A year of Taylor Swift, beauty marketing, and the Super Bowl

I’m not a huge sports fan, but the excitement for this year’s Super Bowl was more palpable than I’ve ever felt before.It’s practically possible listen The internet was abuzz in the hours leading up to kickoff, but not all of the online chatter was about sports or musical performances. For the first time, this match was filled with great expectations as a major celebrity and beauty event.

And from the moment Taylor Swift entered Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium wearing her signature red lipstick (alongside Blake Lively, who wore her hair in big corkscrew curls), that promise was fulfilled. . Then, embarrassingly, I got excited again when I spotted a grainy photo of Hailey and Justin Bieber in the stands. Not because they were in attendance, but because this was where Hailey chose to debut her new dark brown hair color. She too had something to offer to those who loved her beauty.

But perhaps the most notable beauty fan offering of the night was the advertising. Instead of just commercials selling beer, cars, and junk food, Elf Cosmetics made its first ever U.S. Super Bowl appearance, with appearances by NYX Professional Makeup and CeraVe. Meanwhile, the Dubs earned a spot for the first time in 18 years. This live television event reliably draws more than 100 million viewers each year, but airtime is notoriously expensive (and historically dominated by the aforementioned alcohol and automobiles). ). So why is 2024 the year the beauty industry decided it was worth entering a traditionally male-dominated field? Simply put, we know that young women are paying attention. It is from.

The most profound factor driving women’s interest in the NFL is the “Taylor Swift effect,” or the increased sales and engagement that superstars bring to anything they touch, and this situation has been building up for some time. MarketWatch reports that Swift’s attendance at a Kansas City Chiefs game to cheer on her boyfriend Travis Kelce during the season alone led to a 53% increase in female viewers between the ages of 12 and 17, and an increase of 18 The number of viewers between the ages of 24 and 24 increased by 24%. At the same time, the beauty industry has been booming for many years, which taken together suggests that the biggest advertising day of the year had a significant number of eager beauty buyers in the audience.

For Elf Cosmetics, the decision to run a national Super Bowl ad was also based on past success. In 2023, the brand aired its first regional commercial starring Jennifer Coolidge. This has been “so effective that our Power Grip Primer has exploded in popularity and now sells one every 3.5 seconds,” said Cory, Elf Beauty’s chief marketing officer. Marchisotto speaks to NYLON. This year’s Courtroom TV Parody features Judge Judy Sheindlin, Meghan Trainor, suit Actress Sarah Rafferty, comedian Benito Skinner, jury dutyThis is Ronald Gladden. The Elf ad felt like a perfect fit next to the other ads of the night with celebrities doing silly things.

NYX Professional’s first regional Super Bowl commercial marks the brand’s first celebrity partnership with a 30-second video featuring Cardi B promoting the brand’s Duck Plump lip gloss with a group of latex-laden ducks. It becomes. This absurd spot continues to gain traction online, fueled by the fact that NYX has released an extended version that is “not approved for broadcast.” Denny Pearson, president of global brands at NYX, says the key is to entertain and increase brand awareness while highlighting the brand’s appeal. “Evolution to ‘Sportstainment'”.

The combination of beauty, sports, and entertainment will likely become even more intertwined as brands develop strategies to attract and retain new female (perhaps Swiftie) sports fans. But looking at this year’s Super Bowl, I think we’ll see more football games where women are welcomed with intentional and fun messages, rather than just pandering to the color pink.