For the first time, Maybelline New York embarked on a cross-county campaign centered around bringing their products to college students, and the University of Maryland was their final stop.
Monday, October 7 and Tuesday, October 8, Maybelline’s “On The Way” pop-up truck could be found parked directly outside of the Terrapin Row apartments off of Hartwick Road in College Park, Maryland.
The event, which ran from 10 a.m to 6 p.m both days allowed students to try out Maybelline products, and even walk away with a goodie bag full of samples. On-campus brand ambassadors were available to answer any questions, help with color matching, and even give free makeovers to students.
Photo by Jordan Swarm
The theme of the event, the New York City subway system, was used to emphasize the fact that the products being displayed would allow students to get ready in a “New York Minute.”
To enter the event students first had to sign up with both their name and email address before receiving a small yellow Maybelline metro card. Groups of four were then led to the other end of the truck where a fake mosaiced brick wall led College Park to look like a stop on the NYC subway. Once it was your turn, attendees swiped their MetroCards through a Maybelline turnstile and walked aboard the truck to try out the products.
Jaime Atilano, a marketing and supply chain management double major with a certificate in LGBT studies served as a brand ambassador for Maybelline at the pop-up and loved the experience.
“It is so great to have been able to represent such a large brand and to be free with my social media posts in terms of my gender expression and creativity,” said Atilano
The pop-up staff consisted of all students at UMD with a few supervisors from Maybelline who helped keep the event running according to plan. Maybelline hired brand ambassadors from each of the 6 universities they visited to help run the truck at each specific school.
Atilano landed the role through both word-of-mouth and networking and found it to be beneficial to his major.
“It was an amazing work experience with social media marketing and to work with a reputable makeup company,” said Atilano.
Junior architecture major Wanjiru Duncan came to the event simply to check out what it was all about and was impressed by what she found.
“It was pretty cool. I like how they color matched everything,” said Duncan.
For many, the event served as a way to try out Maybelline’s foundations and find their exact shade before purchasing. While higher-end makeup brands sold at stores like Sephora and Ulta allow customers to try out the products before buying, that’s not something typically available with drug-store brands like Maybelline.
Photo by Jordan Swarm
“It was a good break from class. We didn’t really know what to expect, we were just like ‘Hey, let’s just go check it out.” said senior biology major Divya Lahori.
Lahori came to the event with fellow biology major Moran Harris after the two saw the event all over their Instagrams. As an event perk, anyone who posted a photo or story to Instagram at the pop-up with the hashtag “maybellineontheway”, received a free eyeshadow pallet.
Even without posting to their social media accounts, event attendees received a free full-size lipstick, sample size foundation and other goodies like granola bars and coupons for products.
As the pop-up drew to a close on Tuesday, it became clear that Maybelline’s presence on campus was a welcome break from the redundancies of school life.