I am sitting here in the Starbucks across from the Morphe store in the Mall of America, where just yesterday thousands of fans were camped out over night in hopes of seeing their favorite YouTube stars during their makeup pallet launch party. All over my hands are makeup swatches and I am getting makeup on my clothes and keyboard, and in my possession is the coveted Conspiracy eyeshadow pallet. This pallet and it’s accompanying collection is indisputably the biggest makeup launch of 2019 and it became a pop culture event. But what I feel moved to dig into today is not the beautiful colors or a makeup tutorial, but how this pallet has a far-reaching impact on highlighting the creative process.
My conspiracy pallet.
Just incase you have no idea what or who I am talking about, let’s take a step back. YouTube has become known for its makeup tutorials and has led to some influencers on the platform that boast millions of followers. Arguably the biggest makeup influencer is Jeffree Star. This past year another mega YouTuber, Shane Dawson did a multi-episode docuseries with Jeffree Star showcasing his life and the behind the scenes work that it takes to run his makeup empire and the spoils of luxury that come with it. This series was a resounding success and the duo have been partnering on all sorts of projects since.
These images feature Jeffree Star on the left and Shane Dawson on the right. These images are from their YouTube accounts.
This is where their latest collaboration comes in. This collaboration is a triumph for creativity as a whole and we need to talk about it. The collaboration was a line of makeup and products created together and the entire process was filmed and turned into a docuseries leading up to the launch of the products. This is such a high-level concept that any global advertising agency would be hard-pressed to create such rich content for any campaign. The idea of creating a story around what you are making and leveraging the nostalgia of both the YouTuber’s brands is genius. And the storytelling kept us all on the edge of our seats waiting to see the final products.
Image from the Conspiracy Collection Reveal video from Shane’s YouTube channel.
When the merchandise launched it all sold out in under 20 minutes. And when the makeup launched November 1st, they actually broke the internet… like they broke Shopify… not just their website but actually Shopify. All top 5 trending hashtags on Twitter the time of the launch were related to the collection with people freaking out about having trouble purchasing the items. All makeup and products have sold out online globally and we are talking massive quantities. Over 1 million eyeshadow pallets were sold according to the docuseries and that is not including all the extras. So it was a resounding success despite the internet issues and some disappointed customers. Sold out, is sold out, and the internet has been buzzing about it it for over a month. And in the limited attention span of the internet news cycle, that is HUGE.
Now let’s talk about the series and why it is such a big deal for creativity and creatives. If you haven’t seen the series I recommend you go binge it! You won’t be sorry. What follows is probably going to contain spoilers.
The Marketing is Creative Genius
The storytelling and marketing behind this project is pure genius. This idea to make something and documenting the process is an amazing example of creativity on its own, not even considering the the creativity that went into the products. This should be an example to all creatives to lift the curtain and show people what they are working on while they are doing it. Documenting your process is interesting content and is also important for posterity. I think so often creatives are afraid to show the process as if it diminishes their work or makes their work more likely to be stolen, but in reality it is the exact opposite. Showing the process shows the value and also shows how it isn’t something just anyone can do.
It Challenged the Stereotype That You Can Only Be a Creative One Way
So often people think of creatives in a box. This person is an illustrator, this person is a designer, or this person is a writer. And the current state of social media doesn’t help. In pursuing ‘likes’ and ‘engagement’ many creatives niche down and just do one thing that people expect to get ‘likes.’ But so many of us are Renaissance Souls and we can do more than one thing. Our creativity is our skill set and it doesn’t have to be limited to just one medium. This series proved that. This showed a collaboration of storytellers, videographers, marketers, and makeup designers. And it showed the creativity of one person can be applied to all these things. But it is so hard for people to wrap their minds around this idea because we put people in boxes… and well… many creatives don’t fit in a box. Seeing how shook some people were by this showed how wonderfully these creatives wore all the hats and knocked down that stereotype.
Image taken from Shane Dawson’s Twitter Account.
The Series got People Interested in the Creative Process
The series leveraged the brand of these two big personalities and also the nostalgia of their past creations to get people completely engrossed in the creative process. There were all kinds of inside jokes and we felt like we were part of it. This is so important! So often people have no clue how much work goes into the creative process for anything and quite honestly disrespect creators. There is a complete lack of understanding of what it takes to create something from scratch in society and this series showcased the process more in-depth than anything else I have ever seen. Even reality series based around creative competitions can’t show this much of the process so seeing hours of content around each and every step truly shed some light on what this kind of work actually entails.
Creative Collaboration was Highlighted over Creative Competition
In the real world, creatives collaborate to make things happen and on TV shows creatives are always pitted against eachother in competition. So people don’t really understand that it takes a team to create great things. Don’t get me wrong, individual creatives make amazing things all the time but large scale projects like TV shows, movies, product launches, theme parks, and large scale events take teams of creatives working together (not in competition) to make things happen. It also takes manual labor to create things. And they showed big teams of people including the large scale launch team as well as assembly lines and it gave the viewers a glimpse into the man hours that went into that product in your hands.
Images are from Shane Dawson’s YouTube Channel.
It Showed Creative Failure as Part of the Process
Failure is just part of the process when you are being creative. You just have to try again and again till you get it right. But people don’t really understand this process. This is where Anna (the head of package design) shined. She showed what it is like to come to bat again and again as a creative professional. And here is the thing, creatives go through this exhaustive process ALL THE TIME. It makes us hard as nails and showcases true talent. I mean how many non-creatives would keep showing up again and again when they are told repeatedly that their best efforts have missed the mark? Not many. And this is what a professional creative looks like. This is what a creative career is. And showcasing Anna’s work and what her team brought to the table is my absolute favorite part of this docuseries
Images are from Shane Dawson’s YouTube videos.
Their Creations Inspired More People to Create
And not just beauty looks… People have created staged photos for social media posts, people have done YouTube videos reviewing the product (and in turn are polishing their public speaking skills), and I have even been inspired to write this blog post! People are making all this online content celebrating the pallet and that content is all free marketing for the collaboration. But marketing is creativity. And it takes balls to post a video of yourself online and show how you create a makeup look. Being inspired to put yourself out there creatively takes courage and their project has been the catalyst to all of this.
And I just wanted to take a minute to acknowledge them and what they did. It is bigger than a pallet. It is bigger than a product line or a docuseries. It is a showcase of creativity that has been seen by millions of people and will inspire more people to be creative for years to come. And that is an amazing accomplishment. I can’t imagine what this series would have meant to me as a child. It would have been a game changer for me to see what was possible being a professional creative.