Milani Cosmetics is tapping into the Y2K beauty craze with a new campaign inspired by the early noughties TV show America’s Next Top Model.
The humorous ‘America’s Next Top Primer’ social media campaign sees three characters, Zoe, Melanie and Brie, competing over who has the best primer look.
This is to promote the US make-up brand’s new Blur Out Smoothing Primer, which is ultimately crowned as the winner of the competition.
“This just in: Blur Out Smoothing Primer has officially taken the top spot as America’s Next Top Primer,” Milani Cosmetics wrote in an Instagram post.
“And let’s face it, with that pore-fect skin, the competition never stood a chance.”
The primer is designed to blur, hydrate and smooth skin with a mix of blue algae, Korean pear extract and moisture-locking powders.
It is the latest move in a trend of beauty brands tapping into entertainment as a means of marketing their products.
This includes brands such as e.l.f. Beauty, CeraVe and NYX Professional Makeup, which are increasingly using the format to target the Gen Z audience.
In 2024, CeraVe worked with actor Michael Cera on a guerilla marketing stunt that was a teaser for the L’Oréal-owned brand’s first Super Bowl campaign.
The Canadian actor was filmed by influencer Haley Kalil, a CeraVe brand partner, at a pharmacy placing stickers of his face on CeraVe cream bottles in a TikTok video which went viral.
e.l.f. Beauty has also created a new entertainment arm, called e.l.f. Made, to further its efforts to become “an entertainment brand”.
The division has released Get Ready With Music, The Album, as an extension of #GRWM beauty videos featuring music anthems for different moods and looks.
