Intern – Retail Analyst

e.l.f. Turns Vanity vandalism into a true crime mockumentary. Phoebe Dynevor and Christina Chang lead a mock investigation into shared vanities shaped by clutter and routine. April 3, 2026, 2:44 pm e.l.f. Cosmetics expands its mockumentary series with Vanity Vandals, a 10-minute film starring Phoebe Dynevor and Christina Chang. Following the release of Cosmetic Criminals in 2024, the new installment places shared bathroom routines under investigation, using a true crime format to explore how beauty products accumulate and take over personal space. The film introduces the concept of "vanity vandalism," defined by the brand as the act of overtaking shared vanities due to the accessibility of beauty products. This idea draws from a wider conversation among consumers who describe daily conflicts over space, storage, and routine. A survey cited by the brand reports that 70 percent of couples experience tension in shared bathrooms, creating the foundation for the film's central case. Directed by Alex Buono, Vanity Vandals follows a fictional investigation led by the Federal Cosmetic Crime Task Force. Detective Bob Fleck, played by Gary Kraus, works alongside behavioral profiler Dr. Erika Sparrow, portrayed by Christina Chang. Their focus centers on a newly married couple, Maya and Dante Formosa, played by Phoebe Dynevor and Christopher Sky. The couple's shared sink becomes the site of escalating disorder, framed as evidence within the investigation. Phoebe Dynevor takes on the role of Maya, a character whose growing collection of makeup products leads to tension within the relationship. The performance introduces a mockumentary approach that places Dynevor directly in conversation with the camera. She described the experience as a shift in format, engaging with a style she had long wanted to explore. Her character's fixation on blush drives much of the narrative, turning a specific product category into a defining detail of the case. Christina Chang's role as Dr. Erika Sparrow adds another layer to the investigation, presenting a perspective shaped by observation and analysis. During production, Chang noted that the products featured on set influenced her own routine, with the e.l.f. Camo Liquid Blush becoming part of her personal makeup kit. She described its buildable texture and accessible pricing as key reasons for its appeal. The campaign builds its tone through a structured investigation, where cluttered vanities, shared routines, and expanding collections function as evidence. Each scene presents a version of everyday behavior framed through the language of crime storytelling. This approach allows the film to address familiar situations while maintaining a defined narrative arc driven by character and scenario. Alongside the release, e.l.f. Cosmetics introduces two limited-time product bundles connected to the film's theme. The "Criminally Good" Blush Bundle includes two shades of Camo Liquid Blush and a Primer-Infused Matte Blush, directly referencing the central product in the narrative. The "Criminally Obsessed" Boo Bundle gathers ten lip products described as core items within the brand's range.

E.l.f. promotes affordable beauty with true crime-inspired mockumentary. "Vanity Vandals" attributes cluttered bathroom counters to a surplus of its affordable beauty products and includes a giveaway and Roblox experience. Published April 2, 2026 Dive brief: * E.l.f. Cosmetics is digging into the world of true crime with the release of a new mockumentary called "Vanity Vandals," according to a press release. * Key to the effort is a 10-minute film that explores what the brand calls "vanity vandalism," or the act of over-cluttering vanities due to a surplus of affordable beauty products. The film made its theatrical debut at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on March 31. The brand also hosted a live watch party on its Twitch channel. * E.l.f. will amplify the effort with an activation within its existing Roblox space, a giveaway and limited-time product bundles. "Vanity Vandals" follows a similar effort from E.l.f. called "Cosmetic Criminals" in 2024. Dive insight: E.l.f. Cosmetics is raising awareness around the chaos of cluttered bathroom counters with "Vanity Vandals," a mockumentary inspired by research indicating that nearly one in five people have ended a relationship over a partner's bathroom habits. On TikTok, the hashtag #makeupmess has 115 million views, while the hashtag #messyvanity has 1.3 million views. The beauty marketer is framing the clutter as a broader shift in consumer behavior driven by the affordability of beauty products from brands such as itself. The 10-minute "Vanity Vandals" film follows an investigation led by the "Federal Cosmetic Crime Task Force" as they look to solve a series of cases surrounding shared sinks that are filled to the brim with E.l.f. products. E.l.f. has made accessibility a core part of its brand, with 75% of its products priced $10 or under. E.l.f. debuted the film at the TCL Chinese Theatre, supporting the launch with a red carpet hosted by iHeartMedia radio personality Ellen K and a Q&A session with the cast members and director Alex Buono. The brand also hosted a live watch part on its @elfyou Twitch channel. The effort will span digital, social and streaming platforms. Additionally, E.l.f. launched an experience within its existing e.l.f.UP! Roblox space, which the brand launched in 2023. The beauty purveyor also launched a "Save Our Sink" contest that will run from April 2-16 and invites consumers to share their own chaotic sink for the chance to win a prize valued at over $10,000 inclusive of a year's worth of E.l.f. products, a one-on-one bathroom or vanity design consultation and a $5,000 Target gift card. The latest true-crime push from E.l.f. follows a similar effort, "Cosmetic Criminals," that launched in 2024 on Amazon's Freevee streaming platform. The 15-minute parody documentary revolved around stolen E.l.f. products and served as the longest branded content spot to ever run on the big screen, per the advertising platform National CineMedia. Entertainment-focused marketing has long been a part of E.l.f.'s marketing strategy, with past efforts riffing on Animal Planet content and in-flight safety videos. Digital channels are also routinely a focus within E.l.f.'s marketing playbook, with its Roblox space often folded into its latest campaigns. In November, the brand launched a social-first campaign for World Kindness Day designed to combat doomscrolling. Rounding out the effort, the brand released two limited-time bundles online: a "Criminally Good" Blush Bundle, which includes its Camo Liquid Blush and Primer-Infused Matte Blush, and a "Criminally Obsessed" Boo Bundle, which includes 10 of its best-selling lip products. E.l.f. Beauty, the parent of E.l.f. Cosmetics, saw net sales increase 38% to $489.5 million during its third quarter of fiscal 2026 for the three month period that ended Dec. 31.

NWSL kicks off 14th season with new marketing strategy. After conducting offseason research, the league is targeting fan groups more narrowly with its fourth annual kickoff campaign. March 18, 2026 The NWSL season kicked off on Friday with two new teams and a new approach to marketing. The league's fourth annual marketing campaign, "Imagine Missing This," will be targeted more narrowly than campaigns from previous years, though it's still geared toward top-of-funnel goals like awareness and brand building as the NWSL continues to grow, according to Andrew LeRay, the league's director of brand marketing. The 2025 season capped off with a record-breaking championship game that averaged more than 1.2 million viewers, up 22% from the previous record set in 2024. "Last year, we had the same goal, but I think the strategy was a bit too broad," LeRay told Marketing Brew. "We did a lot of research at the end of last year, some segmentation studies, that gave us two very distinct audiences that we felt it was most appropriate to target this year." The campaign may also represent the league's most high-energy to date - literally. It's narrated by NWSL superstars Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson, and Sophia Wilson, who earned the nickname "Triple Espresso" during the USWNT's gold-medal run at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The combination of targeting and talent is meant to capture two different types of soccer fans while also positioning the NWSL as the league to watch for everyone in between. Just like me fr. One group the NWSL's marketing arm is focused on this year is young women who are "predisposed to soccer in some way," LeRay said. That could include women who play soccer, have family members who play, or are fans of the sport in general but don't yet follow the NWSL. "We're in a very unique position where our audience is also on our stage, and putting the spotlight on them and letting their personalities shine is a great way to make connections with exactly who it is that we want to bring into this fold," he said. To maximize those potential connections, "Imagine Missing This" features players beyond Rodman, Swanson, and Wilson, who are all active now after last taking the field for the NWSL during the same time period in November 2024. There's also voice-overs from last year's leading rookie goal-scorer Riley Tiernan and back-to-back MVP Temwa Chawinga, as well as on-pitch shots of players like Gotham FC midfielder Rose Lavelle and Kansas City Current midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta. In addition to the TV spot, which is running across NWSL-owned channels, paid social, and TV, the campaign includes Times Square billboards for the second year in a row, LeRay said. The billboards will be up through March 29, with rotating creative to promote various matches, he added. To measure the campaign's effectiveness, his team is tracking aided and unaided brand awareness, as well as its reach, impressions, and views. Within 24 hours of its release, the spot had four times the engagement on Instagram as the 2025 season kickoff spot had for the year, LeRay told us. There have been other wins for the league in the last several years. In 2024, the NWSL reached $75 million in team sponsorship revenue, according to SponsorUnited data, and the league started its 13th season last year with 13 sponsors, including newcomers e.l.f. Beauty and Alex Cooper's Unwell Beverage Brand. This year, e.l.f kicked off the season by expanding its three-year partnership to include an additional player partnership and a presence in the league's newest cities of Boston and Denver. Boston Legacy FC debuted to a crowd of more than 30,000 at Gillette Stadium, the biggest crowd for a team's first game in league history, and across the eight opening weekend matches, more than 129,000 fans turned up, a record for opening weekend. Iykyk. The second group the campaign targets, LeRay said, is "people who are interested in elite soccer." This audience tends to skew a bit older than the first, and includes more men, he added. "The second audience is more conversion-focused," LeRay said. "We feel like this second group has a better opportunity to take an action more immediately...These are folks who are already tuning in on Saturday morning to [English Premier League] matches." The ad showcases several significant goal-scoring moments, like a game-winning volley from Rodman, highlighting the elite-level of play that could help attract fans who are hungry for more top-notch soccer amid a World Cup year. For the other group - especially Gen Z fans - the tagline, "Imagine Missing This," is meant to hold some weight, LeRay said. His team wanted to convey a sense of FOMO associated with the NWSL without coming across as gatekeeping or demanding, he said. "We don't think [Gen Zers] necessarily want to be told what to think or what to do, and so we didn't think an authoritative tagline really made a lot of sense, but we want to focus on our players, and we want people to feel like if you're already a fan, you're ahead of the game," LeRay told us. "If you know, you know, and if you don't, we're going to show you exactly what everybody's talking about." Alyssa is a senior reporter for Marketing Brew who's covered sports for three years, with a particular interest in brand investment in women's sports.