Research showed that many Kiwi women don’t like to make bold statements with their make-up in general, and lipstick in particular, to really stand out.

To change their opinions and ‘liberate their lips’, Maybelline’s ‘Get a Little Lippy’ campaign was launched. This meant creating a great range of retail offers on Maybelline’s fun, vibrant range of colours, but the campaign was augmented dramatically through social and digital channels, by utilising the emerging selfie trend in order to really bring the colour range to life.

To do this we created a Facebook app that allowed people to give their selfies a Maybelline ‘Get a Little Lippy’ colour and attitude makeover. Additionally, we incentivised users with an entry into a competition to win lipsticks daily.

We also teamed up with other partners on a range of activities, including experiential photo booths, to augment the reach of the digital campaign into out-of-home touchpoints too.

The amazing results validated the approach. From a digital perspective, we had nearly 2000 selfie uploads, and dramatically grew our Facebook fanbase by 9% and engagement rate by 468%. And we also saw not only a noticeable lift in sales, but a marked shift in perceptions around lipstick application as well, just as we’d set out to do.

The end result was that 52,580 woman engaged with us online and clearly identified Maybelline as a new ally when it came to confidently expressing themselves. For the first time ever we overtook our nearest rival, Revlon in unit share of total Lip in a one week period**.

So, effectively we sparked a mini make-up revolution, which spread organically, and changed mindsets. And, best of all, this was all achieved on an extremely limited budget.