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Launching e.l.f. in the UK with purpose, noise and cut-through.

By
Southpaw
Date Launched
The Challenge
As one of the fastest growing challenger brands in the US, e.l.f. wanted to make their mark on the UK with an awareness campaign that disrupted beauty category norms in order to explain exactly who they were and what they stood for.

The Unlock
We used our culture tools to identify a new movement in UK culture called ‘unapologetically me’, where established conventions around beauty and style are being questioned and young people are embracing their own individual style in defiance of perfection and sameness. 

The Idea
We flipped the script on beauty advertising and empowered our audience to create e.l.f.’s first UK brand campaign. Born out of social, we asked our audience to define their personal style using three words starting with ‘E’, ‘L’ and ‘F’, turning the results into a bespoke e.l.f. manifesto. In a final twist, we used street casting to find totally real and unique individuals to become the faces of this new movement in beauty culture. 


The Results
6 MILLION Express Your e.l.f. campaign video views
DOUBLED unprompted awareness in the first 12 months

“Southpaw continue to push our creative boundaries at every stage of the process. They are inspiring partners who collaborate with all stakeholders, constantly have our community and superpowers in mind and are always finding ways to make deeper connections into culture."

Lauren Thornton
AVP of International Marketing, e.l.f. Cosmetics
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