"Leisure-Enhancing" Sunscreen
Review #23 - Vacation 🌴
Just in time for your August pool days.
Review #23 - Vacation 🌴
What Is It
Vacation makes, in their words, “the world’s best-smelling sunscreen.” Their suncare products are as skin-protective as they are “leisure-enhancing,” formulated with dermatologist-backed, clean ingredients and nostalgia-inducing scents.
Their products are made for “true connoisseurs of leisure”, and while that’s absolutely not me, I am a sucker for good branding — especially when it comes to skin/body care — so it’s about time I give them a try. You might be familiar with their internet-famous Classic Whip, but I’d rather judge them on a more fundamental SKU: the Vacation Classic Lotion SPF 30.
Brand / Aesthetic
Vacation is your brand-obsessed friend’s favorite brand. It’s not hard to see why; it’s a masterclass in creative, consistent, and well-executed brand identity. Actually, Vacation’s existence far surpasses brand identity — it’s a fully dimensional brand world.
That was a lot of esoteric creative agency mumbo jumbo, I know. Sorry to say, there’s a lot more coming your way. If you’re a consumer marketing person that happens to be reading this, you’re probably not learning anything new today. Unless you’re a growth hacker dude, in which case, listen up. But first, a quick aside on brand identity:
Every brand has an identity, sort of like every person has a passport. It’s just how it is. Whether it’s strong or not, now that’s a different question. The identity is a compilation of typefaces, logos, and other visual elements, plus chunks of copy and tone of voice specifications that solidify the way the brand behaves with its consumer.
There’s an extra credit option, which is to make that brand identity into a brand world. World-building has been co-opted by the Minecraft-lovers-turned-branding-bros, so I understand if you’re scared to engage with the concept. I’m here to tell you that it actually holds up. A brand world, to me, is when a brand can live beyond the confines of its category and seep into our consciousness and realities (Jesus). It’s when it dominates your association with an aesthetic (cough cough, that’s so brat, for example) and makes you excited to engage with the cultural conversation it’s creating.
I think you understand this subconsciously, and I’m not in the mood to continue, so my explanation ends here. As per usual, I’ll direct you to a video from
(this one on the Ghia universe) for additional coursework for those interested. In summation: every brand needs an identity, but only some — the committed, creative, and well-funded — take the leap for the entire world.Back to Vacation. They’ve most certainly built a 360-brand world (UGH), and a memorable one at that. Founded by Marty Bell, Dakota Green, and Lach Hall, Vacation’s retro aesthetic is inspired by “Club Med and Miami Vice” circa 1986.
The backstory is that Dakota and Lach, leisure enthusiasts and former ad agency guys, came up with the idea for a sunscreen brand that changes the category’s PR from fear-based back to fun-oriented after the clinical, skin-cancer-preventative turn the industry took in the 90s. They joined forces with Marty, who was building out his “ultra-summer internet radio station,” Poolside (now Poolsuite), to form a leisure-loving triumvirate. Add a touch of Roy Fleeman’s design prowess and the help of creative agencies, like Wedge and Studio Bombara, and you’ve got an internet-friendly sunscreen.
I’m far from the first person to talk about the true genius of Vacation’s brand world: this article by Print/Dieline is a great primer and Forbes has more backstory for my lore lovers.
Besides choosing a unique aesthetic and sticking to it, the attention to detail never fades. From the retro fonts to the copy that’s reminiscent of an all-inclusive-resort of yesteryear to the photo styling to the way they refer to their online store as “the gift shop” (gasps for oxygen), it’s all nailed down. Here’s a quick highlight reel of the aforementioned details they are attending to:
They speak to their customers like they’re friends. Coworkers, rather. Their inside joke is that their community is part of the business. Vacation makes “company-wide announcements” on Instagram and prompts customers to share insights casually and frequently. By speaking to everyone as if they’re already part of the team, it becomes a more inclusive environment that people are excited to be part of.
For those who are excited by the prospect of joining this metaphorical team, you can, in their words, “show the world you mean business” with a personalized business card.
The true Vacation stans might notice little Easter eggs on their website (the Aqua Cycle is sold out, unfortunately) and on their Instagram (they only follow one account: Jimmy Buffet, RIP).
In a nod to Marty’s Poolsuite, its 80s-esque internet radio station cousin I told you about earlier, you can customize your browsing experience with their “Vibe Generator” at the bottom of your screen.
If the customer service email or consumer hotline isn’t answering your hot tub innovation-related questions, they’ve got a guy for that.
This whole world is clearly very robust, but that doesn’t mean it’s not flexible. Similar to Soft Services, the overarching brand universe is cohesive, but each product is afforded the space to have its own mini-brand world. Again, they have unique identities while all vaguely resembling each other in a familial way for overall connectedness.
Is all of this overkill? I’ll let you decide. Don’t forget we haven’t even gotten to the marketing section yet. We’re almost there, but I’ll take just one second to acknowledge the most compelling part of this whole thing: they’re simply having fun.
Humor is an integral part of the brand voice, and it sort of has to be if you’re going to be an 80s resort “leisure” company. In every interview you read with the founders, it’s clear they’re just joshing around and getting creative to make sunscreen a good time. There’s even a question in their FAQs that says “Is this even real?” They don’t take this all so seriously like some of you brand nerds, and frankly, it’s refreshing.
Marketing
It’s difficult to distinguish brand and marketing since their universe is so pervasive, but I figured we could all use a section break.
As you’ve probably realized, it is nearly impossible to exist online, especially in the beauty / cpg / brand / marketing industries, without stumbling across Vacation, or one of its products, at some point or another. Mission accomplished: their goal of creating an internet sensation sunscreen came true, and then some. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times, but this is what happens when you invest early in exceptional creative. When you make a product worth talking about and easy to share (or thoughtfully designed, if you’re sophisticated), people will talk about it.
So while their owned, organic content is great, it makes sense that the real magic is happening with the (unpaid!) UGC. Just like I’ve been saying, their social channels act as a homepage for their consumers to reference — and purchase from — as the naturally-occurring online conversations do the heavy lifting. The products speak for themselves.
A little B2B insight for you numbers freaks: 80% of their sales from last year came from TikTok Shop. They’ve only posted 22 videos since 2021, none of which have hit 1M views. You do the math.
The purpose of their social media channels is to continue their design goal of “transporting you to this happy place for vacation memories”, and that it does. I could talk about the individual GTM (go-to-market) creative strategies for all of their different launches (3 happened in April alone) but I’d rather send you off to Glossy Pop, or better yet, their blog, to read about an excellent pre-launch hype-building example of theirs: the Orange Gelée story.
Instead, I’ll talk about some fun partnerships, once again in bullet point style (for the sake of leisure 😎), and let you get on with your day.
Let me address the elephant in the room: the co-branded Erewhon smoothie. I can appreciate that it’s half the price of one of their typical superfood powder concoctions. However, I don’t have anything left to say about smoothie collabs in general at this point, let alone the ones that leave edibility in question.
The Prince Tennis Collaboration, on the other hand, is awesome. I’m Challengers-pilled like the rest of us, plus I love any wealth-adjacent activity, so tennis-themed anything is an easy win for me. Aside from faux-vintage merch, the two collaborated on a candle and air freshener in “Ball Boy Scent”. I’m having a hard time envisioning (ensmelling?) it, but according to the description it’s “luxury scented” so it technically can’t be bad.
I also love the partnership with AriZona Iced Tea (I didn’t know the Z was capitalized either). They pretty much gave the beloved beverage brand a helping hand with making their own t-shirts and hats, with a fun added twist of a logo swap. That, and an SPF 30 iced tea flavored lipbalm. We’re all thinking the same thing: long live the glory days of Dr. Pepper LipSmackers.
Last but not least, a Vacation x Le Puzz jigsaw puzzle. You’ve got to do something to encapsulate these vibes, so you might as well make it a family-friendly activity. Even rainy days are now beach-themed.
These partnerships have great alignment, meaning they’re just out-of-the-box enough but still make sense for a leisure-enhancing, 80s-inspired sunscreen brand. The word legacy comes to mind…
Efficacy
I’d be pretty shocked if everyone was still talking about these sunscreens even if they sucked. But I guess you never know.
It’s important to note that even though they don’t lead with “clean beauty”, the products are only aesthetically outdated and contain “the best of modern skincare science”. Their stamp of credibility is their Chief Medical Advisor and formula developer, Dr. Elizabeth Hale, a Board Certified Dermatologist and an SVP of the Skin Cancer Foundation. Trust.
This is the best sunscreen I’ve tried. Not hyperbolic, just passionate. Not only does it work at its number 1 job (the whole sun protection thing), it quickly disappears into my skin without any of that gross stickiness — or even worse — the heaviness of its presence on top of my moisturizer.
Yes, it smells nice too. With all the scent discourse, I expected it to be more fragrant, but I’m happy to be underwhelmed in that category. Points for subtlety.
Overall Thoughts
Vacation, in essence, is the “no idea is dumb” mindset at its best. The branding can occasionally cross my cheesiness threshold, but I appreciate what they’re doing so much that it surpasses my personal taste. Plus, the most important part — an actually good product (at a reasonable price point, I may add) — is accounted for.
Honestly, just get it. You know you want to.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5
In Other News…
Fashion collabs are exciting to me right now, particularly this one from Sandy Liang x Salomon
Glossier joins TYB. Does anyone here use TYB? LMK! (that was genuine)
I wonder how the luddite teens will feel about this.
That’s all for now. If there’s a product you want reviewed or just want to chat, reply to this email or leave a comment. :)
whoever does their copy and brand building needs a raise. idk what they're currently being paid. sooo good
Love everything about them, especially how their digital and social content exists to entertain first, rather than sell stuff (although that’s part of it). I lol’d at this post on their IG about how the company has upgraded to “commercial-grade” dot matrix printers. It had nothing to do with selling product, but was about building the world of Vacation and this is pure brilliance from a community-building perspective. Post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Fk8ZGu3za/?igsh=YnJjamxsbDQ5OWFh