Hawaiian Tropic is an iconic suncare brand known for its tropical scents, luxurious textures, and heritage rooted in beach culture.

Hawaiian Tropic is seen as a vacation-only brand — something you toss in your beach bag for summer holidays and forget the rest of the year. But SPF isn’t seasonal. With a saturated sunscreen market, the challenge was to reposition Hawaiian Tropic as a daily skincare essential, seamlessly fitting into the beauty routines of Gen Z and Millennial consumers.

People think sunscreen is for summer. But dermatologists say UV damage starts at a UV index of just 3 — a level most days hit. This leads to our point: protection isn’t seasonal, it’s daily.

We set out to make UV3 unforgettable — and undeniably Hawaiian Tropic. By owning the moment people should start thinking about sunscreen, we connected the brand to everyday sun protection in a way that felt clever, not clinical.

The goal: turn UV3 into a cultural cue for “It’s more tropical than you think.”

To kick things off, we took over where UV awareness starts — the Weather App — with a bright, tropical UV3 takeover. Influencers received UV-reactive merch kits that changed with the index, bringing the idea to life in a tangible way.

On the ground, our UV3 truck popped up on college campuses, handing out product and reactive merch to anyone who posted and tagged #TropicalClub. The twist? The truck changed colour with the UV, too — a perfect IRL expression of the concept.

Across social and OOH, our content teased the campaign and drew attention to the UV3 trigger — using Hawaiian Tropic’s sun-drenched personality to shift sunscreen from seasonal to daily, without losing any of the fun.