Welcome to SEPHORiA: a lush virtual event
How do you take a beloved live event and transform it into a virtual space? This example from Sephora during the recent pandemic ensured that Sephora met their chief goals: educating attendees about new brands, generating influencer buzz, and highlighting the ethics of clean beauty, diversity, and inclusion. “We really changed the entire event when we took it virtual. Coming up with how to do that, make it a positive experience, and stay true to the brand was a challenge,” said Amelia Friedman, Eventique’s project manager for this event.
Picture this:
It’s 10 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2021. You’re one of the country’s top beauty influencers, and you’re sitting in front of your computer with swag, makeup, and other beauty products from Sephora covering your desk. They arrived on your doorstep just in time for this moment. You pull up Sephoria2021.com and — holding your breath — enter your login. Then, it happens: The virtual doors open, and you “step” inside a massive digital house.
The house is a maze, and every room brings a new experience. In the home theater, you’re immersed in a master class streamed live by a beauty brand in Los Angeles. It’s followed by a panel on mental health in the beauty space sponsored by Selena Gomez’s brand Rare Beauty. In the loft, you follow a portal to a virtual fitting room where you can try on ThirdLove bras. In the family room, backyard, and sunroom, celebrities like Jonathan Van Ness, Helen Phillips, and Patrick Ta appear to share makeup tips and tell you about clean beauty. You spin a fortune wheel to win swag and snap selfies in virtual photo booths. It’s the most fun you’ve ever had without leaving your office chair. You’ve just journeyed through SEPHORiA: Virtual House of Beauty, a one-of-a-kind virtual event created by Eventique.
Planning the Event
Amelia Friedman recalls that planning and executing the event took nine months. Along the way, they ran into several challenges that demanded creative and collaborative gymnastics.
“It was a very difficult concept to wrap our heads around, but our incredible creative director really took charge and took the lead on it,” she says. Friedman adds that although the team couldn’t fully replicate the in-person experience of collecting free samples at dozens of booths, shaking hands with other media influencers, and building out gorgeous selfie photo-ops, they could create a lush environment that felt magical.
Registration Challenges
Once Friedman’s team developed a blueprint, they faced an execution hurdle: creating a registration page that would both give SEPHORiA’s attendees flexible ticket options and stay within the legal guidelines of every U.S. state. Eventique wanted guests to choose between snagging a free ticket or adding one of two $40 gift box options. This flexibility was a serious challenge to the event’s registration software, but Friedman’s team made it happen. The beautifully branded Experience Kits were delivered directly to each influencer’s doorstep, stuffed with swag, samples, and full-sized products from Sephora partners like FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna.
Behind the scenes, though, there was an even trickier aspect to these perks: the sales tax. When mailing out the boxes, Sephora had to charge the buyer tax depending on where they lived, and one misstep could bring a legal battle.
“There are over 4,000 different tax zones, and we learned that the hard way,” Friedman jokes. Ultimately, her team devised a clever integration of Sephora’s registration system and credit card processing that fully avoided any legal snags.
A Massive Success
SEPHORiA sold out quickly, and hundreds of influencers logged on without a hiccup to explore the Virtual House of Beauty. They played games, learned from brand ambassadors, tested ThirdLove bras in the virtual fitting room, and even sweat it out in online workouts with obé Fitness. After the event, BizBash named Sephora one of its Industry Innovators of 2022, calling the beauty company one of “10 Brands Shaping the Future of Event Marketing.”
The publication also spotlighted SEPHORiA: Virtual House of Beauty as Sephora’s “Most Innovative Event.” Kate Biancamano, the director of event and experiential marketing at Sephora, told BizBash that, “Creating something that unique was a really big win. People had never really seen anything like it.”
