Winning is good. Knowing you challenged yourself and everyone around you to be better, think bigger and push every limit to reach a new level of excellence FEELS good. People cheer the win at the 1,000th strike that finally cracks open the stone 😅 And while we should revel in that moment of triumph, we should equally celebrate the 999 hits that came before it 🪓 The 999 things that had to be true for that moment to be true is where the real magic lies. For it is not the win itself, but rather the muscle memory underneath the win that will lead to the next triumph. The collaboration between E.L.F. BEAUTY and Liquid Death was my favorite path - the path of most resistance. And I mean RESISTANCE. It took the collective power of all 5 C’s to bring Corpse Paint to life: 🪓CURIOSITY Spending time with things you don’t know. The quench for the unknown led me to murder my thirst in all things Liquid Death. Everything about this brand inspires: their renegade spirit, their anti-conformity, their disdain for the status quo, their uncompromising discipline. I began studying Mike Cessario. 🪓COURAGE The more I learned about the brand, and more importantly the bad ass mother f*ckers behind it, the more I wondered if we were cool enough, disruptive enough, funny enough, clever enough or daring enough to share the same space. I bravely powered through my insecurity and pursued them with tenacity. 🪓CONVICTION The path to yes was not linear. Our yes energy was counteracted by their no energy. And yet, we pursued them relentlessly. For well over a YEAR. Like a stalker. 🪓COMMUNITY I knew exactly the bolt of ⚡️ I needed, Peter Pham. He led me to Daniel Murphy. We got to know each other better through our PTTOW!community. I then went down to Venice Beach with Patrick O'Keefe to break bread with Dan and convince him that we were the ones. Dan then brought Andy Pearson and team to the table. We (finally) won them over. 🪓CREATIVITY A Corpse Paint collection in a ⚰️ launched on a random Tuesday in March. Black metal. Glothar. Vegan goats blood. We weren’t just disrupting norms, we were pushing them over the cliff. With the right pushing and pulling, we landed right at the edge without going over. And that’s a glorious, exhilarating feeling. You only grow if you stretch, personally and professionally. Death to the status quo. Champion the path of most resistance. I promise you the view from the tallest mountain or highest cliff is where you see all that’s possible in front of you. 👏A roaring toast with Vegan Goats blood to the exceptional teams at E.L.F. BEAUTY and Liquid Death that leaned into the discomfort, becoming each other’s force multipliers of irreverence, audacity and bold disruption. They are the glory behind the 999 strikes of the 🪓 🙏 to the Cannes jurors for recognizing our hard work🦁 📸 e.l.f. and Liquid Death at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with a bronze award for our Corpse Paint collaboration ☠️
WOW Kory Marchisottom, this is pure brilliance! Love the concept of celebrating the "999 swings" that lead to the final breakthrough. It's so true in the world of makeup artistry - the countless hours of practice behind a seemingly effortless look. I'm fascinated by the "curiosity" stage - what unexpected sources inspire your creativity? Have you ever drawn inspiration from a seemingly out-there brand like Liquid Death before? Would love to hear more about your creative process!
I believe nothing more than the power of education, but this week showed me how much you can learn beyond the traditional classroom - and even at my age 😂 Thank you Kory Marchisotto and team for setting us up for this remarkable journey.
Celebrating the journey and the process behind the win is where true magic lies. Your reflection on the 999 hits before that 1,000th strike beautifully captures the essence of perseverance and growth. Bravo on the success of the Corpse Paint collaboration - a true testament to embracing the path of most resistance.
What was incredibly cool to me, is this week my 66 year old Mom says to me "Oh e.l.f., that's a great brand, I keep hearing about them" - that's when I really knew you were hitting it hard. So this award is NO surprise, you guys are just CRUSHING it over there.
Matt Wurst
3w
I will always like and love anything alliterative, and your Five Cs are so closely aligned with my Five Cs of Community. Congrats on the Lion!
I so enjoyed your story telling of this process
I love the honesty and the grit and the tenacity!! 👏🏻
Pamela Young
3w
Amazing work and amazing story! Congrats Kory Marchisotto and your entire E.L.F. BEAUTY team as well as your partners in crime Liquid Death.
Founder and CEO: Creating activations for sportswear and beauty brands. Passionate about empowering women leaders.
3wThanks Kory for sharing this. It's the "I bravely pursued them with tenacity" for me. To read that a) you knew what you wanted and didn't quit on yourself (or your team), b) to not take their "no energy" and push through for over a year, and c) to be willing to be so disruptive. All inspiring and motivating points. Appreciate you giving us a look behind the curtain.