CeraVe yesterday held a back-to-school-themed “Acne Academy” in New York City that doubled as an enormous studio for influencers and creators to create content for the skin care brand.  

The gathering was billed as a “fully immersive” session created for “influential creators and journalists to get a deep understanding of acne causes and treatments,” complete with interactive presentations and panels with board-certified dermatologists and other skin care experts for educational purposes.

But upon walking through the doors of the event at the Glasshouse event venue on Manhattan’s west side, CeraVe’s primary goal was clear—to provide a space for influencers and creators to produce content for the L’Oréal brand. Dermatologists as well as social media luminaries were featured, including TikTok megastar Charli D’Amelio and content creator Zach King.

The blending of social stars and medical professionals has powered the L’Oréal-owned brand’s marketing approach since 2019, when it first began using dermatologists as influencers. Although brand execs have previously networked at events such as the American Academy of Dermatology conference, Wednesday’s event seemed to amp up the strategy, serving as a setting for social content creation the brand is poised to leverage in the months to come.

Also read: The state of global influencer marketing spend

More than 350 creators from all over the world were dressed in blue and white, CeraVe’s brand colors. Before the event’s programming even officially began, there were large crowds of influencers (as well as their photography and content teams) flocking to what seemed like the event’s most coveted photo-op spots, such as CeraVe-branded lockers and gigantic versions of the brand’s skin care products.

“It’s so easy to create content here,” said Franny, a Switzerland-based influencer at the event who opted to provide her Instagram handle @almost.cesca rather than her last name. Notably, Franny is not a skin care creator or dermatologist—instead, she mostly creates content about dyslexia awareness, as well as more general lifestyle posts. 

Franny added that CeraVe paid for her flight to the one-day event from Switzerland, as well as her hotel costs for the trip. She said she came to the event to learn more about skin care, but also because “it’s in freaking New York,” and she had never been to the city before. 

The influencer focus lines up with the brand’s efforts to retain its Gen Z audience. In a recent Piper Sandler survey on teen spending habits, 41% of respondents cited CeraVe as their top skin care brand.

CeraVe isn’t funneling its entire marketing budget into influencers, though: It spent more than $50 million on TV during the year ending June 18, according to iSpot.tv. CeraVe was L’Oréal’s second-most advertised brand in the U.S. in 2022, with measured-media spending on CeraVe growing by 44% to $117 million that year, according to data from Vivvix including paid social data from Pathmatics. That spending is paying off: CeraVe grew sales by 34% in the second quarter through June 4 compared with the same period a year earlier, Ad Age previously reported.

But Wednesday’s event was all about influencers.

The creators attending the event had an obligation to post, Adam Kornblum, global senior VP and head of digital marketing of CeraVe, said in an interview. Many of these creators are being paid for their work, but Kornblum could not confirm that every single creator was paid.

“The creators here, they’re going to be posting on TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms,” he said, adding that CeraVe needs distribution on “this message,” referring to the brand’s acne care products. 

Franny, for instance, said she had to publish a certain amount of content for CeraVe through her deal for this event, although she did not provide more specifics. Although she declined to share the exact amount that CeraVe paid her in addition to the free trip, Franny noted that her team made sure the deal “was all fair,” and that this was not her first time creating content for CeraVe.

“Today, our goal is to take something offline and bring it online [and] create a lot of buzz,” Kornblum said.