MAC turned a commercial ‘holiday’ into a culturally relevant blockbuster by flipping the switch on National Lipstick Day with a PR born and bred idea centered around influencer lip combos.
Recognizing that Gen Z and Millennials prefer lip gloss and lip balm over classic lipstick, National Lipstick Day needed a new wrapper to capture relevance for MAC and attract younger consumers. So the brand leaned into the popular social trend filling its FYP – lip combos – and tapped It girls to curate their own. Giving full creative authority over to influential talent and selling their combos as a collectible set, MAC has transformed the National Lipstick Day campaign into an experience that is aspirational and highly personal.
Now in its third year, the strategy has grown from influencer collaborations into full-blown cultural moments, culminating in a partnership with JT, an unapologetic voice who embodies MAC’s fearless spirit. JT is a self-described MAC Girl with a love for makeup, point of view on personal style and passion for engaging with her fans online.
She curated her signature lip combo and authentically brought her style to the campaign –reviving brand love for a heritage MAC shade, Snob, with heroes Chestnut Lip Pencil and Lipglass Clear.
The successful partnership demonstrated the powerful understanding and connection MAC continues to have with its fans by teaming up with talent who reflect the MAC identity and fully embracing collaboration to turn a simple product story into a movement of modern self-expression.
The campaign was designed to roll out in carefully orchestrated phases, ensuring each touchpoint felt organic, social-first, and rooted in community engagement.
Phase 1: Social Launch via JT’s Channels
The activation began with JT debuting her custom MAC lip kit on Instagram and TikTok. Her posts were crafted to feel intimate and authentic, allowing her personality and connection to the brand to shine through. This approach positioned her endorsement as genuine enthusiasm rather than sponsorship, encouraging fans to engage directly and create their own interpretations of her lip combo.
Phase 2: Brand Storytelling through MAC Socials
Following JT’s posts, MAC Cosmetics amplified the campaign through immersive storytelling across its own platforms. The brand shared behind-the-scenes content, unboxing videos, and swatch demonstrations to introduce JT’s curated combo to its community. Each piece of content reflected the brand’s artistry and JT’s individuality, creating a cohesive visual narrative that merged professional polish with cultural authenticity.
Phase 3: Exclusive VIP Mailer
To extend the conversation organically, MAC executed a targeted seeding strategy. Product mailers were sent to influencers, VIPs, and friends of JT, designed to feel collectible and share-worthy. This phase aimed to scale the campaign through community participation, encouraging try-on content, unboxing videos, and user-generated posts that expanded visibility far beyond the brand’s owned platforms.
Phase 4: Experiential Activation – VIP Launch Event
To celebrate the launch, MAC hosted an exclusive event in NYC attended by JT, her closest friends, brand fans, and cultural tastemakers. The event embodied the energy of the campaign: bold, expressive, and rooted in community. JT’s arrival in a custom dress made entirely of MAC lipsticks became an instant visual statement that captured the brand’s signature blend of glamour and playfulness.
Phase 5: Media Coverage
Editorial storytelling played a key role in shaping the cultural conversation around the collaboration. Beauty editors from ELLE, Marie Claire, and Cosmopolitan were invited for exclusive interviews with JT, giving the campaign a personal and journalistic edge. This approach allowed MAC to merge celebrity relevance with editorial credibility—bridging the gap between pop culture and prestige beauty.
The final phase focused on sustaining momentum post-launch. MAC artists and creators joined the conversation by sharing their interpretations of the lip combo, driving excitement across stores and social media alike. Each piece of content contributed to building a living, breathing moment that extended far beyond a single product drop. And JT was there for it all, resharing on her social channels any time she was tagged in content of people trying her lip kit, giving them recognition.
The campaign was a resounding success, achieving record-breaking performance across every key metric: social, editorial, and commercial. From launch to sellout, it set a new benchmark for what National Lipstick Day could represent for MAC: a true cultural and commercial phenomenon.
JT’s launch content became the driving force behind this success, generating $3.9 million in earned media value from her social channels, a 255% increase over the previous year’s lead talent. Her organic enthusiasm amplified the campaign far beyond paid deliverables, with $3.6 million in added value driven by bonus in-feed posts, fan reposts, and daily interaction with her highly engaged X community. The result was a genuine two-way dialogue between brand, talent, and audience, an increasingly rare achievement in influencer partnerships.
Editorial impact mirrored social momentum. Exclusive features in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and ELLE elevated the campaign’s visibility and cultural credibility, generating an additional $200K in media impact value, a nearly 500% lift from the prior year. The NYC launch event served as a strategic amplifier, driving another $258K in EMV through press and social coverage, solidifying the campaign’s omnichannel reach.
Commercially, the momentum translated into measurable demand: JT’s Lip Kit sold out in less than one week, while the individual SKUs featured within it experienced triple-digit growth throughout the month. Together, these results proved that when a brand leads with cultural relevance, creative authenticity, and community connection, the outcome is not just visibility, but enduring brand love.
