The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Product decision · 2024–2025
Vaseline co-created the first lotion for transgender women and won two Spikes Grands Prix
Asked for a campaign, Ogilvy answered with a product: a clinically proven body lotion co-created with transgender women, sold out in Thailand.
Vaseline
The solution
Vaseline's brand purpose is 'healthy skin for all', and in Thailand — home to one of the world's largest transgender communities — that promise had a hole: hormone therapy causes skin problems like dryness, dullness and hyperpigmentation, and standard lotions were not designed for them. A normal response would have been a campaign saying 'we see you'.
Instead, Ogilvy Singapore and Vaseline spent two years researching and co-developing the world's first clinically validated skincare for transgender women, with ingredients like niacinamide and isoflavones to support the transitioning journey. Research showed existing products already partly covered female-to-male transitions, so the product was built for the real gap: male-to-female.
Launched on International Transgender Day of Visibility as a permanent part of the Pro Derma range — not a limited-edition stunt — the product was the campaign. It earned 158 million impressions in Thailand, sold out in numerous Watsons stores, and lifted purchase intent 725% above benchmark. It won the Glass and Social & Influencer Grands Prix at Spikes Asia 2025, plus Best of Discipline awards at One Asia 2024 and The One Show 2025.
Why it worked
- The product is the proof: co-created with the community, so the claim was earned before it was made
- Permanence signalled commitment — a limited edition would have repeated the pattern of performative support
- A real gap (male-to-female skin needs) focused R&D where existing products had already failed
- Retail sell-outs turned the launch into earned media and proof of demand
What can be applied
When a brand claim must be believed by a long-ignored community, answer the brief with a real, permanent product the community helped build — the product is the proof, and the campaign writes itself.
Aftermath
The lotion remained a permanent part of Vaseline's Pro Derma range, and the sell-outs across Watsons stores showed the demand that awareness campaigns had only gestured at. The work won the Glass and Social & Influencer Grands Prix at Spikes Asia 2025, and Ogilvy Singapore's Vaseline relationship continued with 'Vaseline Verified', a separate 2025 campaign that tested viral skincare hacks on camera.
Sources
- Unilever: Transition Body Lotion (case study)
- ONE on ONE: Ogilvy Singapore's Maggie Michella on award-winning work, Transition Body Lotion by Vaseline
- Spikes Asia announces its 2025 winners
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.