How does CeraVe, a clinical skincare brand developed by dermatologists, become a global cultural phenomenon? By creating an internet conspiracy that the brand was actually created by actor Michael Cera. To make things harder: Michael isn't on social media. So we “leaked” four hero influencer videos to spark a global debate. For four-weeks, the skincare conspiracy was front and center in culture. Which resulted in 15.4B impression BEFORE CeraVe's first ever “Perfect” (TODAY) Super Bowl Commercial, directed by comedy legends Tim and Eric, revealed the truth. The “ultra prolonged ultra meta” campaign elevated CeraVe into a cultural icon.

Skincare Context: CeraVe is a clinical skincare brand developed by dermatologists. But more and more celebrities are entering the skincare space, exceeding $1B in beauty sales in 2023 (Nielsen). And competitors are copying CeraVe’s claims about being developed with derms and having three ceramides.

Celebrity Context: Michael Cera is a cult favorite actor known for Juno, Arrested Development, and “Allan” in Barbie. He plays unassuming, awkward and lovable characters. Cera doesn’t fit the typical beauty spokesperson (Rihana, Selena Gomez...) or have any social media. But his famously youthful face, shared name with CeraVe, and mild manner made him the perfect unexpected antagonist to get everyone talking.

Super Bowl Context: CeraVe has a niche audience on TikTok. The Super Bowl provided a unique opportunity to bring it to the masses.

@HayleeBaylee film: Haylee releases paparazzi-style video of Cera signing bottles of CeraVe, sparking suspicion.

@DrShah film: The #1 dermatologist influencer grills Cera as a "fellow skincare expert."

@BobbiAlthoff film: Cera storms off of Althoff's famous "The Really Good Podcast" when she presses him about CeraVe.

The Super Bowl commercial: Directed by comedy legends Tim & Eric, the commercial looks like a dreamy, self-serious 90s cologne ad. In the film, Cera declares: “I’m Michael Cera and this is my cream... oh, you didn't know?” Then we follow Cera in what appears to be a bizarre fever dream: he is massaging himself, climbing a mountain with moisturizer ("let my cream hydrate you!"), and hanging with male models in sleeveless dermatologist coats. Finally, it cuts to a board room revealing Michael is actually pitching this film to dermatologists. They unanimously reject him. The end super reads: Developed with dermatologists. Not Michael Cera.

CeraVe is the #1 dermatologist-recommended skincare brand in the US. But competitors were stealing CeraVe's core claim that they are developed by Dermatologists.

So CeraVe was headed to its first ever Super Bowl to (1) mint CeraVe as THE brand developed with Dermatologists and (2) elevate CeraVe from a cult, niche social following into a cultural phenomenon all around the world.

But people watching the Super Bowl want celebrities and comedy. Not dermatologists and ceramides. And CeraVe wanted to become a cultural icon without compromising their core values.

To achieve this, CeraVe set the following KPIs: 1B impressions, 50 articles, 74k website traffic, +3% audience growth, and Top 10 share of voice during the game.

(All of which the campaign achieved and then some).

‘Michael CeraVe’ was a 4-week, fully immersive campaign. It had 15.4B earned impressions BEFORE the commercial went live. Then, during the most watched Super Bowl ever, CeraVe trended on X and TikTok. It had the highest share of voice (based on engagement) and was unanimously hailed as the #1 SB campaign (Adweek / Adage / GQ / Forbes).

Over the course of the campaign, CeraVe had more than 2.4x the amount of engagements of all other health and beauty brands in the Super Bowl… COMBINED! The “ultra prolonged meta campaign” (NYTimes) was hailed as “Perfect” (TODAY) and a “masterclass” (Adweek). With 32B earned impressions, CeraVe achieved its goal of becoming iconic. This resulted in historic sales and growth results in the brand’s 18-year history. Following the game CeraVe saw a 25% increase in sales, and sold the most moisturizer the brand ever had in a week.