There’s nothing quite like a great story. Be it a bio-pic screenplay for a film, a best-selling fictional book series or the character development of a dark horse in a television series, what makes a story great is often the fact that it is simply told.

For a leading brand like Clinique, the story it has consistently told is one that shares the notion that above all else, great skin can be created. That in itself is the true essence of what it means to have a brand be the ultimate expression of a real story.

Launched as the world’s first allergy tested and dermatologist-driven brand 51 years ago, today Clinique maintains its position as a brand that holds itself accountable to the promise of the story it has consistently told, one founded on the Clinique Clean Philosophy that sees the brand commit to no parabens, no phthalates, no fragrances, just happy skin. Hot off the successful South African launch of Clinique’s Clinique iD range, Clinique as a brand remains true to what Game of Thrones novelist and screenwriter George R.R. Martin said, “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” Judging from the pure efficacy of Clinique iD, Clinique has undoubtedly not forgotten what it initially armoured itself as with the brand story of “no nonsense, just happy skin” with this new launch.

On Monday 8th April 2019, Joburg was about its usual business of business and Clinique gathered the cosmetics business’ industry insiders on the 20th floor of The Venue Greenpark. Here, the country’s most influential, such as talk-show co-host on Moja Love’s Show Me Love Abigail Visagie, beauty entrepreneur and contestant on Mnet’s The Bachelor SA, Gina Myers and former V Entertainment producer and now YouTube travel entrepreneur Thobi Rose, gathered to find the key elements that would create their own Clinique custom iD.





Upon arrival, guests were invited to embark on a new skin journey by understanding the new world of skincare Clinique offers with the Clinique iD passport. In a room brought to life with elements of nature that reflect the 4 key areas of active concentrate ingredients, guests checked-in in an environment where they could immerse themselves in a world of happy skin wonder. Departure from this led them to an announcement by Marketing Manager for Consumer Marketing, Alice Cardarelli, calling on all new skincare journey passengers to take a look at how the new launch enabled one to customize their skincare routine. This led to the next leg in the experience where as one would have a passport check before boarding a flight, guests were invited to have a skin analysis conducted by professional Clinique beauty consultants. Findings of this enabled guests to board the Clinique skincare flight that best suited the ideal destination for their skin by selecting a hydration base for dry skin with the dramatically different moisturizing lotion or one for oily skin with the dramatically different oil-control gel or the dramatically different hydrating jelly.

Before the flight could take off, the crucial checks were conducted – where guests needed to understand if they needed an active cartridge concentrate which would enable them to decide on the best skin destination – one that would have solved skin irritation (green), pores & uneven texture (blue), uneven skin tone (white), fatigue (orange) or lines and wrinkles (purple). The mechanism of Clinique iD allows for one’s skin to reach a destination free of these challenges due to its custom-blend chemistry technology™ which isolates the concentrated actives in the cartridge from the base. It delivers optimized results with every pump by freshly combining the precise dose of actives and base. These bases range from lactobacillus probiotic ferment which calms and comforts irritated skin, alpha-hydroxy-acids which improve the appearance of pores and retexturize the skin, Japanese angelica root which evens the skin tone and brightens for uneven skin tone, taurine which energizes and revives glow for fatigued skin and whey protein which smooths lines and re-plumps for skin with lines and wrinkles.

Once guests were empowered with the tools to custom create a skin moisturizer fit to ensure that their skin journey would result in their best skin yet, all on-board were ready to take off for the skin journey of a lifetime that could one day make for a great documentary!

Everyone’s skin tells a story of the person who carries it. Former Clinique ambassador and current cover-girl for thebar magazine Jessica Nkosi, is one such screen siren whose skin tells the story of a woman liberated within her right to be just as her skin is – iDentifiably happy. Now isn’t that some kind of story!