Clinique built a SoHo lab that floods when you lift its moisturiser

Make a well-established hydrator feel culturally new to gen Z and millennials, built around the brand's devoted fans rather than around claims.

The Feels Like Lab: lift the moisturiser off its pedestal and a rush of water floods a full LED wall, turning the room into what hydration feels like.

Two days in SoHo, New York: a cart of jellies paraded through the streets, a VIP cocktail opening, real Reddit quotes about the product's feel on skin running through the space, a touch-and-feel jelly table, a boba bar, a slowly melting ice sculpture and the LED flood built as the signature content-capture moment.

More than 2,800 guests came through over two days, over double the expected turnout, and every Moisture Surge 100H on site was claimed; press coverage followed, turning one SoHo address into a citywide talking point.

For Clinique's Moisture Surge 100H Auto-Replenishing Hydrator, the brand's most devoted fans had already answered the question 'what does hydration actually feel like?' online. Clinique came to brand experience studio DE-YAN wanting to bring fresh cultural energy to the established line and connect it with a gen Z and millennial audience, and DE-YAN built the answer around those fan voices.

The result was The Feels Like Lab, a two-day, touch-driven experience in SoHo, New York. It opened with a cart of jellies pushed through the city streets and an evening VIP cocktail party, which built demand past capacity: more than 2,800 guests came through the doors, over double the expected turnout.

Inside, real Reddit quotes describing how the product feels on skin ran throughout the space, giving the cult following a visible presence. At the centre, guests lifting Moisture Surge 100H from its pedestal triggered a rush of water across a full LED wall that transformed the room — the Lab's signature content-capture moment, which guests queued to experience again. A jelly table, boba bar, mirrored send-off wall and a melting ice sculpture completed the visit, and every Moisture Surge 100H on site was claimed.

The product's feel on skin is what fans already talk about, so the experience was built from their words instead of brand assertions.

A single interactive moment — lifting the jar and flooding the room — gave every guest the same shareable clip, multiplying the two-day footprint.

Scarcity did the marketing: a street parade and a VIP night built demand that doubled the expected walk-in count.

Let the product's most devoted users write the experience: fan language translated into physical sensation turns a commodity moisturiser into a place people queue to re-enter.

As of the October 2026 write-up the two-day Lab had closed with all product on site claimed, and the activation's coverage had turned the SoHo address into a citywide talking point.