Breaking barriers for Indigenous representation by reclaiming their voices in media.
Leah Burnside, Copywriter | Joshua Dornan, Art Director | Priya Mistry, Designer
Jeff Da Silva, ECD | Franziska Erlebach, Design Director
In collaboration with Jenn Harper and the creative team at Cheekbone Beauty
A devastating year finally awakened Canadians to centuries of injustice towards Indigenous peoples. Indigenous-owned, Cheekbone Beauty founded by Jenn Harper wanted to say something about this. The company was founded to help Indigenous youth 'feel seen' in the beauty industry, where it is notoriously under-represented. Cheekbone had reached a major milestone in the trajectory of the company with the impending launch of the brand at sephora.ca. Joining this platform brought great promise of success but a renewed challenge. Now Cheekbone needed to appeal to all Sephora shoppers, to stand up to the fierce beauty category competition but without diluting its essence.
“Right the Story” intended to “reclaim the narrative surrounding Indigenous peoples in the media.” The creative used as its theme the shade of red used in Cheekbone’s Aki lipstick products. The video was filmed in the Yukon by a 95% Indigenous crew and aims to “authentically represent a modern view of Indigenous life today.” The video was accompanied by out-of-home advertising.
Features & Recognition
etalk CBC News Strategy Best Ads on TV Toronto Sun Campaign US
InSauga Adnews Yahoo!Finance LBB Edmonton Journal The Winnipeg Sun National Post
Elle Canada Shots Grenier Calgary Sun and others.
Estimated grand total: 19.7 million impressions
Package Design
For the promotion, we designed a custom Right the Story package design for their shade “Aki” red. The poem recited in the film served as a textural element as the words “Right the Story” carefully crafted using their lipstick itself smeared across the words on the box design. Inside the box featured a QR code to watch the film and learn more about the campaign. Each sale at participating Sephora stores of a limited-edition release of the product was donated to organizations supporting Indigenous youth education.
“We’ve been hidden and silenced but we’ve never been gone,” declaims a Zoey Roy, an indigenous poet whose moving words power this beautiful film.”
— Shots Net, Beauty louder than words
“Right the Story” word mark process
“Our mission to ‘Right the Story’ is only made possible when we continue to amplify Indigenous voices together.”
— Zemina Moosa, EVP Sid Lee
