are so many virtual event types; it’s not just one size fits all. We work with clients to make sure all of their goals are being hit.” SEPHORiA was a massive success. It sold out quickly and hundreds of influencers logged on without a hiccup to explore the Virtual House of Beauty on Sept. 18. They played games, learned from brand ambassadors, tested ThirdLove bras in the virtual fitting room, and even sweat it out in online workouts with obé Fitness. After the event, BizBash named Sephora one of its Industry Innovators of 2022, calling the beauty company one of “10 Brands Shaping the Future of Event Marketing.” The publication also spotlighted SEPHORiA: Virtual House of Beauty as Sephora’s “Most Innovative Event.” Kate Biancamano, the director of event and experiential marketing at Sephora, told BizBash that “Sephora’s event philosophy is to provide thrilling and innovative content and experiences to inspire attendees and remind them that they belong to something beautiful.”
Behind the scenes, though, there was an even trickier aspect to these perks: the sales tax. When mailing out the boxes, Sephora had to charge the buyer tax depending on where they lived, and one misstep could bring a legal battle. “There are over 4,000 different tax zones, and we learned that the hard way,” Friedman jokes. Ultimately, her team devised a clever integration of Sephora’s registration system and credit card processing that fully avoided any legal snags. “Registration software isn’t supposed to do everything in the whole world. We were pushing it beyond the limits of what it was supposed to do and what it was built to do,” she says. With that challenge behind them, the team moved on to filming content, running customer support for the event, sending email blast reminders to attendees, and building out SEPHORiA’s digital space with 3D renderings. Amelia personally managed content filming in both New York and Los Angeles to take as much work as possible off Sephora’s plate and make the event’s execution feel easy. “What Eventique does well is translating a brand’s goals from in- person to virtual and taking it from there,” Friedman says. “There
SEPHORiA did just that.
In fact, Biancamano’s team was so impressed that they’ve already invited Eventique back to plan SEPHORiA 2022. “We’re building out more one-to-one interaction and group interaction in this upcoming event,” Friedman says. Looking back on 2021, she adds, “Creating something that unique was a really big win. People had never really seen anything like it.”
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