Good morning. E.l.f. Beauty CFO Mandy Fields wants to play on the biggest stage there is.
The rising beauty powerhouse, a Gen Z favorite, ran its first Super Bowl Sunday ad in 2023. From a finance perspective, Fields said the company’s confidence in big-ticket Super Bowl investments stems from their long-term impact on brand awareness rather than a focus on immediate dollar-for-dollar return. Brand awareness was a little over 10% five or six years ago, and today it’s over 40%.
With only one in three women currently shopping e.l.f., Fields sees a sizable runway. Each wave of awareness-building activity, she said, gives the brand access to the two-thirds of women who are not yet customers. About 75% of e.l.f.’s portfolio remains priced at $10 or less, even after a recent price increase in August, a stance Fields said resonates with consumers becoming more selective with their spending.
On average, a 30-second Super Bowl ad in 2025 ranged from $7 million to $8 million, with this year’s average estimated at $8 million, USA Today reported.
As a company, e.l.f. tracks a wide set of performance indicators. The finance and marketing teams monitor sales trends alongside earned media value, impressions, and social engagement to determine whether the creative is resonating and being shared organically. Those metrics are reviewed before and after each campaign, Fields said, helping the company measure halo effects and refine its approach year to year. (I sat down with Fields and Kory Marchisotto, SVP and CMO, in 2024 to talk about their partnership.)
