How a 100-Year-Old Brand Became Relevant to Gen Z
Aquaphor has been around for more than a century, but ask different generations about the brand, and you may hear very different answers. For many consumers, Aquaphor is the blue-and-white tube that has always been somewhere in the house. It was practical, dependable, and usually brought out when something needed help: cracked hands, chapped lips, irritated skin, or a compromised skin barrier. The brand built its reputation around healing, and with it came something every beauty company wants but very few can manufacture quickly: trust.
A younger consumer may have discovered the exact same brand in an entirely different place: TikTok. Aquaphor has found a second life through social media, appearing in conversations around slugging, lip routines, barrier care, and countless beauty hacks. Beiersdorf has reported more than one billion TikTok views for Aquaphor and has specifically pointed to the brand's momentum with Gen Z. What's interesting is that Aquaphor didn't have to reinvent itself to get there. Younger consumers found new uses and new meaning in a product that already existed.
That's what makes the brand's latest launch worth paying attention to. Aquaphor is introducing its first Hydrating Daily Lotion and Moisturizing Cream, expanding further into everyday skincare rather than remaining primarily associated with moments when skin needs healing.
The timing makes sense. Social media has already expanded what Aquaphor means to a younger generation. A product that may once have lived in the medicine cabinet until someone needed it is now appearing in nighttime skincare routines, lip care, and more. Moving into daily moisturization gives Aquaphor an opportunity to build on behavior that is already happening rather than asking consumers to learn an entirely new story about the brand.
From a consumer behavior perspective, I think there's a much broader lesson here about generational branding. We often assume that heritage brands need to make themselves look younger to attract younger consumers. New packaging, younger ambassadors, trend-driven campaigns, a completely different tone of voice. Aquaphor suggests that may not always be necessary.
Gen Z doesn't necessarily need a 100-year-old brand to behave like a startup. In fact, Aquaphor has something many newer beauty brands are working incredibly hard to establish: history. A mother and daughter can recognize the same product for completely different reasons. One may have grown up knowing Aquaphor as something used for cracked skin and irritation, while the other may have discovered it through a TikTok lip routine. The product hasn't fundamentally changed, but the cultural context around it has.
That kind of generational crossover is valuable because it allows Aquaphor to occupy multiple roles without abandoning its core identity. The brand can remain associated with healing and barrier support while becoming relevant to consumers interested in prevention, maintenance, and everyday skin health.
The new products extend that relationship even further. Instead of being the brand consumers reach for only when their skin needs help, Aquaphor now has an opportunity to become part of the routine that happens before there is a problem. That's a very different frequency of engagement and, potentially, a much larger relationship with the consumer.
It also points to something I think we'll see much more of across beauty. Social media isn't only creating the next generation of beauty brands; it's giving established brands access to entirely new generations of consumers. TikTok can take something that has existed for decades and make it feel completely new to someone encountering it for the first time.
The opportunity for heritage brands isn't to chase every generation that comes along. It's to pay attention to how new generations are already interpreting and using their products. Aquaphor has already made the journey from the medicine cabinet to the TikTok beauty routine. Moving into everyday skincare could turn that cultural rediscovery into something much more enduring: another generation that sees Aquaphor not as an old brand, but as one of their brands.
Dania Khalife
