I was approached by Benefit Cosmetics to work on a 2-day press conference at a secret location in East Sussex. Having focused heavily on influencer-marketing and curating a strong social media presence, the brand had realized that they had slowly fallen out of favour with more traditional, print and digital publications, which resultantly, impacted the brand's ability to reach their core consumer base. In an attempt to remedy this departure, Benefit invited various distinguished journalists, beauty bloggers, and magazine editors to join them at a luxurious, countryside retreat, branded "The Benefit Motel", where they would be wined, dined, and pampered, as a means to elicit favour with these esteemed publications. As such, the brand would also use this opportunity to unveil their entire new product catalogue for the year, complete with exclusive product-giveaways and live demonstrations from their in-house beauty experts, ensuring that Benefit Cosmetics would be the focus on everyone's pen.
Benefit Motel Guest Entrance
Benefit Motel Demonstration Floor
Benefit hired event production agency Made Up Ltd. to handle the design and build aspect of this activation, introducing various fun, interactive elements such as a check-in desk, "Benefit Motel" sign-board, branded product displays, and a Benefit elevator with integrated lighting & sound, to really transform the space, and leave guests feeling immersed. My role was to act as the main host and guest liason throughout the retreat, taking on a playful character that had been created as a personification of one of Benefit's icon products - "Deep Retreat" - the pore-clearing clay mask. This persona was born out of a playful twist on the product name, as well as the activation itself, which was of course a much needed deep retreat for all the invited guests. My role therefore, was to be a constant, warm, nurturing, presence for guests, attending to their needs, and taking them through the immersive experience with ease.
Deep Retreat Packaging
Indigo Clay Mask Colour Inspo
Final Look
As the style guidelines for this brief were based on a Wes-Anderson-coded colour-blocking aesthetic, I was instructed to put together a "character look" for Deep Retreat, drawing clear parallels from the product packaging. I chose to focus on the deep indigo hue of the mask itself as my base colour, pairing together a two-piece co-ord set of a long trench coat and smart trousers, using silver accessories as an accent colour to match the product lid. I then styled my hair in space buns to reflect the bubble design featured on the packaging. The character prompts I was given for my hosting persona were "bubbly", "cheeky", "fun" and "friendly", so these were important considerations for me when I was thinking of the voice and overall presenting style I wanted to portray for this event.
See a video snippet from the Benefit Motel, starring your relaxation guru and fabulous host, Deep Retreat.
The Benefit Motel Press Conference was such an overwhelming success, that I was then invited back by the brand to be the official host for the Benefit Cosmetics Annual Conference and Gala, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.
This time, I was personifying a different icon product from the "Porefessional" product range, so the main colour focus was teal with cream accents. I chose to go for a matching teal co-ord knitwear combo, with a body-skimming fit to play on the idea of "snatched" pores.
Porefessional Primer and Setting Spray
Porefessional All-In-One Mask Wand
Final Look
Check out The Benefit Motel on Made Up Ltd's Official Instagram
