How CeraVe built a $2B brand by blending education and entertainment

CeraVe is usually described because the “best” or “favorite” brand in survey rankings and social media posts, or because the primary skincare brand advisable by dermatologists. To further stake its claim because the “best of all time,” or “G.O.A.T.,” skincare brand, CeraVe this yr introduced the world to a goat mascot named Sarah V. 

The marketing play — combining brand bona fides and an often-punny humorousness — is representative of what CeraVe has done for years on its technique to becoming a $2 billion brand. Founded in 2005 and acquired by L’Oréal in 2017, CeraVe leaned into its devoted fan base to turn out to be a global phenomenon. 

“The consumers that attempted [the products] weren’t silent about it, and they began talking about it on their social media. Fortunately, we had some organic, loyal users who actually happened to be influencers, as well, and they propelled the brand on the social scene and gave us some amplification,” said Melanie Vidal, global general manager for the brand.

CeraVe’s creative renaissance kicked off finally yr’s Super Bowl with a comedic spot starring Michael Cera that used earned media to amplify the ad beyond the massive game. It has since used a similar playbook on a fake rom-com trailer, soap opera spoof, wide-ranging campaign that spanned sports and SNL and a prank video featuring influencer Jake Shane. In each effort, the brand used entertainment as a spoonful of sugar to make its medical, educational pitch — its brand purpose — easier to swallow.

“The brand purpose is actually to make dermatology accessible to all,” Vidal explained. “That’s why we began working with derms to present advice and to present education to consumers online. [Skincare] is one of the searched industries online, so we leaned into that and gave the derms a voice.”

Dermatologist advice is one thing, but getting consumers to alter their behaviors and try recent products is one other. Hence, the adoption of humorous campaigns that use fun as the final word nudge tool, an approach the brand now calls “medutainment.”

“We capture consumers’ attention and are able to present those educational messages to them,” Vidal said. “We were fortunate enough to partner with derms that had that tone of voice, social power and social savviness to make dermatology accessible and entertaining.”

Skinfluencers, SkinTok and beyond

To amplify the brand’s message beyond its trusted dermatologists, CeraVe has relied on finding famous patients who already use its products. That was the case with the “Head of CeraVe” campaign in support of its Anti-Dandruff Shampoo and Conditioner that relied on TikToker Charli D’Amelio and basketball stars Anthony Davis and Paige Bueckers as ambassadors.

“From a marketing perspective, it is usually about working with authentic users and authentic patients,” Vidal said. “We are likely to create squads of influencers for reach, because we would like people to give you the chance to acknowledge themselves within the patients that we recommend, and it allows us to achieve different tribes and demographics.”

These squads of influencers have also helped the brand scale up without losing authenticity — an imperative that’s complicated by CeraVe’s place inside a global consumer goods giant like L’Oréal. Being a part of a large organization makes being as nimble as challengers and independent brands a challenge.

“If you wish to be culturally relevant, it is advisable to move on the speed of culture, and the speed of culture doesn’t wait for bureaucracy,” Vidal said.

To achieve this, CeraVe has focused on the core of its brand purpose and promise, bringing together social insights and conversations, invaluable information from dermatologists and the amplification it might probably do with its marketing muscle. Being on the platforms where consumer conversations occur means being on TikTok (where “SkinTok” has turn out to be a major topic) but in addition on YouTube, depending on what form of marketing message it’s sending.

CeraVe runs awareness campaigns on channels where consumption is more passive, using entertainment to interrupt through, and educational content in channels which are more lively search platforms. TikTok has quickly turn out to be the latter, especially for younger generations.

“That [approach] has been working quite well for us,” Vidal explained. “Giving the brand a personality, a DNA and a tone of voice, balanced with the usefulness of the content that we put on the market, is shortening the space between the derms and the patients… making CeraVe what it’s today.”