How Vacation Made a 100-Year-Old Sunscreen Feel New Again
An archive, a revival and a month-long anniversary.
Orange Gelée had a life before Vacation: decades of beach bags, familiar orange gel and a scent people remembered. For its centenary, Vacation turned that history into an archive, a fragrance collection and a month of reasons to come back.
- Origins
- 1926
- Revived by Vacation
- 2024
- Campaign
- April 16–May 16, 2026
Bring the fans into the comeback
A vintage product gives a brand plenty of references. Vacation went further: it made the people who remembered Orange Gelée part of the development process. The Revival Project began in 2023, after the original product had been discontinued in 2019.
Vacation’s account describes sourcing old tubes, working with a chemist and gathering an advisory board of enthusiasts. Testing covered the details people cared about: the orange color, the texture, the finish and the fragrance. Development updates let fans follow the work before the product arrived.
Tell the history through the packaging
Set the packs next to one another and the story becomes visible. Names, lettering and SPF ratings change; the orange gel and holiday association keep the family resemblance. The archive gives a new customer a quick way to understand why anyone was waiting for this product to return.
The original idea
Vacation’s anniversary history dates Monsieur Antoine’s orange-tinted sun gel to 1926.
The product disappears
The original Orange Gelée is discontinued.
Fans join the revival
Vacation brings enthusiasts into the redevelopment process.
A new version arrives
Vacation releases its reimagined Orange Gelée sunscreen.
A century becomes a campaign
Fragrance, retail promotions and a birthday party extend the story.
Give the anniversary a calendar
The anniversary announcement landed on April 14. The celebration ran from April 16 to May 16, with several ways to participate: buy a fragrance, shop a promotion or attend a party. These were different activities with the same recognizable subject.
Anniversary fragrance collection and the start of a month-long sale.
A 30ml Gelée eau de toilette release.
A 100th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Roosevelt.
Turn the signature scent into a new product
A fragrance collection is a particularly clear extension of this campaign. Scent is part of what devotees remembered about the original gel. Giving it its own product carries that memory into a different ritual, while the archive explains why the connection matters.
The campaign is also easy to enter at different depths. A product photograph can catch your eye. The packaging timeline rewards a closer look. The revival reports give the most interested visitors the development story. You can choose how far to follow it.
Build on what people already love
The useful lesson is how much the campaign gets from material that already exists. Old packaging supplies the visual language. Customer memories identify the details worth keeping. The anniversary supplies a reason to bring both back into view. That gives the new creative something specific to build on.
