Code 8 Case Study

Code 8

Luxury Beauty | Film, Campaign & Product Photography

From first shoot
to flagship store.

A seven-year creative partnership with Code 8 Beauty, spanning campaign film, out-of-home advertising, POS, hero campaign imagery, product still life, e-commerce and social.

The Brief

A new luxury makeup brand entering one of the world's most competitive beauty markets. The brief was to make it look like it had always belonged there.

Code 8 Beauty launched in 2018 with an ambitious proposition: a premium, inclusive makeup range competing directly with established luxury names. The initial brief was clear in ambition but open in execution. JCA was brought in to create elevated, elegant campaign imagery for online, social and London Underground out-of-home advertising.

It was the brand's first advertising shoot. There was no established visual identity, no precedent and no existing imagery to build from. The brand needed creative guidance, art direction and a visual foundation strong enough to grow with it across years of campaign work.

In a crowded luxury market, a new brand has to arrive with the confidence and polish of an established name.

The Creative Approach

JCA built the visual foundation from the ground up, then kept building as the brand grew.

From the first shoot in 2018, JCA took on full creative direction: shaping the brand's visual identity, directing the talent, guiding the aesthetic choices and ensuring every image felt polished, premium and confident.

As the brand grew and trust deepened, so did the scope of work. Each annual campaign pushed the brand's image world further, keeping Code 8 feeling fresh and distinctive in a market dominated by established names. The brief evolved from establishing the brand to protecting and advancing its position, and the partnership has grown to include full-scale productions featuring established Hollywood actress Kelly Rutherford as brand ambassador.

The full JCA collective came together around one creative vision: Charl art directed and shot the campaign photography, Jon directed the campaign film, and Krystian led cinematography. One brief, one creative foundation, three disciplines working together across film, photography and product imagery.

Campaign Film

Click play to watch the full

The Work

From a focused launch shoot in 2018 to a fully integrated annual campaign. The scope of each production reflected the growth of the brand it served.

7

Years of annual campaigns

12x

Growth in shoot budget since first campaign

1

Flagship store opened in Covent Garden

Campaign Deliverables

Campaign Film
One hero campaign film for in-store use, online, and social

Out-Of-Home Advertising
Campaign imagery for London Underground and OOH advertising formats

In-store
Photography for POS advertising and packaging use

Campaign Photography
5 hero campaign images for out-of-home and print, plus 15 supporting digital assets

Product Photography
10 key product still life images shot to match the campaign world

Website banners
5 campaign images as seasonal website banners

E-commerce
80 e-commerce assets across model and product, maintaining the campaign aesthetic across the full range

Social
Campaign film cutdowns and photography crops for social formats

The Outcome

A brand built from its first shoot to a Covent Garden flagship store. Every year, the same creative partner.

Code 8 Beauty has returned to JCA for every annual campaign since its launch in 2018. The shoot budget has grown more than 12x since the first campaign, reflecting the brand's growth and the increasing ambition of the work.

The visual foundation JCA helped establish gave Code 8 the polish and confidence of a premium makeup brand from its first day in the market. As the brand grew, so did the scale of the work: from a focused launch campaign to fully integrated productions spanning film, campaign photography, product still life, elevated e-commerce, out-of-home, POS and social.

The result is not just a body of work, but a creative relationship built on trust, consistency and creative evolution.