The Campaign

TeleBeauty is a web app that makes it look like the user is wearing makeup during video conferencing, even if they are not. It was developed in cooperation with Skype for Business. Women can teleconference with digital makeup applied, even during early morning or unexpected meetings. The app also blurs out the background so you don’t have to show your daily life to your meeting participants. The aim is to enhance the value of makeup as not just personal enjoyment, but also a means to utilize your unique style when communicating.

Creative Execution

The first step was to launch TeleBeauty during Telework Week in Japan. Our aim was to spread it through B2B rather than B2C, and we wanted to introduce the concept on a trail basis at companies looking to promote telework. With Skype owners Microsoft involved in the promotion, the idea spread in the form of business news. We sought to have the story picked up by lots of media that cover women and working. The news would also spark a conversation among working women as well as HR supervisors and others who influence working styles.

This idea caught the world’s interest as the news spread through more than 40 countries, earning more than $9 million in publicity. The new proposal was embraced as a possibility to further expand opportunities for working women. This idea was embraced by women in Japan, and offered new possibilities for expanding career opportunities for women.

To help reduce the gender gap, Shiseido focused on telecommuting. Telecommuting has become popular around the world by making it easier to work from home, but it has not yet caught on in Japan. We found that a challenge in videoconferencing is that an unexpected meeting may leave women with little time to apply makeup, and may threaten privacy when daily lives are caught on camera.