Lashing out with Maybelline’s viral mascara ad

The UK out-of-home campaign for Maybelline’s Sky High Mascara has gone viral around the globe but some are lashing out.   

To showcase the full effect of the mascara’s lengthening abilities, Maybelline has placed false eyelashes on trains and buses in London. 

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@Maybelline New York is lashing out with their new ad campaign in London. 👀 #maybelline #eyelashes

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" target="_blank">Videos have been shared online of the eyelashes on London transport, amassing millions of views and garnering strong opinions regarding the striking advertising choice.  

As the train pulls in, wands suspended from billboards in the station brush up against the eyelashes atop the train’s carriage, just as one would apply the mascara product.  

Many marketers and strategists have contributed their thoughts on the brand stunt, claiming it failed to highlight any particular information about Maybelline itself and could be replicated by any other beauty company.  

Australian creative Sam Walters (pictured right), general manager of consulting at Cubery, weighed in on the debate.  

What’s interesting, he notes, is that on most social media platforms (and it has popped up on all of them), the feedback has been mostly positive; "thumbs up", heart emojis and general discourse whether it’s real or CGI. 

“But on LinkedIn the commentary has been more mixed, with people seemingly taking offence that the London Underground train didn’t list a range of rational claims and credentials for Maybelline after applying its mascara,” he said. 

The main criticism toward the campaign was therefore that it said nothing new about the brand itself and that it could have been mistaken for any cosmetics brand. 

Walters said the optimum communications will always be easily recognisable and synergistic with existing memory structures. 

“Does this campaign do that perfectly? No. Equally have we learnt anything new about Maybelline mascara (other than it could be used to spruce up trains and buses)? No. Does that matter? Again, probably no,” he said. 

“Because if you reach millions globally due to a highly original idea that gets shared and goes viral across a range of markets and demographics, you can be more comfortable and lenient if it doesn’t deliver across all effectiveness levers.” 

For Amanda Spry, lecturer of marketing at RMIT, many of the criticisms of Maybelline seem to be based on the assumption that the aim was similar to a traditional campaign, she says.

“With an out-of-home advertising tactic like Maybelline’s, we would usually be talking about how it has boosted awareness or enhanced image and sentiment of the brand for the people who encountered it ‘in the wild’ and told their friends and family about it,” she said. 

Spry (pictured right) said the beauty company has ultimately failed to achieved these traditional campaign outcomes. 

They haven’t done a lot to increase knowledge or differentiation of the mascara product that was the centrepiece of this publicity stunt, she says. 

“But do they need to? Probably not. Maybelline has always been regarded as an authority and icon in the mascara category (think: Great Lash Mascara),” said Spry. 

“Mascara is one of Maybelline’s flagship products and they use many other channels and influencers to keep consumers up to date with new iterations of that product and interpretations of who it is for.” 

Walters can also see the successful side of the OOH campaign, noting that sub-optimal brand connection to "100 million eyes" is still better than great branding to a few thousand. 

“The net outcome is that this campaign has delivered an incredible level of earned media, and subsequent saliency, for Maybelline. With the ROI immeasurable,” he said. 

This brings about another recurring criticism towards the campaign, says Walters.  

“The suggestion that a ‘$2.5B brand doesn’t need an awareness campaign’. A copy of ‘How Brands Grow’ should be winging its way to that commentator!” he said. 

While awareness of Maybelline might indeed be almost universal, it has got there and stayed there through initiatives just like this one, said Walters. 

“I’ll let you into a secret, Coca Cola still advertise to maintain brand saliency, surprising hey?” he said. 

“To argue, therefore, that this was more for the ad agencies benefit than the brand is to undermine the power of creativity and emotion in motivating consumers.” 

Spry said that what Maybelline has done in this case is started a different conversation. 

“About creativity and innovation in marketing communications and specifically, ‘out of home’ promotions that are not real but are, in fact, created by AI and CGI and circulated on digital platforms to a wider network,” she said. 

“Time will tell how beneficial this is to bottom-line outcomes and just how much more creative marketers can be when let loose in a purely artificial, virtual space.”