Vol. 94 e.l.f. Beauty: Boardrooms and Billboards 👔

Case Studied
Spotlighting boardroom diversity 

There are a few reasons you might’ve been reading about e.l.f Beauty lately. 

They came under fire for a recent campaign that featured controversial comedian Matt Rife. They acquired Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand Rhode for $1 billion. And they announced a $1 price increase to their products due to tariffs, to which the CEO said there was “98% positive sentiment from our consumers.” 

But today, we’ll be covering a different storyline from the cosmetics brand—a campaign from 2024 that was rooted in data and diversity. 

This week, Case Studied explores how e.l.f. Beauty received 98% positive sentiment on a campaign about corporate boardrooms.

The Brief

Founded in 2004, e.l.f. (short for “eyes, lips, face”) disrupted a cosmetics market with affordable pricing and a digital-first/social-first strategy. Over the past 20 years, it has grown into a Gen Z favorite for cruelty-free, vegan, low-cost products. 

e.l.f. also happens to be one of only four U.S. publicly traded companies (out of over 4,200) with a board that’s two-thirds women and one-third racially diverse. CEO Tarang Amin has credited that structure for fueling 25 consecutive quarters of net sales growth. 

Looking to use that credibility to spark wider change, e.l.f. launched their “Change the Board Game” initiative. As part of this, the brand partnered with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and sponsored 20 women and/or diverse, board-ready candidates through a two year program called NACD Accelerate, which helps prepare executives for board services. It also launched several marketing campaigns that ladder up to the initiative. E.l.f. also aimed to help double the rate of women and diverse members added to corporate boards by 2027. 

Another part of Change the Board Game involved several marketing initiatives that tackle different aspects of corporate boards—and one name that appears on them quite often.

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The Execution

E.l.f. partnered with purpose-driven agency OBERLAND to launch the “So Many ‘Dicks’” campaign. It drew inspiration from the infamous “John study”  from the New York Times, which found there were more Fortune 500 CEOs named John than there were women in leadership roles, total. 

OBERLAND and e.l.f. set out to tell the story with data but first had to find it. They reviewed over 35,000 data points on board diversity—including the names—and found that there are more men named Dick on corporate boards than there are entire groups of underrepresented people. Here’s a peek at some of the numbers:

• There are 2x more men named Dick than Hispanic women 

• There are 19x more men named Dick than women of Middle Eastern descent 

• Black and Asian women barely outnumber men named Dick 

OBERLAND created over 100 assets that brought attention to these numbers. The campaign’s ad buy included a massive 4-week takeover in Manhattan’s Financial District, including the Fulton Street Station and the Oculus. They also made a microsite and a hero video of the ad takeovers. 

The placements were highly visible to everyone passing through, from Wall Street executives to everyday consumers. But the tone was purposefully disruptive without being alienating. Rather than saying “Too many Dicks” or “Don’t be a Dick”, the tagline was “So many Dicks” with the subhead “So few everyone else.”

OBERLAND’s chief strategy office Kate Charles noted the intentionality behind this move. “We wanted to make sure that men felt okay to stand up for this and that they didn’t feel like they were being called out, that they were being called in,” Charles told Fast Company. “And we wanted other organizations to say, ‘I want to be a part of that.’”  

The Results

The So Many Dicks campaign generated 2.3 billion media impressions and, according to OBERLAND, “became the most talked-about campaign on LinkedIn.” Media sentiment was 98% positive, with net social sentiment hitting 81%.

As for the impact of the campaign, 10% of the candidates that e.l.f. sponsored for NACD’s program were placed on boards. 

The Takeaways

1)  Partner with agencies that share your values.

The alignment with e.l.f. and OBERLAND was strong on this campaign. The creative wasn’t just provocative for shock’s sake, it was rooted in a mission that OBERLAND deeply understood. Together, they transformed dry data about the names of board members into an eye-catching, values-forward campaign that resonated far beyond beauty.

When you’re considering agency partners, look for more than just creative chops. Find a team whose ethos aligns with your brand’s purpose, especially if you’re tackling sensitive or cultural issues. An agency that shares your values can help craft campaigns that are bold and authentic, helping the work land with credibility

2) Connect your values to your business model.

E.l.f. wasn’t touting the importance of board room diversity without having a diverse board themselves. Their board diversity record gave them credibility to lead this conversation. And by tying their own profitability to diversity, they reframed inclusion as a business imperative.

If you’re exploring activism or values-based work, connect it directly to your brand DNA and bottom line. Audiences are quick to call out opportunism. But authentic initiatives like this can differentiate you and build trust with your audience.

3) Be intentional without alienating.

OBERLAND and e.l.f. made deliberate choices to balance provocation with inclusivity. The campaign could have leaned into harsher slogans but instead went with a tagline and subhead that invited men into the conversation rather than pushing them out.

When tackling cultural or social issues, think carefully about tone. The line between sparking dialogue and sparking backlash is thin. Messaging that calls people in, rather than calling them out, can maximize impact without alienating key stakeholders you want on board.

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