While Essie was the market leader in the nail polish category, it had never released a quick dry solution until the launch of Expressie in 2020.

The Expressie line featured a suite of claims and new innovations for the brand, including a 60 second dry time, ambidextrous brush, and brand new shades. It would also be targeted across global markets to a new audience that the brand hadn’t interacted with previously — Gen Z.

The key insight for the campaign was rooted in Gen Z’s worldview, namely, the dissolution of boundaries. For them, things are seamless and constantly growing and evolving. Their world is not divided by lines, but by slashes — you can be single/it’s complicated/taken. You can be a lawyer/activist/content creator. You can define who you want to be, whenever you want to.

The resulting creative tied it all together into a global campaign rooted in what’s possible with a quick dry polish: seize the minute.