Client
Office
For brands, it’s an opportunity to connect with customers by celebrating South African culture and their place in it.
Vaseline has been part of South African households for 155 years. This was a chance to show how the brand has been passed down through generations.
Heritage Day is a crowded space for brands. Social media feeds, in particular, are filled with heritage-themed ads on the day. Because it’s a cultural celebration for all South Africans, there’s a risk of brand messages feeling too similar.
In this highly competitive space, where attention spans are already notoriously low and scrolling thumbs notoriously quick, Vaseline had to make its message stand out.
Generations of black South Africans have grown up with their grandmothers rubbing Vaseline into their skin to make them shine.
This ritual would be performed every day. The vigorous act of rubbing Vaseline into their skin would often be uncomfortable for the child in question, but their gogo would perform it as an act of love. It was to make them shine both literally and figuratively, giving them pride in their beautiful black skin and the confidence to take on the day.
So ingrained is that connection between Vaseline and confidence that many black South Africans have unconsciously carried the ritual into adulthood, sharing it with their own children.
“Some traditions aren’t passed down, they’re rubbed in.”
A simple static visual with a powerful story to unlock these core childhood memories and make a nation feel seen.
The campaign went viral in South Africa and beyond its borders. People flooded the comments sections on all social media platforms. They shared their own childhood memories of Vaseline and how they are still using Vaseline as adults – many sharing how they’ve carried on the tradition with their own children.
LinkedIn users wrote opinion pieces on the significance of black South African culture being recognised and celebrated in such an authentic way.
The client and the ECD were interviewed on eNCA’s morning TV show to talk about the cultural moment this ad ignited across the nation.
Creative:
Nhlanhla Ngcobo (Executive Creative Director)
