Estée Lauder Claps-Back At Dupes With Focus On Beauty Sleep

Forbes

09-04-2025

Dupe culture is at an all time high, but in Estée Lauder's latest campaign, the brand attempts to dupe the undupable – beauty sleep.
Featuring actress Kristen Bell, Estée Lauder's campaign kicked off in late March and is a departure from its typical luxury campaign. In two different videos, Bell can be seen trying out the hero product and proclaiming 'They really duped beauty sleep' followed by either her spreading the message by gifting bottles or going about her routine while getting only a few hours of sleep. The aim was for the campaign to be witty, topical, and nod to two key cultural conversations: the widespread issue of poor sleep and the cultural fascination with dupes.
'To be relevant in a market where there is a new serum launching every day, we needed to do something that was a bit more tongue-in-cheek and that got everyone excited and listening to Estée Lauder,' said Fiona Sainty, senior vice president and general manger for Estée Lauder and Aerin Beauty North America.
Relevance is even more important amid an ongoing fervor for beauty dupes. 'Dupes' short for duplicates are products that purport to be less expensive but similar in ingredients, design or functionality and efficacy, whether intentional or not. Dupe culture began to emerge from TikTok and other social media platforms in 2022, though an argument could be made that dupes have always existed but would have been referred to as 'copycats' in another era.
And name-brand products are fighting back, sometimes with a wink and nudge and sometimes more aggressively. Brands like Lululemon, Olaplex, Charlotte Tilbury Beauty and more have sought to clap-back at dupes by attempting to prove that their products formulations and efficacy never truly be replicated. But the Estée Lauder team didn't want to approach the topic from a defensive position. While data on the impact of dupe culture is scant, there is some evidence that dupe brands and products can positively impact the sales of a duped brand or product.
'Dupes are a crazy cultural phenomenon at the moment. .... it's unescapable, whether you're talking beauty [or not],' said Sainty. 'How do you kind of put a value on something outside of [price]? And that was some of the thinking of this duping the undupable, which is that of beauty sleep.'
The brand tone first began to shift in Fall 2024 when Estée Lauder kicked off a wittier and more conceptual direction for the brand via a campaign with Nicole Richie. The mid-aughts icon promoted both the $128 Advanced Night Repair Serum — and the brand's newer $98 Overnight Treatment, which launched on July 1 of that year. The focus of the campaign was also on sleep. A month into the campaign it earned 2.7 billion organic impressions, the most impressions the brand has earned on a campaign, according to Glossy. Estée Lauder's night-focused skin-care portfolio represents over 30% of its total skin-care business.
'One of the fastest growing movements in health and wellness is sleep,' said Justin Boxford. Estée Lauder global brand president in an email statement. 'As the importance of sleep is being embraced across generations, we have the opportunity to reinforce our night skin science authority through culturally relevant conversations that allow us to engage with consumers in a highly relatable way.'
So far the positioning appears to be playing out well. Estée Lauder brand's fiscal year retail sales growth in the serums sub-category of U.S. prestige skin care grew 7% year-over-year between July 2024 and February 2025, according to Circana data. Advanced Night Repair's retail sales specifically grew 21% year-over-year during the same period. As a result, the Estée Lauder brand has gained over 70 basis points in the serums sub-category market share of U.S. prestige skin care.
'[Sleep] proves out the value proposition. We're not competing on price, but it also is inherently linked to the scientific proof proof points of our of our new claim,' said Sainty. '[This is] about staying relevant and ensuring that we are the authority in night skin science.'