In October of 2025, Kim Kardashian revealed the latest product from her apparel line, SKIMS: a faux hair thong meant to emulate pubic hair. As the leading provider of out-of-home waxing, European Wax Center couldn't let the moment pass without jumping in. Rather than create a campaign that would "sell" our services, we wanted to harness Kim's unparalleled cultural influence and add to the conversation. So, we responded in a manner only fitting for Kim: billboards. Within 24 hours of the SKIMS release, we had billboards in New York and LA, alongside posters in our centers, that simply stated, "We'll take it from here, Kim."
Through social listening, our objective was to insert the brand into the conversation through timely, cheeky commentary while also showcasing our authority and expertise in the space. We were not looking to market our services/products, but simply to enter the zeitgeist.
As soon as we caught wind of the Faux Hair Thong from SKIMS, we began to ideate—knowing that a quick response is as important as a good response. Within an hour, we settled on the line, "We'll take it from here, Kim." and decided that the most impactful delivery would be the splashiest: billboards. We were chatting with OOH providers afterhours trying to find a solution that could go live the following morning. Parallel pathing that, we had posters made with the same creative that were posted in the windows of our centers. We luckily found a OOH partner who was able to get us billboards live in 12 hours, and by noon the following day, we had a photographer lined up to snap pics of the billboards and posters. The final piece, which brought it all together, was our Instagram post, which was shared across Kim Kardasian's social alongside her comment: “Best response I’ve seen @europeanwax. Give whoever came up with this a raise.”
To be clear, this was not a paid partnership with Kim and it all came together organically.
The post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DP2fXKLDTKB/
The campaign resulted in more than 16 placements generating over 1.47 billion impressions. On social, a single post drove over 2 million impressions (98% of which came from non-followers), in addition to Kim's stories which resulted in tens of millions of impressions. As a franchise business with over 1,000 locations nationwide, this also created tons of excitement from our franchisees. Again, we did not "sell" but we were very successful in inserting what many believe is an intimate and private ritual, waxing, into a cultural moment.
