ABOUT THE PROJECT
The LDOC Activation was a live campus partnership between Céleste Studios, Topicals, College Daze and members of the Alpha Nu chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi at North Carolina A&T State University executed during LDOC (Last Day of Classes), one of the largest cultural moments on the A&T campus.
The activation was the direct outcome of a longer arc: after Céleste's Topicals Beauty Campaign, Céleste initiated outreach to Topicals with a proposal for an HBCU Ambassadorship. The conversation progressed into a partnership around a specific campus moment "LDOC" with the members of the Alpha Nu chapter as the cultural anchor.
The result was Céleste's first live brand activation and Topicals' first HBCU campus partnership in this format.
Creative Direction and Production by Cameron Elyse for Céleste Studios.
ROLE
THE
OBJECTIVE
Topicals' challenge was clear: how do you show up in college environments authentically, without feeling forced or corporate?
The goal was to design a moment where the brand felt like a natural part of the day; seamlessly woven into a cultural event students were already living inside of, rather than a promotional intrusion staged on top of it. The activation needed to feel like it belonged at LDOC, not like it was interrupting it.
OUR APPROACH
Céleste's approach was to design the activation around the community's existing cultural rhythms rather than around Topicals as the centerpiece. The Alpha Nu chapter's presence at LDOC was already a cultural event — Céleste's role was to embed Topicals inside that moment in a way that honored the chapter's identity and elevated the brand's presence through association, not intrusion.
The philosophy was simple: the community is not the audience of the activation. The community is the co-author. Topicals showed up as a partner, not a sponsor. Key members of Alpha Nu were positioned as the collaborators, not a marketing surface. Céleste held the creative and strategic direction that made the moment land as culture rather than as promotion.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
The activation was structured as a three-part experience designed to feel curated but casual inviting students into a moment that mixed brand introduction, community celebration, and personal artifact.
Students received Topicals product: Slick Salve, Faded Eye Masks, and Ingrown Rollers in the brand's signature orange packaging. The gifting was designed to feel personal rather than transactional. Students weren't sold to. They were welcomed in.
Part 1: Gifting
Part 2: The Vintage Photobooth
A photographer set up against a vintage backdrop, giving students a physical keepsake from the day. The visual language leaned nostalgic; an intentional contrast to the fast-consumption feel of typical campus marketing activations.
Part 3: The VHS Tape Recording
Students could record themselves on VHS and see the playback in real time; a tactile, analog moment in a digital era. This piece transformed the activation from a branded interaction into a cultural artifact students could carry with them.
Environmental Direction
The activation was intentionally spare. The only branding was the orange Topicals boxes themselves no signage, no overwrought staging. The setup was outdoor, covered by grass, and integrated into the party space at LDOC's first leg. Alpha Nu members were present as themselves, not styled or costumed. The activation lived inside the party, not adjacent to it.
RESULTS
Cultural reach:
The activation went semi-viral organically, with content from the day reaching over 117,000 accounts on Instagram and 36,000+ accounts on LinkedIn. Content was also widely shared across TikTok, generating organic student-created content in the days and weeks following.
Brand response:
The Topicals team publicly commented on the activation and reposted content on their LinkedIn; a rare signal of real brand endorsement for a partner-executed campus activation.
Cultural conversation:
The activation was heavily discussed on A&T's campus and across HBCU social networks. Other emerging creators, students, and small studios reached out asking how the partnership had been produced and pitched signaling Céleste's execution had become a reference point for how HBCU-brand partnerships could be built.
State of the Student
Beyond the visual and cultural impact, College Daze documented the activation through a proprietary cultural intelligence snapshot: State of the Student. Over 500 student responses were captured during LDOC, generating quantitative and qualitative data on wellness concerns, cultural values, and consumer behavior. Key findings included:
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Top wellness and skin concerns among HBCU students: breakouts, dark circles, dryness, sun exposure, and irritation
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64.8% female audience participation, with meaningful male and non-binary engagement
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Cultural insight: "Students associate social life with physical stress and fatigue."
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Cultural insight: "Wellness is increasingly part of campus identity and confidence."
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Cultural insight: "Students want authentic experiences, not corporate performances."
CREDITS
Creative Director: @cameronnelyse
Creative Producer: @cameronnelyse
Strategist: @cameronnelyse
Experiential Producer: @mylesthecreator_
Lead Photographer: @stitchphotographic
Assistant Photographer: @rheasunshine._
Yearbook Photographer: @trlxi3, @g8cko
Yearbook PA: @ty_tooslyy
Videographers: @444.seoul, @clinton2x, @bx.popo
360 cam: @swavee3k
Experiential Agency: @collegedaze_
REFLECTIONS
The LDOC Activation was Céleste's first real brand partnership originated through outbound outreach. From spec editorial to direct pitch to executed activation. More than the finished project, it served as validation of the full arc: that Céleste could produce an idea, place it in front of the right brand, and execute it at operational scale when the brand said yes.
The activation proved the studio can be trusted with real brand work. The case studies leading up to this piece established creative capability, but this project demonstrated that Céleste can deliver end-to-end when a brand puts real weight behind a partnership. It also gave Céleste deep insider knowledge of a beauty brand's product ecosystem, which continues to inform how the studio approaches product-led work.
Personally, the project taught a specific kind of trust; trust in your ideas, trust in the people you choose to execute with you, and trust that you're exactly where you're supposed to be.
Every case study before this one built toward this moment. This one built toward everything after.
