Influencer Marketing Case Study: How Rare Beauty Built a $300M+ Brand
5.00/5How did a brand born at the height of a global pandemic generate $60 million in its first year? How did they grow to over $350 million in just 3 years? Rare Beauty is living proof that a well executed influencer marketing campaign can lead to success. Let’s take a closer look at this influencer marketing case study so you can replicate the best practices and adapt them to your brand.
Rare Beauty: What Makes it Different from Any Other Celebrity Brand
Back in August 2020, Selena Gomez announced the launch of a new makeup brand with the promise that people would enjoy wearing it to feel real, authentic, and beautiful just as they are. Without having to hide their uniqueness.
The video of this announcement has over 723,000 views. Comments began pouring in from people all over the world. However, some of them were just there to push back, saying “just another celebrity brand” kind of comments.
She was quickly able to prove them wrong. Selena managed to create a perfect alignment between her makeup brand and who she is, the values she represents, and her story and struggles.
A quick look at her website will give you a better idea.
Since the launch announcement, she has centered her brand’s messaging and marketing strategy around storytelling, the importance of mental health, and the lives of the people who wear Rare Beauty makeup.
This approach has allowed her to differentiate her brand from any other celebrity entrepreneurial venture.
Influencer Marketing Case Study: The Rare Beauty Approach to Marketing
Being owned by a celebrity certainly helps draw attention, but it’s not enough. We’ve seen many such brands fail time and time again.
Rare Beauty was born during the hectic times of the pandemic and still managed to generate millions of dollars in its first year.
⚠️Why? Because it was able to set itself apart from the competition by emphasizing two main things:
- The quality of its products
- The brand’s values: inclusivity, authenticity, self-acceptance and mental health.
This combination allowed Selena to create a brand that resonates with millions of people out there. People who want to feel comfortable just being who they are without worrying about what others think.
Marketing Best Practices
The brand’s marketing messaging revolves around the Selena Gomez story. Who she is, her struggles with mental health, her views on beauty, her fight to help everyone accept who they are and how they look.
Go to their social mediaaccounts and you’ll see how many of their posts feature Selena, whether she’s sharing a message, wearing a product, making a trending video, or even with another influencer or well-known artist, but Selena is there using and spreading the word about her brand.
But she doesn’t stop there. They go the extra mile and use TikTok and Instagram to connect with their audience and build a community.
They create short videos (usually under 10 seconds) that feature real people, thriving on authenticity and making them feel relatable to the target audience.
- 💄Product showcases.
- 😂Fun and relatable situations.
- 💪Inspiring and empowering.
- 📽️Tutorials.
In other words, they make their content relatable, but most importantly, human-centered. They do this through Selena, but they also do it by having beauty creators of different nationalities, genders, and ages.
Influencer Marketing Campaign
The other piece that has helped Rare Beauty succeed in a very competitive field is the use of influencers. Selena Gomez herself is not only the woman behind the brand, but also, as we mentioned, the face of the brand.
With more than 421 million followers on Instagram and 58.4 million on TikTok, she has taken on the challenge of destigmatizing mental health and celebrating individuality by redefining what “beautiful” means.
@selenagomez Letting my fiancé do my makeup using @Rare Beauty ♥️ @benny blanco ♬ Call Me When You Break Up - Selena Gomez & benny blanco & Gracie Abrams
But she is not the only influencer for the brand. Rare Beauty has a huge collection of well-known (especially by Gen Z) influencers, including
- Whitney Simmons – 3 million TikTok followers
- Benny Blanco – 6 million TikTok followers
- Kelli Anne Sewell – 166K TikTok followers
- Jennifer Aniston – 44.6 Instagram followers
- Daus Mendoza – 5.5 million TikTok followers
- Adi – 793K TikTok followers
@rarebeauty still thinking about our early Galentine’s Day w/ @LolaVie, @Selena Gomez, and Jen ❤️ #rarebeauty #selenagomez #lolavie #jenniferanniston #galentinesday ♬ Warm Sunlight - Marscott
This strategy has allowed the brand to expand its reach, attract new prospects and connect with new consumers.
The profiles of these influencers closely align with the brand’s values and its goal to make the world more diverse and change the way beauty is perceived.
Conclusion
A marketing strategy with a clear goal, a well-defined target audience, and a robust and consistent message delivers results, even if you decide to launch it in the middle of a pandemic or other dramatic situation. Get started today with a specialized digital marketing agency and the results will follow.
