This global relaunch transformed Shiseido’s luxury brand into a global powerhouse. In 2016, Clé de Peau Beauté, Shiseido’s luxury beauty brand, was thriving in Japan but was searching for an opportunity for global expansion. Maria, as part of the Jane Smith agency, collaborated with the Shiseido creative team in Tokyo in revamping their global brand communications, including an entirely new strategy, positioning, and creative across 360° touchpoints. We conceived and executed global strategies across multiple seasons, including a celebrity beauty campaign starring Felicity Jones; production of numerous global publicity events; management of digital and social channels; and creation of their first CSR program.
CLÉ DE PEAU BEAUTÉ
With a tailored strategy for the Chinese market, we cast beloved actress Zhang Ziyi as the Chinese face and ambassador of La Crème. The launch campaign achieved unprecedented results overnight, including a stunning 126+ million WeChat impressions for launch. In addition, we create visually compelling science films to tell the story of CPB’s complex and highly scientific skincare science. We translated the complexities of the detailed science for the global consumer, while maintaining the credibility around the brand’s product development, ingredient story, and efficacy.
As part of the global strategy, we saw an opportunity for Clé de Peau Beauté to align its incredible values with a cause that supported their inherent brand message that radiance truly lies within. The result was the conception and execution of Shiseido’s first-ever global CSR program, The Power of Radiance Program. In partnership with UNICEF, the program is a long-term corporate commitment that supports the education of women and girls globally by giving annual grants specifically to women that have made significant strides in reforming education. We created a range of digital and social content to support a 360° strategy. The program launched in March 2019 with an award ceremony honoring Syrian refugee, Muzoon Almellehan.
Our efforts contributed to Clé de Peau Beauté surpassing their five-year brand objectives within two years, and helped turn the brand into a global luxury beauty house.
In a first of its kind collaboration, Maria spearheaded a partnership between Netflix and Halston in conjunction with the 2021 series premiere of the Emmy-winning, Ryan Murphy-produced miniseries, Halston, starring Ewan McGregor. The partnership encompassed vintage Halston pieces recreated for the series by costume designer Jeriana San Juan, and a limited-edition ten-piece capsule collection released worldwide to consumers to coincide with show’s premiere.
HALSTON X NETFLIX
The collection was supported by a comprehensive marketing and retail strategy, as well as highly visual campaign across multiple touch points on both Netflix and Halston brand channels. Key highlights of the project included: brokering exclusive retail partnerships with Neiman Marcus and Saks; setting a high standard for creative direction and production for the breadth of the campaign; and leading substantive promotion for the brand and retailers via social media, robust email marketing and digital media campaign. We launched the collaboration with a Vogue exclusive, followed by extensive press in outlets including The New York Times, Elle, Access Hollywood, WWD, Forbes and more.
Through partnership and launch of limited-edition Halston x Netflix capsule collection, Halston’s online sales increased 631% YoY. Traffic was boosted to Halston.com by 3,200% (primarily through organic searches) as captured by Google Analytics. Instagram followers increased 56.4% in three months.
