How LUX Is Cleansing Social Media Feeds of Rabbit Hole Content

A nod to LUX’s heritage of cleansing, ‘Algorithm Cleansers’ – created in partnership with VML – reimagines advertising as something more useful than interruption. Carefully curated content is designed to generate the signals platforms use to shape what users see next. By encouraging people to pause, save, share or engage with this content, the campaign aims to help diversify repetitive feeds and give users more intentional influence over their online experience.

After testing showed measurable changes in participants’ feeds, the idea launched across China, India, Thailand, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam, bringing the idea of a refreshed, more empowering feed to a combined population of more than 3.5 billion people.

In this interview with LBB’s Sunna Coleman, Marco Versolato, CCO at WPP@Unilever and VML, discusses how the team’s careful research led to answering a real problem, and why cleansing feeds was the right move for the brand.

LBB> How did the idea for 'Algorithm Cleansers' first come about and why is it a great fit for the brand right now?

Marco> The idea emerged from observing a very real and growing sentiment across social media: people complaining about losing control of their feeds. Users were being pulled into loops of repetitive, often draining content. We even started noticing posts suggesting DIY hacks to fight back, like 'watch this twice to fix your feed', a clear signal that people were craving change.

As LUX is a globally recognised cleansing brand, the connection was immediate and exciting. What if our ads could literally cleanse your feed? We backed the concept with serious research and turned our ads into 'Algorithm Cleansers’. The core idea is a fair trade: engage with our content, watch it, share it, like it, save it, and in return, your feed becomes more diverse, more positive, and filled with content that genuinely resonates. It's purposeful advertising that delivers real value.

LBB> Why is more intentional engagement with content a priority for LUX?

Marco> LUX is present in many markets across the globe, and social advertising has become a strategic priority for the brand, with investment in this space growing consistently. However, we're very honest with ourselves: no matter how interesting, fun, beautifully crafted, or socially native an ad feels, it is still fundamentally an interruption in the scrolling experience.

Finding ways to make people genuinely want to engage with our ads, not just passively scroll past them, is both a significant challenge and a real ambition for us. 'Algorithm Cleansers' is our answer to that challenge.

LBB> What was the research behind the campaign?

Marco> We engaged with experts, both from within WPP and externally, and conducted extensive research and testing. The honest truth is that nobody fully understands exactly how these algorithms work. But what we did discover is that there are numerous signals that can meaningfully influence them.

We started with a simple but powerful premise: if behaviour shapes the algorithm, then intentionally changing that behaviour should prompt the algorithm to show people different, more desirable content. That hypothesis drove everything.

LBB> What does LUX mean by "clean feeds"? How does it work and what content is it training algorithms to prioritise instead?

Marco> We've all been there: you click on a piece of celebrity gossip, and suddenly your entire feed is flooded with more of the same. That's the rabbit hole effect, algorithms are designed to keep you watching by feeding you more of what you've already engaged with.

'Algorithm Cleansers' uses that exact same principle, but redirects it intentionally. When a user saves or engages with a LUX ad that carries specific signals around beauty, travel, fragrance, and lifestyle, it interprets that as genuine interest in those topics. Instead of serving up more gossip or low-value content, the feed begins to 'cleanse' itself, becoming richer, more aspirational, and more aligned with what the user actually wants to see.

LBB> How did you decide what content made it into the social content to help steer algorithms in the right direction?

Marco> The content selection was very deliberate. We curated hundreds of images and combined them with carefully chosen music and text, all rooted in the LUX world. Essentially, we translated our brand book, our attitude, our style, and our tone of voice directly into these assets. That means content that is bold, beautiful, sassy, and full of attitude.

Of course, beautiful product shoots are also woven in, because these are, at the end of the day, ads. The goal was to ensure both elements worked together seamlessly, so the user receives genuine value alongside the brand message without any jarring disconnect.

LBB> What were the challenges in creating this work and how did you overcome them?

Marco> The deeper we dug into this subject, the more we discovered, and the more we realised just how complex it truly is. We engaged with the platforms directly, but it's a sensitive topic. At times, it felt a little like asking Coca-Cola to share its secret recipe.

The biggest challenge, however, was figuring out how to make ads play an active role in shaping the algorithm, given that ads typically run in a somewhat separate layer from the platform's core programming logic. Working closely with our specialists, we found a solution: strategically stacking specific, intentional signals within the ads themselves, allowing them to communicate meaningful preference data back to the algorithm. We called that “probabilistic algorithm”.

LBB> How does 'Algorithm Cleansers' reframe what advertising can do in a social context?

Marco> We have to be very honest with ourselves here. The more brand communication shifts to social media, the more crowded and potentially intrusive it can become. We risk being the noise people are trying to escape.

By giving our ads a new purpose and a new role, beyond just delivering a message, we believe this represents a genuine shift in how we think about advertising on social media. It moves ads from being an imposition to being a service. That's a meaningful reframe, and one we're excited to pioneer.

LBB> What does success from this campaign look like for LUX?

Marco> We have two clear goals. The first is elevating engagement on our ads, and we're already seeing impressive numbers that are surpassing all benchmarks. More importantly, we want younger consumers to see LUX differently, as a brand that speaks their language and genuinely understands their world.

The second goal is broader and perhaps more meaningful: giving users a better, cleaner feed. Less time lost in rabbit holes, and more exposure to positive, beautiful, and exciting content. That content already exists out there, we're simply creating the bridge that connects it to the people who would love it.

LBB> Anything else we should know?

Marco> What makes 'Algorithm Cleansers' truly special is that it proves advertising can be additive rather than disruptive. It's a demonstration of LUX's commitment to innovation and to its audience, showing that a brand can show up on social media in a way that is genuinely useful and empowering. We hope it inspires a broader conversation about what the future of social advertising can and should look like.