CeraVe: The New Face of Legs
CeraVe needed to expand its relevance beyond facial skincare and increase total-body moisturizer adoption. The client sought to engage a younger, social-media-savvy audience by addressing the common issue of dry skin in a way that felt authentic rather than corporate. They challenged the agency to find a creative way to normalize full-body hydration while maintaining the brand's clinical reputation.
Creative Idea
The brand turned a viral meme about dry legs into a legitimate skincare partnership.
CeraVe turned a viral internet joke about Kevin Durant's dry legs into a self-aware marketing campaign, using the athlete's own meme to educate consumers on total-body hydration through dermatologist-backed science.
Turning An Internet Meme Into Sales
From Viral Joke To Sales Powerhouse
The campaign successfully bridged the gap between internet culture and clinical skincare. By leaning into the long-running social media jokes regarding Kevin Durant’s dry legs, the brand achieved a 43% lift in sales. This strategy proved that self-awareness is a potent tool for legacy brands, resulting in 4.1 billion PR impressions and 83 million organic video views. The project demonstrated that when a brand embraces a meme rather than ignoring it, it can effectively shift consumer perception and drive massive commercial growth.
Orchestrating The Perfect Partnership
The production was a collaborative effort between Bolded, the branded entertainment studio of OBB Media, and Ogilvy, which managed the complex PR and earned media strategy. Michael Kushner, Executive Creative Director at Bolded, led the creative vision, ensuring the tone remained authentic to both the athlete’s personality and the brand’s clinical reputation. Dr. Nozile was brought in as a key partner to anchor the humor in science, ensuring that while the campaign was entertaining, it still delivered on the brand’s core promise of dermatologist-backed hydration.
Building Chapters Of Engagement
Adam Kornblum, Chief Creative Officer at L'Oréal U.S. Brands, emphasized that the campaign was designed to live beyond a single viral moment. The team structured the content in chapters, treating the rollout like a narrative book. This approach allowed the brand to maintain momentum, moving from the initial attention-grabbing reveal to sustained educational content. By focusing on a "middle" that kept audiences invested and a "payoff" that encouraged product trial, the agency proved that disruption in the attention economy requires a long-term strategic roadmap rather than just a one-off stunt.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
CeraVe leveraged its authority as a dermatologist-developed brand to provide clinical credibility to a lighthearted, celebrity-driven social campaign.
Category
Skincare brands typically focus on facial beauty, often ignoring the necessity of total-body hydration for athletes and everyday consumers.
Customer
The audience wanted relatable, humorous content that didn't feel like a lecture, while still receiving genuine, effective skincare advice.
Culture
The campaign capitalized on the internet's obsession with celebrity memes, turning a viral 'skincident' into a legitimate educational opportunity.
Company
CeraVe leveraged its authority as a dermatologist-developed brand to provide clinical credibility to a lighthearted, celebrity-driven social campaign.
Category
Skincare brands typically focus on facial beauty, often ignoring the necessity of total-body hydration for athletes and everyday consumers.
Strategy:
Reclaim negative cultural narratives to transform brand perception into an authentic, relatable authority.
Customer
The audience wanted relatable, humorous content that didn't feel like a lecture, while still receiving genuine, effective skincare advice.
Culture
The campaign capitalized on the internet's obsession with celebrity memes, turning a viral 'skincident' into a legitimate educational opportunity.
Strategy:
Reclaim negative cultural narratives to transform brand perception into an authentic, relatable authority.
Strategy Technique
Turn Weakness Into Strength
By leaning into the existing internet jokes about his dry skin, CeraVe reclaimed the narrative. This strategy turned a negative cultural observation into a powerful, authentic endorsement for the product.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Turn Failure into Success
The campaign embraced a viral meme about the athlete's dry skin as a positive, ownable brand moment. It transformed a potential public embarrassment into a platform for effective skincare education.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign stands out for its clever copywriting and playful subversion of traditional beauty ad tropes, using an elite athlete to promote skincare.
The humorous tagline 'The New Face of Legs' perfectly subverts typical skincare advertising language.
The slow, deliberate vertical pan emphasizes scale and texture, mimicking classic beauty commercials.
“The synergy between the slow, dramatic camera work and the witty, understated copywriting creates a highly memorable comedic contrast.”
