Movies should be scary. Skincare shouldn’t be.
At least, that’s what philosophy thinks – especially when it comes to active ingredients like Retinol that are commonly misunderstood for their harsh side effects.
To bring this messaging to life while driving buzz and social conversation around the brand and it’s new Ultimate Miracle Worker Face & Neck Cream, philosophy teamed up with legendary actress Sarah Michelle Gellar to launch its bold new Rated R campaign. Inspired by the Scream Queens' legacy, Gellar stars in the brand’s short horror film, which aims to remove the fear surrounding retinol use.
To further amplify the campaign, philosophy, in partnership with Fandango, gave away 1,000 free Rated R movie tickets and a free sample of the new Ultimate Miracle Worker Face & Neck Cream.
Retinol. Everyone knows we’re supposed to use it, but bad experiences with redness, flaking, and irritation make even the savviest beauty enthusiast opt out. Retinol has a stigma attached to it – it’s scary. In the land of skincare, one might even say it’s “Rated R.”
Just in time for spooky season, we’ve drawn attention in a tongue-in-cheek way to the “retinol scaries” to showcase how our Ultimate Miracle Worker Face & Neck Cream has all the benefits of Retinol with none of the scary side effects. The campaign video was posted to Instagram as a collab post between philosophy and Sarah Michelle Geller (4.6M followers) on October 1st.
To amplify this campaign with consumers and press, we partnered with Fandango to offer 1,000 consumers a free ticket to any R rated movie along with a free full-size sample of our new cream, driving home the tagline “Movies should be scary. Skincare shouldn’t be.”
Celeb talent paired with relevant, timely theme cut through the clutter to drive press. Coordinated two exclusives leveraging interviews with Sarah Michelle Gellar and secured widespread awareness leveraging PRnewswire media alert and proactive pitching to trade and consumer press.
Strengthened visibility and social relevance by strategically boosting content at launch. Established brand relevance by leaning into a timely campaign theme that resonated with a wide range of audiences. Sparked conversation about philosophy and the new Ultimate Miracle Worker Face & Neck Cream by partnering with notable scream queen Sarah Michelle Gellar and of-the-moment content creators. Drove product trial by offering free samples via a buzzy consumer partnership with Fandango.
The campaign video was posted to Instagram as a collab post between philosophy and Sarah Michelle Geller (4.6M followers) on October 1st with generating $690K in EMV and 11.5M video views.
ALL 1,000 sample distributed in less than 24 hours with a "rated r" movie ticket fandango gift card.
+11% sale lift on DTC during the 2-week vs. prior 2 weeks.
We kicked off the buzz with a consumer press exclusive with People.com and a trade press exclusive with WWD.com, with total press pickup to date generating an impressive 579 unique articles and 2.3 billion impressions.