Unilever's John McKeon credited the pandemic-era TikTok trend and worldwide influencers with breathing new life into the 150-year-old brand for a whole new generation.
FORWARD partnered with PHD Media to launch with a TikTok Top View and boost influencer content throughout; the campaign ran across August and September 2023, with videos on @VaselineANZ and creators including @sleepyasmrgirl, @katclark and @benblue01. Per Unilever it was the largest-scale influencer campaign in its Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio and its biggest Australian brand-advocacy effort in beauty.
Why it lands
The trend already prescribed Vaseline's product; the campaign claimed the meme's name before a competitor occlusive could.
Creators teach the routine in their own formats, so education rides native behaviour rather than a brand's ad grammar.
Scale was the strategy: Unilever's biggest beauty advocacy push in Australia, turning organic revival into deliberate brand building.
What you can take
When a meme names your product as its ingredient, officialise the slang fast and let the trend write the brief — scale it with creators without sanding off the weirdness.
Since then
The campaign ran through August and September 2023 across TikTok and Instagram. The material records no sales, engagement or follow-up data.
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