Inside Galderma’s Marketing Revolution: Tara Simon on Earned Media, AI, and Cultural Relevance

At Cannes 2025, Tara Simon, Global President of Dermatological Skincare at Galderma, sat down with Todd Cohen, Vice President of CTV & Video Strategy & Sales at Perion, to discuss how one of the world’s most trusted skincare companies is reshaping its marketing playbook for the digital age.

Leading global brands like Cetaphil, Differin, Benzac, and Elastin, Simon oversees what she calls “the world’s largest pure-play dermatology leader.” Based in Switzerland, Galderma remains rooted in science and medical credibility, but under Simon’s leadership, it has evolved into a case study in cultural relevance, agility, and authenticity.

“The consumer and the science are at the heart of everything we do,” Simon said. “But to stay relevant, we have to be part of what’s happening in the world.”

Turning Sensitivity Into a Super Bowl Moment

Just ten days into her new role, Simon helped spark a Super Bowl campaign that became a viral sensation, making Cetaphil the #5 trending topic on X.

“You can’t survive as a brand and not take part in what’s happening in the world,” she said. “We pulled an insight from culture that was heartfelt. It reached into the homes of America and beyond.”

The campaign demonstrated how emotional connection and brand authenticity can elevate even a 75-year-old skincare brand into a modern cultural force.

Lil Wayne and Sensitivity Beyond Skin

When planning the following year’s Super Bowl effort, Simon found inspiration in Lil Wayne’s emotional interview about not performing in his hometown. “He was being incredibly sensitive about it, and I loved that,” she recalled. “It was another way to explore sensitivity beyond skin sensitivity, which Cetaphil is famous for.”

Knowing Wayne was a longtime user of Cetaphil, the team offered a personal twist: “We can’t give you the Super Bowl, but we can give you a spot in your hometown.”

Wayne embraced the idea, even using the ad to hint at his upcoming album. Featuring Dr. Muneeb Shah, the world’s most-followed dermatologist, the spot blended humor, heart, and credibility.

“It was the first time Rolling Stone ever wrote about Cetaphil,” Simon said. “We had the most earned media of any U.S. brand without a national Super Bowl ad.”

The Power of Earned Media and AI Marketing

Simon believes the next frontier of skincare marketing lies in understanding how consumers now discover brands. “ChatGPT has revolutionized the marketing funnel,” she explained. “Between 50 and 60 percent of Gen Z start their purchasing journey there.”

With paid media losing influence, earned media, organic attention through authentic conversation, has become Galderma’s most powerful growth engine.

By partnering with Lil Wayne, Galderma dominated beauty, lifestyle, celebrity, and music media, driving traffic across Google, Amazon, and major retailers. “Now our retail partners are reserving homepages for us,” Simon said. “They know that if we do something, it’s going to work.”

Connecting with Gen Z: Speed, Humor, and Authenticity

For Simon, Gen Z marketing requires creativity and cultural fluency. “Gen Z finds overt advertising cringe,” she said. “You have to speak their language, be humorous, credible, not too polished, and not try too hard.”

To keep the brand authentic, Galderma built a Gen Z ‘SWAT team’, a group of brand friends and employees’ children who help sense-check campaigns. “We don’t want to be an older generation’s idea of cool,” Simon said.

This agile mindset also powered Galderma’s Paris Olympics activation, where the brand partnered with Meta for an influencer-led beauty event. “We saw a 75 percent lift in sales that month in France,” Simon noted. “It proved you don’t need huge budgets, just the right idea at the right time.”

The Art and Science of Skincare Branding

Reflecting on these successes, Simon insists that creativity is as critical as data. “We talk a lot about the science of marketing, but the art is just as important, maybe more,” she said. “The science can be taught; the art cannot.”

Going forward, Galderma is tripling down on earned media, from influencer advocacy and gifting programs to user-generated content and storytelling optimized for AI discovery. “Every impression and mention matters,” Simon said. “That’s what tips the scales when someone asks ChatGPT a question.”

In the era of AI-driven discovery and Gen Z influence, Simon believes that success belongs to brands that strike a balance between science, speed, and soul.

“Earned media is the key to success right now,” she said. “You have to trust your intuition and show up where culture happens.”

With her vision, Galderma proves that even in an algorithmic world, human creativity and emotional intelligence remain the most powerful marketing tools of all.