CMO Kelly Mahoney talks how she brought Ulta Beauty to the Super Bowl

Kelly Mahoney, the CMO at Ulta Beauty, talks about stepping into her new role and how she has helped Ulta Beauty show up in unexpected places.

Transcript

00:00We need to shape the conversation for our guests, and we see opportunities in music,

00:05we see opportunities in sports, and that's why when I took on the role of Chief Marketing Officer

00:11just about 100 days ago, I said, we're going to bring Ulta Beauty to the Super Bowl.

00:20And Ulta Beauty showed up to one of the biggest events in the United States in a big way.

00:27In fact, I think my favorite headline is that Ulta Beauty won TikTok at the Super Bowl.

00:32So how am I bringing Ulta Beauty into the real world?

00:35Well, it's really, really important, especially in the beauty category that we show up at the center of culture.

00:41Now, we can't own the conversation, but we can certainly shape the conversation,

00:45and that's what I perceive as our job, actually.

00:48So it's really important that Ulta Beauty is showing up in a variety of different places,

00:53the expected, but also the unexpected.

00:55That's why we chose the Super Bowl.

00:57I mean, the Super Bowl has millions of viewers watching, tuning in.

01:01It's an event, and it's just as much a sporting event as it is a beauty event,

01:06and we wanted to be there to be at the center of where culture is shaped

01:11because we know the importance of beauty and culture.

01:15And so that's why we chose to show up and show big at the Super Bowl.

01:18Well, we started off by saying the Super Bowl is just as much a beauty moment as it is a sports moment.

01:26So we wanted to celebrate specifically the women of the Super Bowl.

01:30So we celebrated women of and women in sports.

01:34And we had experiential activations at the Super Bowl where we were doing glam sessions,

01:38and we were doing makeovers and helping everyone feel their best.

01:43In fact, we partnered with SZA, who was doing the halftime show with Kendra Lamar,

01:49and we had SZA's makeup artist and her hairstylist at our Ulta Beauty location in New Orleans,

01:56getting all of her makeup that she needed to look her best and feel her best for her big show.