Copyright Adweek
This post was created in partnership with Collectively For many heritage brands, trust has been built over decades. These brands have proved their worth, and in many ways, have built emotional connections with their consumers. But in today’s creator-led culture, that’s not always enough. The new challenge is generating hype and creating viral moments that win over new generations and show a brand’s relevance. During a Brandweek 2025 session co-hosted with Collectively, Dana Paolucci, head of PR and influence for Dove North America and Raven Walker, VP of client partnerships at Collectively, discussed the new strategy for placing creators at the very foundation of their ecosystem. A partnership built for speed and safety Paolucci and Walker made it clear that culture-hacking campaigns don’t appear out of thin air. They are built on exceptionally deep, collaborative partnerships. Paolucci explained that this foundation of trust is the nonnegotiable component that allows a global brand to take smart risks. “I think one of the most important reasons why it’s valuable to have such trusted partners is you’re able to move at speed, but safely,” Paolucci shared. Creating hype from a cookie craving That partnership was put to the ultimate test with the breakthrough Dove x Crumbl collaboration, a launch that threw the traditional marketing playbook out the window. Paolucci’s team identified the fan desire while Walker’s team was tasked with bringing the hype to life, especially for creators. “It’s also the first time we actually launched a partnership or any Dove launch in this way. It was very nontraditional for us, extremely social-first,” Paolucci noted. Instead of a top-down announcement, they strategically played into the existing fan culture. “They’re obsessed with ‘leak culture,’ so one of the most important elements of our strategy was leaking this news. We leaked it on TikTok. We leaked it on Reddit. We DMed super fans and super fan accounts,” she continued. The pre-launch buzz built up for weeks, creating a genuine “Is this real?” moment online. “We also leaked it on Walmart.com, but we never actually made the announcement until Dec. 25. So there was almost a whole month where there was pure speculation,” she added. Walker’s team also masterminded a mailer, sending a special box set of the new product directly to super fans. “It was our love letter to the super fans,” Walker explained. “And every single piece of content that we saw was just joyful; it was authentic. And we fed the fandom, baby.” The community-first strategy paid off in a huge way. “It was actually the most successful Dove product launch in recent history,” Paolucci said. “My favorite statistic for this launch was that 52% of buyers of this collection were new to the Dove brand, meaning the strategy actually worked.” Taking a legacy product to the driest place on Earth Creating buzz for a new, trendy collaboration is one thing. But, as Walker asked, how do you go about “trying to inject new energy into a heritage product like Deep Moisture Body Wash”? Paolucci explained their solution was to prove the product’s claims in the most extreme way possible, creating what they called “demo-tainment.” By taking a group of creators and beauty editors to Chile’s Atacama Desert to put the product through an “extreme wash test,” the brand and agency created an undeniable story. The risk generated a massive reward, as Walker explained. “The most impressive stat for me here is that $1.3 million of content came from us not even spending $1 on that content,” Walker shared. “That is true added value where creators were on the ground in Chile, just posting their hearts out and speaking of their love for Dove. So, truly phenomenal.” Keeping the hype alive Dove now runs an always-on creator program, which Walker introduced as “the heartbeat behind it all.” Paolucci explained this program was designed to solve a core business problem: Dove’s “passive” products are hard to film organically, which led to a low volume of earned content. “When we looked at our content over a year ago … around 27% of the content was earned,” Paolucci shared. The community program, which focuses on 1:1 relationships, was built to flip that ratio. “One of the things that I am super proud of is we’re now at around 44% earned content vs. last year,” Paolucci noted. “So the growth there in just a couple of months through this engagement has been incredible.” Walker and Paolucci concluded by summarizing the new rules that make this transformation possible. “PR and influencer marketing aren’t separate lanes anymore. They’re one powerful, complementary engine, and social-first is just embedded across all brand touch points,” Walker explained. “Most importantly, we have nailed that sweet spot between brand safety and creativity, and that is where that magic happens.”
