As the official beauty partner of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), Maybelline is launching a Canadian campaign to revamp its brand image, with homegrown pro basketball player Bridget Carleton at the centre of it.
The brand aims to promote inclusivity and confidence for all while also making beauty more accessible.
The campaign includes a 60-second video featuring Carleton’s basketball journey, alongside 30- and 15-second video ads tailored for digital and social media. National activations will follow, spanning digital channels, Jumbotron live game broadcasts and exclusive integrations with WNBA programming in Canada. The brand will also amplify the campaign’s message through content from more WNBA players and beauty influencers.
Wavemaker managed media buy and influencers were managed internally by the Maybelline New York team. NP Digital’s Rebl House was behind the creative.
Jessica Rosen, Maybelline Canada’s head of brand engagement, tells Media in Canada that the media mix for this initiative is “significantly more diverse” compared to a traditional product marketing campaign, using a broader range of channels to reach a wider audience.
“This implies an increased, strategic investment in channels that allow us to effectively engage various demographics, particularly those often underrepresented in traditional beauty marketing,” she says, noting that the brand has increased its investment in collaborations with influencers in particular, going beyond traditional social media and online video partners.
The partnerships with league players, Rosen says, are key to ensuring the campaign’s message is conveyed impactfully in Canadian spaces where the brand hasn’t had a presence before.
“[Carleton’s] presence helps us connect with audiences who might not typically engage with beauty campaigns, further broadening our reach and reinforcing the idea that everyone is born with it, on and off the court,” she adds.
The brand’s ultimate goal is to boost product sales by associating with a message of democratizing beauty. KPIs will assess the campaign’s effectiveness primarily by changes in brand perception, enhanced brand affinity and brand loyalty.
The campaign will run for six weeks, with data-driven optimization plans in place. According to Rosen, this involves real-time performance tracking, ongoing A/B testing of creative and messaging, regular content updates and strategic budget adjustments based on performance and feedback from social listening and community engagement.
Maybelline and the WNBA announced their multi-year collaboration in April to launch fan engagement initiatives aimed at building self-confidence through basketball. As part of the agreement, Maybelline became an official marketing partner of the 2025 WNBA Canada Game presented by Tangerine, which pitted the Atlanta Dream against the Seattle Storm in the league’s first foreign regular season game on August 15 in Vancouver. The brand will also assist in the renovation of local basketball courts in Toronto and Montreal to facilitate community access.
Rosen explains that Maybelline’s WNBA sponsorship in Canada is part of a larger initiative to support women’s sports in North America. This effort builds on the brand’s existing partnerships, including its recent title sponsorship of the Women’s Lacrosse League and its pioneering role as the first cosmetics sponsor of the New York City Marathon.
