CeraVe is extending the layered approach to influencer marketing that recently earned a Cannes Lions Grand Prix to its latest creator-led campaign. But rather than recruiting hundreds of influencers to help the brand fabricate an elaborate social media conspiracy as it did for the Super Bowl, CeraVe is tapping a roster of 40 creators to turn a telenovela parody into a broader lesson in proper facial cleansing. 

CeraVe today released a skincare-themed soap opera produced by creative agency 72andSunny that stars actress Xochitl Gomez, best known for her role in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and dermatologist influencer Dr. Dustin Portela, one of the L’Oréal-owned skincare brand’s existing creator partners. The two-minute telenovela, which premiered on YouTube, follows the “Cleansington family” (Xochitl Cleansington, her parents, her grandmother and her grandmother’s dog) teaming up with Portela to confront his “evil clone twin brother” who posed as a dermatologist and tricked the family into swapping their CeraVe facial cleanser for bars of hand soap. 

On top of its intentionally ridiculous plot, CeraVe’s ad is also rife with schmaltzy soap opera tropes found in 1980s and ’90s classics such as “Dallas,” “General Hospital” and “All My Children,” said Kelly Buchanan Spillers, global VP and head of digital & social at CeraVe. The over-the-top opening credits sequence, for example, mimicked those of typical soap operas but set the cast against a backdrop of bubbles as a nod to CeraVe’s ad effectively being a soap opera about soap, she said. 

Much of the dialogue plays into telenovela tropes, too, such as Xochitl Cleansington’s mother poking fun at the infidelity plotlines often featured in those series by saying, “I’ve been sleeping with … my makeup on.” Gomez’s character also hams up her reactions to plot reveals with soap opera cliches such as overly-dramatic screams and fainting spells. Actress and comedian Milana Vayntrub (who plays the spokeswoman Lily in ads from AT&T) directed the spot.

CeraVe based the soap-swapping plotline on recent research the brand conducted that found 43% of consumers use traditional hand soap to wash their faces, Spillers added. Gomez and Portela’s characters serve to demonstrate more appropriate facial cleansing habits, such as removing makeup before going to bed—which Xochitl Cleansington attempts to do at the start of the video before discovering her bottle of CeraVe cleanser is empty and her bathroom cabinets have been exclusively stocked with bars of soap. 

But the soap opera itself is just the starting point in a broader influencer-driven campaign, Spillers said, similar to how the brand’s TV spot starring Michael Cera was merely one element of its overarching Super Bowl campaign that leveraged three weeks of influencer content to lay the groundwork for its Big Game ad. Ogilvy was behind the Super Bowl effort, which earned the agency a Social and Influencer Grand Prix last month. The WPP agency handled PR for the latest influencer campaign. 

See also: Inside CeraVe’s Super Bowl influencer campaign

“We have these long-form assets that we’d love to be able to highlight as our heroes, but influencers are at the center of all of our campaigns—including this one,” Spillers said. In this case, CeraVe tapped 40 creators to release videos across TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts in three distinct phases over the next several weeks “to help us echo the story of how soap operas are dramatic, but washing your face doesn’t have to be,” she said. 

In phase one of the influencer campaign, which kicked off on Friday, creators are pranking their romantic partners, friends or family members by showing off appalling face-cleansing routines, Spillers said. TikTok comedian Mario Mirante, for instance, tried to convince his girlfriend he scrubs his face with a dishwashing sponge and dish soap. 

TikTok star Charli D'Amelio, podcast host Bobbi Althoff (who worked with CeraVe on its Super Bowl campaign) and both Gomez and Portela themselves are among the creators participating in the influencer push. 

After influencers finish posting those videos, CeraVe’s dermatologist influencer partners will share videos of their reactions to those inappropriate face-washing techniques, she said. For the third and final phase of the influencer push, the same group of creators will make their own mini soap operas that feature the cleansing habits recommended in the dermatologist influencers’ videos, she said. 

This phased influencer campaign deployment strategy allows CeraVe to see “a lot more longevity and a lot more conversation happening around [the] brand” that extends far beyond a single ad, Spillers said. And bringing together dermatologist influencers, content creators and celebrities such as Gomez enables CeraVe to “reinforce the fact that yes, we might have digital stars that are featured in our campaigns, but we also always have a board-certified dermatologist as our hero. It’s a way to kind of bring the ‘medicality’ of our brand to the front while also having someone exciting be a new face for our campaign.”

CeraVe also employed its multi-stage influencer marketing strategy in April for the social campaign surrounding its rom-com-inspired trailer for a fake movie titled “The One Under the Sun,” which follows a woman who discovers her perfect match isn’t another person but a bottle of CeraVe moisturizer. 

The trailer similarly counts a “derminfluencer” among its cast, and was supported by TikTok and Instagram videos from over three dozen creators (including reality dating stars such as Andrew Spencer of “The Bachelor” and “Love Is Blind” cast member AD Smith) who described what they were looking for in their “perfect match” before revealing they were actually talking about their ideal face moisturizer. 

72andSunny produced that trailer, too, and it aired in select movie theaters.