Ouai Taps Stephanie Shepherd, Kristen Noel Crawley for ‘Live Life Your Ouai’
Product isn’t central to the new campaign Jen Atkin conceptualized for Ouai, her one-and-a-half-year-old hair-care brand — celebrating the “hustle” of women is.
And to do this, Atkin tapped eight women, a baby and a dog (Chrissy Teigen’s French bulldog Pippa) to depict what it means to be a woman for “Live Life Your Ouai.” The series of images shot by husband Mike Rosenthal. Today, the campaign kicks off across Ouai’s social platforms, with new content rolling out through Oct. 30. A collection where customers can shop “the best products for girls on the go,” as well as non-hair related merchandise will hit theouai.com too, including “Ouai Woke” and “Nasty in My Own Ouai” pins.
“It felt like everything was external and the narrative was about being pretty. I get it — we’re in the beauty aisle. But part of me felt just wanted to put a twist on that…and when I sat down and thought about what it means to be a woman, [I realized] there is so much more of the story to tell,” Atkin said.
The celebrity hairstylist turned entrepreneur’s need to convey “the spirit, independence and strength” of women was born from what she thinks is a hole in marketing and messaging that’s targeted to women in the beauty industry. She came to this conclusion this year after spending time touring, meeting customers and visiting retailers.
Atkin said conversations at dinner with girlfriends the past several months began to revolve around this concept. Beyond the physical demands placed on what it means to be a woman, Atkin and her peers are “multitasking like crazy” and meeting the challenges of life every day.
What came next was a mapping out of the message discussed above (and creating the group’s motto, “Life is hard, looking good should be easy;” figuring out the vehicle in which to spread it (social media) and tapping everyone from Cameron Patterson, an intern at Mane Addicts (Atkin’s online destination dedicated to all things hair), to Stephanie Shepherd, chief operating officer of Kardashian West Brands, to star in the campaign.
Rounding out the group is: Kristen Noel Crawley, chief executive officer of KNC Beauty; Elle Ferguson, blogger at They All Hate Us; Sazan Hendrix, an influencer and owner of BlessBox beauty subscription service; Haley Olsen, a makeup artist; Porscia Horvath and her baby Aluna Lani; Shayla Mitchell, beauty influencer and Maybelline ambassador and model, and Pippa Teigen, Chrissy Teigen’s French bulldog.
“I know we are breaking down barriers in industries,” she continued, adding that she’s determined to change “the old school narrative.”
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