Personal Care Brands Know How to Win Over Audiences (and Judges)
When you first think of personal care product marketing, do you think of comedy, celebrity, storytelling and authenticity? It’s a category so deeply rooted in consumers’ daily lives, whether it be deodorant, haircare, oral care or other hygiene and grooming items. Whether recent launches or long-time favorites, there are many personal care campaigns that have demonstrated all of the above strategies.
And while the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity may be in the rearview mirror, there are plenty of lessons marketers can learn from past winners in the personal care category. They certainly know how to entertain and engage audiences and judges alike.
Humor Takes Center Stage
“Humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle.” – G.K. Chesterton
Humor is one of the most powerful tools that marketers can leverage. By surprising and delighting audiences, you guarantee they’ll feel something. Positive feeling supports long-term brand building, so humorous creative is definitely capable of ‘laughing all the way to the bank.’
In 2024, Tide and Saatchi & Saatchi cleaned up at Cannes Lions with their “You’re Gonna Need More Tide” campaign. Featuring Kumail Nanjiani and some messy but hilarious user-generated content, the ad won two Gold Lions for Brand Storytelling and Consumer Goods; a Silver Lion for Use of Humor; and a Bronze Lion for Innovative Use of Creators, Influencers or Celebrities.
Consumers didn’t mind the mess. In fact, they thoroughly enjoyed the ad, which earned a ‘Strong’ 4.6-Star rating in System1’s testing and ‘Exceptional’ short-term sales potential.
Another 2024 ad that leaned into the laughs was CeraVe’s “Michael CeraVe” Super Bowl spot, which had audiences talking for weeks before the Big Game. The campaign seeded the idea that actor Michael Cera was the namesake behind CeraVe and responsible for developing its skin care products. On Super Bowl Sunday, audiences saw Cera pitching an ad to CeraVe execs and dermatologists that revealed he is the face behind the brand.
While many ads feature celebrities, it’s rare for a campaign to make such a strong link between the product and the spokesperson, and this resonated well beyond Super Bowl viewers. “Michael CeraVe” earned billions of media impressions thanks to its clever use of celebrity and humor, and took home a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in the Social & Influencer category.
With System1’s Test Your Ad platform, the ad performed ‘Exceptional’ on short-term sales potential and, thanks in part to the clever Michael Cera storyline, brand recognition was ‘Strong,’ allowing the brand to benefit from the increased interest in the product.
This one’s an oldie but a goodie from Old Spice. We’re rewinding 15 years for “”The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign by Wieden & Kennedy, which was honored with a Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Lions Festival and is consistently included in ‘best ads of all time’ lists.
But does it stand the test of time? We retested the campaign in 2019 with System1’s Test Your Ad platform and the ad scored nearly 1-Star higher than the “Shampoo, Conditioner, Soaps & Deodorants” category at 3.1-Stars. It also secured an ‘Exceptional’ Spike Rating (short-term sales potential) and ‘Exceptional’ Fluency Rating (brand recognition).
Consistency Pays Off
Much of System1’s research explores the value of consistency in marketing. At this year’s Cannes Lions, our very own Andrew Tindall took the stage with Les Binet and Sarah Carter to present “The Power of Compound Creativity,” to showcase how consistent brands win. The concept of Compound Creativity is also one of the five key levels of the Creativity Stack from our joint research with Effie.
Too often, brands change course too quickly, and all the goodwill their characters, assets and campaigns have built up in the minds of consumers is lost. Mental availability must be won again.
But some brands are getting it right when it comes to consistency. One of these is Dove.
At the 2025 Festival, its “Real Beauty” brand platform, which has openly discussed unattainable and harmful beauty standards for more than two decades, was awarded the Grand Prix in the Glass: The Lion for Change category.
Dove also won a Grand Prix in the Media category for its Real Beauty Redefined for the AI Era campaign, which is yet another example of the Real Beauty platform standing up for authenticity and wellness.
The ad wasn’t just a hit with the judges though. Consumers also enjoyed the message that Dove will never use AI to create or distort images of women. In our testing, the ad achieved a ‘Strong’ 4.6-Stars, ‘Exceptional’ short-term sales potential and 95% brand recognition.
Create with Confidence
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