She says, “It was something that I thought could be fun for us as a brand to trial and see if it could help cut through the noise, while also factoring in an element of humor.”

Tower 28 commissioned Ruby Marker, a comedian, writer and former freelance copywriter for the brand who worked on HBO show “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” and director, influencer and comedian Olivia Sui to write and direct a three-part series that made its debut last month called, “The Blush Lives of Sensitive Girls.” In one of the parts, a woman regrets repeatedly taking home a boy-man named Matt, and told by her roommate about GetSet Matte Powder Blush, she says, “I’m switching Matts.”

After the series hit Tower 28’s social media feed, it accounted for more than half of the brand’s views and 68% of its shares for March. The brand’s engagement rate improved 37% compared to its monthly average. One commenter on Tower 28’s Instagram with the handle tater_totsunite wrote, “Every ad for your company needs to be this. Show these other companies HOW IT’S DONE.”

In fact, many other beauty companies, including Topicals, Rizos Curls, Bread Beauty Supply and Isle of Paradise, are similarly leaning into cinematic storytelling to stand out from the flood of user-generated content. UGC is hardly disappearing, but the high-production scripted campaigns are part of a bigger seesawing back to stylized, professional media creation following a prolonged period of raw, “authentic” imagery and videos taking center stage.

“It allows you to immerse in this story and be emotionally present. It stops you in your scroll,” says Donna Lopez, founder of beauty brand development agency Making Lemonade. “Brands know that they’re getting a little bit lost in the scroll. We’ve had so much social-centric content that you’re losing that brand affinity and equity in your marketing. You’re making the consumer have to work too hard to figure out what brand or product that the influencer or the creator is using in this moment.”

Two years ago, Topicals produced its first scripted content in the style of a heist movie and threw an in-person premiere timed with the launch of its lip balm Slick Salve. In March this year, the brand again embarked on scripted content with a campaign showcasing its bestselling discoloration serum Faded inspired by the hip-hop-infused 1998 crime film “Belly.” On TikTok, it’s racked up 1.5 million views.

“Our storytelling north star is always, how do we take skincare out of the bathroom and into a more non-traditional space?” says Julia Shao, VP of creative at Topicals. “The tricky piece is, how do you also make it make sense?”

Rizos Curls approach to breaking the content mold is humor and shared cultural references. Founder Julissa Prado has been crafting and starring in skits since 2019 that often recreate scenes from popular movies or television shows like “Sex and The City,” “Legally Blonde,” “Mean Girls” and “Selena.” “From the start, we realized our customers love to be entertained,” says Prado. “It’s been a running joke between us and our community.”

Rizos Curls’ latest campaign, its first that is highly produced, promoting its new Strong Hold Gel pays homage to insurance company State Farm’s advertising with fictional spokesman Jake. In it Prado plays “Julissa from Frizz Insurance” and sells Frizz Insurance over the phone to a fellow curly-haired woman.

“As the beauty industry gets more saturated, creativity is what stands out,” says Prado. “A lot of brands have money, but money can’t always buy originality.”

Humor can be a great attention grabber, emphasizes Emma Olender, associate account director for Case Agency, which counts E.l.f. Beauty, Clinique, Nars and Summer Fridays among its clients, who highlights CeraVe’s campaign casting actor Michael Cera as the brand’s supposed developer as a standout example of employing humor successfully. However, she caveats that brands shouldn’t be funny in advertising in ways that don’t ring true to their positioning and products, lest they come off as trying too hard. Olender says, “They should determine if this is something their consumer base would be receptive to.”

Lopez stresses that humor is a big risk, and it takes the right team to pull it off. It took Tower 28 a month to ideate and finalize the “The Blush Lives of Sensitive Girls” campaign. Writer and director Sui’s being in the gen Z demographic that Tower 28 was attempting to reach with the campaign was a help. Kalatzis says, “Who better, honestly, than her to write these skits?”

Tower 28 partnered with Second Story Films, a production studio that’s worked with Peter Thomas Roth, IT Cosmetics and Sephora, for the campaign, but Lopez suggests brands don’t have to and can affordably execute professional-style campaigns. She advises they seek out independent screenwriters and filmmakers that can be within a cash-strapped brands’ budget. Students at local film schools are an option. “Brands sometimes get caught up in the, well, if I can’t do it all the way, then, I’m not going to do it at all,” she says. “You can be scrappy with the way that you do things.”

Olender co-signs that big bucks aren’t required to make an impact. Shooting on an iPhone can be just fine. “The takeaway from these ads are less that they are highly-produced, but that they are relatable and funny,” she says, advising brands to consider message over medium. She says, “What’s the story I want to tell, and what’s the most compelling way to tell it?”

In March, Isle of Paradise produced a campaign focused on its Self-Tan Drops reformulation in-house and tapped Audrey Trullinger, an influencer who has 1.7 million followers on Instagram, to star in it. Noelle Cantarano, VP of global marketing for Isle of Paradise, Tan-Luxe and Tanologist, says the brand paid small fees going to talent and a videographer for it and describes it as “extremely cost-effective.” It’s drawn 6.6 million views, boosted Isle of Paradise’s earned media value (EMV), a metric that quantifies non-paid media mentions, 150%, and has helped Self-Tan Drops, which are exclusive to Sephora, register double-digit sales growth.

With artificial intelligence tools becoming more sophisticated and widespread, brands are turning to them to produce relatively inexpensive stylized content. Last Thursday, haircare brand The Doux posted a video on social media themed Chateaux Le Doux incorporating its products in vivid hotel settings. Its fans were impressed. On Instagram, the salon Hair Skin Love Jamaica wrote, “I wish this place existed. I would totally check in!”

Founder Maya Smith created the video and explained on Instagram that she’s involved in training AI to properly represent and depict Black people. “Lately, our passion project has been creating digital imagery that includes the beauty of Black women and Black hair. These are inspirational videos,” she says. “We have plenty of videos that are actual live demos.” She adds, “We are the first to engage in this way in this space, and we will continue to do it.”

Lopez cautions brands that immediate return on investment shouldn’t be the goal for their highly produced content, and that they should be realistic about where the content fits in their marketing funnel. At its nascent stage, she compares scripted content for emerging brands to content on TikTok early on.

“When it first started, it was an awareness play, it was not a conversion play,” she says. “If you’re counting on this to make your sales for the month, that’s the wrong approach, but, if you are like, I want to do something that’s going to break the monotony, then go for it.”