How does CeraVe, a clinical skincare brand developed by dermatologists, become a global cultural phenomenon? By creating a month-long internet conspiracy that the brand was actually created by actor Michael Cera. To make things harder, Michael isn't on social media. So we changed the game, orchestrating a social and influencer-led campaign to spark a global debate. For four-weeks, CeraVe was front and center in the news resulting in 15.4B earned impressions BEFORE CeraVe's Super Bowl Commercial revealed the truth. The “Perfect” (TODAY) campaign yielded the best week of sales in CeraVe history, and turned the brand 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.

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).

A traditional campaign about dermatologists and ceramides would be ignored. We needed a way to use a celebrity while hero'ing dermatologists. So we created a conspiracy that CeraVe was developed by Michael Cera (same name.. baby-soft skin... you get it...)

This breakthrough idea was risky– especially for a quiet skincare brand. CeraVe couldn't even announce it was in the Super Bowl.

So we changed the game and wrote a new playbook with a four-week first-of-its-kind conspiracy. Because Michael isn't on social media, we orchestrated the conspiracy with four hero influencers, social and PR-partners. The brand “fought back” with owned-channels.

The idea organically took off everywhere. 400+ influencers organically joined in. It went viral across TikTok, Instagram, X, and Reddit. It was meme'ed, debated on podcasts... It resulted in 15.4B impressions BEFORE the commercial even aired. The "Perfect" (Today) campaign culminated with a Super Bowl commercial setting the record straight.

CeraVe has a niche, cult following on TikTok. But the core consumer base was 78% women, average age 40+. To become a cultural icon, CeraVe wanted to grow the audience to have mass appeal including Gen Z and men– while still appealing to their base consumer.

Our strategic insight was that Dermatologists are the celebrities of CeraVe, NOT a celebrity A-List spokesperson.

Our approach was to carefully plant the rumor on social media using four hero influencers, then let the internet run with it. We treated it like a conspiracy, not a traditional campaign, "leaking" Cera's involvement. We even had the brand commit by denying reports, picking a fight with Cera (so... fighting itself) and using their biggest assets, dermatologists, to fight back. 400+ influencers organically joined in the debate.

Rather than hero'ing a 30 second commercial, CeraVe was the talk of the internet for an ENTIRE MONTH!

Our conspiracy started 4-weeks prior to the Super Bowl. It rolled out over three acts via social, influencers and PR: (1) fake news campaign (2) public fight between Cera and CeraVe (3) Big Game resolution.

It began when @HayleeBaylee "spotted" Cera signing CeraVe bottles. Then we "leaked" paparazzi photos (front page Reddit / Daily Mail). Michael sent out "bootlegged" PR boxes. He walked off an interview with @BobbiAlthoff. We planted seeds across every social channel (X, IG, TikTok, Threads, Reddit). As the campaign escalated, we had the brand use owned-channels and an army of dermatologists to fight back, culminating with a NYTimes exclusive.

Then, when the whole world was debating the skincare conspiracy, we made our message clear in front of a record setting Super Bowl audience. CeraVe's Super Bowl commercial (which we never announced) set the record straight and secured CeraVe as a cultural icon.

Overall objective: Elevate CeraVe to the status of cultural icon.

Result: #1 SB Campaign (GQ, Forbes, Adweek, Adage)

Result: Most moisturizer sales in CeraVe history (*for one-week)

Goal: 1B earned impressions

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

Goal: Top 10 share of voice (based on earned engagement during game)

Result: #1 share of voice

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

Goal: Most talked about brand on social

Result: #1 most effective brand on tiktok (David), trended on X / Tiktok, Reddit front page, highest ever performing brand meme on FJerry

Result: 400+ organic influencers

Goal: 50 articles

Result: 2K+ articles

Goal: +3% audience growth

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

The month-long “ultra-meta, multipronged campaign” (NYTimes) was hailed as a “masterclass” (Adweek).