• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Chances are good that most Gen Z women probably have an ex’s hoodie cluttering up their lives, and Suave is using the insight to launch a purely social “Smell Like Your Ex(foliating Body Wash)” campaign. The company hopes the new work will be the intergenerational push it needs, introducing the value-priced brand to a new group of consumers -- ones who think thrift-store jokes are funny, love scoring a $5 “dupe” product and want some on-trend fragrances, including strawberry, citrus, pistachio and vanilla. Rachel Behm, Suave’s CMO, tells CPG Insider what the brand hopes to accomplish.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

CPG Insider: Why the social-only shift for Suave?  And who is this new product line and campaign aimed at?

Rachel Behm: Suave is a household name and has high awareness amongst all age cohorts. But our brand health data shows that a younger generation doesn't have the same top-of-mind awareness and love for Suave as generations past. They didn’t see us in their social feeds, which is the main way they interact with brands. We just weren’t part of any of their conversations. We see this as an opportunity, and the right time to both reintroduce the product -- at a moment when Gen Z is super-enthusiastic about “dupe” culture and finding quality products for $5 -- and the right kind of messaging.

CPG Insider: This campaign is from Born Social and focuses on storytelling and the baggage Gen Z has from breakups. Why not the more typical “smell sexy with our new product” style of messaging?

Behm: We want consumers to enjoy our content with the right messaging at the right time. So it has to grab attention. We know Gen Z is really engaged with thrift-store shopping right now. This campaign focuses on a fictional thrift store called the Ex-Change. And there’s a lot of data right now about younger consumers not coupling up.

CPG Insider: Maybe we should all be more worried about that. But the insight here is that Gen Z women are maybe a little more interested in washing away the smell of their last barista boyfriend than in finding the next one?

Behm: Yes.

CPG Insider: Let’s talk about pricing. For generations, brands communicated about price and value through shelf placement, training us to know that if we look to a lower shelf, we’d find cheaper products. But for Gen Z, who seldom shop for personal care in a physical store, there’s no way to signal that. Is that the challenge?

Behm: Yes. An accessible price point is our ethos as a brand, and we haven't maybe had the messaging that explains that to younger consumers. That’s the point of this campaign and addresses their love of “dupes” and the rise of drugstore culture. Younger shoppers may not be looking at shelves, but they are looking at curated feeds -- although last year we did do a “Level up, look down” campaign for men’s deodorant that worked well.

Many of the influencers Gen Z follows compare high-end and low-end brands, and they painstakingly go through their drugstore hauls on social media and rate products. We’re working closely with some of those influencers.

CPG Insider: How big a role will this new product play in your lineup?

Behm: We’ve been owned by Yellow Wood Partners, a private equity firm, since being carved out of Unilever in 2023. In the last two-and-a-half years, we’ve got all new people, approaches and innovation pipelines. It’s been a renaissance for the brand, and this is absolutely one of our top bets for the year. Bodywash is a top two category for us.

We know we have a product that consumers absolutely love and young people are interested in, and we know that this campaign idea resonated really well in our testing. Now it's time to watch sales data and media metrics. And so far, we’ve been pleased with influencer responses. We’re seeing a 40% posting rate to what we’ve seeded, much higher than we expected. Influencers love the fragrances and the $5 price points and are having fun with the tie-in to people’s exes.