{"id":640405,"date":"2026-05-13T10:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/640405\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T10:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:36:08","slug":"cerave-taps-carmelo-anthony-for-its-new-dandruff-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/640405\/","title":{"rendered":"CeraVe taps Carmelo Anthony for its new dandruff campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October, CeraVe announced that it would become the\u00a0official skin- and hair-care partner<\/a> of the NBA. Now, the brand is launching its first hair-care campaign pegged to that announcement.<\/p>\n

In February 2025 \u2014\u00a0prior to becoming an official NBA partner \u2014\u00a0the brand debuted a campaign<\/a> featuring NBA player Anthony Davis, WNBA player Paige Bueckers and creator Charli D\u2019Amelio. This February, a campaign starring NBA player Kevin Durant<\/a> was the brand\u2019s first campaign officially tied to its NBA partnership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that the NBA could give us access to a very diverse, engaged fandom \u2014 particularly men and particularly people of color \u2014 [and we wanted to] educate them on the importance of skin and scalp health,\u201d said Esther Garcia, gm at CeraVe U.S. <\/p>\n

According to a Fan Score report<\/a> from Playfly Sports and Vision Insights, the NBA has the youngest and most diverse fan base among the four major U.S. sports leagues, surpassing the NFL, MLB and NHL. The report found that, during the 2022\u20132023 season, 56% of NBA fans were under 44 years old and 40% identified as non-white.<\/p>\n

Informed by the insight that one in five Americans is struggling with dandruff (Nielsen 2019 vs. 2020, P&G Dandruff Study), the brand tapped Carmelo \u201cMelo\u201d Anthony as its new \u201cHead Coach.\u201d Anthony played 19 seasons in the NBA and is a 10-time\u00a0NBA All-Star. He retired from the NBA in May 2023 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2025. He has 7.8 million Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge, core part of CeraVe\u2019s audience is young, teen boys and Gen-Z men, and the people they look up to are athletes,\u201d said Cha Spruce, an executive creative director at Ogilvy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t really understand how important it is that you have a healthy scalp when it comes to dandruff. So, as we\u2019ve done many times before, we wanted to educate on that and take the stigma out of dandruff,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWe thought [this campaign] was a perfect platform to drive education in a fun way, and [we were] looking for someone who could embody that message, alongside our dermatologists, in a fun and unexpected way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign plays on the gestures and fashion statements that contributed to Anthony\u2019s legend status. The campaign, officially dubbed \u201cHead Coach,\u201d was created by WPP Onefluence, led by Ogilvy PR. <\/p>\n

Spruce explained its origins: \u201cHoodie Melo was this era where Carmelo was really focused and locked in on his game during his tenure with the Knicks. It\u2019s legendary in basketball culture. So, we thought, \u2018What if we started a rumor that he was hiding his head because he had dandruff?\u2019 So, that\u2019s exactly how we\u2019re going to kick off the campaign: bringing back that lore and that legend of Hoodie Melo, and we\u2019ve done it in some cool ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the campaign officially launched on Wednesday, CeraVe teased the campaign for about a week beforehand. On May 8, on the Instagram account @thepeoplegallery_ (1.1 million followers), Anthony appeared in a video wearing a hoodie featuring a picture of himself wearing a hoodie. When asked in the video if he\u2019s returning \u2014 with the implication being: to basketball \u2014\u00a0Anthony replies, \u201cWe\u2019re cooking something.\u201d The post<\/a> is marked as an #ad, though viewers could not be sure for what.<\/p>\n

Also on May 8, the Instagram account @leaguefits (1 million followers) spotlighted Anthony, alongside NBA players Isaiah Hartenstein (OKC Thunder) and Jose Alvarado (NY Knicks), wearing the aforementioned Hoodie Melo hoodie \u2014 this time, with the included CeraVe logo showing \u2014 in a post<\/a> also tagged #ad. The caption reads: \u201choodie melo inception. the @cerave logo is throwing me though. #ad.\u201d Alvarado and Hartenstein will reappear in the ongoing campaign, according to a CeraVe spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s hero spot, which will run across the brand\u2019s social platforms, riffs on one of Carmelo Anthony\u2019s most recognizable on-court signatures. During his NBA career, Anthony famously tapped three fingers to his temple after scoring a three-pointer \u2014 a celebratory gesture that became known as \u201cthree to the dome.\u201d In CeraVe\u2019s version, Anthony reprises the gesture and catchphrase alongside three practicing dermatologists, nodding to the three essential ceramides found in the brand\u2019s products, which are delivered to the scalp in its hair-care collection.<\/p>\n

After the hero spot debuts, the campaign will continue to trickle out with other bits of content throughout the following week. Garcia noted that the brand will seed the product to creators, as well as select consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur attention now is so fragmented. You can\u2019t just have one big piece of content and expect everyone to see it,\u201d Spruce said, explaining that the approach is to create \u201clittle fires everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur big idea is \u2018Head Coach of heads.\u2019 But how do I make sure you see that? If we put up our phones, we have different algorithms. That means I needed to create different content.\u201d<\/p>\n