CAA & ELLE Share a ‘Dirty Little Secret’

Hair care and comic books don’t often team up, but last week, TRESemmé and ELLE magazine brought the two together in a new graphic novel web series, Dirty Little Secret, which follows the adventures of aspiring stylist Riley Kendrick as she navigates the worlds of fashion and style in New York City. The 10-episode series, which launched May 25, will be distributed on both the magazine’s website and TRESemmé’s Facebook page. The bi-weekly episodes will be supported by in-magazine content starting with the June issue of Elle.

A pure branded entertainment play, the team responsible for the series has a strong entertainment pedigree, coupled with a stellar track record in the world of multi-platform content. Directed by Mark Warshaw, producer of Emmy winning Heroes: Evolutions, and exec produced by Tony and Erin Carenzo, the series was produced by Vine Intertainment, and drawn by Annie Wu of DC Comics shingle, WildStorm. Vine, which bills itself as a full-service transmedia storytelling agency, is the production arm of Brazil based The Alchemists Transmedia Storytelling Co. (which also has US based

 “With the surging popularity and increased interest in graphic novels, the timing is right, and this integrated collaboration is truly ground-breaking,” said Anne Welch, COO, ELLE Group.

TRESemmé, which funded the series, is a part of the Alberto Culver family of consumer products that include Noxzema and Mrs. Dash. With an annual advertising budget of $30 million, TREsemme is working to reposition itself from a salon to a consumer brand. “Comic books have a large female following and we know that fashion forward women love to be entertained by cutting-edge and creative and relevant women-featured storylines,” said Brandy Ruff, director of integrated marketing communication for TRESemmé.

The series was developed and conceived by CAA Marketing, the brand entertainment wing of Creative Artists Agency headed by David Messinger and Jae Goodman, which was also behind it. In addition to ELLE, CAA Marketing develops branded entertainment and manages entertainment partnerships for corporate clients like Coca-Cola, Mattel, Harley-Davidson, and Dell.