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An album drop from e.l.f might not have been on your 2024 bingo card, but last week the beauty brand joined the ranks of Charli XCX and Taylor Swift with a 16-song release of its own.
Get Ready With Music, The Album riffs on popular Get Ready With Me (GRWM) social media videos, in which people share their makeup and styling routines in preparation for heading out the door.
The debut marks the first output from e.l.f Made, a dedicated entertainment arm that will help the makeup giant engage customers via music, gaming, and sport.
“Our vision is to be a different kind of beauty company; saying we’re an entertainment company is being a different kind of beauty company,” e.l.f Beauty’s vp of integrated marketing communications, Patrick O’Keefe, told ADWEEK.
“Just like e.l.f. disrupted the beauty industry with value, quality, and speed, that’s what we’re doing with music, gaming, sports – kind of coming out of nowhere and engaging a community around it.”
Building on e.l.f’s out-of-the-box marketing approach, which has seen it collab with brands including Liquid Death and launch its own Roblox experience, the launch of a business unit dedicated to entertainment is “stake in the ground” that the brand is “committed to delivering best-in-class entertainment to our community,” explained O’Keefe.
He didn’t specify how big the e.l.f Made team was, but said internal staff and agency partners were all “fueling the rocket ship.”
GRWM, The Album features a collective of emerging global artists like Charlotte Rose Benjamin, Betty Who, and Meduulla. The first single Hairpin by Benjamin is out now.
E.l.f has a history of making music. In 2023 it partnered with Colombian singer Manuel Turizo for single Ojos. labios. Cara. It also released a holiday album called e.l.f. the Hauls in 2021.
The insight behind GRWM, The Album was driven by research from Madwell which found 77% of women say makeup and music give them a sense of belonging and community while 75% see music and makeup as important tools for self-expression.
“Every eye, lip, and face has a unique story to tell, and it becomes even richer with a soundtrack,” said Kory Marchisotto, e.l.f. Beauty’s chief marketing officer (CMO), in a statement.