Why Suave is leaning into comedy and social content to drive Gen Z growth

Summary

Ad Age Marketer's Brief — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Why Suave is Leaning into Comedy and Social Content to Drive Gen Z Growth
Air Date: April 8, 2026
Host: Adrienne Pasquarelli (Senior Editor, Ad Age)
Guest: Rachel Bame (Chief Marketing Officer, Evermark: Suave, Q-Tips, Chapstick)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how Suave, a longstanding drugstore brand under Evermark, is reimagining its marketing to connect with Gen Z, leveraging social platforms and comedic storytelling. CMO Rachel Bame joins Adrienne Pasquarelli to discuss transitioning from traditional campaigns to social-first, entertainment-driven efforts—all while balancing the needs of loyal, older consumers and adapting to broader economic shifts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Shifting Suave to a Social-First, Comedy-Driven Approach

• From TV to Social Media: Suave transitioned away from classic TV campaigns (“no one could spot the difference between heads of hair…”) and now focuses entirely on social platforms for its Gen Z-targeting campaigns.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 02:24):
    “We’re actually having to behave more like a challenger brand to be invited into people's scroll… We need an angle of entertainment and storytelling.”
• Product & Platform Alignment: The move was rooted in both the creation of Gen Z-friendly products (e.g., exfoliating body washes in “gourmand fragrances”) and insights about younger audiences’ media habits.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 02:59):
    “First it was about having that product that we knew resonated with Gen Z, which we validated through consumer research. And then second was, okay, where are they watching media, how are they consuming it and what messaging is going to resonate.”

2. Platform Strategies and Content Experimentation

• Tailoring to Platforms:
  • TikTok: Creator/influencer-driven videos focusing on product benefits and “works as well as” or “smells as good as” claims resonate most. Lo-fi, trend-reactive hooks perform well.
  • Meta (Instagram, Facebook): Longer-form, entertainment-led ads (like a 30-second “Don’t Smell Like Your Ex” spot) retain viewer attention.
  • Snapchat: Outperforms benchmarks for younger demographics, effective for the body wash line.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 04:46):
    "Our 'works as well as' claims driven by creators telling the message…is what's working best for us on TikTok. On Meta is where we're seeing the brand retainment — our 30-second version is performing really well."
• Optimization in Real Time:
  • Constantly refining content, with new lo-fi intros and behind-the-scenes outtakes for TikTok.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 07:58):
    "Rather than have it be kind of the branded spot from the beginning, if we have a hook that ties much more to something that's going on as a social trend…those are doing really well."

3. Campaign Creative: “Don’t Smell Like Your Ex”

• Concept & Execution:
  • Set in a thrift shop, the campaign plays on Gen Z themes—breakups and thrifting—with humor: consumers trade in objects that “smell like their ex” for an upgrade to Suave’s new body wash.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 05:47):
    “People can come in and exchange their hoodie or candle…to get a Suave body wash and upgrade their scent... Don’t smell like regret. Smell like your exfoliating body wash.”
• Performance Metrics:
  • Surpassed engagement KPIs, with over 500 shares on paid ads—a rare indicator of positive reception and virality in advertising.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 06:50):
    “We are seeing phenomenal results…there’s been over 500 shares on pieces of paid advertising…people are really enjoying and feeling like they want to share.”

4. Balancing Old and New Audiences

• Maintaining Core Loyalty:
  • The comedic, entertainment-first creative still appeals to Suave's traditional base, while segmented product launches (like sulfate-free hair care for long-time users) ensure relevance for older demographics.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 09:21):
    “It’s less about awareness…and more about changing that perception.”
• Portfolio Advantages:
  • Separate communication strategies for differing demographics, leveraging Suave’s diversity in product lines.

5. Agency Collaborations & Execution

• Agency Partners:
  • Stella Rising: Paid media (long-term partnership)
  • Born Social: Creative for “Don’t Smell Like Your Ex”
  • Matter Energy: Creative work on hair care launches
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 11:20):
    “Phenomenal women-led, women-owned organization…led us on this social first journey.”

6. Value Reframed: Competing with Luxury in a Tough Economy

• Smart Luxury Positioning:
  • As consumers “trade down,” Suave (and sibling brands) are repositioned as “smart luxury” options—offering prestige-like benefits at low prices.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 13:12):
    “Consumers…are trading down in price, but they are not trading down in expectations. So it is on us to reframe value not as cheap, but as smart luxury.”
• Brand Glow-Ups on the Way:
  • Teases major rebranding for Chapstick and Q-Tips:
    • New Chapstick format and Q-Tips innovation expected soon.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 19:39):
    “We will be entering a new format that people have been asking us for...and think about what innovation might be coming from Q Tips.”

7. Social Listening, Customer Engagement & Tech

• Customer Insights:
  • Active use of social listening and ratings/reviews monitoring (even adjusting for brand names becoming generic terms).
  • Predominantly human-powered engagement, with bots used for filtering/flagging.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 15:00):
    "With brands in the portfolio called Suave, Chapstick and Q Tips…social listening is difficult because those are brand names that people either use as normal words or for category cues."

8. Inspiration and CMO-to-CMO Insights

• Brand Admiration:
  • Gap and Levi’s cited for regaining relevance through entertainment and cultural integration.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 15:46):
    "Gap is one…borrowing social relevance from other people in the social sphere and pulling it back...Levi's...had a dated perception but...come out as something modern and relevant."
• Leadership Challenge:
  • Rachel would ask Pepsi’s CMO about maintaining strategic focus in a data- and AI-saturated market.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 18:43):
    “In a world where you can get your fingers on almost any piece of data...how do you keep the appropriate kind of high-level view?”

9. Navigating Economic and Supply Chain Challenges

• Pricing Pressures:
  • Daily discussions on tariffs and costs, but a core commitment to accessibility and price stability for mass consumers.
  • Quote (Rachel Bame, 17:38):
    “If I told you it was a non-factor I would be lying because it’s something that we discuss daily…”

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Memorable Quotes

• On the Comedy-Driven Campaign:
  “Don’t smell like regret. Smell like your exfoliating body wash.”
  — Rachel Bame (05:47)

• On Virality & Engagement: “…there’s been over 500 shares on pieces of paid advertising…in this environment where you’re trying to get attention, sharing advertising is a sign this is something people are really enjoying.”
  — Rachel Bame (06:50)

• On “Smart Luxury”: “It is on us to reframe value not as cheap, but as smart luxury.”
  — Rachel Bame (13:12)

• On Platform Adaptation: “On Meta is where we're seeing the brand retainment—our 30-second version is performing really well…On TikTok, our 'works as well as' claims driven by creators…is what's working best."
  — Rachel Bame (04:46)

• On Social Listening for Household Name Brands: “With brands called Suave, Chapstick, and Q Tips...social listening is difficult because those are brand names that people use as normal words or category cues.”
  — Rachel Bame (15:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:24 — Suave’s challenger-brand attitude and shift to entertainment-first marketing
• 04:10–05:31 — Platform-specific content strategies for Suave
• 05:47 — Thrift shop setting for “Don’t Smell Like Your Ex” campaign
• 06:50 — Metrics and early results of the campaign
• 08:57 — Balancing Gen Z growth with loyalty among older brand users
• 11:20 — Agency partnerships and team structure
• 13:12 — Reframing drugstore brands as “smart luxury” in economic headwinds
• 15:00 — Social listening challenges for legacy brands
• 15:46 — Brands admired for cultural relevance (Gap, Levi’s)
• 17:38 — Economic and supply chain challenges to price accessibility
• 18:43 — CMO leadership in a data/AI-driven world
• 19:39 — Teasers about upcoming innovations for Chapstick and Q Tips

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Final Notes

This episode is a vivid case study in how legacy brands can regain cultural relevance through humor, platform-native content, and a willingness to adapt both product and message for evolving audiences. Rachel Bame’s approach—grounded in research but open to playful experimentation—offers a blueprint for reshaping perceptions and driving engagement in a crowded, fast-moving consumer landscape.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is sponsored by Warner Bros. Discovery Advertising. You've probably seen the headlines and yeah, there's a lot happening at WBD right now. But here's the thing. Change is happening everywhere. Media planning has never been this complicated. More platforms, more data, more pressure to drive results. And that's what WBD delivers. Iconic stories and the audiences who love them. So your brand shows up in the right place at the right time with real impact. Visit adsales.wbd.com to learn more.

[B]

Hi, I'm Adrienne Pascarelli, Senior Editor of CMO Strategy and Commerce at Ad Age. And welcome to another edition of the Marketer's Brief Podcast, our weekly discussion about marketing news and trends that have the industry buzzing. Marketers are often challenged by how to take a heritage brand to connect with new, younger customers. It can be difficult to maintain a balance with courting newcomers and also maintaining brand loyalists. Today we'll be talking with Rachel Bame, Chief Marketing Officer of Evermark, owner of legacy brands such as Suave, Q Tips and Chapstick. Bame joined Evermark three years ago after working at a series of smaller clean beauty brands. Prior to that, she cut her teeth at Johnson and Johnson, where she worked for nearly a decade on brands such as Aveeno. At Evermark, which is owned by private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners, she's tasked with scaling the portfolio with multiple consumer segments. We'll start the conversation today by talking about a change in marketing direction for Suave. Now here's my conversation with Rachel. Hi Rachel. Thanks for joining us.

[C]

Thanks for having me.

[B]

Now, I know you handle a portfolio of brands at Evermark, but the one I wanted to focus on first is Suave. A lot of us grew up with suave TV ads and I remember that campaign that compared prestige expensive shampoo to budget friendly Suave products and how no one could spot the difference between these two beautiful heads of hair. But for your recent campaign, which is targeting Gen Z, you went fully social first with no tv. Can you talk a little bit about that strategy?

[C]

Yes, absolutely. And I love that you're referencing our brand advertising from the past because our ethos hasn't changed. We are offering phenomenal formulas at a super accessible price point. But just the way in with consumers has had to change. So as a legacy brand, we're actually having to behave more like a challenger brand to be invited into people's scroll to pause for a second. We need an angle of entertainment and storytelling that's combined with those amazing product benefits at our affordable price points.

[B]

So was there a particular consumer insight that led you down this path, in

[C]

particular with our new exfoliating body washes. That's where we're targeting a younger consumer. And first we have to have the product that makes sense for this generation to be able to have permission to talk about it. So these formulas are super luxurious in fragrance. We have smells as good as claims against Sol de Janeiro. They're sulfate free. So first it was about having that product that we knew resonated with Gen Z consumers, which we validated through consumer research. And then second was, okay, where are they watching media, how are they consuming it and what messaging is going to resonate. And with our don't smell like your ex smell like you're exfoliating body wash campaign, it's really invited us into the scroll of Gen Z and that entertainment first, but then landing the message that they're really used to knowing from Suave, which is phenomenal products and experiences at an affordable price point.

[B]

Yeah, I definitely want to get into that creative because it's super fun. But before we do that, which social platforms is the content for primarily? Like, where were you? Did you have a platform in mind specifically when you started to think about this content as entertainment strategy?

[C]

Great question. We actually have a suite of different assets that work for different platforms. So there's the entertainment angle of don't smell like your ex when we have influencer and creator content and then we have a little bit more traditional kind of product benefit content. We are across Meta, TikTok and Snapchat and interestingly the results are showing us that different types of content are working better or worse in different platforms. So we continue to optimize as we go.

[B]

So can we unpack that a little bit and figure out which content was best for which platform? So TikTok, I feel like that's more

[C]

episodic or is surprisingly we're seeing on TikTok our works as well as claims driven by creators telling the message and influencers telling the message is what's working best for us on TikTok. On Meta is where we're seeing the brand retainment longer form. Our 32nd version of don't smell like your ex is performing really well in minute who watches 30 seconds anymore? But we're seeing that that entertainment hook keep people through for the full messaging and then it's our retail media and lower funnel pieces that the product kind of benefit messaging is working really well.

[B]

So that kind of messaging where it just says the new scent or something

[C]

like that is sulfate free, gentle exfoliation Ingredient story in the fragrances. Yes.

[B]

And let's talk a little bit about that. Fun creative especially, which would be fun for anyone who has an ex romantic partner. I'll let you explain to our listeners the crux of the setup behind this smell like your existence exfoliating body wash campaign.

[C]

Perfect. So first you have to understand a little bit what the product is. So it's for exfoliating body washes that are totally new to the Suave brand and in these kind of current gourmand fragrances like Strawberry Delight, Pistachio. So you pair that product offering with the fact that we know a lot of Gen X has dealt with breakups. Also, they're big thrifters. So I'll tell you how these two things come together in the storytelling. So we. The setting is a thrift shop where people can come in and exchange their hoodie or a candle or something that smells like their ex in order to get a suave body wash and upgrade their scent to the Suave body wash scents. So the setting is this kind of like old school thrift shop where there's over the top kind of comedic effects where people are coming in and saying like, don't smell like regret. Smell like you're exfoliating body wash. Yeah,

[B]

no one wants to smell like regret. What kind of feedback have you been seeing so far? I know the campaign's been in market for a few weeks now.

[C]

Yeah. And as you know, in this day and age, a few weeks is like we're looking at daily information. So a few weeks in, we are seeing phenomenal results. We're beating our KPIs on video views and on engagement. And while this isn't one of our internal KPIs, we have seen that there's been over 500 shares on pieces of paid advertising, which in this, in this environment where you're trying to get attention sharing advertising I feel like is a sign of this being something that people are really enjoying and feeling like they want to share with their their network. Additionally, the comments around the product use experience and people trying it and loving it is super encouraging to us that we're not just putting out educational content, but it's driving conversation and conversion of people actually trying out the product and loving it.

[B]

The shares is interesting. I wonder if people are sharing it with their exes or.

[C]

I know, right? Or you have a girlfriend that you is going through it.

[B]

So are there any early lessons from some of this engagement? From some of the shares, the comments that are kind of helping to inform how you're going to continue the campaign or for future campaigns?

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. We mentioned TikTok earlier and what we're seeing working and not working there. Some of the pieces that we're leaning into and creating more of for the TikTok environment are one kind of a lo fi introduction to the don't smell like your ex campaign. So rather than have it be kind of the branded spot from the beginning, if we have a hook that ties much more to something that's going on as a social trend on TikTok and then convert to the lo fi little behind the scenes footage that we shot during during the broader shoot, those are doing really well on TikTok. So we're mastering up some more pieces to put into the into the algorithm. Secondarily those works as well as and smells as good as claims that have been doing so well from creators. We're also filming more of those to get more into the algorithm to put forth. So that's TikTok on Meta. We're continuing with our longer form entertaining content and scaling back on the more product focused messaging based on what we're seeing on View rates, click through rates and comments so this is a question

[B]

that comes up with a lot of older heritage brands that are trying to adjust their marketing strategies to court younger consumers. Like as you are going after these Gen Z customers with the social first campaign with no TV like you used to for Suave, how are you still trying to maintain the older brand loyalist, especially in a category that is so competitive?

[C]

It's a great question and for us, our creative really needs to fight outdated brand perceptions so it's less about awareness that many brands and challenger brands have and more about changing that perception. So we're doing it in a couple of different ways. So smell like your ex, don't smell like your ex campaign is a good example of where we're aiming younger for a Gen Z audience. The product fits it. Our media target fits it. However, this is still entertaining content for our core consumer. It doesn't mean we're alienating somebody who's maybe in the 50 plus demographic or has been buying Suave body Wash for years. This is something that also comes across her feed and says hey, this is something different and more modern from from Suave. We also have many legs of the stool in the Suave portfolio. We have a women's hair care business, we have a men's business, we have a deodorant business, we have body wash. So there's different parts of our product portfolio that allow us to focus on different demographics within our hair care new products. For example, we have a full sulfate free range that people can get for the first time under $5amazing sulfate free hair care formulas that is targeted more at our existing core audience and is a lot more focused on benefits and functionality of those products than it is pure entertainment. So we kind of have the luxury of having these different parts of our portfolio that allow us to try different things with different audiences.

[B]

And in terms of channel marketing, channel mix, those are also social first at this point, right?

[C]

Correct, they are. And we're dabbling with some CTV and some YouTube but watching just performance across all the platforms and seeing what plays out. What's different about our younger audience targeting versus older audience targeting? We have Snapchat in the mix for our exfoliating body wash campaign and it's been exceeding our benchmarks by 2x. So Snapchat's still doing really well for us in the younger demographic, but we don't have that as one of our pieces of the channel mix for our hair care line.

[B]

And what agencies did you work with on this recent campaign for Suave?

[C]

So our paid media agency is Stella Rising. We've been with them since we become a company two and a half years ago. Phenomenal women led women owned organization that is on this journey with us. And then from a creative standpoint, on the Smell like youe Ex campaign, we worked with Born Social. I think their name says it all that they're born Social and led us on this social first journey. And then with our hair care launch and the sulfate free, we worked with Matter Energy who has a mix of kind of our more CTV traditional assets combined with what we're doing in social as well.

[B]

Let's take a quick break for this message from our sponsor.

[A]

Foreign this episode is sponsored by Warner Brothers Discovery Advertising. You know those moments in entertainment when you're not just watching, you're feeling it. That's what Warner Brothers Discovery delivers to audiences every day. From the roar of live sports arenas to the clash of dragon ruled kingdoms. From the front lines of breaking news to the heartbeat of busy kitchens, WBD Advertising combines this incredible IP with modern ad tech and a partner first mindset to turn this cultural attention into real connection and measurable conversion. Visit adsales.wbd.com to learn more.

[B]

Now in addition to Suave, you also run marketing for Chapstick and Q Tip. With the current economy and gas prices, it feels like there's an opportunity for some of these drugstore brands, including Suave, to capture some Share of the luxury beauty players as shoppers trade down to be more affordable. Are you repositioning your brands at all to capture some of this potential? Share? How are you thinking about that?

[C]

Yes, absolutely. And what we're seeing from consumers in this economy that they are trading down in price, but they are not trading down in expectations. So. So it is on us to reframe value not as cheap, but as smart luxury. And what a great opportunity for these iconic brands that everybody knows to regain kind of the love, attention and relevancy with a new generation of consumers. So what you've seen on Suave over the last two years of a total rebranding and social first advertising and new products we are also bringing to the chapstick brand and the Q Tips brand. So stay tuned for some very big news on chapstick coming to stores near you this summer.

[B]

What about as you think about better connecting with customers, we're seeing an uptick in customer service chatbot and some of these new connection points. Do your brands use AI bots at all? Or how does someone with a question about sulfate free or ingredients or something like that? How do customers get in touch with you guys?

[C]

That's a great question. Our socials are the best way to engage. We have assistance from bots to help spot things, but we have humans that are behind answering, collecting, watching trends. So that's kind of our easiest way. If you have just a question about products or you want to know more. And then we have a more kind of traditional customer service line that ensures we're covering anything if anybody has a product issue or a question about where to buy. And we monitor all of that on an ongoing basis to see if there's any trends or insights in the data that can help us run our business better and serve our consumers better.

[B]

Yeah, it feels like the like social on Instagram. That's where I am always contacting brands anymore because I feel like that's where you get the best response rate.

[C]

It's so true. It's so true. And we learn so much. I mean we scrape ratings and reviews weekly to see what people are saying on new products. We're running social listening now. You have to imagine with brands in the portfolio called Suave, chapstick and Q Tips. Sometimes the social listening is difficult because those are brand names that people either use as normal words or that they use for category cues. So when it comes to Chapstick, we have to make sure we're hearing and listening when people are actually talking about the Chapstick brand.

[B]

Right. That's definitely a challenge, I think, especially for chapstick and for Q tips.

[C]

Correct? Correct.

[B]

So let's widen the conversation a bit. I'm curious about who you're inspired by right now. What brand would you say is really killing it in marketing?

[C]

I am inspired by so many different brands, but if I think of the ones that are most relevant to what we can do here, it's the ones that have really high brand awareness, have been iconic in the past, and maybe just lost a little relevance and they're getting it back. So. So to me, Gap is one of the top of my list of who's really regaining, and I think they're borrowing social relevance from other people in the social sphere right now and pulling it back into their Gap brand. So Gap is one that I've been really impressed with. Another in the fashion industry, I would say is Levi's. I mean, you're seeing these brands again that maybe had a dated perception, but in the last couple of years have really come out as something modern and relevant to a new generation of consumers.

[B]

Yeah, those are two real textbook examples of. I think when we look back at a brand that's really regained relevance. And Gap is sure to the point earlier about entertainment. Gap has really leaned into that a lot as a kind of marketing as entertainment. And most of the campaigns they've done recently are super long. Like, they're three minute or a couple minutes long, these music videos, but they're super entertaining. And Levi's. I feel like Levi's was a bit of a standout during the super bowl, too.

[C]

Absolutely. And I think their inspiration says, because what is the right balance between pure entertainment and making sure that you're doing justice to the product that you want people to know about? And especially with Suave as an opening price point brand, and our goal being keeping those prices accessible. You know, how do we do that in a super efficient way with marketing? Because the way that we keep our prices so low is by the huge volume that we do, the tremendous household penetration that we have, and how we can market really smartly.

[B]

Have you had any challenges in terms of pricing, keeping the prices really low with the tariffs in the current economy?

[C]

I think anybody in the consumer packaged good space will tell you it's a challenge. Right now. There's probably daily meetings with our supply chain and executive leadership team that says, okay, what are tariffs today? Run this math through the model. What does that mean for cost increases? But we still are staying true to what our core value is to our consumers and being as accessible as we possibly can. So we're doing everything we can to mitigate those costs and those disruptions because now is a rare window to win over long term users into the brand while they're seeing so many other products in the marketplace increase in price. But if I told you it was a non factor I would be lying because it's something that we discuss daily of how we can keep our accessible price points at the world and prices continue to go up.

[B]

And this next question is kind of a bit of a follow up to the brands that you're watching or paying attention to. We have a lot of CMOs on this podcast and if you could ask another CMO one question, what would it be or who would you want to ask a question of?

[C]

Oh my gosh, that's a great question. I've always been an admirer of Indirect Pepsi and I think from her team leadership and deciding to work on what matters. In a day and age where you can get your fingers on almost any piece of data and in a world where AI is advancing so quickly, you could easily spend so much of your time on any one of these different pieces. But how do you keep the appropriate kind of high level view to make sure that your forward casting and your leadership is at the right altitude? Despite the access we have to every tiny minutia piece of data today?

[B]

And we are almost out of time, but is there anything else ahead for your brands that we should be on the lookout for in terms of what you're focusing on this summer, I know you kind of teased a little bit about Chapstick coming out soon. Anything else that you want to mention?

[C]

Yes, I will say not only will you see a brand glow up on the Chapstick brand, but we will be entering a new format that people have been asking us for for a very long time on the Chapstick business and Q Tips. If you think about what it's most famous for, it is its quality and its cotton. So if you put those two things together and think about what innovation might be coming from Q tips, that's the next on the docket. That's just a couple months out.

[B]

Two hints to look out for. I love it. Thank you so much for joining us.

[C]

Thank you so much.

[B]

That was Rachel Bain, Chief Marketing Officer of Evermark and I'm Adrienne Pascarelli, Senior Editor at Ad Age. I'd like to thank our producer Lauren Ciardio and invite you to subscribe to the Markers Brief podcast on your favorite player. We promise to keep it brief, or at least short enough for your morning coffee. Thanks for tuning in, marketers.

[A]

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