Unilever Vietnam used a digital out-of-home campaign that demonstrated the local UV index to develop a market for Vaseline sunblock body lotion.
Objective
Unilever Vietnam undertook the task of driving market development for a sunblock body lotion, Vaseline, in Vietnam.
The need to protect the skin from UV rays is essential all year round. But body suncare had yet to be marketed in Vietnam due to misconceptions related to this topic. This knowledge gap left prominent whitespace that Unilever planned capitalize on with the right portfolio and educational media approach.
The brief was clear:
Context
Most people only use body lotion to moisturize their skin during dry or cold weather. In Vietnam, body lotion usage peaks at 13 percent during the three winter months and then drops to nearly zero immediately after.
In Vietnam, daily use of sunscreen is reserved for facial skin, not the entire body. Alarmingly, most people only use body lotion when the skin shows clear damaging signals (chapped skin, rash), but neglect outside factors that are harmful to the skin, such as UV rays.
Target Audience
Unilever's target consumers were adult women in urban areas who cared for their well-being, had an active lifestyle, and were digitally connected. They were aware of the negative impact of UV rays on the skin and proactively protected their skin with facial sunscreen and covered their body with long-sleeved shirts or coats. However, they did not know that regular fabric has very low SPF (Sun Protection Factor) and was not sufficient to protect the skin.
Unilever's campaign objective was not only to raise awareness about the new sunscreen body lotion but also to help its consumers understand the right way to fully protect their skin under the sun.
Creative and Media Strategy
The final idea was to create a massive out-of-home (OOH) stunt with a real-time UV index alert and intensify the campaign through dynamic creative optimization (DCO) ads on programmatic platforms. The OOH stunt was successful and led to miniature versions of the UV alert ads on e-commerce platforms.
For the campaign slogan, Unilever used a Vietnamese idiom, "Chạy trời không khỏi nắng" (translated: You can't hide from the sun) into "Chạy trời không lo nắng" (translated: You don't have to worry about the sun). Unilever presented a UV sticker that changed colors from white to purple to illustrate how UV rays affect the skin. The audience saw that despite wearing layers of clothes, being indoors, or even standing in the shade, the stickers were purple, and they were not protected from UV rays. But when Unilever's Vaseline body lotion was applied, the sticker remained white even when it was directly exposed to the sun.
Unilever deployed OOH stunts in the two biggest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The company used a UV sticker on a large billboard in the busiest traffic intersection of the city to demonstrate how the sticker changed color from white to purple during peak hours (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Then the company went further with a real-time UV alert on both digital and LED screens.
With the support of the UV index system, which provided real-time updates on the UV index in the area, Unilever deployed DCO ads that immediately alerted users about the risk when they engaged in outdoor activities. The DCO ads were also displayed on LED screens in the surrounding areas.
With precise location targeting, Unilever could locate the area of the audience and deliver them a relevant advertisement that informed them about the UV index in their neighborhoods, even during the rain.
Furthering the campaign, Unilever produced a mini version of the UV stickers and gave them away with any purchase of Vaseline on e-commerce platforms. More and more Vietnamese consumers have received a mini-UV alert sticker that they can use to immediately get informed about the UV index.
This year, after launching the campaign, Unilever has observed impressive results:
