As originally posted on PRWeek
Campaign: Cleanse Like a Derm
Companies: CeraVe
Agency Partners: Coyne PR (public relations, event and livestream production and creative) and BPCM (influencer engagement)
Duration: July 12 – August 2, 2022
As a writer at Mic put it earlier this year, “TikTok is basically an encyclopedia for skincare and beauty hacks.”
In response to the TikTok trend, skincare brand CeraVe and Coyne PR produced a live TikTok event on August 2 called Cleanse Like a Derm, featuring popular dermatologists and “skinfluencers.”
Strategy
CeraVe saw a need “ to ‘clean up’ misconceptions and combat untested trends with true dermatological advice,” Shana Walther, vice president of marketing and new business for Coyne PR, stated in an email to PRWeek.
“What they set out to do was to engage these dermatologists and the skin influencers that are already talking about the brand on how to cleanse with the brand and really to drive that education on proper cleansing,” said Coyne PR VP Jennifer Launchi.
Another goal was to get dermatologists and the influencers “together in a room and engage,” said Justin Hahn, VP and creative director at Coyne.
Tactics
In the three weeks leading up to the event, the brand started to promote it to media influencers, who were invited to join the event in-person. About a week ahead, the event was promoted with an Instagram story.
The live event featured a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Dustin Portela, a dermatologist who has more than 2 million followers on TikTok, and featuring Dr. Michelle Henry, a fellow dermatologist who has more than 93,000 followers on Instagram, and Avani Gregg, a 19-year-old influencer and makeup artist with more than 42 million followers on TikTok.
Portela, Henry and Gregg also shared educational content on their social media platforms, some of which was created by influencer Zach King. The content was supported through robust digital and social media buys to amplify reach beyond their TikTok followers.
“The goal of this session today is to teach everybody how to cleanse like a derm, how to understand the bad habits that we might have and how they could be affecting our skincare routine,” Portela said at the event.
The dermatologist shared stories and tried to engage with the in-person and virtual audience.
“How many of you confess to skipping your cleansing routine, either in the morning or at night?” Henry asked.
Members of the in-person audience, including dermatologists and influencers, held up signs that stated, “I have,” or “I have never.”
“I am also very guilty of this sometimes — I’m just so tired,” Henry said. “It really is the worst thing you can do for your skin. So at night, obviously we have the oil and dirt and debris and makeup that we put on our skin, and it’s really just holding in those environmental aggressors, that pollution.”
Nada Baalbaki, CeraVe global director of scientific communications and clinical research, also did a product demonstration in which she took a banana peel, dipped it in water and then rubbed the CeraVe cleanser on the peel 10 times. She then rinsed the peel and patted it dry.
She explained that they conducted the exercise backstage before the event and then showed the audience the difference between a peel washed with the CeraVe versus one washed just with a loofah and lukewarm water. The latter peel had more browning than the former one.
“So what do these bananas have to do with our skin?” Baalbaki asked. “This is a demonstration to help us see how damaging effects of abrasive or harsh methods can be on our skin.”
The livestreamed panel discussion had live translators that allowed viewers to select audio in nine different languages. Viewers were also encouraged to participate in the discussion with real-time polling questions, keeping them engaged with the subject matter.
Following the panel discussion, guests enjoyed social media-worthy photo opportunities, including an upside down CeraVe bathroom, an oversized medicine cabinet for “shelfies” and a giant sink ballpit. In attendance were 30 additional dermfluencers that were tapped as paid partners who created content at each of the photo stations to help CeraVe take over social media with cleanser recommendations.
At the end of the event, Portela encouraged the audience to share what they learned online and tag CeraVe and use the hashtag #cleanselikeaderm.
Results
More than 5,000 people watched the event virtually between the livestream and a live TikTok stream, including attendees from 62 countries, according to Coyne.
There were more than 420 posts and stories on social media surrounding the event.
During the week of the event, sales of CeraVe core cleansers were up more than 52% versus the same period the previous year.
The campaign also generated coverage from WhoWhatWear.
