Two campaigns directed by Taika Waititi that brought joy, authenticity, and self-expression to beauty shopping.
Holiday gifting is genuinely stressful. The pressure to get it exactly right freezes people up. Sephora's Holiday 2024 campaign called that out directly with a simple message: Don't Overthink It.
Beauty is personal, which makes gifting it feel risky. What if they don't like the shade? What if it's wrong for their skin? But a Sephora gift isn't really about the specific product—it's an invitation to explore, to try something new, to indulge a little.
The act of giving matters more than getting it perfect.
Taika Waititi made four holiday spots that leaned into the chaos—the last-minute panic, the awkward gift exchanges, the overthinking—and turned all of it into something warm and funny. The point wasn't to pretend gifting is easy. It was to say: Sephora makes it easier.
The campaign ran across TV, digital, social, and in-store, keeping the same message consistent no matter where shoppers ran into it.
As Senior Connections Strategist at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, I built the media strategy that got Taika Waititi's work in front of holiday shoppers when they needed it most—deep in the anxiety of the gift-buying season. I led channel planning, landing on a mix of connected TV, streaming, and social that put us in front of the right people at the right moments.
I built the rollout calendar, sequencing content drops from Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve to keep the campaign alive instead of burning out in week one. I worked with our media agency on premium placements and developed the social amplification plan that stretched the campaign beyond paid reach. I'm proud of this one—it ended up on AdWeek's Best Holiday Ads of 2024.
"Don't Overthink It" became one of Sephora's most successful holiday efforts. Sales hit records. The humor cut through the usual holiday ad clutter. And shoppers responded to being told—finally—that they didn't have to stress about getting it perfect.
Skincare people are a whole category of human. The "Skin Obsessed" campaign was built around them—the ingredient nerds, the twelve-steppers, the ones who document everything—and it positioned Sephora as the place those people actually live.
Skincare enthusiasts aren't just consumers—they're researchers, experimenters, and evangelists. They read ingredient lists like wine labels, track their progress with clinical precision, and spread the gospel of their holy grail products with religious fervor.
They're obsessed. And that obsession is beautiful.
Back with Taika Waititi, we made spots that celebrated the obsession without making fun of it—the twelve-step routines, the 2am ingredient rabbit holes, the very particular way skincare people think about their faces. The message: this isn't vanity. This is a lifestyle, and Sephora gets it.
Hero spots anchored the campaign, which then extended into social, influencer partnerships, and in-store activations that gave skincare fans a reason to connect with the brand on their own turf.
I led the connections strategy for "Skin Obsessed" by starting with the audience—who are these people, where do they actually spend their time, and what does a Sephora ad feel like when it shows up in that context? I mapped the channel mix across connected TV, online video, paid social, and streaming audio, focusing on the platforms where skincare enthusiasts go to research, compare, and obsess.
I built out influencer recommendations that prioritized authentic skincare voices over reach alone—creators who live in the community, not just adjacent to it. I worked with the creative team to make sure our placements matched the campaign's tone, and built a retargeting approach to catch interested shoppers before they moved on. The skincare category is huge and only growing—this campaign was built to own as much of it as possible.
"Skin Obsessed" landed because it took skincare people seriously. No winking at the camera, no gentle mockery of the obsession—just an honest celebration of the way these consumers approach their routines. That respect translated into real affinity and category growth across price points.
