For brands, Heritage Day is 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 and this was a chance to show how the brand has been passed down through generations.
Generations of black South Africans have grown up with their grandmothers rubbing Vaseline into their skin to make them shine.
This ritual is 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.
The campaign, led by Ogilvy Singapore in collaboration with VML South Africa 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 recognized 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.
“People are telling us that they feel seen, ” said Kenosi Matsebatlela, Head of Marketing for Vaseline.
