wet n wild
The Background: wet n wild is a promotional/price driven brand that has never done campaign advertising before. This being their first time, the message needs to continue to drive sales, but also change perceptions.
The Challenge: wet n wild has a perception problem. It is the makeup we all used when we were young and our moms/grandmothers wouldn't let us spend more than a few dollars, when we wanted to try yellow nail polish for the first time or we needed something we were only going to wear once for a certain outfit or on Halloween. The name is tied to the wrong kind of nostalgia.
The Research: Secondary and competitive analysis. Focus groups with women who love and hate makeup. What does it say about someone? How do you use it? What power does it have? Is there a ritual? Can it be broken?
The Discovery: Women get in a makeup rut. Why? Because they get comfortable with an everyday look and forget the truly transformative power makeup has. Yet, when they see a woman wearing a look they love, they want to get their hands on it, like NOW.
The Strategy: Dare women to try any look they love and use the brand to our advantage by creating outrageous inspiration.
Thanks to: Nina Orezzoli - GCD, Emalie Baumann - Creative Director, Lindsay Wright - Design Lead, April Swinson - Writer, Katie Miller - Social Lead, Stephanie Schafer - Account Directory, Jennifer Berg - Account, Jenny Wolf - Account
wet n wild "Steal the Look"
wet n wild "Steal the Look" Retailer Video
National Compliment Day #wildaboutyou
In December of 2014, Joey Schliecher was featured on The Huffington Post for an open letter she wrote a woman who had fat-shamed her in the produce section of a Minot grocery store.
Well, when a stranger insults you like that, what else are you supposed to do? Joey held her head high and reminded the girl that beauty comes from the inside.
After reaching out to her directly, Joey agreed to be the star of our #wildaboutyou campaign. On National Compliment Day Joey and hundreds of other women exchanged words of affirmation, fun quips and purely positive comments about what it really means to be beautiful.
The wet n wild Instagrammy Awards
From the teaser post, all the way into the post-award show parties, we received great engagement from an enthusiastic community of music and makeup lovers. Thousands of excited fans guessed celebrity looks. The wet n wild product Grammy went to MVP and the most talked about look was the red lip.
Along with posting awards and ways to recreate looks on Instagram, we spent the night watching conversations about makeup and inviting users into our community. We drove people from Twitter to Instagram and saw an increase in overall fan growth.
The list of winners looked like this: Best Neutral Look – Chrissy Teigen, Best Bold Look – Rihanna, Best Red Lip – Meghan Trainor, Best Cateye – Ariana Grande, Best Use of Color – Taylor Swift, Most Audacious Mani – Nicki Minaj, Most Voluminous Lashes – Gwen Stefani, Best Brow of the Night – Zendaya
We were able to show women they can get a gorgeous high-fashion look without having to spend a pretty penny. And when it comes to out-smarting versus out-spending our competitors, the award goes to … wet n wild beauty. This activation cost around $500 from props to shipping.
Mintel Feature
The world's leading marketing intelligence agency featured the Steal the Look App as part of its MULO coverage.
"Consistent with its value positioning, wet n wild's new app is aimed at helping women copy expensive make-up looks with equivalent items from the brand's product portfolio."