BeReal is currently the cool younger sibling on the block when it comes to users’ preferred social media channels. Where the app prioritises authenticity and mostly friend-only accounts, E.L.F cosmetics’ creative and clever marketing campaign capitalises on just these elements to market their new products.
The cosmetic company offered free products to the first 150 accounts to friend them on the app thus attracting a heavy traffic following upon inception. Essentially, the first 150 users who sent a friend request to the @elfyeah handle received a promo code giving them a free Hydrated Ever After Skincare Mini Kit and free shipping.
Creative agency Movers+Shakers spearheaded the initiative, seeing BeReal as a new opportunity for brands to connect with superfans and to provide insider access via their content on the platform. The agency’s cofounder developed on this, telling AdWeek “Generation Z wants to know what is really happening in each other’s lives. They’re tired of fake, overly planned and edited content on other social apps. BeReal allows people to share their unfiltered, real lives, and now brands can offer fans the same level of transparency.”
This is the second big step for the creative agency really cementing itself as a Gen Z brand and social media centric brand as it was one of the first cosmetics companies to really embrace TikTok back in 2019 tapping into the booming short form app for a challenge that evolved into original track “Eyes.Lips.Face”. This was also followed by a TikTok-exclusive holiday film for Christmas 2021.
BeReal is heralded as an almost anti-Instagram app reverting back to the kind of Instagram we knew and loved pre 2017 and especially pre covid where the app was intended for candid posts of friends and daily ‘real’ life. Now with the clever use of BeReal, E.L.F positions itself as a brand that not only knows how to use social media but demonstrates knowledge of great timing when it comes to the latest social apps and which apps are preferred by users of its target demographic.
