The Brooklyn Brothers and Lancôme celebrate the power of women with new campaign

The Brooklyn Brothers have launched a new campaign for Lancôme in the UK announcing that the brand’s best-selling foundation is now available in 40 shades. The campaign heralds the power and diversity of all women, by teaming up with 40 women who are powerful and extraordinary in their own way regardless of age, passion or foundation shade.

‘40 Shades, 40 Powers’ kicks off with a film that introduces consumers to 40 completely different women, one for each shade of Ultra Wear Foundation. From TV presenter Sophie Morgan (shade 01) to Joanne Sui (shade 024), Civil Engineer for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, the film celebrates the power of women and the diversity of the U.K.’s population. In addition, three short films have been created to profile celebrated director and producer Gurinder Chadha, Olympic cyclist Laura Kenny and ballroom dancer Oti Mabuse. Shot by Jen Fearnley of Dingo Bill, the films give insight into what makes these women feel powerful and what they’ve overcome to achieve their successes. The message of female empowerment is one of the most important things for Ms. Chadha, whose work has involved putting people who are normally on the margins of society centre stage. While Olympic gold medalist Laura wants to be known as the person who never gave up.

“My power comes from being so competitive, winning is everything to me. I want to cross that line first, and I’ll do everything I possibly can to get there. If I can inspire one other person to get on a bike, that’s exactly what I want to do.”

All four films, along with an un-retouched still image of each woman (depicting their power in life and their foundation shade) will be used in a fully integrated campaign across Lancôme digital, owned and earned channels in the UK and Ireland as well as PR and social. The images were shot in a way that allowed the foundation to take centre stage and each woman’s natural beauty to shine through. None of the images are air brushed or digitally enhanced. Each of the spokeswomen will also post their individual images on their own social channels to further amplify the social reach of the campaign. As lead UK integrated creative agency on Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear, The Brooklyn Brothers developed the big idea with an always-on content strategy at its heart. The agency’s mission was to find and cast real, powerful women who were successful and challenging the status quo in their lives and who were diverse in every way (from age, race and profession) to reflect the multicultural Britain that exists today. The full integrated brief includes paid advertising (using global assets), content, digital, social, PR, UGC and staff engagement (beauty advisors).

The Brooklyn Brothers were appointed to the account in October after a 3 x way pitch run by L’Oréal’s UK’s procurement department. ‘40 Shades, 40 Powers’ is the first campaign the agency has developed since being appointed.

Miranda Mitchell, managing partner of The Brooklyn Brothers, said: “From the start the Lancôme team shared our ambition to create a powerful and honest campaign that celebrated all women, no matter what age, shade or passion. It has been incredibly inspiring and heartening to work with everyone involved for the launch phase and we can’t wait for more.”