When my great-uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, founded the Maybelline Company in 1915, he understood a simple but powerful truth: people trust the opinions of those they admire. Long before the internet, social media, or influencers existed, he built his company on that very principle.
His first advertisements were modest 1½-inch classified ads placed in popular publications such as Photoplay and the Police Gazette. Those tiny ads generated enough interest to launch what would become one of the world's most recognizable beauty brands. As sales grew, so did his marketing ambitions. He sponsored the nationally broadcast Maybelline Hour radio program, featuring live entertainment and, on occasion, members of the Maybelline family. He later expanded into glamorous full-page magazine advertisements and became one of the earliest cosmetic executives to embrace television advertising, recognizing that visual storytelling sold beauty better than words alone.
But Tom Lyle Williams' greatest innovation was not the advertising medium—it was the messenger.
From the 1920s through the 1960s, he signed many of Hollywood's biggest stars to represent Maybelline. At a time when many cosmetics founders promoted themselves as the face of their companies, Tom deliberately stayed out of the spotlight. The focus was always on the beauty, elegance, and glamour of the women who represented the brand—not on its founder.
There was another reason for his anonymity. Tom lived during a period when homosexuality was widely condemned, and for more than fifty years he shared his life with his devoted partner, Emery Shaver. Public exposure could have jeopardized not only his personal life but also the reputation of the Maybelline name and the family behind it. Rather than seek personal recognition, he let the brand become the celebrity.
His instincts proved brilliant.
Consumers didn't simply buy mascara—they bought the promise of Hollywood glamour. Every advertisement encouraged women to imagine themselves looking like the movie stars they admired. Those striking images sparked conversations among friends, neighbors, mothers, and daughters, creating powerful word-of-mouth advertising long before anyone coined the term.
Today, Maybelline New York uses tools Tom could never have imagined. Television has been joined by websites, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and countless other digital platforms. Celebrity ambassadors continue to play a central role, with partnerships such as supermodel Gigi Hadid's generating worldwide attention through advertising campaigns, collaborative product collections, and millions of social media followers.
The company has expanded Tom's original philosophy even further by embracing influencer marketing. Professional creators, beauty experts, and everyday consumers receive products to review and share with their online communities. Their recommendations reach audiences of every size, from millions of followers to close-knit circles of family and friends.
The technology has changed, but the strategy has not.
Tom Lyle Williams believed beautiful images would inspire conversation. He believed trusted voices would influence buying decisions. He believed people would share exciting discoveries with those they knew.
More than a century later, that same philosophy remains at the heart of Maybelline's marketing. The classified ads have become digital campaigns, the Hollywood stars now share the stage with influencers, and conversations that once took place across kitchen tables now happen across social media. Yet the goal remains exactly as Tom envisioned in 1915—to create excitement, inspire confidence, and encourage people to tell someone else about Maybelline.
