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Dr Feelgood

Look Good Feel Better took over Barolos for lunch this week as it launched its new campaign of typography-based ads using makeup to promote the charity which helps self-esteem of women with cancer through 300 workshops each year...

Designed by TBWA\Whybin, and brought to life by photographer Charlie Smith, the print ads use cosmetics and makeup tools and even false eyelashes as letters to spell out the headlines.

Thread.co.nz likes their use of typography rather than the typical women's smiling faces you'd expect to see.

“We needed to communicate the important link between the makeup and the image transformations we make possible for New Zealand women,” says Yvonne Brownlie, General Manager of Look Good Feel Better. “Using makeup and makeup tools to form the copy headline was a spark of genius,” she says.

They gave a brief to Creatives for a campaign that was "relevant, unexpected and memorable, to connect powerfully with the audience." They had the idea to tell a story using makeup.

Charlie Smith, of Charlie Smith Photography says the MAC shop at Chancery in Auckland made hand lettering from cosmetics. "A woman's handbag is a scary thing" he said, to laughter around the room.

Jenny McMillan, Account Director at TBWA\Whybin, says he has achieved his aim. “The advertisements are eye-catching and quite unusual,” she says. “I haven’t seen anything like this before.”

Below, the campaign ad with a pun on Pick m(ak)e up.

“It’s the most uplifting thing watching a group of women experiencing cancer, walk out of a Look Good Feel Better workshop with their heads high, a smile on their faces and the sparkle back in their eyes,” says Yvonne Brownlie.

Look Good Feel Better arrived in New Zealand in 1992, when it was founded by the Cosmetic Toiletry & Fragrances Association of New Zealand (CTFA). It now runs in 23 towns, cities and regions from Paihia to Invercargill, with 300 workshops, run by 400 volunteers, reaching 3000 women, every year.

During the 2½ hour workshop trained volunteers show women how to cope with the appearance side-effects of their cancer treatment, such as dry, flaking skin, swollen or gaunt faces, scars, pigmentation changes, acne, brittle fingernails and, of course, hair loss. The volunteers take the women through a step-by-step skincare regime and shown how to apply cosmetics to help camouflage loss of eyebrows, eyelashes and changes in skin colour. Then they are shown how to use wigs, turbans and scarves to look stylish no matter how much hair they have lost.

At the end of the workshop, every woman goes home with a complimentary beauty kit of cosmetics and skincare products donated by the CTFA. Each year the association donates $2.5 million worth of products to Look Good Feel Better.

Here’s what one woman said: “Not only did my body feel really bad, it was hard on the ego knowing I also looked really bad – no hair, eyebrows, stubbly eyelashes, blotchy acne skin, not to mention the excess pounds. But a couple of hours of Look Good Feel Better and I felt everything the name says.”

The new campaign will hopefully put the writing on the wall about the good that LGFB does, and the hidden powers of makeup in the face of cancer.

Below, media and supporters of LGFB gathered for lunch in the opulent and intimate space of Barolos restaurant at the Langham Hotel in Auckland on Friday 13 November to view the unveiling of the campaign.