Maybelline NY wanted to break into gaming, and as a mass-market brand, wanted to do so in an approachable way that resonated with its target audience. After learning mobile gaming’s hyper-casual genre is made up of a highly diverse, engaged audience who are predominantly women, Maybelline NY partnered with mobile gaming giant Zynga, and its hyper-causal studio, Rollic, for their first foray into gaming.

Maybelline NY was focused on creating a branded game as a novel way for Gen Z players to interact with the brand’s mascara in an intuitive and immersive experience. Through gamification, Maybelline NY set out to differentiate itself in the highly competitive category and drive an increase in awareness, brand favorability, purchase consideration, and ultimately sales in their targeted female 18-34 demo.

Zynga’s creative arm Studio E, translated Maybelline’s mascara to the hyper-casual space in an entertaining yet shoppable way. While Studio E is considered an in-house agency, it is also a world-class gaming studio comprised of seasoned game designers who create custom advertising experiences for brand partners.

With the hyper-casual audience in mind, Maybelline NY and Zynga looked for trending cultural moments that could be translated into a playable ad. After seeing the mash-up trend emerging on TikTok where beauty aficionados were mixing products in their make-up routines, they decided to infuse this into the popular Match-3 game mechanic.

Called Maybelline Mascara Merge, this game featured different mascaras from the brand, inviting users to a play-to-earn points opportunity that can keep them going in the main game they were playing. The integration also provided information, video content, and a link to shop on Ulta Beauty, all directly within the gaming experience.

As a leader in mobile gaming with over 250M global players, Zynga helped Maybelline NY better understand consumer behaviors and find the best way to translate its product into the gaming ecosystem.

Zynga identified its hyper-casual studio, Rollic, as the best fit to do this. The studio’s audience is young, diverse, influential, and engaged. This audience follows Rollic for its viral concepts, trending designs, and approachable formats that make mobile gaming accessible to the everyday consumer.

Rollic focuses on the player journey, testing and re-testing every aspect of their titles, including ads, to ensure the best possible experience is delivered for their fan base. For advertising, Rollic determined that the value exchange was clear: play a level, watch an ad, earn points, and repeat. Maybelline NY incorporated these insights into its campaign by complementing the branded game with a rewarded video, giving players more opportunities to interact with the brand.

By infusing a social trend into well-loved game mechanics, Maybelline NY and Zynga’s partnership drove significant results across all key metrics. Not only did it surpass all campaign benchmarks including engagement, impressions, and click-throughs; but Maybelline had one of its largest volumes in mascara sales while the integration was live.

This was made possible through the campaign's advertising mix, which gave Maybelline NY the rare opportunity to measure the full marketing funnel to drive both awareness and sales, which is difficult in today’s landscape. The playable ad increased brand favorability, engagement, and awareness in double-digit growth as over 85% of players started and completed the Mascara Merge experience. Additionally, rewarded video and in-game banner ads drove purchase intent, which led to an increase in sales.

Creation is at the heart of both beauty and gaming. This integration blended both to create an impactful moment for Maybelline that drove results.