In order to show people the impact they could have on helping to find a cure, we had a simple idea to buy time for women with breast cancer in the form of life-saving research minutes.

To do so, we set up an Ulta Beauty pop-up in New York City in the heart of SoHo. We sold beauty products that weren’t priced in dollars, but in minutes of breast cancer research. Shoppers were shocked to learn that for the cost of something as little as a lipstick, they could help fund minutes of research. We captured the shopper’s reactions, using this footage to create a video shared across social channels and YouTube.

Our “Time Is a Beautiful Thing” video, coupled with a robust social campaign, inspired the world to help by proving that you can actually buy time for women with breast cancer. 

We set up an Ulta Beauty pop-up in an 1,800 square foot vacant storefront in New York City in the heart of SoHo. It was open for business for two days. Those who passed by were drawn in by the artfully displayed beauty products in the window. Once inside, they realized this wasn’t like any other beauty store that ever existed. If a lip gloss was $9, it cost “10 minutes of research.” From the heroically displayed beauty-style portraits of breast cancer survivors to the unique product signage, the experience helped the guests understand they could actually buy time for women with breast cancer.

The pop-up store was also used to gather video content. We placed hidden cameras around the store, capturing the shoppers’ experiences, reactions and conversations between shopper and store associates. The store associates helped the shoppers realize they could have a real impact on breast cancer research.

22 million people were inspired to donate and the video was viewed over 3 million times. There was an 82.5 percent lift in ad recall and 55 percent higher view-through rate among people 18 – 24 years old. But most important, over $4 million was raised on behalf of the BCRF — $1.4 million more than the 2015 effort.