Can You See Beauty Without Ever Seeing It?

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- To support its first-ever global creative platform, Bare Escentuals (www.BareEscentuals.com) takes an unprecedented approach and pursues a blind casting call to select the women that will appear in its 'Be a Force of Beauty™' campaign launching this September.  Featuring five women--another first for the brand that has traditionally featured their award-winning bareMinerals foundation in its marketing efforts--Bare Escentuals recognizes the casting process was as fundamental to the campaign as the idea itself.

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"This campaign is really designed to inspire and activate women to put beauty into action by giving them a voice and championing the individual stories that represent their own 'force of beauty,'" said Simon Cowell, Global CMO for Bare Escentuals. "Therefore, our approach in identifying these women became profoundly important, and it required a level of authenticity to defend our driving belief that beauty goes beyond the surface."

Bare Escentuals Blind Casting Methodology

Conceptualized with TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, the blind casting call became the stake in the ground to transform the cultural conversation around beauty. Emblematic of its heritage of challenging convention and doing things differently, Bare Escentuals set forth with the radical notion of casting a beauty campaign without ever seeing the women's faces.

With a desire to distinguish itself from the manufacturing of beauty depicted in the analogous images representative of the beauty landscape today, the premise behind 'Be a Force of Beauty' serves as a rally cry to ignite a social discussion around beauty, while the blind casting unequivocally differentiates Bare Escentuals from traditional beauty advertising, providing substantiation that beauty should not solely be defined by physical attributes.

The blind casting process commenced with a pool of nearly 300 models and actresses, all of whom received a survey of six questions designed to discover more about their personal passions and values.  After reviewing the questionnaires, the pool was narrowed to 78 women who were then brought in for individual blind interviews with questions intended to reveal dynamic character, vitality and strength in effort to reveal an inherent 'force of beauty.'

Stripped of all visual cues and never seeing a single face, Bare Escentuals remained behind a wall listening to each woman answer the blind interview questions, seeking women who not only shared similar values with the brand, but whose beauty became palpable through their personality and the compassion, honesty, confidence and genuineness conveyed in their responses. The wall dividing the women from the brand became the symbolic construct allowing Bare Escentuals to delve deeper into this honest appraisal of beauty which would ultimately carry the campaign.  

"This is pretty revolutionary and unheard of for a beauty company," said Leslie Blodgett, Executive Chairman of Bare Escentuals.  "Let's be honest, there was a high level of risk associated with this approach and I had no idea what to expect. What I discovered was how liberating it is to do the right thing and choose women based on their values, not the way they look. We love women and their stories and it reinforces everything we stand for, and frankly, I think the models were equally enamored with our approach."

From there it was then narrowed down to 26 women who then returned for another round of one-on-one blind interviews. Based on the final round of in-depth blind interviews, Bare Escentuals selected five 'forces of beauty' to feature in the campaign. One week later, following a condensed 10-day timeline and extraordinary anticipation, Bare Escentuals finally met the spirited women whose stories, coupled with an unparalleled process of discovery, became the crux of the campaign.  

Bare Escentuals 'Be a Force of Beauty' Campaign

"The blind casting really showcases our point of view with this campaign and provides dimension," commented Cowell. "The fact that we chose these women based on their stories, never having seen their faces, really validates our philosophy that beauty is more than meets the eye. Taking it one step further, we deliberately chose to leave in each woman's distinguishing characteristics and all signs of life representative of their experiences to preserve this level of authenticity."

Making its debut in September, each of the women will appear in tailored iterations of the campaign that will be supported by TV, print, digital and social marketing efforts. To execute this vision, Bare Escentuals partnered with the photographer Rankin, to inject soul into the print campaign, and director Gregory Maya for fifteen and thirty second TV spots and webisodes, through which each of the five women's stories will be celebrated.

"In partnering with Bare Escentuals we recognized there was a huge opportunity to do something different for the category," said Xanthe Hohalek, Creative Director, TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles. "We wanted to be daring in our approach with the blind casting and the overall creative execution. I hope this campaign will give women something to be proud of, in addition to being something that will change the conversation around beauty."

The holistic approach behind the blind casting comes full circle with each of the women appearing alongside thought-provoking messaging like 'Pretty is what you are. Beauty is what you do with it.' and 'Pretty is. Beauty does.™'  The evocative taglines reaffirm Bare Escentuals' anthem on beauty and the prevailing conviction that beauty is as sincere as it is multifaceted.

"I wish all castings were like this," said Lauren, one of the five women appearing in the campaign. "It's amazing Bare Escentuals spent time talking to us; it's really nice to be listened to and know that your story counts." Building on each woman's story, the creative explores each woman's unique 'force of beauty' demonstrating the limitless power of beauty and the profound influence it can have on the world.

About Bare Escentuals

Love. Understanding. Community. That's what Bare Escentuals represents. It's a trusted source. It's the belief that products can actually be good, makeup can be fun, business can be personal and companies can behave more like communities.

The Company utilizes a distinctive marketing strategy and multi-channel distribution model to develop, market and sell cosmetics and skincare in 31 countries, with over 6,000 points of distribution, including over 190-company-owned boutiques. For further information please visit: www.bareescentuals.com

SOURCE Bare Escentuals