Attracting global attention to a beauty product in 2020 has never been more challenging, with the demands to break the glass ceiling more necessary than ever. The standard is high and the exceptions few and far between and if your shade range isn’t quite cutting it like Fenty does, honey you’re not even considered competition. Brands have to do more and more to impress us and the beauty gurus of the world, who will certainly not hold back when it comes to calling out a brand’s lacklustre attitude. After all, we’ve spent years tirelessly rewriting beauty ideals and breaking down the barriers of what it means to look beautiful, and we will be saying it louder for the people at the back. Transparency and inclusivity have never been more celebrated and who wouldn’t stan a multi-shaded, cruelty-free, vegan product with recyclable packaging and a kick-ass launch full of diverse representation? Here are some of our favourite beauty campaigns where innovation has amazed us all. Whether it’s empowering, ‘woke’, or just a bloody good marketing idea, we salute you!
Goop: This Smells Like My Vagina Candle, January 2020
What started as a little joke between lifestyle brand ‘Goop’ founder Gwyneth Paltrow and perfumer Douglas Little when sharing scent ideas, turned into one of the best brand campaigns we have seen this year. Her iconic candle named, This Smells Like My Vagina, is a mix of geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed and retails for an impressive price of $75. Whilst this may have appeared to be a media frenzy surrounding an absurd product, this item self-marketed itself and the results were great. There’s nothing quite like the effect of empowering femininity that is well, simply outrageous.
Pantene: Tackling Misgendering in Salons, November 2019
A highlighted topic at the moment and rightly so with BBC Three publishing a poem by Gray Crosbie titled, ‘Haircuts Between the Binary’ and haircare brand Pantene launching their own research into the topic – it was found that 93% of UK trans people have been misgendered during a salon visit. Of those people, 27% say it’s happened more than once and 29% of trans people said they find salon experiences stressful. Wanting to address the issue, Pantene partnered with the Dresscode Project which is a global organisation made up of LGBTQ+ friendly barbers and salons, dedicated to offer their clients a comforting space and service. Together they recruited hairdressers and barbers worldwide and supported them with resources and training to educate people on misgendering. Pantene also donated a small proportion of their product sales from Superdrug and video shares to the cause for the month. A refreshing bit of brand activism that we are yet to see elsewhere.
Shiseido: My Crayon Project, June 2019,
Beauty brand Shiseido, renowned for their diverse shade ranges that promote inclusivity within makeup launched this project in Japan to try and tackle prejudice against darker skin tones within schools. The phrase in Japanese that is used to describe the colour of skin – ‘Hada-iro’ – does not refer to just one type, which many feel discourages diversity from an early age. Shiseido created a box of crayons, each named after the child in the shade of their skin tone. The children drew portraits and were able to appreciate and understand the beauty in difference. You can watch the inspiring project here: www.rga.com/work/case-studies/shiseido-my-crayon-project
Nivea: Sun Binoculars, June 2019
Popular sunscreen brand Nivea wanted to encourage and highlight the importance of using sun protection when exposing yourself to sunlight in the summer months. They took to Rio in Brazil, where record temperatures are recorded in the summer, and is also very popular amongst sunbathers seeking a glow. In comes the invention of the sun binocular, using advanced technology to scan a body and reveal which parts are not protected by the UV rays of the sun. These gigantic binoculars were stationed on the beach and informed many sunbathers about the importance of protection and what bits they’d missed. A genius idea and rather helpful too, we think.
Lipstick Queen, Valentine’s Day Lipsticks Launch, February 2018
Targeting Valentine’s Day as their offline goal to launch its new product to UK beauty editors, Lipstick Queen alongside the help of Trace Publicity brought their four new pink lipsticks to life in the form of some very attractive talent. Mr Right, Mr Right Now, Good Catch and Bad Boy, named after the four new shades, delivered the lipsticks to offices in central London on V day accompanied by flowers and more importantly, a pink saloon car. Unfortunately, the dates were not included in the purchase of the actual products, but give us a more iconic lipstick launch…we’ll wait.
Words by Amy Arfi
Graphics by Katie Janes
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