Elf Cosmetics and Billie Jean King campaign against lack of diversity in the boardroom

Global – Billie Jean King, the legendary icon of tennis, has teamed up with Elf Beauty in a collaboration aimed at advancing gender equality and inclusivity. Through their Board Game initiative, the beauty brand and the champion are shedding light on the under-representation of women and people of colour in corporate leadership roles.

‘Billie Jean King is the perfect partner for this initiative,’ said Lisa Topol, executive creative director and managing partner at ad agency Oberland. ‘Not only is she a tireless warrior for equality in sports, but she takes the fight wherever it’s needed, even if that means packing up her racket and serving some cold, hard facts in the middle of a board meeting.’ By partnering with King, Elf taps into the She is Mother microtrend we previously analysed. Talented women over 60 are finally getting their flowers and reaching higher levels of relevance than in their 20s in Hollywood, from modelling to ads and TikTok.

Gender inequality is prominent in the American workplace, with women making up only 27% of US corporate boards, and the average US corporate board being 88% white (source: 2023 BoardEx Non-Executive Director Database analysis of UD publicly traded companies on NASDAQ + NYSE).

Notably, Elf Beauty is one of merely four publicly traded US companies out of 4,200 with a board of directors composed of two-thirds female representation and one-third diverse representation. For more insights on the brand’s winning formula, head to our Brand Innovation Debrief: Elf Beauty analysis.