Get marketing news you'll actually want to read
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.
Back in February, marketers told us influencers could start showing up in Super Bowl ads more and more. TBD if influencers will appear in Super Bowl 2023, but they’re already making commercial debuts during another TV staple.
On July 11, during the premiere of ABC’s reality dating show The Bachelorette, two former contestants-turned-influencers appeared in a Maybelline ad: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt, an engaged couple who met on the franchise’s steamy summer spinoff Bachelor in Paradise.
The spot shows Pitt talking into her phone camera, pretending to make a social media ad for a Maybelline foundation…which is ironic being that she’s actually making a TV ad for the same company. Another bit of irony: Amabile thinks she’s talking about how great he is, but the viewer knows she’s actually describing Maybelline, ostensibly her other great love.
Marketing Brew sat down with Andrea Muguerza, Maybelline’s VP of marketing, face makeup, to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on the ad, which the couple also posted on Instagram.
Seeing double: While Maybelline was the only brand that paid for the TV spot, it was kind of an ad for The Bachelorette, too. This Disney ad inventory type is called an “outegration,” Muguerza explained, meaning that the Maybelline team knew the ad would promote both its product and the show.
Act natural: Pitt ended up shooting influencer content in the ad because the Maybelline team wanted to show her doing something “natural to her,” or that she’d be comfortable doing in real life. “That is a very natural kind of behavior for her to be doing,” Muguerza said.
Joe loves a slogan: Muguerza joked that on set, Amabile kept singing the brand’s classic “Maybe it’s Maybelline” jingle, despite the tagline being retired in 2014. (Fun fact: the brand brought it back in 2020 as a TikTok challenge).
The ad doesn’t stand alone: While Pitt wasn’t actually filming a real video to post on social media in the ad itself, the partnership extended to social, too, with Pitt and Amabile posting a few Instagrams about the ad and the Maybelline foundation.
Crystal ball: The experience got the team excited about potentially using influencers in Maybelline TV ads in the future, Muguerza told us. “This seems to be a great initial performance,” she said.