The brief for this next chapter was therefore twofold. First, continue shifting perceptions among influential audiences who still see beauty as superficial – especially business leaders, policymakers and men – by showing how beauty shows up in real moments across politics, business, health, science and sport. Second, build on Year one’s success while evolving the partnership across multimedia formats: growing the branded podcast and newsroom sponsorship while adding more visual storytelling (notably a 30-minute documentary film) and live event experiences that could make the campaign feel more immersive and reinforce the idea that beauty is essential. The challenge was not just to repeat a winning formula, but to prove that sustained, multi-format storytelling could deepen credibility and drive long-term perception change.

In Year two, L’Oréal Groupe and The New York Times evolved the partnership into a multi-format ecosystem designed to make the “essentiality of beauty” feel human, specific and undeniable. The idea was to return to familiar formats from Year one – advertising, newsroom sponsorship and podcasting – while introducing a new multimedia pillar, a documentary film that could provide powerful visual proof.

The ad campaign shifted from a negation to a declaration. In Year one, creative units had challenged expectations with “This is NOT a beauty ad,” pairing the line with surprising facts about beauty’s role in business, technology and more. In Year two, the work evolved into a more affirmative platform, pairing the phrase “X is a beauty story” with themes such as “building a brand,” “molecular discovery” and “3D printing,” explicitly naming beauty where it is often invisible.

We continued our podcast with Season two of “This Is Not a Beauty Podcast”, which deepened the editorial lens and relationship with existing listeners. Each episode tackled subjects such as business, tech or science and revealed the hidden role beauty plays through expert and human stories.

Oscar-nominated actress Isabella Rossellini returned as host, joined by guests including Naomi Osaka, wildlife biologist Lizzie Daly and rugby legend Joe Rokocoko — voices whose credibility in performance, science and sport reinforced the campaign’s thesis. The visual identity of the podcast was refreshed with gender-neutral colours, clean composition and mobile-optimized artwork that more prominently featured Rossellini’s name.

The most ambitious creative addition was “Meeting the Moment,” a 30-minute documentary narrated by basketball legend Sue Bird. The film follows four athletes — sprinter Noah Lyles, lucha libre wrestlers Persephone and La Catalina, and FC Barcelona defender Jules Koundé — as they prepare for major competitions, revealing how grooming, self-expression and ritual contribute to confidence, focus and recovery. Shot across Mexico, the United States and Spain with a small T Brand team and production partner Special Operations, it combines intimate interviews, observational footage and immersive sound design to deliver a journalistic, emotionally resonant story about beauty’s role in human performance. Film posters, social art and on-site drivers extended this visual world across touchpoints and event screenings in New York and Paris.

Together, these elements across digital advertising, podcasting, print and video formed a coherent narrative that showed, rather than stated, that beauty is present in life’s everyday rituals and in elite sport.

Year two was designed to show that perception change is a long game – and that continuity, not one-off flights, shifts how people think about beauty. The campaign delivered strong performance and deeper engagement.

The podcast remained a powerful engine. Season two downloads surpassed 72,000, increasing on Season one and signalling sustained audience interest and loyalty. Engagement metrics stayed strong, with an average 25-minute listen time and a 70% completion rate — far above typical audio benchmarks – and the follower base grew by 50%.

The documentary “Meeting the Moment” also delivered exceptional results. Across The New York Times and YouTube, it generated 217,000 page views and 71,000 full-length video views, with audiences collectively spending more than 2,250 hours on the documentary landing page — over 4x T Brand’s top page last year. Thirty-second trailer units drove 8.5 million video starts with a 66% completion rate, above the NYT benchmark of 60%, and 5.7 million viewers (67%) watched the trailer in full. A brand-lift study showed positive movement across all measured metrics, including a +13.4-point lift in brand favourability (vs. a +4.9-point Kantar norm). Talent and influencer support – including social amplification from Noah Lyles, Jules Koundé and other cultural figures – broadened visibility and embedded the film’s message in sports and culture conversations beyond paid media.

Across two years, spanning two podcast seasons, advertising campaigns and a documentary, the partnership delivered 265 million impressions globally and more than 3.3 years of total time spent with content. Within that, the Year two partnership alone generated 179 million impressions. Just as importantly for L’Oréal Groupe, male audiences engaged at rates comparable to female audiences and above beauty industry benchmarks, confirming that framing beauty through performance, innovation and identity successfully expanded relevance among audiences historically outside beauty marketing.