In late May, EOS launched the latest in a back-to-back series of campaigns promoting its shave and body category. Titled “EOS Shave 101,” the campaign focuses on myth-busting in shaving — because, when it comes to shaving, dozens of “rules” persist.
Though EOS may be best known for its orb-shaped lip balms, its first-ever products were in the shave category. And now, its combined body lotion and shave products business is on track to account for more than half of the total business by the year’s end. The brand’s Pomegranate Raspberry Shave Cream is the No. 1 best-selling women’s shaving cream on Amazon, according to the marketplace. Its new Cashmere Skin Collection Shave Oil is No. 3 on this same list.
According to Nielsen, EOS is the No. 2 brand in the shaving category nationally, based on sales, with the brand growing 50% faster than the rest of the category. Its Cashmere Shave Collection was 2023’s biggest new collection launch in the women’s shave category. Also according to Nielsen, 46% of all shave category growth year-to-date has come from EOS, and the brand is in its fifth consecutive year of market share growth. Finally, EOS CMO Soyoung Kang said, “Our YouGov research shows that EOS is the first shave cream brand Gen Z women think of.”
“This [new] campaign [is about] leaning into the myths that we all hear and the lack of real education that there is as you’re learning how to shave earlier on. [It’s about] debunking all of that and giving you the straight story,” Kang said. To bring the campaign to life, the brand tapped three main creators, including Anayka She, Carly Joy (@killljoyy; 2.7 million TikTok followers) and Audrey Trullinger (@audreytrullinger; 1.7 million TikTok followers). It also tapped eight influencers to create TikTok content around the campaign which it will repost on its own channels. Of its latest campaign, Kang said, “Shave 101 is our flagship campaign in the shave category for 2024, and the campaign runs through peak shave season.”
Carly Joy (who does not use her last name online) is specifically important to the brand, Kang credits a viral post back by the creator back in 2021 with revitalizing the brand’s shave category three years ago. In the content created for the new campaign, each shares why they love the brand’s Cashmere Shave Butter and speaks to the shaving tips they’d give their younger selves, as well as how shaving makes them feel.
“It’s been fun working with a brand like EOS because they value originality, creativity and authenticity in their creator partnerships,” Joy told Glossy. She first went viral speaking organically about the brand’s shaving cream when she told her followers it was the secret to “bless[ing] your fucking cooch” and protecting against razor bumps. That post has 5 million likes. Of the original post, she said, she wanted to “share a shaving tip that many found relatable and helpful.”
“It’s super important to be open and honest about shaving because there is so much stigma associated with the topic,” she said. “I wanted to keep it real and show people exactly how I used EOS shave cream to avoid razor bumps and get a smooth hooha.”
Joy added, “Since the viral ‘Bless your F*ing Cooch’ post, we’ve teamed up on multiple campaigns over the years, creating content that truly resonates with audiences because of its real and authentic nature.”
The campaign comes on the heels of several other cheeky campaigns that EOS has launched around its suite of shaving products, which includes shave butter, shave cream, shave oil and pre-shave scrub, all offered in a variety of scents. It will run through the end of September with placements across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest.
EOS Shave 101 is the brand’s third body-focused marketing campaign in 2024. The brand also registered February 13 as an official holiday dubbed “Vagentine’s Day,” based on insights that a majority of people groom their intimate areas. The brand based the campaign, in part on data from TikTok’s beauty team, which found that 65% of users plan for Valentine’s Day a week in advance, with 57% treating themselves to gifts and 71% buying gifts for others. “We thought there was a really funny opportunity to take advantage of February 13 as the day that it’s time to come out of hibernation, let’s say, and basically get everything ready for February 14,” Kang said.
But the holiday isn’t all about getting ready for a partner. “February 13 is a day that you also pay homage to this hard-working and often neglected part of your body,” Kang said. The brand encouraged fans to “digitally pen words of respect and celebration to their intimate parts and share them on social,” according to the campaign press release. People could tag the brand to enter to win a year’s supply of the brand’s Shea Better Shaving Cream. On its social media accounts, the brand wrote: “Hoohas deserve love letters, too! Share yours by using #eosvagentinesday.” The brand has 1.6 million followers on Instagram and 1.1 million followers on TikTok.
Timed to Vagentine’s Day, the brand tapped influencers Serena Kerrigan (598,000 TikTok followers), Fannita (2.1 million TikTok followers) and Anayka She (1.5 million TikTok followers) to share their own Vagentine’s Day notes to themselves, with the goal of driving awareness to the holiday — and, of course, shaving cream.
But EOS’s cheekiest campaign of all may have been its first of 2024, dubbed “Dirty DMs,” an ode to its body lotion.
“We took all the words [used by] regular people in user-generated content — we did not pay for it, we didn’t ask for it. We just trolled the internet to find [this stuff]. … We paid them for their rights, for their words. And then we created an ad. And literally all it is is somebody reading out other people’s comments about our lotion — but the comments are bonkers. They’re like, ‘Don’t wear this unless you were prepared to go to pound town.’ It’s amazing,” Kang said. Other examples include: “This lotion got me pregnant,” and “That lotion get you flipped like a pancake.”
The brand ran the ad on Connected TV and Hulu. “We had to adjust it slightly. We had to take out some of the really NSFW ones,” Kang said. Ads also ran on YouTube, Meta, Instagram and TikTok. In February, the ads rolled out on Tinder, and in March, on Pinterest.
Given the continued success of its body care category, the brand is introducing two new scents of its Shea Better 24H Moisture Body Lotion between June and September. the scents are Strawberry Dream and Pink Champagne. The brand’s Vanilla Cashmere Body Lotion — the subject of the Dirty DMs campaign — is No. 1 on Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Body Lotion” list.
