Dive Brief:

• Procter & Gamble hair care brand Pantene teamed with social media personality Alix Earle for a limited-edition collection and campaign entitled “Unexpired Pantene,” per details shared with Marketing Dive. 
• The campaign follows a viral TikTok post from Earle raving about the effectiveness of an expired bottle of Pantene found in her family’s shower. The Unexpired collection was made available for a 24-hour period via an online sweepstakes beginning April 30 at 11 a.m. ET. 
• The effort also includes real-time updates on Pantene’s Instagram and TikTok channels and billboards in Times Square and The Oculus in New York City. The campaign comes as drugstore hair care products experience a boost in popularity stemming from social media. 

Dive Insight: 

With its latest campaign, Pantene is attempting to cash in on what some are calling the “drugstore hair care renaissance,” or the recent rise in popularity of drugstore hair products over their premium counterparts. The movement is largely credited to social media — and perhaps the current state of the U.S. economy — adding an additional layer of relevancy to Pantene’s tie-up with Earle, a creator with over 11 million followers across Instagram and TikTok combined. 

However, it could be argued that Earle’s organic review of (expired) Pantene spurred enough of a movement on its own, having led to the creation of over 180 additional pieces of organic user-generated content (UGC) from a variety of creators also praising the P&G brand. With “Unexpired Pantene,” the marketer is asserting that if it can go viral for how well it works when expired, “imagine it unexpired.” 

Key to the campaign is a limited-edition collection of Pantene products available via a sweepstakes on an Unexpired landing page that kicked off on April 30 at 11 a.m. ET for a 24-hour period, a span of time meant to nod to how long an Instagram story is available. Pantene also overhauled its Instagram and TikTok channels to promote the effort and post real-time updates, and Earle shared additional content to her TikTok.

Additional UGC from creators including Madison Harwell and Jaelyn Kay was shared once the sweepstakes was live to showcase the products. To drive additional buzz, the brand had a billboard in Times Square until midnight on April 30 and The Oculus until May 1 at 11 a.m. ET. The “Unexpired Pantene” campaign is an example of how marketers can leverage organic social media content to forge a deeper connection with target audiences, particularly digitally native demographics like Gen Z and millennials. 

The global hair care market is anticipated to grow from $113.92 billion in 2025 to $213.47 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. During that period, the supermarket/hypermarket segment is expected to hold the largest market share above specialty stores and online stores. Other hair brands have released marketing campaigns recently, including fellow drugstore brand CeraVe and premium players including Olaplex and Beyoncé’s Cécred.

P&G reported net sales of $19.8 billion in its third quarter fiscal year 2025, a decrease of 2% versus the year prior. Beauty segment organic sales increased 2% versus the year-ago period, though hair care organic sales were unchanged. The lack of growth was attributed to increased pricing in Latin America and North America and a favorable premium product mix being offset by volume declines, primarily in Greater China.