Michael CeraVe
CeraVe2024
Michael CeraVe is a 2024 30-second television commercial and social-first influencer campaign for CeraVe, created by Ogilvy PR, New York.
The line
Developed with dermatologists.
Why it works
A Super Bowl ad that was really the final act of a three-week online hoax. Building on old internet jokes that the brand was his namesake, Michael Cera started acting as if he had invented CeraVe: paparazzi-style photos, a perfume-ad parody teaser and videos made with TikTok creators and dermatologist influencers fed the rumour, while dermatologists publicly pushed back. The 30-second spot, directed by Tim & Eric and aired in the first quarter of Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, revealed Cera's sultry pitch film being screened for a boardroom of unconvinced CeraVe dermatologists, and landed the real point: the products are developed with dermatologists, and "Cera" refers to ceramides. It is studied as the template for social-first Super Bowl planning, where the paid spot is the punchline rather than the idea. It won the Super Clio on the night and the 2024 Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Social & Influencer, where the results cited were 32 billion impressions and a 25% rise in sales.
Techniques
Sources · 4
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