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When a glamorous young woman named Xochitl Cleansington begins her day, all seems well in the family mansion.
The first sign of trouble appears when her bottle of CeraVe cleanser is empty. She searches for a backup, but all she finds is a cabinet full of hand soap.
Cue a dramatic scream and swelling soundtrack, with plenty of twists and turns to follow. Who is leading the Cleansington family astray with skincare lies? Is it the mysterious mustachioed man claiming to be a dermatologist? Is it actually Abuela who’s the culprit?
This is CeraVe’s version of a soap opera, but the moral of this story is about proper cleansing habits. Like its award-winning Super Bowl campaign starring actor Michael Cera, the L’Oréal brand’s melodramatic spoof uses entertainment to make skincare education more accessible.
Created by agency 72andSunny, “Cleanse Like a Derm—a CeraVe Soap Opera” was inspired by the resurgence of soap operas, particularly among Generation Z and Generation Y audiences.
It leans on these nostalgic tropes to address common bad skincare habits, such as using the wrong soap or sleeping with makeup on.
The film stars actress Xochitl Gomez, known for her role as America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as Xochitl Cleansington.
Dr. Dustin Portela, a board-certified dermatologist and social media influencer, also appears in the drama. Milana Vayntrub, an actress from TV series This Is Us, directed the film.
After Xochitl’s trusted dermatologist steps in to save the day, only to face off against his own evil twin, CeraVe leaves viewers with a simple message: Soap operas are dramatic, but cleansers don’t have to be.
The soap opera “gave us a vehicle to educate in a template that people already know and understand,” Kelly Buchanan Spillers, global head of digital and social at CeraVe, told ADWEEK. “It’s a nostalgic sense of how to educate, creating a two-way dialog.”
The film will run across social, digital and streaming platforms.
Additionally, CeraVe partnered with 40 influencers to create their own mini-soap operas highlighting bad cleansing habits, with the brand’s cleansers coming to the rescue. And dermatologist influencers created reaction videos in which they debunk those practices and promote CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser.