London, 30th November 2023:  e.l.f. Cosmetics has collaborated with Southpaw, Wavemaker UK, Kinetic Active, and Aircards to create its first-ever accessible murals in London (Brick Lane), Manchester (Shudehill), and Birmingham (Digbeth).  

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The immersive AR Murals for beauty disruptors e.l.f. are a continuation of the work on the successful Express Your e.l.f. campaign. The community-led movement campaign unveiled earlier this year featured an inclusive and diverse cast of 20, in the brand’s successful campaign video.  

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To launch the AR Mural campaign, Southpaw brought together a collaboration with illustrator and artist Laura Greenan and features Meduulla, a 24-year-old Zimbabwean-born rapper, poet, DJ, and e.l.f.-proclaimed "Mancunian Mermaid" who was a key cast member in the original Express Your e.l.f. campaign video, which has now been viewed over 6 million times.   

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The audio and visual murals will be seen in London, Birmingham and Manchester and come alive with the added element of Augmented Reality created by Aircards and Wavemaker UK – by scanning the mural QR code, Meduulla will come to life in the mural and rap her e.l.f. inspired song, explosive. lines. flow. Added to this, the media placement strategy and implementation, by Wavemaker and Kinetic, ensures that the murals and e.l.f. sit right in the heart of communities in a bold, disruptive way. There will also be subtitles and audio descriptors for anyone with hearing impairments or sight loss.  

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Glenn Smith, Creative Director of Global Strategic Creative Agency Southpaw agency said:

“e.l.f. are such a community focused brand, so we wanted our mural to be more than just advertising, and more a piece of urban art that people would appreciate seeing in their public space. Meduulla was an easy choice as the ‘face’ of the mural, she has such a visual presence and an inner strength that radiates from her look. She also has an amazing back story of self-expression that we could bring to life with AR. Laura Greenan’s style is perfect– vibrant, playful and full of energy. It’s been amazing to collaborate with these incredibly creative women and to see how their individual styles have come together to create something so original.” 

Rozzi Merrington, Head of Applied Innovation, Wavemaker UK, said:  

“We’re thrilled to be launching this cutting-edge solution for e.l.f. This project has been an incredible collaboration between all the agency teams and our XR partners, Aircards. Thanks to developments in AI and spatial computing, we’ve seen real leaps happen in the last year, impacting the quality and sophistication of experiences we can deliver to consumers with immersive tech. With this activation, we’ll be unlocking a third space for e.l.f fans– transporting them into a fully audio-enhanced immersive experience we know they’ll want to share”.

Lauren Thornton, AVP of International Marketing at e.l.f. Cosmetics said:

“Southpaw continue to push our creative boundaries at every stage of the process. They are inspiring partners who collaborate with all stakeholders, constantly have our community and superpowers in mind and are always finding ways to make deeper connections into culture.”

Christine Cassidy, Vice President and General Manager, International, e.l.f. Beauty added:  

“At e.l.f., we are on a mission to encourage self-expression and empower others to embrace their individuality. This second phase of the #expressyourelf campaign goes beyond this, by using AR and being accessible it ensures that everyone can feel the joy and freedom of expressing their truest (s)e.l.f.”

The murals will be viewable at London Brick Lane, 200 Brick Lane, London E1 6SA, Manchester Shudehill, 60 Shudehill, Manchester, M4 4AA and Birmingham High Street Digbeth, B12 0LD until 10th December.

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