How Beauty and Wellness Brands Are Tapping Into Entertainment

In 2026, selling makeup, skin care or even protein-infused ice cream is no longer just a matter of having the best product and formulations. Amid a crowded market and consumers’ increasingly short attention spans, brands can no longer depend on traditional marketing campaigns fronted by familiar A-listers. Instead, they are increasingly tapping into cultural moments and emerging fandoms across entertainment as a way to break through the noise in innovative ways

Here, executives from five leading brands in beauty and wellness discuss how they’re accomplishing just that; how quickly they have to move in order to do so, and what they’re learning along the way

Rob Rausch, of “Love Island” and most recently “The Traitors” fame, may not be the most obvious celebrity to team up with MAC, but that was part of the beauty of the brand’s collaboration with him earlier this year to celebrate its launch at Sephora in the U.S

The brand initially launched with a campaign featuring Chappell Roan, Gabbriette and Quenlin Blackwell that showed two sides of MAC makeup. Emily Bromfield, senior vice president, global marketing, MAC Cosmetics, told WWD that while this was very successful, she felt that they needed something to cut through the noise amid a very competitive moment in time in beauty marketing

“It’s never been a more competitive time to be in beauty marketing. In fact, marketing period. We needed a moment that cut through, and we love stunts. We needed something that was a moment that you couldn’t help talk about. It has to be fundamentally in culture. You cannot work on that for months before. We actually worked on the Rob thing within a week of launching, and we were looking for someone that was the most talked-about person on the internet at that time, and ‘The Traitors’ was blowing up,” she said.

“Two days before we launched in Sephora, we pitched the idea to him. He wasn’t sure at first, but I think he saw the humor in it. He saw the entertainment part of it. He agreed. He sent us a topless shot. We put ‘MAC is at Sephora’ on top of that image, and on the day of launch, we blasted that through our socials,” she continued

That day he was also revealed as the winner of “The Traitors.” Immediately after his press conference, he made an appearance at Sephora in Times Square. Sephora then took his image and blasted it on a huge billboard in Times Square as a surprise for him

“It seems like such a gratuitous, strange move. Why Rob? Why MAC? Why Sephora? But when you look at the analytics, it’s clear his audience overlapped with the Sephora audience,” said Bromfield. “The world was fascinated with him, and we were able to tap into that in a very unexpected way. It’s one of the most successful things we’ve done, and we’ve done lots of big stunts recently.”

It had about 11 million views on social media and about 411,000 shares, mainly on TikTok and Instagram

“What we are learning and honing now is how to gain people’s attention, which is probably the hardest thing to do, and also keep their attention span,” said Bromfield

David Protein x Inde Navarrette

Since debuting in theaters in May, Curry Barker’s “Obsession” has swiftly become a worldwide sensation, crossing $400 million in global ticket sales and captivating audiences, in part thanks to Inde Navarrette’s chilling performance as Nikki Freeman. It was David Protein, though, that mobilized to snap up the actress for her first commercial, a 2:15 minute ad that airedof the film to promote its new Frozen Dessert Treat

“Someone on our team saw ‘Obsession’ opening weekend, was blown away by her performance, and it was really clear she is an absolute star, so we reached out,” said Peter Rahal, founder and chief executive officer of David Protein

From concept to launch, the spot took less than a month to execute, he said. “[Inde] made the shoot possible in a way very few people could: the full hero video was filmed in a single take.”

The campaign actually came out after the Frozen Dessert Treat, which is priced at $90 for six pints that feature 30 grams of protein each, had already sold out within 28 minutes of its launch on June 1. “This was never a sales play. It was a brand investment and a chance to work with a talented artist we believed was on the verge of a real breakout,” said Rahal. The official commercial garnered just more than 5,000 likes across Instagram and TikTok, though seven other, more casual videos the brand filmed behind-the-scenes with Navarrette garnered more than 400,000 collective likes.

“The casual content outperformed the hero spot, which did not surprise us; it is more native to Instagram and TikTok. The spot establishes the story, but the one-take reel and behind-the-scenes footage are what actually traveled, because people wanted to see Inde work,” Rahal said

The founder’s biggest learning?

“Speed matters — cultural moments don’t wait. Treat artists like artists and let them do their thing.”

E.l.f Beauty x ‘Survivor‘

E.l.f. Beauty’s partnership with “Survivor” for the reality competition’s 50th season was an opportunity to participate in a broader cultural conversation while reinforcing its entertainment-first marketing strategy

“We don’t do logo slaps…that’s just not who we are,” said Patrick O’Keefe, chief integrated marketing officer at E.l.f. Beauty

The brand instead looks “for cultural moments,” making the show’s milestone season a natural fit. The partnership also aligned with the beauty brand’s focus on celebrating women. O’Keefe noted that the campaign was inspired by the show’s history of female champions. With a woman ultimately winning Season 50, women have now won 22 seasons of the series

The “E.l.f.ie Advantage” campaign was developed in collaboration with Paramount, CBS and agency Egen. Debuting during the live “Survivor 50″ finale, it featured a series of comedic vignettes featuring content creator and actress Delaney Rowe and “Survivor” contestant Tiffany Ervin. The spots, which also rolled out across social media, imagined contestants using E.l.f.’s hero products to gain an edge in “Survivor”-style challenges. The activation was accompanied by a limited-edition bundle featuring E.l.f.’s Power Grip Primer, Suntouchable Whoa Glow SPF 30 and Camo Concealer, along with a co-branded “Survivor” buff, the signature scarf worn by contestants on the show.

O’Keefe described the script as “a framework, a guide,” with the creative evolving through collaboration and improvisation, including ideas Rowe contributed during production. E.l.f. selected Rowe because she was already a fan of the brand, O’Keefe said. “She has this dry sarcastic humor that really resonates with Gen Z and Millennials.”

The partnership wasn’t without challenges. O’Keefe said the team had to navigate the “Survivor” franchise’s intellectual property guidelines while also securing internal support for the concept and ensuring the campaign honored the show’s female winners

The campaign also delivered measurable business results. O’Keefe said it received overwhelmingly positive feedback, while the limited-edition product bundle sold out in three days and brought “new eyeballs on the brand.”

O’Keefe, who has been with the company for nearly seven years, said the business has grown from about $200 million in net sales to $1.8 billion during his tenure, supported by an entertainment-driven marketing model that extends across gaming, creators, sports, experiential activations and social platforms

Rather than approaching channels independently, E.l.f. Beauty operates what O’Keefe describes as “a flywheel,” with digital, paid media, social, CRM, creators and PR working together across each campaign. The company produces roughly 130 campaigns annually, with ideas informed by ongoing analysis of community feedback

“We read every comment every week,” he said, using consumer insights to identify emerging cultural trends

Liquid I.V. x ‘Off Campus‘

Liquid I.V. was written into the “Off Campus” script long before the hockey romance show became the series equivalent of a box office hit this past spring

The placement marked a continuation of Liquid I.V.’s partnership with Amazon Prime that’s allowed them to show up in a slew of fan-favorite franchises, including “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”

“We’re a very big Amazon partner, and have been for a long time. It’s one of our top sales channels, and one of our top media investment channels as well,” said Aaron Jones, Liquid I.V.’s chief media officer. “We want to participate in places where we can own culture and credibility.”

“Off Campus” was a “beautiful intersection of both,” Jones continued

Under the direction of series creator Louisa Levy, Liquid I.V. shaped the sponsorship narrative that followed main characters Garrett Graham and John Logan throughout the first season, which aired on May 13. After the show premiered, as the fandom swelled online, the daily hydration brand tapped respective actors, Belmont Cameli and Antonio Cipriano, to appear in a launch campaign for its new Ring Pop flavor, giving viewers the chance to get their hands on a real-life version of the ad poster, featured in Episode Eight, with purchase.

“Hockey is a great usage occasion for Liquid I.V., so it made a lot of sense. It was the kind of a partnership where we said, ‘Hey, let’s lean in. Let’s create a storyline, and then also make it live beyond the walls of the show,’” Jones said. “There was also this whole meta conversation about how it’s a sponsorship storyline about a sponsorship. It didn’t seem like it was a hidden influence, it was very clearly a part of the show.”

The organic integration resonated with consumers amid growing frustrations around random product placement in popular TV shows today. As a result, the “Off Campus” social campaign generated the strongest organic engagement to date, garnering more than 7.8 million impressions during the campaign period and over 23,000 new followers in a two-week period across all platforms. Meanwhile, the print advertisement sold out in one minute.  

If not for the creative alignment across all touchpoints of this partnership — from the shoppable content that popped up during the show’s commercial breaks to the custom brand store that came after — the marketing push may not have yielded the same results. That said, synergy is essential

On whether or not the entertainment channel is worth the investment, Jones said: “The pace of creative is faster than ever. So the question just becomes, ‘Is there value?’ The thing that’s exciting about entertainment marketing and culture is that it only lasts a certain amount of time, and there’s some scarcity to it as well. But it also goes everywhere, it’s part of the underlying creative strategy.”

 Maybelline New York x Miley Cyrus

Retro is cool again, not least in music — a powerful vector of reinvention. A case in point is Maybelline New York’s signature jingle “Maybe It’s Maybelline” dating from 1991 that was reimagined by Miley Cyrus last September to viral effect

“Maybelline is a brand that shares a lot of values with Miley — all about self-expression. Miley uses beauty to be who she wants to be,” said Sandrine Jolly, global brand president of Maybelline New York, adding it is a tool of confidence and creativity for both, too

Cyrus has an authentic emotional connection to Maybelline, as her first mascara and eyeliner came from the brand

The Maybelline jingle was used until about a decade ago. “The idea was to come back on this ‘maybe,’” Jolly said. “For Maybelline, ‘maybe’ is not about doubt or hesitation. ‘Maybe’ is about infinite possibility.”

Before the jingle’s reworking and relaunch, the Maybelline team realized it still had high awareness among the brand’s consumers — and even nonconsumers. “We decided to come back on ‘maybe,’” Jolly said

Cyrus, who at the time was the newly minted global brand ambassador, was asked to sing “Maybe It’s Maybelline.”

“And she said: ‘Why only this? I will write a song for you,’” Jolly said. “She did it so spontaneously. It was quite magic, this moment, when she came back with a full song on ‘Maybe It’s Maybelline.’”

The new song was launched in September 2025 on Spotify and the brand’s platforms, then started going viral. Six months later, Maybelline had Cyrus embodying the brand’s new launches — a serum lipstick and mascara

The buzz keeps amplifying this year. On Spotify, Cyrus’ updated Maybelline jingle boasts 1.5 million plays, for instance

“We also quantify that we achieved over $4 billion earned media impressions just with the jingle,” Jolly said. “It has been for us a huge increase versus 2024.”

There was, as well, a major impact on the Maybelline business in the U.S., where sales grew by 4.2 percent across all categories last year

“The serum lipstick became number one on TikTok Shop, for example, in Q4, and the lip category boomed by plus 8 percent in Q4 2025,” Jolly said. “That’s the ROI we could measure. We know [the jingle is] also part of the brand love that we have been working on.”

Maybelline, which is more than 110 years old, is the top-ranked makeup brand in the U.S

“There’s a kind of emotional connection or nostalgia linked to the brand,” Jolly said. “I believe that Miley coming back in a very contemporary way on this jingle helps, as well, to build our relationship and brand love towards our consumers. It goes beyond the ROI. We are working on a long-term point of view to revive this nostalgia and emotion.”

Cyrus has a generosity and willingness to help women go beyond social diktats and explore themselves, be self-confident and unique, Jolly said

“This is a mission that we have as a brand and that Miley shares so beautifully,” she added