Cover Girl cosmetics has struck a season-long deal with The CW that offers up its lipstick, mascara and other beauty supplies for the new CW series Riverdale, a sexy reboot of the Archie comics, according to Variety.

At the beginning of tonight’s Riverdale, a brief announcement at the start of the show will underscore Cover Girl’s affiliation with the series, and, later on, a 45-second vignette revealing how Cover Girl products help actress Madelaine Petsch transform herself into the character Cheryl Blossom.

The CW is pushing to work more closely with advertisers looking to woo a female audience. When The CW debuted in 2006, it was seen as a destination to reach young women, in large part due to series such as Gossip Girl and 90210.

Riverdale offered an opportunity to reach out to sponsors seeking female consumers, said Barbra Robin, the network’s senior vice president of integrated marketing, in an interview, Variety reported. Riverdale, she said, “really opens up the tent for those advertisers to come back in again.”

Cover Girl cosmetics will be available on set for use, and viewers each week will see a vignette showing one of the show’s actresses transforming into a Riverdale character with time-lapse photography. Look for video stories featuring Lili Reinhardt, who plays Betty Cooper, and Ashleigh Murray, who plays Josie McCoy. The promotions are meant to appear no matter whether the program is seen on the regular old TV set or on a streaming service like Apple’s, said Robin. Also on tap: social-media influencers will recreate the female leads’ makeup in a series of videos on how to get the Riverdale looks.

Characters will be tied to distinct Cover Girl product, said Amanda Knappman, marketing director for Cover Girl US. Cheryl Blossom, who has strong red in her lips, will use Outlast Color & Gloss, while “girl next door” Betty Cooper will wear Clean Matte foundation. Veronica Lodge will be tied to Lashy, a mascara that gives a bold, sexy look, said Knappman.

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The company hopes to reach millennial and “Generation Z consumers, she said, and hopes they’ll “be encouraged to try different techniques to play up their personalities, moods, features.”

Cover Girl hasn’t been this involved with a CW series since America’s Next Top Model, said CW’s Robin.

Behind the scenes, Publicis Groupe’s Zenith helped negotiate the deal. Brent Poer, a senior executive there, was instrumental in tying things together, said Robin. The media executive has a long history with the CW. When the network launched, he played a key role in devising “content wraps,” or commercial pods devoted to a single advertiser. More often than not, sponsors who chose to use the concept would run 90-seconds of programming devoted to hawking their wares. Procter & Gamble, which once owned Cover Girl, ran a newsmagazine type vignette showing women making use of products like Herbal Essences.

The CW is hopeful the show can snare other advertisers seeking young female consumers. “My end game is to tell more stories and create more content around the show with partners,” said Robin.

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READ MORE: Variety

[Image courtesy of The CW via Variety]

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