Cetaphil sharpens its focus on male consumers with a social and influencer push

Social media campaigns and influencer partnerships are ubiquitous in skincare advertising nowadays—at least when it comes to marketing targeting female consumers. Cetaphil, however, is employing those strategies for a new campaign aimed specifically at its male audience as more men are growing interested in establishing skincare routines. Cetaphil launched its “Made for Phil” campaign with two videos it shared on its social channels on Monday. One centers on a group of men barbecuing hamburgers and sausages on the brand’s “CetaGrill,” which features slots for bottles of Cetaphil’s cleanser and moisturizer. The other spotlights the brand’s “Ceta Six Pack,” a set of Cetaphil products packaged like a six-pack of beer. Both videos are a humorous mix of clips of the men liberally applying moisturizer and scenes of stereotypically “masculine” activities such as watching football or grilling. A post shared by Cetaphil US (@cetaphilus) Cetaphil mailed “Ceta Six Packs” to over 100 male influencers earlier this week and is partnering with six influencers on sponsored social posts over the next several days, featuring these six-pack-inspired PR packages, according to Tara Loftis, global president of skincare brands at Cetaphil’s parent company, Galderma. Several of those creator partners are so-called “dadfluencers” whose content largely centers on their families, including Richard and Carlos Seigler-Carter of @therealdadsofnewyork and Eduardo Alvarez, aka @bestdad_ceo. PR agency Lippe Taylor and creative agency twelvenote’s joint venture, /prompt, produced both ads and developed Cetaphil’s broader male-focused marketing push, Loftis said. /prompt also helmed Cetaphil’s “Game Time Glow” Super Bowl campaign earlier this year, which also highlighted male consumers through its focus on a father-daughter duo bonding over football and skincare. The “Made for Phil” campaign, like Cetaphil’s regional Super Bowl spot, is intended to “speak to all men in a way that resonates and gives them the confidence to talk more openly about skincare,” said Alex Foster, executive creative director at /prompt, in an email. A post shared by Cetaphil US (@cetaphilus) “Men are caring more about their skin than they ever have before,” said Loftis. The company works closely with dermatologists, and they’ve repeatedly told Loftis that they’ve seen an “unprecedented number of men in their offices” in the past year asking for recommendations for cleansers, moisturizers and other skincare products, or bringing in the ones they currently use and asking for feedback, she said. According to those dermatologists, “it’s not uncommon for men to bring a suitcase or a duffel bag full of their skincare products” to their appointments, Loftis added. “Clearly, they're not ashamed to ask their dermatologist about [skincare], and we want to bring it full circle and show men that they're seen by the brands, too, who have traditionally only really featured women.” Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette exemplified men’s growing interest in establishing skincare routines in a recent interview for the NFL’s social channels where he readily shared his favorite products, which happened to be Cetaphil’s face wash and lotion. One of the top comments on the NFL’s Instagram Reel of the interview reads “Get that man sponsored by cetaphil asap”—and Cetaphil quickly reached out to Legette to do exactly that, Loftis said. A post shared by NFL (@nfl) “We DM’d him and he responded within 15 minutes,” she said. “He was so excited.” Legette is one of the six creators creating sponsored posts for Cetaphil this week, she said. And the brand is also expanding its relationship with Legette beyond that post to include additional content of him interviewing other men about their skincare routines, she said. Neither those product six-packs nor the “CetaGrill” are available for purchase, she said, but Cetaphil is running a social media giveaway for the latter. “You’re going to see echoes of this as we move forward in our overarching creative strategy—the fact that men deserve to be present in skincare campaigns as well,” Loftis said.

Cetaphil sharpens its focus on male consumers with a social and influencer push

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