CeraVe was going to its first Super Bowl. But Super Bowl audiences want celebrities and comedy. Not dermatologists and ceramides. So we re-wrote the Super Bowl Playbook with a first of its kind 4-week long conspiracy that Michael Cera developed CeraVe. It culminated with the commercial in front of a record-setting audience. The film, directed by comedy legends Tim & Eric, was hailed as "the best Super Bowl Commercial in years" (TODAY), trended on X and TikTok and was unanimously declared the #1 SB commercial (Adweek/Adage/GQ/Forbes), resulting in the best week in moisturizer sales in CeraVe history.

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.

The Super Bowl commercial, directed by comedy legends Tim & Eric, looks like a dreamy, self-serious 90s cologne ad. In the film, Cera opens by holding a tub of CeraVe and declaring: “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. In one final plea, Michael offers: “So my name is Cera… it’s a perfect crossover opportunity.” 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 month-long, fully immersive campaign that culminated with CeraVe’s first ever Super Bowl commercial. The commercial was hailed as "the best Super Bowl Commercial in years" (TODAY). It trended on X and TikTok and was unanimously hailed as the #1 SB campaign (Adweek / Adage / GQ / Forbes). Over the course of the campaign, CeraVe shattered its goals and achieved its objective to become a cultural icon:

Goal: 1B impressions

Result: 32B impressions (15.4B BEFORE Super Bowl)

Goal: 50 articles

Result: 2K+ articles / 20.8B organic global PR impressions

Goal: +3% audience growth

Result: +5% audience growth (“Dammit it worked…I’ll go pick up a bottle” – @huhzonked)

Result: #1 share of voice

Result: 2.4X amount of engagements of all other health and beauty brands in the Super Bowl… COMBINED!

CeraVe used humor to come out of nowhere and win the Super Bowl. The insight was that Cera shares a name with CeraVe, and has babysoft skin so what if he was the actual founder? And what if he wasn’t… but believed he was. We took that joke very seriously. On top of that, Michael Cera, an oft-timid and awkward character, was the most unlikely face of a beauty campaign. The month-long joke culminated with a commercial in which Michael Cera stars in a (again, very un-Cera) sexy, cologne ad. The entire commercial (and campaign), directed by comedy legends Tim and Eric, leans into absurdist, surreal humor. It’s the type of experimental humor not often found in advertising, resulting in 32B earned impressions. Cera himself called the commercial "genius and... very, very, very stupid". While the film is weird and funny, it pays off that CeraVe is a dermatologist brand.