In this edition of Stagwell Marketing Cloud x QuestBrand’s brand report, we’ll be looking at how a cheeky e.l.f. Cosmetics campaign about a “Dick” surplus raised the cosmetic company’s profile. (It’s not quite what you think.)
For this series, we take brand data from QuestBrand, a real-time brand management software tool, and highlight the brands you should have on your radar.
If you were a New York subway commuter in May, it was hard to miss the all caps message festooning station walls near Wall Street: “SO MANY DICKS.”
Was this a guerrilla PSA about misbehaving men? The launch of a terrible new NBC sitcom?
Neither, actually. The impactful copy was part of an activist-minded marketing push from e.l.f. Cosmetics, and the intent was to playfully-but-seriously draw attention to the lack of diversity in America’s corporate boardrooms.
The campaign centered on a striking statistic: “There are more men named Richard, Rick, or Dick on U.S. companies’ boards of directors than entire groups of underrepresented people.”
A dynamic online site for the campaign breaks the stats down further (“there are 2x more men named Dick than Hispanic women”) and highlights one of e.l.f.’s USPs: an actually diverse corporate board.
After all, the “So Many Dicks” tagline would have fallen pretty flat if e.l.f. had a board of directors that was mostly male.
“Out of 4,200 publicly traded U.S. companies,” they note with pride, “e.l.f. is only 1 of 4 to have a board that is two-thirds women and one-third diverse.” (They do acknowledge that there is a “Dick” on their board—a.k.a. one Rick Wolford—and that he’s “e.l.f.ing amazing.”)
As part of the campaign, e.l.f. partnered with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and tennis pro Billie Jean King to promote its message across public channels from May 13 to June 10, in an effort to “Change the Board Game.”
While this edgy campaign certainly captured eyeballs, did it move the needle for the brand itself? After all, the primary focus of these ads was about corporate board diversity—not the quality of e.l.f.’s cosmetics.
According to data from QuestBrand by the Harris Poll, the “So Many Dicks” effort did indeed lead to measurable growth in terms of U.S. women’s familiarity with the overall e.l.f. brand.
Take a look at the trend lines below.
Immediately following the launch of e.l.f’s “So Many Dicks,” the way women describe the cosmetics brand also shifted. After the campaign, women more often described e.l.f. Cosmetics as “visionary” (+5.1) and “dependable” (+5.0).
It’s no surprise that consumers care about a brand’s stance on sociopolitical issues. But this can be fraught territory at times, especially if that stance has little or nothing to do with the brand’s product—and if the brand risks coming across as hypocritical or vacuous in its messaging.
In this case, e.l.f. was able to make a powerful statement about boardroom diversity, and back it up with clear and impactful statistics.
What’s more, they were able to give themselves a well-deserved pat on the back for having a diverse board of directors.
While consumers are likely not going to purchase a new cosmetic purely for this reason, it might provide added value and incentive to become an e.l.f. buyer.
While e.l.f. pushed the envelope with their copy—“So Many Dicks” may be mild innuendo, but it’s innuendo nonetheless—this didn’t seem to turn off or offend their target demo. And unlike similarly cheeky and suggestive advertising campaigns in the past, this one didn’t seem to fall prey to subway censorship.
The TL;DR here?
E.l.f. took a big swing with this campaign, and it paid off. They stopped potential consumers in their tracks with a bold (and perplexing) slogan, then followed through with eye-opening data and an inspiring call to action.
Check out our previous “Brands Making a Splash” reports to discover how Beyonce gave Levi’s a bump, or what consumers really think about Pepsi, Red Bull, and White Claw.
Then learn more about what QuestBrand can do for your own marketing efforts, plus how Stagwell Marketing Cloud overall can change the way you work.
