- Brian Morrissey

NEW YORK While many women may see fighting wrinkles as part of a never-ending quest to forestall the aging process, St. Ives is trying to put an optimistic spin on the quest for healthy skin.
 
In "Get a happy face," a new online and print campaign launched this week, St. Ives Elements hopes to position its apricot scrub and cleansers as part of an overall approach to living a better life.
 
Too often, said EVB executive creative director Jason Zada, companies equate signs of growing older, like wrinkles, with the loss of beauty. Even a well-lauded effort such as Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign has negative overtones, he said.
 
"It's done in a not-so-positive way," he said. "Everything in this is rooted in joy, excitement and fun."
 
Omnicom Group-backed EVB created the push for St. Ives, owned by Alberto Culver. Unlike previous efforts, it leans heavily on the Web to reach the target audience of busy adult women.
 
EVB research found the women increasingly go online to research and discuss beauty products, making it the ideal centerpiece for the effort, said Kim Kline, vp, account planning and management at EVB.
 
Print ads in publications like Style, Us and People and online ads running on sites such as InStyle, iVillage and Epicurious direct women to a campaign site, GetAHappyFace.com. There, EVB combined product research information with portable digital content.
 
Each product is paired with a widget or piece of content that fits with its purpose. For instance, the St. Ives protective cleanser information also includes a downloadable desktop weather widget that shows users the sun-intensity for the day. The warming scrub has an offer for a getaway weekend sweepstakes. The olive cleanser information offers bedtime happy-thoughts text messages.
 
Other content includes a widget tracking personal goals, workout guide and e-card to thank friends and family.
 
"We're not focused too much on doing a destination site and making them come back," said Kline. "We want to make sure they can get something out of the site."

Aegis Group's Carat in New York handled media and online ad creative.

The media campaign runs six months, until through Sept. 1.