How Ogilvy Singapore Turned Runner's Pain into Brand Territory

At the 2026 TCS London Marathon, held on 26 April, Vaseline secured an unusual title: "Official Nipple Protector." No brand had claimed this territory before.

The campaign was created by Ogilvy Singapore under the global initiative called "The Nipple Sponsorship." Vaseline distributed petroleum jelly at the marathon's running show from 22 to 25 April, then set up branded "Nip Stops" at intervals along the 26.2-mile course. On race weekend alone, the brand claims it supported more than 100,000 nipples.

The Problem Behind the Punchline

Nipple chafing, known in running circles as "runner's nipple," is rarely addressed by brands. The numbers are hard to dismiss. Around 92% of marathon participants experience chafing during a race. Roughly 67% report bleeding. One in three runners experience irritation specifically in the nipple area.

Vaseline did not create this problem. Runners had already been using its petroleum jelly for this purpose for years. The brand named it officially and claimed the territory no competitor had touched.

Nicolas Courant, Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy Singapore, told LBB Online: "The moment you say 'Vaseline is sponsoring nipples,' you've already won the room, but the idea runs deeper than the laugh. This is a brand claiming ownership of a real, universal runner's truth that nobody else had the courage to name out loud."

How the Insight Was Found

The campaign grew out of Vaseline Verified, a platform Ogilvy Singapore built to collect, test, and validate skincare hacks that real people were already sharing online.

Aanchal Sethi, Asia Managing Director at Ogilvy Singapore's Unilever team, explained the origin: "Among the most consistent themes was runners discussing nipple protection as a practical but overlooked use case." The team followed that signal and built a formal brand platform from it.

Vaseline Verified generated over 136 million social views since its March 2025 launch, with more than 3.5 million posts sharing Vaseline hacks online. The platform won nine Cannes Lions awards in 2025, including the Titanium Lion and two Grands Prix.

Multi-City Rollout Beyond London

The London Marathon was the flagship activation, but The Nipple Sponsorship is a multi-market campaign. As of April 2026, it has been activated in Singapore, Barcelona, Madrid, Rotterdam, Sydney, and Hong Kong, with further expansion planned through the rest of the 2026 running season.

The campaign also extended into creator partnerships. Vaseline engaged eight running influencers to share nipple care and skin protection content alongside their training posts. The creators: Johnny Morillo, Andrew Wheatcroft, Gregor Macdonald, Lee Roberts, James Thomas, Calum Harris, Adam Moriarty, and Jordan Izzett.

Global Brand Director Nathalia Amadeu stated: "This isn't about one race or one city. It's about Vaseline showing up for every runner, on every course, at every distance, and making sure no one suffers a pain that was always preventable."

The APAC Creative Behind the Global Campaign

The Vaseline playbook here is worth noting. The brand did not commission research to find a new customer insight. It built infrastructure (Vaseline Verified) to surface what people were already doing, then validated it publicly and claimed the category.

For Asian marketing leaders in Singapore, Bangkok, or Seoul, the origin of this campaign matters. It was conceived in Singapore. Ogilvy Singapore identified the insight, developed the creative, and is overseeing the global rollout. The agency did not hand off to a Western hub.

The Nipple Sponsorship also illustrates what happens when a brand names the uncomfortable thing plainly. Runner's nipple is not a controversial topic. It just felt awkward to discuss. Vaseline removed that awkwardness by making it official. According to Marketing Week, the creator co-author strategy driving this approach has delivered a 43% uplift in sales and an 11% compounded annual growth rate for Vaseline over four years.