- Beauty subscription service IPSY aims to redefine beauty and skincare as something that brings joy to people’s lives, rather than intimidation and stress.
- The new campaign, “I Play Beauty,” is designed to reframe the idea of beauty and makeup as a category with pressure to perform, and more as a category that enables people to express themselves joyfully in the same way that people create art and music or play sports.
- The campaign was developed through research and insights from Gen Z and Millennial consumers who felt that, while many hobbies are celebrated, beauty is often dismissed as frivolous or superficial, according to Stacey Politi, chief marketing officer at IPSY.
The campaign centers around a 90-second hero film that features a number of real-life beauty hobbyists and influencers in everyday moments, such as touching up lip gloss in a bodega mirror, applying mascara in a subway car or putting on skincare appliques on an airplane. The spot concludes with the subjects saying, “Some people play music. Some people play video games. Some people play basketball. I play beauty.”
“‘I Play Beauty’ celebrates the beauty hobbyists who have been playing in this space for years, many without even realizing that beauty can be a legitimate hobby,” said Politi. “It also invites the rest of us to discover and explore beauty as a form of self-expression and connection. We launched this campaign as a way to shift the conversation to show that beauty isn’t something to achieve, but something to simply enjoy”
The campaign will run on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Instagram and other CTV channels, with the content tailored to each platform’s audience and behavior.
“While most campaigns start by thinking in horizontal 16:9 aspect ratio, we always knew we were speaking to a digitally native audience, so from day one, we strategized for both horizontal and vertical video,” Politi said. “Our goal is to make our community feel part of a cultural moment and to reinforce our belief that beauty is for everyone.”
