How Heritage Brands Are Reinventing Their Marketing Playbooks to Embrace Creators

This publish was created in partnership with CollectivelyFor many heritage manufacturers, belief has been constructed over many years. These manufacturers have proved their value, and in some ways, have constructed emotional connections with their shoppers.However in at present’s creator-led tradition, that’s not at all times sufficient. The brand new problem is producing hype and creating viral moments that win over new generations and present a model’s relevance.Throughout a Brandweek 2025 session co-hosted with Collectively, Dana Paolucci, head of PR and affect for Dove North America and Raven Walker, VP of consumer partnerships at Collectively, mentioned the brand new technique for putting creators on the very basis of their ecosystem.A partnership constructed for velocity and safetyPaolucci and Walker made it clear that culture-hacking campaigns don’t seem out of skinny air. They’re constructed on exceptionally deep, collaborative partnerships.Paolucci defined that this basis of belief is the nonnegotiable element that permits a worldwide model to take good dangers.“I feel one of the necessary explanation why it’s beneficial to have such trusted companions is you’re in a position to transfer at velocity, however safely,” Paolucci shared.Creating hype from a cookie cravingThat partnership was put to the last word take a look at with the breakthrough Dove x Crumbl collaboration, a launch that threw the standard advertising and marketing playbook out the window. Paolucci’s staff recognized the fan want whereas Walker’s staff was tasked with bringing the hype to life, particularly for creators.“It’s additionally the primary time we really launched a partnership or any Dove launch on this means. It was very nontraditional for us, extraordinarily social-first,” Paolucci famous.As a substitute of a top-down announcement, they strategically performed into the present fan tradition.“They’re obsessive about ‘leak tradition,’ so one of the necessary components of our technique was leaking this information. We leaked it on TikTok. We leaked it on Reddit. We DMed tremendous followers and tremendous fan accounts,” she continued.The pre-launch buzz constructed up for weeks, creating a real “Is that this actual?” second on-line.“We additionally leaked it on Walmart.com, however we by no means really made the announcement till Dec. 25. So there was virtually a complete month the place there was pure hypothesis,” she added.Walker’s staff additionally masterminded a mailer, sending a particular field set of the brand new product on to tremendous followers.“It was our love letter to the tremendous followers,” Walker defined. “And each single piece of content material that we noticed was simply joyful; it was genuine. And we fed the fandom, child.”The community-first technique paid off in an enormous means.“It was really probably the most profitable Dove product launch in current historical past,” Paolucci stated. “My favourite statistic for this launch was that 52% of consumers of this assortment have been new to the Dove model, that means the technique really labored.”Taking a legacy product to the driest place on EarthCreating buzz for a brand new, stylish collaboration is one factor. However, as Walker requested, how do you go about “attempting to inject new vitality right into a heritage product like Deep Moisture Physique Wash”?Paolucci defined their resolution was to show the product’s claims in probably the most excessive means doable, creating what they referred to as “demo-tainment.”By taking a bunch of creators and wonder editors to Chile’s Atacama Desert to place the product by way of an “excessive wash take a look at,” the model and company created an plain story. The danger generated a large reward, as Walker defined.“Probably the most spectacular stat for me right here is that $1.3 million of content material got here from us not even spending $1 on that content material,” Walker shared. “That’s true added worth the place creators have been on the bottom in Chile, simply posting their hearts out and talking of their love for Dove. So, actually phenomenal.”Retaining the hype aliveDove now runs an always-on creator program, which Walker launched as “the heartbeat behind all of it.”Paolucci defined this program was designed to unravel a core enterprise downside: Dove’s “passive” merchandise are exhausting to movie organically, which led to a low quantity of earned content material.“After we checked out our content material over a 12 months in the past … round 27% of the content material was earned,” Paolucci shared.The group program, which focuses on 1:1 relationships, was constructed to flip that ratio.“One of many issues that I’m tremendous happy with is we’re now at round 44% earned content material vs. final 12 months,” Paolucci famous. “So the expansion there in simply a few months by way of this engagement has been unimaginable.”Walker and Paolucci concluded by summarizing the brand new guidelines that make this transformation doable.“PR and influencer advertising and marketing aren’t separate lanes anymore. They’re one highly effective, complementary engine, and social-first is simply embedded throughout all model contact factors,” Walker defined. “Most significantly, we have now nailed that candy spot between model security and creativity, and that’s the place that magic occurs.”