Ulta Beauty USA
”Where Dreams Begin”
Directed by Malik Hassan Sayeed
Edit by Eric Argiro
I was transferred to McCann New York to bring my beauty expertise to the agency for their client Ulta Beauty - the largest mass and prestige beauty retailer in America.
In this film, I wanted to bring the optimism and hope of the brand promise to life “the possibilities are beautiful”, but in a way that could be felt, through bright blue skies, free movement and dazzling colour. We wanted to show beauty as an act of self love, self care, togetherness: the woman quietly applying lipstick for the first time in forever, or dancing alone and feeling fierce. The man delicately painting his wife’s toenails, the father brushing his beaming daughter's hair, a girl looking out over a waking city.
As a meditation on the beauty, it was essential to reflect the real American audience. We cast in COVID, and relied on families and friends “bubbling” to give us our diverse talent. We end on a powerful invitation to the beauty community "Welcome to the place where beauty lives" that, in the midst of COVID lock-downs, feels all the more compelling.
And as a final beautiful touch, we acted on the brand promise of “the Possibilities are Beautiful” - giving up-and-coming, Brooklyn-based singer Esabelu a huge platform in her performance and release of the title song.
More Ulta Beauty work…
SEE BEAUTIFUL TODAY (PART III). Covid-response film shot remotely in lockdown on high spec iPhones by the cast, some of whom were "bubbling" together. Directed by Vicky Lawton, edited by Jerry Chia.
SEE BEAUTIFUL TODAY (Part II). Covid-response manifesto film, inviting the beauty community to reframe the idea of "beautiful". Curated entirely from UGC in lockdown and edited by Eric Vita.
A WORLD OF BEAUTY AWAITS. A delightful animation to drive app downloads. Bringing the Ulta Beauty App to life as a colourful world of make-up try on, exclusive offers and rewards. Animation by Paloma.