FANNING THE FLAMES OF FANDOM WITH E.L.F.
When e.l.f. fans spontaneously started turning empty Halo Glow bottles into giant DIY lip glosses, e.l.f. faced an exhilarating challenge: how to act at lightning speed and capitalize on a fan-ignited movement generating millions of views.
e.l.f. fans wanted to play and DIY their own personalized, customized lip gloss, and e.l.f. decided to give them exactly what they wanted. First through community engagement, then with participatory content, and then with moments of surprise and delight. Less than two weeks after the trend started, e.l.f. dropped an official DIY Halo Glow Lip Gloss Kit, which sold out in just 24 hours.
The result: 85 million organic views, 77k+ new followers, and a community repeatedly celebrating that "e.l.f. always listens."
BRAND CHALLENGE
Every brand wants fans making content about them. But when it actually happens, how do you seize the opportunity, amplify virality, and maximize fandom?
That was the exhilarating challenge for e.l.f. when their fans started a playful new trend on social, turning empty Halo Glow bottles into giant DIY lip glosses. With this trend spreading like wildfire, how could e.l.f. jump into action, fan the flames of fandom, and turn a viral moment into a massive win?
CREATIVE SOLUTION
Moving at e.l.f. speed (think fast….but faster), e.l.f. jumped in with a four-step, high-octane strategy that transformed this viral moment into a full-blown community and product moment.
Step 1: LISTEN. The team identified the fast-moving Giant Lip Gloss trend as having breakout potential and moved at lightning speed to own the conversation.
Step 2: PARTICIPATE. e.l.f. created organic content to participate in the trend in an additive and meaningful way. The first TikTok they created, which placed the oversized Halo Gloss in everyday settings with absurdly large props, drove their top third-performing post of all time, racking up an incredible 10 million organic views.
Step 3: LEAN IN. e.l.f. continued to spin the fandom flywheel even faster, and hosted their biggest TikTok Live ever, bringing in e.l.f. executives to join the fun. The community tuned in and was all abuzz.
Step 4: BUILD. As the final cherry on top, e.l.f. converted the hype into real product by launching an official DIY Halo Glow Lip Gloss Kit. This created an urgent, must-have moment for their fans. The kit dropped just two weeks after that first viral video, and it sold out in just 24 hours.
The campaign generated a total of 85 million organic views, over 2 million engagements, and 1,000+ user-generated videos. This buzz translated directly into massive audience growth, with the brand gaining over 77,000 net new followers in a period of just six weeks.
But the real victory wasn't just in the numbers, it was in the tidal wave of positive sentiment. Comments, DMs, and stitches from fans flooded social media, all reinforcing one powerful message: "e.l.f. always listens."
