• by Larissa Faw , June 10, 2015

European Wax Center (EWC) continues to position itself at the higher end of the beauty category by teaming with like-minded partners. Previously, the brand has aligned with New York's Fashion Week, the Academy Awards, and "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Now, the hair removal franchise is launching its first-ever "Summer Goddess 2015 Model Search" in partnership with Wilhelmina models and the female-centric platform Popsugar.

The contest awards one winner with a three-year contract with the high-fashion modeling agency.

This initiative has required teamwork across multiple agencies. It started with the Public Relations AOR, Corbin-Hillman Communications, which developed the core program with Wilhelmina as a way to promote the brand’s summer positioning, “Let’s give the sun something to worship” created by StrawberryFrog, European Wax Center’s advertising agency. Social media is handled by AOR Laundry Service and digital promotion is overseen by Publicis Groupe media agency Spark.

Under the promotion, EWC women taller than 5'8" and between 18 and 30 enter at Popsugar.com/summergoddesssearch through July 20. In addition to the registration form, the hub features beauty tips and information about in-person casting calls held in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.

Over the course of the competition, this destination will continue to be updated with custom content, including blogger posts on the European Wax Center experience, native content, and custom testimonial videos shot by PopSugar’s film crew at the NY and LA casting calls.

Between July 28 and August 1, the hub will turn into a platform where visitors can vote for their top pick out of 20 candidates. The winner will be part of the top 5 who move to the judging round of the competition in Miami, FL on August 19th and 20th. During this event, the winner will be announced followed by an after-party for VIP guests. 

In addition, Popsugar will invite several of its Instagram followers to this party to document and post about this event and one will be selected to serve as a judge.

Although Wilhelmina has partnered with brands such as Macy’s, Shape and Men’s Fitness for previous model search competitions, agency executives say this is the first time the modeling agency has introduced a search executed so heavily through social media.