Clinique, which launched in 1968, just introduced its first “creator-led” campaign.
The campaign, dubbed “Unstoppable Together,” stars married Olympic long-jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall and Paralympic sprinter Hunter Woodhall. The concept positions the couple as a dynamic duo, mirroring Clinique’s own hero pairing: Moisture Surge Active Glow Serum and Moisture Surge 100H Hydrator.
The campaign also marks the latest evolution in Clinique’s approach to ambassadors. In 2020, “Game of Thrones” actor Emilia Clarke became the brand’s first-ever celebrity ambassador. The brand followed this by casting Melissa Barrera, star of “In The Heights,” in 2021. Now, like so many other beauty brands, it’s leaning into a different kind of cultural figure: athletes. As described by a Clinique representative, the campaign marks “the first time the brand has cast a creator or athlete as the talent.”
Though often associated with the skin care your mother used, Clinique remains a strong performer. The brand currently holds the No. 1 spot in both skin care and makeup sales at Ulta Beauty, according to brand representatives. In 2024, it expanded distribution by launching on Amazon, and in 2025, it debuted on TikTok Shop.
The brand has also benefited from viral product moments. Its color cosmetics hero, Almost Lipstick in the shade Black Honey, surged in popularity after going viral in 2021, prompting the brand to expand the franchise with a Black Honey lip oil and eyeshadow in 2024; it added a Black Honey lipliner in January.
More recently, Clinique has been working to replicate that kind of momentum within its skin-care portfolio. Moisture Surge Active Glow Serum, launched in March 2025, builds on the brand’s Moisture Surge moisturizer, which has been a Clinique staple — albeit reformulated several times — since 1988, according to Kelly Fanning, gm of Clinique. According to Circana, the Moisture Surge 100H Hydrator is the No. 1 prestige moisturizer in the U.S., based on sales, and the brand’s top recruiter of new consumers.
In its first year on the market, the Moisture Surge Active Glow Serum has been a hit. It drove a strong market-share gain for Clinique in the overall serum category and helped fuel a 38% year-over-year increase in the brand’s serum sales, a representative said.
As the serum approached its first anniversary, the brand began thinking about how to celebrate the milestone through a campaign built around partnerships. “We thought a lot about all the different duos we could [feature]. We have mother-daughters we work with, and we have dermatologists and patients we work with — there were [were] so many options,” Fanning said. Ultimately, Davis-Woodhall and Woodhall emerged as the ideal pair.
The couple brings reach. Across their individual accounts, a shared account and multiple platforms, they have a combined 7.7 million followers on social media. Clinique itself has 3.8 million Instagram followers and 235,000 TikTok followers.
The couple also represents the audience the brand is hoping to further engage. Davis-Woodhall is 26 years old, and Woodhall is 27 — which places them squarely within Gen Z. According to Fanning, Gen Z and millennials together account for 49% of Clinique’s audience.
Clinique is supporting the campaign with paid media across streaming platforms including Hulu, Disney+ and Netflix, as well as on social platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Meta and Pinterest.
The campaign also extends beyond the Woodhalls themselves. At a recent dinner in New York, Clinique invited creators to attend with a plus-one — a nod to the campaign’s “duo” theme. Some attendees, including Kate Bartlett (536,000 Instagram followers) and Jillian Gottlieb (531,000 Instagram followers), were also tapped to create paid content for the campaign.
The strategy taps into several current shifts in marketing and creator culture, said Quynh Mai, founder of creative strategy agency Qulture.
Up until now, Mai said, Clinique has largely relied on its heritage positioning. This campaign, however, reflects a different approach — one that aligns with modern cultural dynamics and marketing trends. “Not using traditional beauty creators was smart,” Mai said, noting that beauty creators are increasingly competing with AI-generated content. Instead, she said, the campaign taps into a growing cultural focus on physical performance and wellness: “I call [the trend] ‘the body.’ We’re moving into this Ozempic, wellness phase again; people are really focused on working out and being strong, and athletes have become the new celebrities, the new [figures] that people look up to — more than a [traditional] beauty influencer.”
Davis-Woodhall said the campaign resonated with the couple’s own dynamic. “What really stood out to us is Clinique’s message that no one glows alone. That honestly feels like our relationship. Hunter and I are always pushing each other — in training, in recovery and nutrition, or just in anything we’re doing. So, the idea of doing something that celebrates that togetherness just makes a lot of sense,” she said.
Woodhall added that the brand’s emphasis on performance made the partnership feel natural. “We also love that Clinique talks about skin care in terms of performance,” he said. “As athletes, performance and consistency are really important in our lives. Clinique has the same mindset when it comes to skin care. We want something that works, that we can rely on, and that helps us feel confident whether we’re training, traveling or competing.”
Beyond the wellness angle, Mai said the couple’s relationship also carries cultural resonance. A couple — particularly one that met and fell in love as 17-year-old athletes — feels like a refreshing narrative at a time when audiences are saturated with stories about breakups and dating-app fatigue, she said. “There are very few instances where you see a married couple truly in love anymore,” she said. “We hear so much tabloid fodder about people divorcing and the drama and our exhaustion with dating apps.”
Finally, she noted that the partnership also reflects values important to younger audiences. “Racial diversity, body diversity and body acceptance are all very important to Gen Z. I could not think of a better pair for them to go with.”
Week in review
- Supermodel Jasmine Tookes’s body-care brand, Brunel, launched a new body cream with a campaign riffing on iconic scenes from “The Devil Wears Prada.” The campaign video features Tookes’ famous friends, including model Sara Sampaio and Heaven Mayhem founder Pia Mance.
- Speaking of the famous film, with its sequel’s release less than two months away, Tresemmé introduced the “Get Your Hair on the A-List” campaign, starring Paige DeSorbo and Christian Siriano, to announce that it is the “signature hair brand” of “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
- Once a limited-edition product, Makeup By Mario has brought back its original Ethereal Eyes palette, originally launched in 2022. When the palette first launched, it sold out in less than six weeks, and when the brand brought it back in 2023, it garnered an over 60,000-person waitlist. Since its original October 31, 2022 launch, two-thirds of the brand’s social posts have received comments about bringing it back. Fans can finally rest — and purchase the $69 12-pan eyeshadow palette. This time, it’s here to stay.
- The latest collab of the week, Agolde has joined forces with Maria McManus on a 16-piece capsule collection, inclusive of denim and spring-ready pink pieces. The brand said the $448 pink belted Corset Wide Leg Jean and the white cotton Trouser Wide Leg Jeans have been early bestsellers.
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