Dive Brief

• Direct-to-consumer beauty line Birchbox debuted a new brand campaign called "You" that promotes taking time to appreciate applying beauty and grooming products as a form of self-care, the company announced in a press release.
• The cross-channel effort calls on consumers to make more time for themselves and is running on TV, digital, social and podcast ads. It features 60-, 30- and 15- second spots and a manifesto video depicting real people spending time in front of a mirror, a series of short films titled "Love Letters to You" and a poem about self-care that will be included in every Birchbox in June 2019.
• The campaign comes after the DTC company surveyed consumers and found that two-thirds of Americans are not taking time for themselves, mostly due to too much work or caring for others. The "You-Time Study" also found that 67% of people are multitaskers when it comes to personal grooming — for example, 58% clean the house while doing something like wearing a face mask. However, 72% view beauty and grooming as self-care.

Dive Insight

Running a cross-channel campaign that includes TV is a branding push to build awareness in the competitive beauty space at a time when Birchbox extends its reach into Walgreens stores. By tapping into consumer need for moments of pleasure to fight overworking and burnout, the brand appears to be positioning itself as a provider of well-being, with its data supporting the need for self-care moments.

The brand also appears to be taking an inclusive approach in the "You" campaign, which runs through the fall and features a variety of people across different ages and ethnicities that could use time to spoil themselves. While beauty ads are often aimed at women, the new Birchbox spots include men.

Birchbox, which enables consumers to receive samples of different beauty products, was an early success story in the subscription box category, helping to attract numerous other startups across a variety of product categories. However, the subscription box space has cooled somewhat and Birchbox, like other DTC brands, has started to extend its reach into other channels, both with brick-and-mortar sales at Walgreens and, as this campaign highlights, through a more expansive marketing strategy to reach a wider audience.

Birchbox recently received investment from Walgreens, which has been developing mini Birchbox-themed pilot shops within some of its stores as the retailer looks to give its beauty section a makeover. As part of the new move, Birchbox increased prices, released larger items and pushed gender-free products. Last month, Birchbox revealed that it's renaming its BirchboxMan box to Birchbox Grooming, a more inclusive positioning that can be marketed to any gender.