“I Am What I Make Up” shatters the cultural assumption that women wear makeup for vain, superficial reasons, and instead posits makeup as a powerful tool for self-expression and self-creation.

By exploring the lives of six multifaceted celebrities and influencers—including five unconventional new COVERGIRLs—the campaign celebrates the power all women have to create any version of themselves or who they want to be, with makeup. It depicts the true, complex and transformative relationship that modern women have with makeup for the first time.

The campaign marked the biggest relaunch in the history of COVERGIRL, signaling a bold departure from the norms of traditional beauty advertising. It sparked national conversation around the role of makeup.

To reach our digitally-driven consumer we delivered a social-first approach that allowed COVERGIRL to dominate the competitive conversation landscape and increase social conversation. With a cascade of talent announcements happening weekly, we delivered behind-the-scenes assets that we shared out to the media and influencers to further amplify coverage. We took a very targeted and specific approach for each new member of our tribe ahead of the rebrand reveal.

Issa Rae (Instagram) Social first. Digital only by launching with The Shade Room and BuzzFeed (online), followed by mass outreach.

Ayesha Curry (Instagram) Social first. Digital only by launching with Baller Alert and Glamour.com (online), followed by mass outreach.

Maye Musk (Instagram) Social first. Digital only by launching with Man Repeller and New York Times online, followed by mass outreach.

Shelina Moreda & Massy Arias. Digital first by launching with PopSugar (online), followed by mass outreach.

I Am What I Make Up truly resonated with consumers. We not only received impressions beyond our expectations, the coverage itself indicated COVERGIRL was changing the conversation and truly heralding a reappraisal of women and beauty. The campaign achieved over 13 billion earned impressions, and a profound quality of content with headlines like “COVERGIRL's New Slogan Will Make You Think About Beauty Differently” and “Inside COVERGIRL’s Quest to Modernize Its Message: Celebrating the Power of Makeup, Removing the ‘Male Gaze.’”

Most importantly, we increased sales dramatically across the board:

CG+Olay Simply Ageless Foundation +17.1%

Peacock Flare Mascara +60.9%

LashBlast Volume Mascara +13.5%