e.l.f. Cosmetics is taking a deliberately hands-on approach to holiday advertising with Made to Stand Out, its first-ever stop-motion holiday campaign. Instead of relying on digital shortcuts, the project was created with handcrafted clay characters, miniature sets and painstaking frame-by-frame animation.
The story follows three friends—Echo, Kit and Cleo—as they return home for the holidays. When old insecurities resurface, their favorite e.l.f. beauty products help them recognize that the traits they once tried to hide are also what make them extraordinary.
The campaign was produced by Burbank-based independent stop-motion studio Apartment D Films and directed by cofounder Cami Kwan. The studio’s puppet team is 90 percent women, while its animation team is entirely made up of women.
Emmy- and Tony-winning actor and The Traitors host Alan Cumming lends his voice to the project. His Scottish accent and deliberately camp approach add another layer of humor and theatricality to the unconventional holiday story.
Cumming said he connected with e.l.f. because of the brand’s vegan and cruelty-free positioning, as well as the campaign’s artistic approach. He described the handcrafted production as a contrast to the increasingly generic direction of advertising and said he was pleased that every part of the project had been made with care and attention to detail.
The actor also spoke about the campaign’s message of accepting the qualities that make people different. He identified openness as his own greatest gift, saying that he embraces his differences and remains receptive to new experiences and people.
For Cumming, that openness has also meant being candid about who he is. He said that living without shame can be freeing and argued that while beauty products may provide confidence boosts, a person’s belief in themselves and ability to embrace their identity are ultimately more important.
The campaign’s holiday setting also prompted Cumming to reflect on reconnecting with people from his past. He said that being well known has led some former school friends to reach out, giving him the opportunity to catch up with them and see them from a different perspective.
Sources: Cosmopolitan.