In a world oversaturated with advertisements, genuine brand deals are hard to come by. The key to a successful campaign is authenticity and creativity, which Pantene managed to master this time around.
Pantene seized their viral moment with a clever pivot into a marketing campaign with TikTok creator Alix Earle to launch their new product collection, Unexpired Pantene.
Who is Alix Earle?
Alix Earle is one of TikTok’s biggest it-girls with a skill for blending her boujee life with such relatability. While she travels the world and goes on expensive holidays, she’s also incredibly unfiltered when it comes to her skin, hair and beauty struggles.
Over the Christmas season, she was back home and used her old expired Pantene shampoo and conditioner, which she claimed in a candid video made her hair “softer than it's ever felt.”
Pantene jumped at the chance to work with Earle after her genuine love of the product. Together, they launched Unexpired Pantene, a brand-new limited edition collection, to Earle’s 7.4 million TikTok followers.
The genius campaign
The campaign extended to creative TikToks, including a video of Alix herself stitching her old viral video and announcing the new collaboration.
With the cheeky message, “if it can go viral for how well it works when expired, imagine it unexpired,” the brand flipped the narrative into a compelling value proposition for customers.
What can marketers learn from this campaign?
The Unexpired Pantene campaign was a prime example of how brands can use unexpected viral moments that spawn organically to their advantage. Authenticity builds trust and real connections with Gen Z and millennials, who are increasingly driving beauty trends through digital channels.
Also, despite the growth of community-based marketing and micro-influencers, the campaign proves that influencer marketing is still very much alive and well. Earle didn’t just promote this campaign, she sparked it. Despite being a huge name, she has the authentic content style of a smaller influencer and has an excellent understanding of her target audience. Picking the right influencer for your product is vital.
Finally, Pantene has proved that it’s okay to be playful with your campaign. The brand turned a potentially negative story (expired shampoo) into a self-aware narrative in a creative way. Humour and transparency can humanise your brand and make it more relatable, just like Earle’s original viral TikTok.
