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Skincare brand Eos has found success reaching Gen Z women with bold campaigns that break beauty marketing tropes. Now, it is looking to do the same in a new category as it branches out into men’s shaving products.
Eos has unveiled the “Unmanhandle Your Face” campaign, created by agency of record Mischief @ No Fixed Address, to support the launch of its UltraProtect shave cream line. Two ads lambast the stereotypes often perpetuated by current brand leaders in men’s shaving.
The 30-second spots will run across social, paid digital and OTT, including Netflix. “Gorilla Fighting” shows a shopper picking a package of Eos off the shelf, only to have it swatted out of his hand by a man who insists he use a shaving cream that will “make you man enough to fight a gorilla.” His boast is immediately disproven when a gorilla bursts through the shelves, slugs him and then gives the product back to the shopper.
“Smells Like Bros” mocks the scents of other men’s products by combining them with toxically masculine traits. The same antagonist promotes his brand of choice by saying it has “notes of whiskey and lumber with undertones of talking over people” and that it “smells like mahogany and telling chicks to smile more.” The shopper is relieved to be handed the package of Eos by a woman working at the store.
“The men’s skincare category is already saturated with exaggerated hyper-masculinity,” Mischief associate creative director Tanner Thompson said in a statement. “There are plenty of products for men with perfect jawlines and soaring crypto investments. But what about the normal guys who actually call their moms back and don’t make vests their personality? The guys who just want a good, moisturizing shave cream? This campaign, and this new product, is for them.”
Branching out into men’s shaving
The company decided to expand its product lines after seeing growth in women’s shaving and finding that many male consumers were already using its female-focused products for soft skin, Eos chief marketing officer Soyoung Kang told Adweek.
“Eos accounted for over half of the women’s category growth in 2022, which created internal and external excitement to enter the men’s category,” Kang explained. “We’ve always been interested in expanding to incremental audiences, because the Eos brand promise is universal: making everyday routines more awesome.”
The ads emphasize the moisturizing qualities of the brand, which incorporates shea butter for hydration and aloe to soothe skin. UltraProtect comes in three varieties: Fresh Woods, Blue Surf and the fragrance-free Sensitive.