Wondering what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day? Maybe not “The Breakout Box,” unless you’re expecting a quick breakup.
For Valentine’s Day, Hero Cosmetics and independent creative agency and production studio Humanaut turned one of skincare’s least romantic realities into a gift worth sending. “The Breakout Box” reimagines a box of chocolates but replaces sensually designed candies with ones that look too realistically like pimples.
At the center of the activation, 190 influencers received a heart-shaped box that reads “To My Pimples: I’D NEVER POP OUR LOVE.” Under a note “I’D PATCH IT,” sits six handcrafted chocolate truffles designed to look like pimples—complete with glossy skin texture and whiteheads that burst with vanilla ganache when bitten into. The breakout chocolates are nestled next to a box of Hero Mighty Patch Original pimple patches and were given names, such as “Red Flag,” “It’s Complicated,” “Situationship,” and “Party Crasher.” Ten additional boxes were reserved for a consumer giveaway on Instagram.
The Breakout Box is the Valentine’s Day gift no one asked for, but that’s kind of the whole point: Zits are like a box of chocolates. You never know when one will show up or what form it will take. And while popping pimples can feel like an irresistible urge, The Breakout Box gives you something else to indulge in.
“We wanted this to feel like something you’d discover, not something being sold to you,” said Remy Klein, Associate Vice President of Beauty at Hero Cosmetics (Church & Dwight). “It’s intentionally playful and a little unhinged to surprise and delight our community, and yet it’s still rooted in the very real way people talk and feel about their skin.”
The stunt marks multiple first-ever moments for the brand, including its first socially focused activation and first song collection. It is part of a broader push to create work designed for social and digital environments, where culture travels through sound, video, and engagement rather than traditional campaign cycles.
Beyond the custom pimple chocolates, Hero and Humanaut released teaser and launch films borrowing the visual language of late-90s seductive chocolate commercials, complete with a red silk backdrop and slow-motion squeezes that sent vanilla ganache oozing from each “whitehead.” The spots were intentionally shot on BETA to heighten the retro effect.
During the edit, Humanaut’s creative team wrote an custom love song inspired by 1970s ballads. The brand responded by commissioning a full five-track collection.
The result was Let’s Get Poresonal, Hero Cosmetics’ first custom song collection, spanning genres from New Wave pop to French house to Miami-ready club music. Tracks were released as original audio on Instagram and TikTok, inviting creators to participate using sound rather than hashtags.
As a playful extension of the songs, Hero Cosmetics introduced a hotline fans could call, for a week.
“The activation is all about having some fun with taking power away from our pimples and breakouts,” said Bethany Maxfield, Executive Creative Director at Humanaut. “This is the pimple-ending Valentine’s Day gift your breakouts will never see coming, and a reminder to not pop your pimples, patch them—then pop a chocolate pimple into your mouth.”
Social content was first released across Meta, TikTok and Spotify with an initial teaser video on February 9, followed by a launch video, static assets and influencer content on February 10. From February 11-13, an array of video assets will be posted and promoted, including behind-the-scenes making of the chocolates, a giveaway contest, and additional influencer and social content. On February 14, Let’s Get Personal will be released, along with a promotional video encouraging users to call a hotline. While the hotline is live, corresponding music lyric videos are to be released throughout the week. Ten giveaway winners will be announced on February 16 and will receive their personal, limited-edition Breakout Boxes beginning February 21, coinciding with the closing of the hotline.
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Kyle O’Brien is managing editor of Indie Agency News.
