The Transition Lotion: How Vaseline Turned an Inclusion Promise Into a Product
Vaseline and Ogilvy Singapore spent two years co-developing a body lotion formulated specifically for transgender women undergoing hormone therapy, addressing real skin changes no existing product was designed for. The mechanism was simple: instead of running a campaign about inclusion, they made inclusion testable by building a new SKU with the community itself. This case is one of the patterns in jugnu's Kosh.
The tension it resolves
Vaseline's 'healthy skin for all' promise was aspirational rhetoric until a whole community with distinct skin needs had no product from the brand at all; the Transition Body Lotion closed that gap with evidence, not messaging.
The challenge it solved for Vaseline (Unilever): How does a mass-market personal care brand make its 'healthy skin for all' positioning credible to a community it has never actually served with a dedicated product?
The mechanism
Replace the campaign with the product itself, using co-creation and clinical validation to make the brand's inclusion claim testable and tangible.
After two years of research and co-development with transgender women, Vaseline and Ogilvy Singapore created the Transition Body Lotion: the first clinically validated skincare product formulated specifically for transgender women undergoing hormone therapy. The lotion targets dryness, dullness, and hyperpigmentation using niacinamide and isoflavones, a plant-based oestrogen not previously used in the category. It launched as part of Vaseline's high-end Pro Derma line in Thailand.
The proof
Unilever announced plans for international expansion following the Thai launch, and early conversations began to explore a parallel product for transgender men.
Where this applies in India
This principle is available right now in Indian categories where a whole segment exists but no product has been built for them. Ayurvedic personal care brands talk about serving all skin types but have built nothing for women managing PCOS-related skin changes, which have a distinct hormonal profile. Sports nutrition brands speak to all athletes but have co-created nothing with para-athletes. Maternity-focused personal care is a category where most products are adapted from general ranges, and a brand that builds from scratch with postpartum communities would own a credible and growing space.
FAQ
What is the Lotion for a Transition pattern?
Replace the campaign with the product itself, using co-creation and clinical validation to make the brand's inclusion claim testable and tangible.
Which brand proved it works?
Vaseline (Unilever), in personal care (Thailand). Unilever announced plans for international expansion following the Thai launch, and early conversations began to explore a parallel product for transgender men. jugnu's Kosh tracks 327 such patterns across Indian and global brands.
How do I apply this to my brand?
Run your brand challenge through jugnu. It diagnoses the tension underneath your problem, checks whether this pattern fits it, and builds ideas on the patterns that do.
This is the story. Every Kosh card also carries a transfer layer: the consumer insight underneath, the principle that moves across categories, and the boundary conditions where it breaks. jugnu applies that layer to your brand when it builds ideas.
Wondering if this pattern fits your challenge? Run it through jugnu and find out.
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