THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Industry

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Auto See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Beauty See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Business to Business See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Consumer Brand See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Education See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Entertainment See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Financial Services See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Fitness, Health, & Wellness
<br>See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Food & Beverage
See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Gaming See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Government & Politics See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Hospitality See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Insurance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Live Events See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> News & Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Non-Profit See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pets & Animals See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pharma & Healthcare See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Estate See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Restaurants See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Retail & E-Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Activism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Sports See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Television See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Travel & Tourism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Wine, Beer & Spirits

Strategy & Engagement

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Brand Partnership See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Call to Action See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Community Management See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Creative Use of Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> CTV/OTT See previous winners and honorees for Insights and Trends here.</a> <a href=https://shortyawards.com/16th/"https://shortyawards.com/category/16th/data-visualization">See previous winners and honorees for Data Visualization here.</a>"> Data & Insights See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Earned Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Event & Experiential See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Gamification See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Humor See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Innovative Media Buying Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Integration with Traditional Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Internal Communications See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> LGBTQ Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Micro-Influencer Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Multicultural Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Music & Dance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> On a Shoestring See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Organic Promotion See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Paid & Amplification See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Physical and Digital Convergence See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Public Service Announcement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Time Response See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> SEO & SEM See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Storytelling
From the 16th Annual Shorty Awards

e.l.f. Cosmetics: eyes.lips.face.sticky.

Finalist in Insights & Trends, Branded Content

Silver Honor in Multi-Platform Partnership

Objectives

In January 2023, e.l.f. saw an opportunity to kick off the year with a moment so disruptive, they'd outdo even themselves: A spot on the world's biggest stage: Super Bowl Sunday.

With just three weeks until Game Day, e.l.f. enlisted our agency, SHADOW, to concept, script, cast, produce, shoot and edit the brand’s first-ever commercial, then amplify it with a “surround sound” integrated PR strategy.

Our objectives included: 

Strategy and Execution

We moved quickly to develop the creative, leaning on product insights, cultural insights, and wisdom gleaned from our many TikTok campaigns with the brand. We decided to center e.l.f.’s Power Grip Primer as the hero – a not-so-obvious choice, were it not for the 70 million posts the product racked up on social media, in praise of its stickiness and long-lasting effects. 

To bring the creative to life, we partnered with two talents who resonated deeply in culture at that time: actress, Jennifer Coolidge and White Lotus director/writer, Mike White. The following insights drove our casting decision:

The commercial was one component of a broader campaign; we made strategic choices to amplify our 30 seconds into a cultural moment. We pulsed out assets and information for a steady stream of news, and ensured every aspect of the campaign (talent, hero product, platform) had its own PR hook. We sent tailored press pitches across verticals to ensure everyone received the message: e.l.f.’s Power Grip Primer is sticky as f*ck. 

One of the biggest challenges was simply beating the clock. With only three weeks, we needed to concept, script, cast, produce, shoot & edit the brand’s first-ever commercial, and amplify it with an integrated PR strategy. Expectations were sky-high, as the Super Bowl marked a first-ever foray for any cosmetics brand. We had to spread the word & ensure press from every industry vertical and across every channel - even those that wouldn't typically cover e.l.f. news or the beauty industry - included the spot in their coverage - from beauty to entertainment, men's interest, hype culture, across broadcast, digital, podcasts, radio and more. In less time than most campaigns get off the ground, we successfully pulled off blanket coverage and exceeded all objectives. 

Results

Results surpassed all objectives. The campaign catapulted the Power Grip Primer to the first-ever primer in mass cosmetics history to earn #1 SKU, with one primer sold every four seconds. 

The campaign garnered 10 billion earned media impressions in 24 hours and 57 billion globally, spanning media that over-indexes with Gen Z, millennials, as well as Gen X readers. Over a five-day period immediately following the Big Game, the campaign generated over 65 million paid and organic media impressions across TV, TikTok, and Instagram, elevating #dolphinskin to the third-fastest growing beauty hashtag. 

elfcosmetics.com saw an increase in new users of 68% week-over-week and a 459% increase in Amazon best-seller rank within the first 24 hours.

The commercial ranked fifth in total social mentions of any Super Bowl spot and was the *only* spot of the top five that was not a national media buy. Rather, this was a locally Owned & Operated + Digital Streaming Buy for the Big Game.

Finally, e.l.f.’s brand sentiment hit a February high on Sunday 2/12 - reaching an incredible 82% net positive sentiment. Plus, the brand’s leading lady, Jennifer Coolidge, was ranked 1st in audience sentiment of any celebrity Super Bowl spot.

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

SHADOW

Links

Entry Credits