RoC Skincare, in partnership with creative agency VIRTUE Worldwide, launched an iconic reunion campaign uniting Real Housewives of New York (RHONY) stars Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer, and Sonja Morgan to introduce its new Retinol Correxion® Deep Wrinkle Rich Cream.
This marks the first collaborative brand partnership for them as a trio, showcasing the clinical power of RoC’s Retinol Correxion® Deep Wrinkle Rich Cream to visibly reduce skin age by up to 10 years.
When the cultural anticipation around OG RHONY returning to screens on E!’s The Golden Life was reaching a fever pitch, RoC saw an opportunity to meet that moment first, stepping in before the reunion films/airs, giving fans an early taste of what they’ve been craving, and refocusing the conversation around the control and confidence that RoC can given women in a high stakes, high visibility moment like this.
About the campaign: In the spot, which can be found on Instagram, YouTube and across social, viewers can see, as Sonja and Ramona prepare to step back into the spotlight together for the first time in nearly a decade, Bethenny leads them on a journey to Paris to prepare for their highly anticipated fall reunion. RoC reframes this high-stakes moment as a real-life test of skin age, providing much-needed confidence in a situation usually driven by anxiety.
“At RoC, we are committed to providing derm-developed products with clinical proof that bring confidence and control to every stage of life,” said Britni Rosato, VP of Marketing at RoC Skincare. “Reunions are the ultimate test of time, and we wanted to show our community that while chronological age is a static number, skin age can be reversed. Partnering with Bethenny, Ramona, and Sonja allows us to tell that story in an authentic, relatable way, bridging the gap between high-performance science and the real-life skin challenges women face when the world is watching.”
“As a brand born in a French pharmacy, it was a true joy for me to welcome Bethenny, Ramona, and Sonja in Paris to the very place where it all began. Bringing these iconic American TV personalities to the birthplace of RoC represents a celebration of our French heritage meeting American glamour,” adds Marie Renault, CMO of RoC Skincare.
In the laboratories of Paris, the icons undergo a science-led reset, using RoC’s patented technology and clinical-grade VISIA scans to reveal how they regained control over their skin’s appearance and restored their confidence in preparation for the high-definition cameras.
“These women are no strangers to the spotlight, but coming back after a hiatus means facing an audience that expects you to look exactly the same as day one. That’s why I brought the girls in for a proper skin rest,” said Bethenny Frankel. “RoC is the real deal, but I needed the clinical proof before I got behind the new Rich Cream. We’re here to look like our best selves right now, and it delivered a full reset.”
How the campaign came to life: For too long, women have been pushed to one of two extremes – Attempt to eradicate every sign of aging, or embrace it and accept what time does to skin as inevitable. The pressure to choose one or the other comes to a head in moments of high visibility like a reunion. But RoC recognizes that neither extreme reflects how women actually feel. Women don’t want to be told to fight aging nor do they want to be told to surrender to it. They just want to be in the driver’s seat in terms of how they show up. Aging on their own terms, if you will.
What makes this campaign truly innovative is its entertainment-first approach. RoC didn’t launch a skincare campaign – they created a cultural moment. By engineering a Paris reunion between three of reality TV’s most beloved icons ahead of the official E! reunion, the brand created genuine fan speculation and earned media attention before a single product was mentioned.
Audiences thought they were witnessing the official RHONY reunion, and by the time they realized it was a branded RoC campaign, they were already invested. This Trojan horse strategy worked precisely because it put entertainment before product while giving product an authentic role to play in a wider culture-led story.
“Bethenny, Ramona, and Sonja are RHONY OG’s with a loyal community who are gooped and gagged by everything they do,” said Heather “McT” McTavish Perez, ECD at VIRTUE Worldwide. “Mau Santos and Kat Fernandez, our creatives who came up with the idea, are avid fans. The RHONY women are unfiltered and unapologetic, and the social-sphere are locked in to their every move, so their approach to aging on their own terms made them the perfect brand champions for RoC’s new science-backed retinol cream. Whilst the world has been waiting for the official reunion, we stirred the pot by creating our own 7-minute one. It was a choreographed branded entertainment moment that gave an audience what they wanted and gave the product the attention it deserved.”
Also, since Bethenny wasn’t cast in the official E! reunion, the campaign caused even more speculation and drama with a ‘will she, won’t she?’ in culture, with pap shots and gossip on Reddit, landing RoC at the epicenter of culture and spread across Page Six, OK! Magazine and InStyle.
Where to find the campaign: The content can be found across digital and social platforms, including a cinematic “Skin Age Showdown” short film and a series of candid social clips featuring the trio. For fans who have spent years calling for these three icons to return to the screen together, RoC delivers a long-awaited reunion that nostalgically captures their signature wit, chemistry, and high-energy banter.
Initial Results since campaign launch this month:
- Sales lift (overall and/or attributable where available)
- Rich Cream ONLY:
- Week of launch is 86% lift vs week prior
- Amazon saw 407% sales lift on launch day vs the day prior
- Rich Cream ONLY:
- Meta: 2.25M impressions with 5,200 reactions with 509 comments
- TikTok: 3.6M impressions / video views
- YouTube: Almost 2MM views to date, shy of two weeks after launch, and 3M impressions
- Google trends:
- 108% increase on organic RoC searched term on day of launch (4/8)
- 48% increase on organic search for RoC Moisturizer
