Issue #9: The Cera(Ve) Partnership

Michael Cera teams up with CeraVe on a sneaky brand campaign this week.

Happy February! In the spirit of it being the first day of the shortest month of the year (and the fact that I’ve procrastinated writing this for a little too long), this week’s issue is short and sweet. And hey, I get to make the rules here! So today, we’re recapping the very important CeraVe x Michael Cera partnership. 

If you have yet to see this by now, the no-frills skincare brand CeraVe partnered with beloved quirky-cute actor Michael Cera to promote their products, and the results are joyful. It started with Michael walking around the streets of Brooklyn handing out bottles of CeraVe moisturizer, which got a ton of social and press pick-up. 

Then, Haley Kalil, an influencer, posts this video where she walks into a pharmacy and Michael is just standing there casually signing bottles of CeraVe. She pretends like she just stumbled upon him in this pharmacy, but the whole thing was totally staged and it’s actually a very strategic ad.

@haleyybayleeGuys run to this pharmacy in BK, I just saw MICHAEL CERA signing bottles!! 😳😳😳I'm a #ceravepartner, and I'm asking @CeraVe what is going ON #nyc #fyp #celebritysighting

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Legendary celebrity gossiper Deuxmoi then does something similar when she posts this video speculating whether Michael is the brain behind the CeraVe brand. In both Kalil and Deuxmoi’s videos, it’s a little unclear whether they’re ads. Both use a #CeraVePartner hashtag, but the content still manages to come across as a legitimate Michael Cera run-in and legitimate celebrity gossip. By now, we’re starting to realize that the Cera x CeraVe partnership is way bigger than just planting Michael in a random Brooklyn pharmacy…

@deuxmoiHot off the newsroom presses!🚨 🗞️ Michael Cera spotted by paparazzi carrying bags of @CeraVe products AND handing them out to strangers on the streets of NYC. If that’s not odd enough, we got the above anonymous email 👆 👆… Anyone else hear about this??! #ceravepartner

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And it keeps getting bigger. Michael joins viral interviewer Bobbi Althoff on her podcast The Really Good Podcast last week, where Althoff repeatedly presses Cera to tell her whether he created CeraVe.

@bobbialthoffSuch a fun time with Michael Cera. Can’t wait to do it again! @CeraVe #ceravepartner #michaelcerave

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Michael purposefully dodges the question, then fumbles his words when he briefly refers to CeraVe as “my product.” These videos are so dry and direct that you quickly forget that you’re watching an ad.

@bobbialthoffGo watch my full interview with Michael Cera on YouTube. He’s an open book when it comes to developing products. @CeraVe #ceravepartner #michaelcerave

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Okay, so at this point, there’s a ton of buzz around whether Michael Cera started CeraVe. The brand finally addresses all the buzz when they begin deploying reminders of their product value on their owned channels, asserting that Michael is definitely not behind the brand. When I visited their website, this is what popped up immediately:

This copy is so good.

And on social, CeraVe posted this, once again reiterating their long-lasting tagline: “The #1 dermatologist recommended skincare brand.”

So what works about this? Across the board, this partnership has done an amazing job of maintaining an organic feeling that so few celebrity-brand partnerships successfully accomplish. This is reinforced by the fact that the celebrity is Michael Cera, a super low-key guy who you would not expect to be working with a skincare brand. And that’s also what is so good about this: Michael is so casual, so no-frills and chill in the same way that CeraVe is such a no-frills brand in the skincare space. In this case, the celebrity partner aligns really well with the brand and its products.

By partnering with Michael Cera, CeraVe is effectively targeting a niche but important customer that other skincare brands are failing to reach: the can’t-be-bothered-with-washing-his-face, doesn’t-know-where-to-start guy who is maybe trying to dip a toe into a skincare routine. (Guys need skincare routines too!) There are wayyy too many Sydney Sweeneys and Hailey Biebers out there who are marketing Laneige and Rhode to women with a million skincare products already lining their shelves. And yes, while those women may be in the market to purchase more, there’s also a whole untapped market of men (see also: anyone who may be new to skincare, anyone who maintains a minimalist skincare routine, anyone who wants to spend less money on products, and anyone who is a Juno fan) whom CeraVe is effectively targeting in this campaign.

CeraVe also staged this campaign as an opportunity to build truth and assert positive claims around their products. When so many rumors were circulating about Michael’s involvement with the brand, they took it as a chance to reinstate the product value and offer up the otherwise boring details about the benefits of their skincare line.

I was a fan before Michael Cera, for the record.

The campaign launched on a very basic premise: similarity in names between CeraVe and Michael Cera. But it quickly turned into something way bigger with the support of truly hilarious and realistic influencer and press promotional efforts. I loved it, and I think other brands could definitely learn something from taking a really basic, seemingly random idea and turning it into a multi-channel, integrated campaign.

Let me know what you think!