Beautiful Possibilities for All

Ulta Beauty wanted to bring their new brand positioning, The Possibilities are Beautiful, to multicultural consumers. We knew that, to be successful, we needed to create a lasting emotional connection with the Black consumer, not just blanket this group with traditional advertising.

So when we learned that ESSENCE, the leading media company serving Black women, was creating a new Millennial-focused content initiative—Girls United—with the goal of serving its audience through content, culture, and community, we knew it was a perfect place to start. Starting with the insight that young Black women are lacking opportunities for mentorship and leadership, we worked together to create a program that would not only kickstart the Girls United initiative in a big way, but also give young Black women the chance to help shape the future of Ulta Beauty.

Together, we created Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities, a yearlong mentorship program and video series that followed the journey of six young women who created a capsule collection for Ulta Beauty. The women received mentorship and invaluable feedback from both ESSENCE and Ulta Beauty brand leaders as they worked through each stage of launching the beauty line, from concept to development to marketing. The experience was captured and distributed across the Girls United platform on essence.com as well as Ulta Beauty and the ESSENCE social channels. The experience culminated in the collection launch at the ESSENCE Beauty Carnival and was then showcased in Ulta Beauty retail locations and available online. The girls each received a $10K scholarship for continuing education.

Results were proof the program was a resounding success. The series garnered more than 3M video views and more than 500K engagements in social. But the beauty of this program transcended media and created long-lasting impressions on these women—especially for one who had dropped out of college and, after her experience with the program, decided to go back to school.