Launching Maybelline's Colossal Bubble Mascara with GMV Max and affiliate-led creatives
Maybelline New York, a global beauty powerhouse under the L'Oréal Group, is known for creating accessible, high-performance makeup that empowers consumers to express themselves with confidence.
The launch of Colossal Bubble Mascara marked a strategic moment for the brand: introducing an exclusive, high-impact product to a new generation of beauty consumers. The goal was clear: build mass awareness, drive product discovery, and convert that attention into sales by meeting beauty shoppers where they're most inspired—on TikTok.
Maybelline already had a robust organic presence on TikTok, regularly engaging with Gen Z and Millennial audiences through creator partnerships, product tutorials, and trend participation. This foundation helped set the stage for a high-performing campaign by combining organic buzz with paid performance through GMV Max.
This wasn't Maybelline's first time on TikTok, but it was a first-of-its-kind exclusive launch on TikTok Shop and a litmus test for the platform's ability to drive end-to-end impact, from awareness to conversion.
To support the debut of its Colossal Bubble Mascara, Maybelline New York partnered with TikTok Shop to launch an exclusive product drop that combined immersive storytelling, creator-led content, and TikTok's automated commerce solutions. With a strong legacy in beauty innovation and mass appeal, Maybelline sought to reach and convert beauty shoppers directly through TikTok Shop.
The goal was to maximize awareness, product discovery, and gross merchandise value (GMV) for this exclusive TikTok Shop launch while maintaining cost efficiency and scale. To do this, Maybelline utilized GMV Max, TikTok's campaign automation solution, which optimizes ad placements, creative selection, and audience targeting. By setting clear ROI goals and budgets, GMV Max dynamically adjusted campaigns in real-time, ensuring optimal performance without manual intervention.
To ensure a steady pipeline of high-quality, performance-ready content, Maybelline tapped into Spark-authorized affiliate creatives—a solution that allows advertisers to utilize affiliate-generated videos in Shop Ads directly. By leveraging affiliate content, Maybelline can scale faster without custom production, while preserving creator authenticity and maximizing reach through GMV Max.
Finally, to build trust and showcase the mascara's unique features, Maybelline partnered with beauty creators known for their genuine reviews and tutorials. The creators showcased the product's benefits, such as the bubble brush design and volumizing effect, in authentic, relatable content that resonated with their followers.
By leveraging GMV Max, Maybelline achieved breakthrough commercial success on TikTok Shop. The launch of Colossal Bubble Mascara not only debuted as the #1 beauty product at the time, it also propelled Maybelline to become the #1 beauty brand on the platform for the first month of the launch.
The campaign delivered over 2X growth in total sales and a 4X+ improvement in ROI compared to Maybelline's previous benchmark campaigns. Additionally, the top 5 affiliate videos from the Colossal GMV Max campaign garnered more than 100 million views combined, amplifying both product awareness and conversion.
The positive response from our target audience was overwhelming—we saw incredible engagement, a surge in creator content, and immediate sales conversions, all fueled by the platform's 'shopper-tainment' experience. Reaching our target audience has fundamentally shifted by creating a more direct, interactive, and impactful connection than ever before.