Beauty Uncovered is a communication campaign that is aimed to encourage consumers to adopt an ethical beauty routine while saving the environment.
The word “uncovered” relates to exposing, revealing, or laying something bare, in which the campaign attempted to “uncover” the fundamentals of ethical beauty consumption that has often been overlooked.
The Highlights
Throughout the course of the campaign, Beauty Uncovered has been recognised and celebrated for the its focus on ethical beauty. Even amongst the green community, such as in local eco-conscious initiatives and amongst thought leaders, Beauty Uncovered was seen as a platform which shed light on a topic that had previously gone undiscussed.
The team was also seen as a credible source of information pertaining to their topic on ethical beauty. They received questions on their Instagram account from followers who had questions on the topic of ethical beauty, and were curious about certain ingredients. Additionally, based on Instagram Insights, the team postings saw up to 28 saves from different users on a single post, which indicated that the information was reliable and useful.
The team organised Singapore’s first Ethical Beauty Marketplace as a finale to the campaign. Since the conclusion of the Marketplace, the team has continued to receive a significant amount of requests from organisations, businesses, schools, and eco-conscious groups which include Singapore Tourism Board and Green is the New Black, to participate in their events as a vendor, host beauty swaps and educate their audience on our topic. Such requests demonstrate the industry’s awareness of the importance of the campaign and cause that has yet to be fully acknowledged by the industry and mainstream media.
Additionally, the team has received many positive feedback from vendors who participated at their ethical beauty marketplace, with requests to make the marketplace an annual affair. They recognised the effectiveness of an eco-event solely focused on beauty, and appreciated the platform that allowed them to reach out potential consumers who were not completely foreign to the ethical beauty industry.
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The Memories
Reflection #1 – The Challenges
Lack of Funding.
The campaign was unsuccessful in applying for multiple funds and thus only managed to obtain a total budget of $3,600, comparatively less than other campaigns. Despite the tight budget, the team was able to maximise the funds and focused on purchasing resources that were especially pertinent to their cause. This allowed the campaign to stay true to its core value (i.e. to reduce unnecessary waste).
Lack of Industrial Standards for Ethical Beauty.
The campaign was unable to maintain a strong stand on any given ethical issue. This was due to the lack of industrial standards for Ethical Beauty and even transparency within the beauty industry itself. The team also noted that beauty and personal well-being is a personal and highly individualised topic. This led to more time taken to research and cite sources, and similarly ensuring the messaging did not sound overly preachy.
Limited Media Coverage.
Despite receiving attention and gaining loyal followings, the campaign did not manage to secure mass media coverage on hard news channels, which may have led to a lower potential reach given the time constraints of the campaign.
Reflection #2 – The Takeaways
The target audience shared their wishes for the team to continue their campaign even after their graduation (i.e. this is a final year project), stating their belief in the cause and their reliance on the team to get accessible information about ethical beauty from the campaign’s platforms.
Members from the campaign’s target audience have become active contributors and participants of the campaign. A comment left on a post-campaign survey highlighted hopes for “[Beauty Uncovered to] uncover more ethical beauty products and environmentally friendly ingredients on its social media, and perhaps generate a scientifically-backed list of comedogenic level of ingredients, plus another listing harmful ingredients and their consequences.”
Furthermore, existing and new audience shared their personal ethical beauty journey by posting on their Instagram accounts and tagging us in them, even without prompting or incentives. Thus, the campaign received positive engagement from its target audience.
With such overwhelming feedback and strong support from the campaign’s stakeholders, the Beauty Uncovered team will be continuing their campaign efforts beyond graduation and will continue to host roadshows, beauty swaps and educate the masses about the topic of ethical beauty.
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