For too long, despite Canada’s rich diversity, the beauty industry has had limited representation. It often reflected one cultural group. One face. One beauty standard. This had to change.

In 2019, Sephora launched its We Belong to Something Beautiful brand platform to challenge these norms and the singular expression of beauty. A year later, Sephora Canada was looking for new ways to continue its We Belong to Something Beautiful brand journey, while wanting to further its commitment to drive inclusion, combat racial bias through representation, and amplify educational storytelling. As such, the retailer set out to spotlight individuals within communities traditionally under-represented in Canada, ultimately reinforcing we all belong.

Canada is one of the most diverse countries, with 22.3% of Canadians identifying as visible minorities. However, these groups have systematically been underrepresented in the beauty industry, its marketing and products.

While 17% of Sephora Canada’s clients identify as BIPOC and capturing their share of wallet is a key growth driver for the retailer, a gap in its ability to truly connect with many of those audiences remained.

With the onset of the social justice revolution in 2020, they felt it was not enough to show a mosaic of diverse faces, these communities needed their voices heard and stories told. So, their strategy aimed at establishing a new standard of representation, tapping into key cultural moments and offering Sephora Canada’s platforms to amplify diverse voices from under-represented communities.

To highlight under-represented communities, The Colony Project needed to first identify the cultural moments and conversations they’re connected to. To gain deeper understanding and ensure authentic representation, they partnered with various collaborators within South Asian, East Asian, and Indigenous communities across three dedicated moments: Diwali, Lunar New Year and National Indigenous History Month.

These three moments came to life each reflecting the rich histories, distinct traditions and unique voices.

Diwali: To celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, they partnered with a mix of Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist collaborators to create poignant online videos and “Get The Look” tutorials, highlighting what Diwali means to them. To drive conversation, they provided the media with Festival of Light kits, allowing them to recreate their own beautiful looks inspired by its rich traditions. Their coverage also connected readers to Sephora Canada’s Diwali online buying guide, where they could see their traditions and beauty represented visually and in the products.

Lunar New Year: To ring in the Year of the Ox, they teamed up with Chinese-Canadian collaborators to share their stories about honouring their heritage and reimagining Lunar New Year traditions. The campaign visuals evoked the importance of celebrating family during LNY and showcasing the beauty of East Asian women at all ages. To generate excitement surrounding the retailer’s limited edition products, and honour the gifting tradition, they sent Lunar New Year-inspired gifts to media and influencers, equipped with red envelopes with lucky $88 Lunar New Year gift cards.

National Indigenous History Month: Here, they amplified the voices of Indigenous Peoples in acknowledgement of National Indigenous History Month. They collaborated with Indigenous talent, including an Inuk throat singer and a Nehinaw changemaker, providing a platform for their stories. Featured across Sephora Canada’s digital platforms and 80+ stores, the campaign was brought to life by an exclusively Indigenous cast and crew. Announced with a press release, interview opportunities with featured collaborators were offered to media across the country. The campaign sparked a flood of social conversation and Sephora Canada’s channels became a forum for important dialogue about representation within the beauty industry.

But they didn’t stop there. Sephora Canada also committed to the Fifteen Percent Pledge, dedicating an impressive 25% of its brand offering to BIPOC-owned brands by 2026, ensuring the retailer’s brand assortment was reflective of Canada’s rich diversity.

The campaign sparked emotional dialogue and important discussions about representation and resulted in 103 million earned media impressions, 533 stories, +468% Engagement vs benchmark, +21% sales lift for core products featured within the Diwali looks and 14% YOY sales increase from limited-edition Lunar New Year products.

By spotlighting under-represented communities and championing that representation matters, Sephora Canada fostered a sense of belonging for millions of Canadians. Most importantly, the campaign offered a platform to show, with power and pride, the ways in which we all belong to something beautiful.