IPSY - I Play Beauty
Challenge
IPSY, the world's largest beauty membership, was losing cultural resonance with Gen Z and younger Millennials. While the brand had scale, beauty's perception as superficial or perfection-driven was at odds with a generation that values authenticity, individuality, and self-expression. IPSY needed a relaunch that could reintroduce the brand to this audience and position beauty as relevant, joyful, and culturally meaningful.
Insight
Research revealed a cultural opening: Gen Z doesn't see beauty as vanity — they see it as a creative outlet akin to gaming, crafting, or sport. For them, makeup and skincare are tools of identity, experimentation, and play. IPSY could claim this space by reframing beauty as a hobby, community, and cultural practice rather than a narrow pursuit of perfection.
Strategy
Adolescent Content partnered with IPSY to build a new brand platform: I Play Beauty. The campaign would:
Reposition beauty as play, art, and sport — something to do, not something to fix.
Center real creators and communities rather than aspirational perfection.
Ignite a cultural movement by challenging entrenched stereotypes and introducing a new vocabulary for beauty.
Execution
Hero Film: A manifesto-style film launched on the platform, featuring real creators like Olivia Bond, Georgia Bridgers, Jordan Rebello, and the Junior Derby Dolls. Through their stories, beauty came alive as a hobby of self-expression, joy, and experimentation.
Social Series "Names": Creator-led spots explored the many ways people "play beauty," celebrating diversity, individuality, and authentic voices, and inviting people to name their beauty hobby.
Multi-Platform Activation: The campaign activated a 60-person content studio delivering assets across paid and organic social, with creator partnerships spanning multiple markets and ongoing cultural moments.
Cultural Foundation: Informed by Gen Z think tanks and focus groups, the campaign extended across Instagram, TikTok, and creator channels, building a community-driven movement that sparked conversation around beauty as hobby, artistry, and empowerment.
Impact
Press Recognition: The campaign was spotlighted by Ad Age, Campaign US, The Drum, and Trend Hunter as a bold, category-shifting movement.
Campaign US called it a "reframe of beauty as victory, not vanity."
The Drum recognized it as a cultural shift in permission, validating beauty as a legitimate form of play and craft.
Trend Hunter highlighted the campaign as the spearhead of the "beauty-as-hobby movement," identifying it as an emerging industry trend with implications across cosmetics, digital media, and social marketing.
Cultural Relevance: By positioning beauty alongside gaming, sport, and crafting, IPSY carved out a new narrative that resonates with Gen Z — expanding from a subscription box to a cultural brand.
Brand Relaunch Foundation: I Play Beauty became the cornerstone of IPSY's comprehensive rebranding initiative, serving as the cultural platform for their November 2025 product portfolio renaming and continued expansion into new markets.
