Systemic Lupus Erythromysus (SLE) is a rare, life-threatening, chronic autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women of child-bearing age. In the United States, SLE touches 300,000 people. Women of color are two to three times more likely to be diagnosed. Some of the most common symptoms include debilitating fatigue, joint pain and swelling, photosensitivity, and a butterfly-shaped face rash.

Research has confirmed the negative effects SLE symptoms and its treatment medications have on patients’ self-image and body image. Helping these women look good and feel good can help to build their confidence.

GSK has made a commitment to the well-being, education, and support of people living with lupus. Our objective with the Us in Lupus campaign and Night of Beauty events was to instill confidence, inspire patients, and help build a village of support.

The creative idea behind the Us in Lupus Night of Beauty initiative was confidence with a touch of glamour: we wanted to make SLE patients feel beautifully empowered through an exclusive night of whole-self pampering just for them.

This was particularly important as lupus patients often have feelings of isolation and give of themselves by taking care of others first. Our job was to help build their confidence while reinforcing the importance of self-care and strong partnerships with their healthcare team and other areas of personal support.

To do this, GSK joined forces with global beauty brand NARS Cosmetics and two lupus organizations (Lupus Foundation of America and Lupus Research Alliance) to host Night of Beauty events at Sephora retail stores in key US cities: Atlanta, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Focused on women of color living with SLE, our approach was to build a captivating experience where these ladies felt special, supported, beautiful, and safe. The strategy was simple: instill confidence and inspire patients to embrace disease management and self-care, while building a village of support.

To deliver on this promise and make it the best and most complete patient experience possible, GSK realized it must join forces with beauty brand NARS Cosmetics, the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA), the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA), and the Lupus Society of Illinois.

GSK joined forces with global beauty brand NARS Cosmetics to host Night of Beauty events at Sephora retail stores in four key US cities: Atlanta, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

The multi-agency team designed a red carpet, invitation-only experience where patients were pampered with mini-makeovers from NARS makeup artists and confidence-boosting professional headshots. Then, they heard firsthand from a panel of other lupus warriors and healthcare professionals, including a rheumatologist, OB-GYN and behavioral psychologist. Healthy refreshments, a live DJ, and mingling with a village of support, including representatives from two national lupus foundations, rounded out the experience. It was an evening of fun, empowerment, connection, and community building.

From idea creation, the initiative took the Us in Lupus team six months to launch, with the Night of Beauty events spanning five months (December 2018 – April 2019)

Each city has accommodated approximately 300 attendees, limited only by retail store size.

The Us in Lupus Night of Beauty was a wildly successful event even before it started! We had to increase the number of allowable RSVPs from 100, to 200, and finally to 300 per event. Our guests lined up on the red carpet before the event began and stayed well after closing time. It was wildly electric with local press pick-ups at each event.

Below is performance from our first city, Atlanta to showcase the impact:

Instagram: #USinLupusNOB & #USinLupusATL

- Shares: 30K

- 100% Positive Sentiment

Facebook Page:

- Pre-event Invite Impressions: 468K

- Live-event Posts Reach: 182K

- Live-event Posts Engagements: 5,600

PR audience reach: 1,948,464

One participant said:

“Yesterday was truly a blessing to me in many ways! The event last night was amazing evening! It was an extreme honor and grateful to be a part of something so special with #nars with a great cause #usinlupus”