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Time Out, the global media and hospitality business that helps people explore and experience the best of the city, has partnered with Maybelline New York, the world’s #1 cosmetic brand, to encourage and help people date in real life again with a campaign called Dating IRL running from July through October. Part of the campaign is to bring back Time Out’s popular blind date series The Undateables, with Maybelline as the relaunch partner.
The Time Out Creative Solutions team have created a bespoke 360-degree campaign that will run in the US for Maybelline’s “Fit Me” foundation, spanning all of Time Out’s channels: there will be editorial sponsorship, a branded interactive content hub on timeout.com, digital advertising, newsletters, social media posts and video series, as well as live events at Time Out Market—the company’s food and cultural market. This channel mix is unique and Time Out is the only brand that can offer its partners campaigns spanning such diverse channels from digital to in real life.
“Across the US, people have missed ‘city life’—now that we're getting back into it, they are looking for things to do, and they trust Time Out to inspire and entertain them. And though the past years have taught us we may not need to spend as much effort or time on our outer appearances, it remains a large part of our lives,” says Jessica Feinstein, Senior Vice President, US Marketing, Maybelline New York. “After all, we still live in a time of social media, selfies and bathroom pics—and while we may love hanging out at home in our pyjamas, it is also simply fun to get back to beauty and back out into the world. Our campaign with Time Out celebrates this—it’s fun, vibrant and we can’t wait to help people get back into Dating IRL.”
Finding ‘the perfect fit’ brought to life across Time Out digital channels
At the heart of the campaign is Maybelline’s “Fit Me” foundation which offers 40 shades, making finding the perfect shade fit even easier than finding the perfect partner. To bring this to life, the campaign features a number of initiatives: Maybelline will be the relaunch partner and editorial sponsor to bring back Time Out’s much missed series, The Undateables, which has been paused during the pandemic and will kick off with blind dates across several US cities. In addition, Time Out will create a series of sponsored articles about the new world of dating to help those feeling a bit rusty get back in the game with articles surrounding new dating etiquette, dating terms you need to know, the most romantic places in America and more. There will also be a personality-style interactive quiz for people to find out how dateable (or not) they are. A branded content destination will serve as a hub to showcase the entire collection of articles, The Undateables series, links to the quiz as well as to social videos and information about the live events.
To further engage audiences and drive traffic to the hub, Time Out will bring Dating IRL to its newsletters and social media with a series of posts as well as co-branded videos across Facebook and Instagram. The videos will aim to help people navigate dating in the city by sharing various tips, live advice from a dating expert, connecting over their most embarrassing dating stories and more.
“With city life back and people enjoying it like never before, they turn to us when they go out—and our brand partners can be right there. We are very excited to be working with Maybelline New York—it’s a match made in heaven and our first time delivering a campaign for this iconic brand” said Stacy Bettman, Time Out’s President of North America & UK. “Our experience-hungry, fun-seeking audience is a perfect fit for Maybelline New York and we have had so much joy working with the team to create this bespoke campaign that really makes the most of our diverse Time Out channels—whether that’s digitally or with live events at our Time Out Markets.”
Dating IRL live events at Time Out Market
To complement the digital campaign, Time Out will deliver Dating IRL live events which will be promoted across Time Out’s website, social channels and dedicated emails. These ticketed live events will take place at Time Out Market in New York, Chicago and Miami; and in a different venue in Los Angeles where Time Out Market doesn’t have a presence. Time Out Market brings the best city dining, cocktailing, and cultural experiences—handpicked by Time Out editors—together under one roof. The result is a curated food and cultural market that is entirely based on what Time Out editors believe is exceptional. For the Maybelline branded Dating IRL live events, people from across the four cities will be invited to a night of food, music, drinks, comedy and speed dating. Maybelline sampling and Makeover Stations will provide guests with the opportunity to find their perfect “Fit Me” foundation shade and try out the latest make-up trends created by Maybelline make-up artists—so they can look and feel their best for their next great date.
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Notes to Editors
For more information, please contact: maybelline@bpcm.com and pr@timeout.com.
Time Out client centre: https://business.timeout.group/united-states