Here’s a metric that more marketers should use for judging a great sponsorship: it is something that no other brand could possibly do.
This latest sponsorship idea from Vaseline certainly qualifies. For the 2026 London Marathon, the brand showed up as the “Official Nipple Protector” for the event, focused on the nipple chafing commonly experienced by 92% of marathon runners. In addition to supporting the existing use of their petroleum jelly product as a preventative solution to this problem, they also created multiple “Nip Stops” throughout the 26-mile route to offer ongoing support throughout the race. The idea has been so popular, they are rolling it out across other events across Europe as well.
The campaign has been getting lots of media attention, and one of the best analysis I read about the strategy suggested a few reasons why it worked so well, including: the brand’s ability to talk about an uncomfortable or taboo topic on a body part most male runners hate having in the first place, how it integrated actual product use into the campaign and how it’s an idea that has long-term potential and global relevance since this is a recurring issue that is relevant at any long distance running event across the world.