The sweet details of PR for Dove x Crumbl’s Gen Z collab

Making an everyday item like soap cool isn’t easy.

“Let’s be honest, we’re often talking about a plain white bar,” said Andrew Simon, Edelman’s global executive creative director.

So Simon and his agency worked with Dove to inject youthful energy into the brand – and a little pink into its iconic products – through a cookie-scented collaboration with Crumbl Cookies.

The launch featured three weekly fragrance drops – Confetti Cake, Strawberry Crumb Cake and Lemon Glaze – across products like body scrub, moisturizer and deodorant.

But this went beyond just the scents. It was about helping new consumers, particularly Gen Z, see Dove in a new light. To do that, the campaign focused on meeting the audience where they are: on social media.

“We have to stay relevant for various targets,” Simon said. 

“It’s a legacy brand that means so much to so many. When there’s a new audience, you have to renew that love and passion,” he continued. “If we did things in a traditional way, it would be like, it’s the same old Dove. That’s why we wanted to do it on their terms.”

From spoiler pages to Super Bowl buzz

Planning began in spring 2024 and lasted eight months, with social baked in from the start.

“The answer lies in who you’re trying to reach,” Simon said, explaining how they shaped the PR strategy. His team dug into how Gen Z behaves online – the platforms they trust, how they consume content and what they expect from brands. They found that Gen Z wants to be part of moments, much like Crumbl’s weekly cookie drops. So Dove and Edelman built a plan “entirely around fandoms and feel-good indulgence,” Simon said – something that felt as organic and fan driven as Crumbl’s own rollouts.

The Dove x Crumbl campaign didn’t kick off with a press release. Instead, on Nov. 19, Dove shared an Instagram video featuring a Crumbl sugar cookie teasing a potential collaboration. Then on Dec. 2, Edelman executed a “controlled leak,” quietly DMed select Crumbl superfans, Dove loyalists and niche creators already active in those spaces, including food blogger Mark Vayntraub, who was among the first to “break” the collaboration.

Vayntraub’s post was quickly picked up by bigger foodie accounts like Snack Betch, which shared it with their 580,000 followers to fuel the speculation. Rumors circulated on Reddit spoiler threads like “Secret Collab Spoilers,” while cryptic posts by Dove stirred more buzz in foodie communities.

“We knew this audience doesn’t tune into traditional channels,” he added, noting that Gen Z is especially likely to get news from social media. “They want to hear it from people they trust, in places where they already hang out.”

That extended to creators, where the team prioritized cultural fit over follower count. Momentum grew when Dove enlisted viral Crumbl influencers the @TurnUpTwins to remix their jingle – sparking more than 900 TikToks and 59 million views.

Once chatter snowballed, Dove’s comms team confirmed the rumors to outlets like Country Living and its own channels. By the official Christmas Day launch – which included a Netflix ad during an NFL game – fan excitement was already surging. That’s when they rolled out a more traditional earned media push.

“We had to create demand and make sure people were aware,” he said. “While the initial leak was orchestrated by us, superfans’ chatter and the collab took off from there naturally.”

Keeping the energy going

Each week through mid-January, they teased a new scent on social, keeping fans engaged. But midway through the campaign, Dove and Crumbl leadership decided to add a fourth scent – Nilla Bean Cupcake – nearly two months after launch. The team pivoted quickly, adding pop-up trucks at Walmart stores and ramping up creator content, especially from the TurnUpTwins. That final drop earned feature coverage on Good Morning America.

“We wanted to make sure we always had some new news,” Simon said.

He credited the ability to adapt fast to the blurred client-agency lines. Unilever is Edelman’s client, but they also worked closely with Crumbl’s in-house team. That required trust and autonomy for the PR team to move fast.

“We are an extension of each other,” Simon said. “I couldn’t even remember who came up with what, which is the best sign possible.”

Showing PR’s impact

The campaign team tracked traditional PR metrics like social views and media clips but prioritized data showing business impact.

They focused on customer acquisition, using real-time insights to gauge content performance. Their posts had trackable links and CTAs, and they worked with reporters to get those same links into earned media – in print or by sharing a URL on air.

Dove products started reselling at three to four times retail, and sales beat forecasts by over 50%, Simon said. Demand spiked so quickly they had to expand Walmart distribution. Meanwhile, the comms team monitored fan reactions and social chatter closely.

“PR isn’t an impressions game anymore,” Simon said. “This is a sales game now. To do that, we needed to create an experience that resonated with an entire generation.”

To measure audience growth, they surveyed buyers. The data showed 52% were new to Dove.

“We certainly recognize the importance, especially for a brand like Dove, to stay relevant,” Simon said. “And to stay relevant you have to try new things.”

Casey Weldon is a reporter for PR Daily. Follow him on LinkedIn.