Unilever's soap brand is betting Gen Z will make content for them instead of watching it. Here's why that shift matters to your customer acquisition.
Dr. Squatch, the Unilever soap brand, has made a deliberate bet: stop paying for ad placements and start funding experiences that Gen Z will document and share on their own.
Chief Brand Officer John Ludeke confirmed the strategy in a recent interview with Marketing Dive. Instead of traditional paid advertising, the brand partnered with streamer IShowSpeed to create moments where Gen Z audiences could co-create content alongside the creator. The goal is clear: let your customer become the storyteller.
This shift reflects a fundamental truth about Gen Z consumer behavior. Traditional ads interrupt. Experiences invite participation. When a Gen Z buyer sees a streamer or influencer they follow using or discussing a product, that's peer testimony. When they're invited into the moment itself, to create alongside the creator, that's belonging.
Dr. Squatch's move signals that buying reach on social platforms isn't enough anymore. The brand is instead investing in moments that are inherently shareable, moments that Gen Z wants to document because they're part of the story, not outside observers of it.
If your customer base skews younger, the lesson is direct: measure your marketing in earned content, not just impressions. A Gen Z buyer is far more likely to trust and purchase based on what a peer shared than what a brand told them to buy.
The Dr. Squatch and IShowSpeed partnership is a public bet that co-creation beats consumption. For business owners, the takeaway isn't that you need a mega-influencer. It's that your Gen Z customers will spend more time and money with brands that invite them to be part of the story, not brands that interrupt their feed to sell to them.
How WebKing runs this
We design experiences that make your audience the storyteller. Instead of paying for impressions, we build the moment that makes them reach for their phone and post. Gen Z skips ads but amplifies authentic moments with creators they follow.
According to their Chief Brand Officer John Ludeke, Gen Z consumers respond better to experiences they co-create and can document themselves than to traditional paid advertising. The partnership with IShowSpeed is designed to let the audience make content alongside the creator, generating earned social reach instead of bought impressions.
It means creating moments or moments of value that naturally compel your audience to film, share, and tag their friends, turning customers into content creators. Rather than paying for ad placements, the brand funds an event or collaboration that becomes the story itself.
No. Any business targeting Gen Z can apply this principle by focusing on moments, local events, or collaborations that are shareable and peer-to-peer, rather than solely on paid social ads. The shift is mindset, not budget size.
Track earned media (shares, tags, user-generated content volume), engagement rates on that content, and attribute sales uplift to the period during and after the experience. Gen Z is more likely to buy after seeing a peer recommend something, so monitor conversion from organic social mentions.
Sources
The Lab is original analysis by WebKing. We summarize and interpret developments from the sources above for industrial, commercial, and small business owners. Figures are reported as published by their sources.
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