Client objectives
Despite being founded more than 25 years ago, US make-up brand Make Up For Ever has suffered from low brand awareness. It was conceived as a make-up brand to educate make-up professionals - teaching them how to perfect the latest techniques rather than being targeted at a wider consumer audience.
As part of the Sephora stable of brands, many people didn’t even realise they owned Make Up For Ever products. Not having its own boutiques, Make Up For Ever called on agency Cake to find a way to bring its brand experience to the masses and help boost brand awareness amongst women.
The campaign
On digging deeper into the brand’s heritage, Cake found a nugget to bring to life. On overhearing one customer’s struggle to find the right make-up look whilst in Make Up For Ever’s flagship store, founder Dany Sanz gave the customer an on-the-spot lesson in make-up. The customer walked out not having bought any Make Up For Ever products, but having been educated on make-up techniques.
Cake recognised the need for women to be educated about the make-up they own, and created the Make Up Bag Remix Tour.
The Make Up Bag Remix was a 19-day tour across nine cities in North America, integrating social and experiential marketing. Women could book 30-minute, one-on-one appointments with professional make-up artists to learn how to use the products they already owned in their make up bag (regardless of the brand) to create their most flattering look.
The women then entered a specially built photobooth to capture their look and share on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using #MAKEUPBAGREMIX. For those who missed out on a booking, quick lip and complexion touch ups for passersby as well as mass sampling of the brand’s new Pro Finish Foundation kept interest fuelled.
The campaign’s digital hub and app allowed people to book their slots, and visitors were incentivised to check-in on Foursquare. Actress Christina Ricci became the spokesperson for the campaign, designing a limited-edition make up bag available to buy on the tour.
Evaluation
- Sales in Sephora stores local to the tour stops were up by an average of 84%
- 100,000 people were touched by the tour
- More than 370 million earned media impressions
- Over 1,300 photos shared via campaign hashtag
- 8.2 million impressions via Twitter
- 31,078 new Facebook likes since beginning of the tour
- 91% of attendees equated the brand with education after the experience
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