The Crisis Collection by Il Makiage: Taking maximalism to the next level.

THE ONE SHOW – YOUNG ONES
SILVER PENCIL WinnEr
Brand immersion
Understanding 01
A challenger brand in the make-up category, Il Makiage made itself known when it launched its first campaign in 2018 with its bold, unapologetic, and sassy tone going against the pink-washed minimalist trend of recent years.
The antithesis of minimal makeup brands, Il Makiage defines itself with its tagline: "Make-up for maximalists", that flipped the meaning of high-maintanace, while flipping the bird. The brand found its audience in women who don't apologize for their high standards.
Their original campaign raised eyebrows with provocative ads spread around New York City that positioned the brand as the the extra, unapologetic, anti-minimalist makeup.

Isolating the business challenge
Il Makiage asked us to create a follow-up to their launch campaign with the same uncompromising, sassy tone. They wanted to double down and create disruption once again, and they were looking to promote the brand itself rather than its products. With such a bold act to follow, expectations were high, so we set goals accordingly.
How do we double down on boldness and create disruption in the make-up space?
Empathizing with maximalist makeup users
We A crucial step is putting yourself in the brand target audience's shoes – no matter how different an audience might be from you, it's essential to be able to see it from their point of view.
For this project, we empathized with make-up users who always take it one step beyond. We asked ourselves: What do they like? Where do they spend their time? And what defines their "maximalist" attitude towards makeup?
Research
To further understand our target audience we researched their habits and attitudes towards make-up. We found them to be a niche audience, but extremely passionate about their looks.

...

"people who judge me for wearing too much make up just don't get it"

"I take "extra" as a compliment"
Research on target audience
After empathizing with make-up maximalists, we started exploring different insights areas., we realized the truth was much more overarching. for maximalists, being undeniably extra goes beyond just makeup, they take pride in being high maintenance and always wanting more, sometimes even defying logic.
Insight
For maximalists, make-up is much more than just make-up. It's even more than a lifestyle, it's about life itself.
Exploring 02
Brand Solution
The message from Il Makiage becomes: makeup comes before anything, even life. To show just how much make-up maximalists are serious about their looks, we came up with a fictional series of products designed to protect their make-up in some of life's most extreme situations: car crashes, house fires, and passing out. Then, we created a dramatic video to showcase them.

Launching
the campaign
What better way to implement a campaign aimed at doubling down on disruption and taking Il Makiage to the next level, than launching an unapologetic and polarizing video? We created one to kickstart the campaign.
Materializing 03
The video we created for the campaign
Roll Out Plan
In order to build hype around the video release, short teasers are going to be released over the platforms that our audience is more likely to use: Instagram stories and youtube pre-roll ads before makeup-related content.
Content for campaign media plan as Instagram Stories paid ads, sponsored posts and YouTube pre-roll ads.
Earned Media
After the full video will be released, we expect our polarizing campaign to generate a lot of buzz across various media. Especially publications that are relevant for our audience.

Measurement
+ Sustaining
Reach and success of the campaign would be measured through increase in brand awareness across multiple channels.