Nilens Jord: Look Beyond Beauty

Legacy Danish makeup and skin care brand Nilens Jord has been committed to making unfussy, paraben and perfume-free products since the 1980s (a time when natural beauty products were not in vogue). The Scandinavian brand now has an important mission: to change entrenched attitudes towards women by asking us to ''look beyond beauty'' and instead focus on female achievements. A surprising statement for a cosmetic brand, perhaps - but it's one that echoes the company's pioneering spirit and its ambition to change the beauty industry from within. The message takes the form of a new global brand platform, created together with its lead agency, Copenhagen-based Twenty, which will be rolled out across Europe as part of Nilens Jord's global ambitions which also include product launches on the horizon in the UK and Europe. The bold new strategy is led by a 75 second film that follows Sara, a personification of every girl or woman contemplating life’s biggest dreams and achievements, which range from being the first woman to set foot on the moon, to winning four grand slams in tennis or becoming the richest woman in the world. However, this everywoman is also confronted with a depressing reality that most, if not all, females will recognize: other people’s obsession with what she looks like rather than what she is about to - or already has - accomplished. The film’s narrative is driven by questions that the different iterations of Sara are faced with: when she finally sets foot on the moon, her achievement is overshadowed by a reporter asking: “What is the shade of your lipstick?”, while over in the delivery room, having given birth to triplets, the midwife remarks: “Your skin is so smooth - what’s your secret?” Incredibly, all these questions are based on insights from field interviews with real women in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and the UK.