The objective of the Carol's Daughter Born and Made campaign was to celebrate the diverse community of strong women who have been a part of the Carol's Daughter family for more than 22 years, in a way that tied back to the heritage of the brand. With this inspiration in mind, the brand looked closely at its very own products: Each bottle has always been printed with "Born in Brooklyn. Made with Love." Building off of that, Carol's Daughter honored its origins, kicking off with founder Lisa Price revealing her Born and Made story and inviting women to share theirs. The brand sought to leverage its highly engaged social media community to give them a platform to share their distinct voices. Furthermore, Carol's Daughter wanted to align itself with a like-minded non-profit organization that raises women up.
Strategy 1: Non-Profit Organization: I Am That Girl
Carol's Daughter partnered with non-profit organization I Am That Girl, which inspires girls to love, express, and be exactly who they want to be. Together, they aim to create a beautiful community of independent women from all walks of life. Partnering with the organization allows Carol's Daughter to re-invest in communities that need support and, start a conversation that goes well beyond skin deep chatter but rather invites multicultural and multi demographic faces to tell their story.
Strategy 2: Website
Carol's Daughter treated all of its channels as a media platform, integrating consumer stories by developing a mobile and web responsive User Generated Content widget that makes the user the star, to celebrate every woman.
At the center of the campaign-turned-movement is the website www.bornandmade.com. Additionally it shares exclusive videos and images from diverse women, such as beauty bloggers Whitney White and Daniela Ramirez, and activist and writer Michela Angela Davis. The video series highlight I Am That Girl chapter leaders asking these women what makes them unique along with other questions that connect with women of all ages. On the website, women can upload an image and insert phrases that they can then share on social media. The deliberate decision to superimpose the Born and Made phrases on top of the image encourages women to place as much emphasis on who they are on the inside as who they are on the outside.
Strategy 3: Social Media Engagement
On August 26th the website went live and Born and Made images started popping up on social media, creating a viral campaign that surpassed expectations. Women from all over the world were celebrating their own individuality and that of others' by participating in the campaign. Elevating this inspirational campaign was participation from beloved celebrities either from brand outreach or of their own accord, including Sophia Bush, Sanaa Latham, Garcelle Beauvais and Estelle.
Strategy 4: Public Relations Outreach
Beauty editors at all major publications received a questionnaire as a teaser to the launch of the campaign. Coinciding with the launch, editors received custom Born and Made images based off of their responses so that they could easily upload to social media to build buzz. Media outlets across the country received a creative delivery explaining the campaign, inviting them to spread the word and participate.
Strategy 5: Event Sponsorships
To pre-seed the launch in August, as part of its sponsorship of music festival AfroPunk, the brand set up a custom photo booth where attendees could start creating Born and Made images and sharing on social media. This grassroots approach allowed Carol's Daughter to reach women directly. The brand will continue its momentum via sponsorship of BeautyCon NYC in October, again allowing girls and women to connect with the brand on an intimate level.
Strategy 6: Print Advertisements
In Q4 2015 the campaign will be supported by print ads featuring Price's own story as well as the story behind Carol's Daughter's iconic beauty products.
To-date, the campaign has received over 110,000 submissions, with the bulk uploaded within 48 hours of launch, making it the #1 trending hashtag, with over 25,000 posts on Instagram that reached over 20 million users. Born and Made exceeded expectations, creating a movement that truly connects with women in multiple countries. The campaign not only resonated with the Carol's Daughter social media community, strengthening those relationships, but widened its reach by attracting new followers. To further connect with the growing community, Carol's Daughter surprised participants by featuring select Born and Made images on the brand's Instagram page, much to their fans' delight.
Lastly, Lisa Price and Emily Greener participated in several interviews, including HuffingtonPost.com, PopSugar.com, Allure.com, Ebony.com, and Upworthy.com. PR efforts have garnered over 228 million impressions and counting.
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