The Vaseline BASELINE campaign began with Min Day Lee, a South Korean creator known for her skincare content. In a video showing her collection of Vaseline products, Lee repeatedly pronounced the brand name in a way that sounded like “Baseline”. The pronunciation quickly became the focus of the video, spreading across social media and evolving into “Bassline” as users began creating their own versions, memes and remixes.

For Vaseline, this was not a campaign waiting for a media plan. It was a live piece of internet culture that had suddenly attached itself to the brand.

The response was unusually direct. Vaseline changed elements of its social identity to BASELINE, created mock packaging and announced a tongue-in-cheek rebrand. What could have been a passing viral joke became a carefully extended social media campaign.

How the Vaseline BASELINE Campaign Started

The original video worked because the pronunciation felt natural rather than staged. Lee was not trying to create a viral advertising moment. She was simply talking about products she already featured in her skincare content.

Lee later explained the pronunciation in another video, connecting it to the way English sounds can be adapted when spoken in Korean. That gave audiences more context, but by then the original pronunciation had already become the joke.

The audience took over from there. “Baseline” became something people could repeat easily, while “Bassline” gave the trend another form to play with. The conversation moved beyond skincare and into broader social media culture.

Vaseline recognised that the opportunity was not to correct the pronunciation. It was to make the pronunciation part of the brand’s communication.

That decision gave the campaign its starting point.

Vaseline Officially Welcomes BASELINE

The brand then took the joke much further than a typical social media response.

Vaseline issued an official statement beginning with, “We heard you. We agreed.” It announced that, following an “extensive review”, which the brand jokingly described as approximately one video watched over a million times, Vaseline was becoming Baseline with immediate effect.

The statement made another important point: “Same tub, Same jelly.”

The product had not changed. The name had.

The brand explained the joke by pointing to the different ways Vaseline has been pronounced and adapted around the world. Vaseline’s own history dates the brand to 1870, giving the 150-year reference in the statement a real connection to the brand rather than making it purely part of the joke.

That gave BASELINE another layer. It was still a social media gag, but the brand used it to celebrate the way people have made the name their own in different places and accents.

The tone was deliberately self-aware. Vaseline was not pretending that a genuine corporate rebrand had taken place. It was using the language and formality of a corporate announcement to make the joke bigger.

Min Day Lee Becomes CEO of Baseline

Vaseline also made sure the creator behind the original moment received full credit.

The brand announced that it had taken the liberty of appointing Min Day Lee as “CEO of Baseline”, effective immediately, with “no interview required”.

It is a small detail, but an important one.

Instead of taking the viral idea and rebuilding it entirely around the brand, Vaseline kept Lee visible. The person who unintentionally created the moment became part of its official continuation.

That approach fits a broader shift in creator-led marketing. Creators are no longer only useful for delivering a brand’s finished message. Their own behaviour, language and communities can become the starting point for an idea.

Here, the campaign did not need to manufacture authenticity. It already had an original creator at its centre.

From One Viral Video to #VaselineHijacked

The campaign did not stop with Lee.

Vaseline expanded the idea through its “Vaseline-Verified Hijack Icons” initiative, recognising creators who contributed to the conversation. The brand also invited its wider community to create their own “Bassline” interpretations using #VaselineHijacked.

This was an important shift in the campaign.

The original moment belonged to one creator. The next stage gave other people permission to participate.

That helped turn the BASELINE idea from a single viral post into a community-led social media campaign. Users were no longer simply reacting to what Vaseline had done. They were given a format they could adapt themselves.

For a brand, that creates more possibilities than simply publishing another reaction post. The audience becomes part of the content system.

Why the Vaseline Rebrand Works as Reactive Marketing

The smartest part of the Vaseline rebrand is that it did not try to make the original moment look planned.

Pratik Ved, VP Skincare at Hindustan Unilever, summed up the thinking behind the response: “We didn’t create this moment; the internet did. Our job was to simply show up.”

That is a useful distinction.

Many brands try to turn viral conversations into polished advertising as quickly as possible. The danger is that the response can feel like an interruption. The audience created the moment, but the brand suddenly behaves as though it owns it.

Vaseline took a different route. It acknowledged where the joke came from, gave credit to Lee and then built new layers around the idea.

The humour also stayed close to the original conversation. There was no complicated product message attached to BASELINE. The altered name was enough.

That simplicity helped the campaign travel.

What BASELINE Says About Modern Brand Participation

The Vaseline BASELINE campaign is ultimately less about changing a name and more about changing the way a brand responds to its audience.

Vaseline is an established global skincare brand with a name that has been around since 1870. It could have been protective about a pronunciation that differed from the official version.

Instead, the brand treated the variation as something worth celebrating.

That does not mean every viral joke deserves a brand response. The opportunity worked here because the joke was directly connected to the brand, the original creator already had a genuine relationship with the product, and the altered name was instantly understandable.

There was also a clear limit to the idea. BASELINE was a temporary social identity, not a permanent rebrand.

That distinction allowed Vaseline to experiment with its identity without confusing what the brand actually sells.

The campaign is a good example of reactive marketing at its most useful: not chasing every trend, but recognising when the audience has unexpectedly handed a brand an idea that already feels native to the conversation.

Vaseline did not invent BASELINE.

It simply knew what to do once the internet did.

Its latest campaign, The best of summer is analog, doesn’t rely on flashy technology, oversized product shots or endless feature lists. Instead, it fills beaches, Underground stations, street corners and city walls with handwritten thoughts, instant photographs and just enough branding to remind people what the campaign is really about.

Supporting the launch of the new Go Generation 3 camera, the work stretches across New York, London and South Korea. While each execution stands on its own, together they build a remarkably consistent creative platform, one that argues the best moments of summer are the ones spent away from screens.

One campaign, many canvases

At first glance, the campaign feels almost understated.

A single Polaroid photograph sits at the centre of every execution. Around it, handwritten copy does the talking. The Go Generation 3 appears quietly near the bottom, while generous white space lets every message breathe.

Whether it appears as a giant billboard overlooking Coney Island beach, a station takeover at King’s Cross, wild postings around Bethnal Green, street murals in New York or large-format placements elsewhere in London, the visual language barely changes.
That consistency is one of the campaign’s biggest strengths. Rather than adapting the idea for different media, Polaroid allows the same creative system to travel across every location.

The result is instantly recognisable without ever feeling repetitive.

The copy does what the camera doesn’t

Most camera advertising begins with megapixels, lenses or image quality.
Polaroid barely mentions the camera.

Instead, the campaign relies on short observations that feel more like notes scribbled beside a photograph than advertising headlines.

“You can’t bask in blue light.”
“Less getting tracked. More getting lost.”
“What a glorious day to stare into various screens for hours on end.”
“Dance like nobody is recording.”
“Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up.”

Each line gently questions habits that have become part of everyday life. None of them asks people to stop using technology altogether. Instead, they encourage something much simpler: spending a little more time experiencing the world before documenting it.

That restraint gives the campaign an authenticity that conventional product advertising often struggles to achieve.

The beach billboard everyone talked about

Among the campaign’s many executions, one quickly became its defining image.

Installed directly on Coney Island beach, a giant billboard carried the line:
“Go jump in some water before the data centers drink it all up.” The placement is what gives the message its impact.
People arrive at the beach to enjoy summer, only to encounter a headline referencing one of today’s most discussed technology debates. According to Polaroid, the line uses data centre water consumption as a metaphor for a much broader conversation about over-digitalisation and the growing need to step away from screens.

Seen on its own, the billboard is provocative.

Seen alongside the rest of the campaign, it becomes another chapter in the same story.

The product is almost secondary

One of the most unusual aspects of The best of summer is analog is how little attention it gives the product itself.

Across nearly every execution, the Go Generation 3 camera appears discreetly beneath the headline.
That decision feels intentional.
Rather than asking audiences to admire the camera, Polaroid spends its energy reminding them why moments matter in the first place. The camera simply becomes the tool for holding onto those moments.

It is a subtle shift, but an effective one.
The campaign sells a way of seeing before it sells the device that captures it.

The same philosophy continues beyond outdoor

The outdoor campaign is only part of the story.

To extend the idea, Polaroid invited twelve creators to temporarily step away from social media. Through handwritten notes shared with their followers, they announced they would be taking a break from posting online while spending time pursuing the activities they are best known for in real life.
One example highlighted by the brand is creator @berniemor, who exchanged giving dating advice through a screen for going on dates in person.
For media and influencers, Polaroid also created a sensory seeding experience designed around birdsong, natural scents, moss and wildflowers. Hidden at its centre was the new Go Generation 3 camera, reinforcing the campaign’s focus on experiences that engage more than just sight.
Rather than feeling like separate activations, each extension follows the same creative philosophy introduced by the outdoor work.

Campaign analysis

Many campaigns promote analog photography by celebrating nostalgia.
Polaroid takes a different approach.
The best of summer is analog isn’t asking people to return to the past. It suggests that as more of everyday life becomes digital, the value of real-world experiences naturally increases.
That idea is reflected in every creative decision.

The handwritten typography feels personal rather than polished. The instant photographs remain the emotional centre of every layout. White space replaces visual clutter. Even the product is deliberately understated, allowing the campaign’s message to take precedence.

Creative Director Patricia Varella explained that the team stopped asking how to make instant cameras appealing to Gen Z and instead asked why Polaroid should exist in an AI era. According to Varella, the brand is not anti-digital. It is firmly pro-human.

That perspective gives the campaign its clarity.

Instead of criticising technology, Polaroid celebrates everything technology cannot replace: spontaneous adventures, unplanned conversations, imperfect photographs and the memories that exist long before anyone reaches for a camera.
By the time the Go Generation 3 appears, the campaign has already made its most convincing argument.

Not for a product, but for a way of spending the summer.

Credits
Concept: Polaroid Creative Studio
Creative Director: Patricia Varella
Brand Manager: Dovile Banyte
Copywriter: Rowan Hudson
Art Director: Veronika Radeva
Graphic Design: Ryan Esquivel
DTP: Alvaro Almeida
Project Manager and Producer: Galini Zachou
Senior Art Buyer: Suzanne Tromp
Senior In-house photographer: Harriet Browse
Polaroid pictures: Charlie Tallott & Alicia Karsonopoero
Handwritting: Thomas Lélu
Image editing: Loupe
Polaroid Media Team: Igor Zadorozhnyy & Tania Tysh
OOH Partner: Billups
Creator Agency: Brainlabs

This campaign is about:
Polaroid, The Best Of Summer Is Analog, Polaroid Go Generation 3, OOH Campaign, Outdoor Advertising, Billboard Campaign, Instant Camera, Creative Advertising, Experiential Marketing, Creator Marketing, Digital Wellbeing, Offline Experiences, Coney Island, London Advertising, King’s Cross, Bethnal Green, Creative Print Ads.