As we know, more and more celebrities are experimenting in the beauty-business world, aiming to emulate the success of talent-fronted cosmetics and skincare lines internationally.

It’s becoming incredibly common, with new collections and fully-fledged businesses appearing daily, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Kat Von D, Miranda Kerr, Drew Barrymore and Jessica Alba. However, the most successful lines are proving to be those that invest the big boss’ time and resources in direct-to-consumer marketing. The two celebrities undoubtedly leading the pack are Kylie Jenner and Rihanna, who are exemplary of the proactive grassroots B2C marketing that brands can only dream of. These young entrepreneurs are breaking down the barrier between celebrity and fan, to get up close and personal with their social communities and single-handedly mobilise sales.

Say what you want about the Kardashian-Jenner clan, they are incredible at marketing themselves. They know the secret to self-advertising and the youngest Jenner is no exception. Kylie Cosmetics launched in 2016 initially with three signature lip kits; Dolce K, Candy K and True Brown, which sold out within minutes. Expanding her inventory of shades and increasing the offering to shadows, highlighters, gloss and liners guaranteed the exponential growth of the business, while ramping up production helped meet consumer demand for the increasingly elusive stock.

Within the first three months of launch, production was increased from 15,000 units to 500,000. Products are vegan and cruelty-free though this isn’t singled out in marketing rhetoric, instead the brand’s USP is arguably Kylie herself. Reputedly self-funded and solo-run, Kylie has earned well over $500 million from the budding venture. Jenner has proven her Midas touch as fans flock to the product as if it were gold dust.

Fenty Beauty launched in September 2017 with a ground-breaking forty shades of foundation, establishing their brand USP from the get-go, opting for the slogan ‘Beauty for All’. Applauded for its inclusivity across skin tone and gender, Fenty has gone a step further to cater to an ever-diversifying consumer landscape. Financed by a reported $10 million deal with Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey, the line launched in Sephora but is exclusive to prestige department store Harvey Nichols in London, UK (becoming their biggest beauty launch ever). Now available in over 15 countries, including a lucrative expansion into Saudi Arabia, the brand was valued at $72 million within a month of release.

These celebrity beauty bosses have been instrumental in making their businesses a breakout success. Responsible for expanding the reach and visibility of their brand, Rihanna and Kylie provided an inimitable launch platform for their brands on a global stage that a perfunctory name on a bottle and a figurehead role could simply not achieve. By making social media power moves that leverage their celebrity equity, these celeb CEOs have been able to drive engagement amongst consumers who have a predisposition to their brand.

They put up and show up for their fans 

Both Kylie Cosmetics and Fenty Beauty put their creator at the heart of their marketing strategy, recognising that shoppers are buying into the celebrity as much as the product. Kylie and Rihanna’s sense of responsibility and personal investment in the brand is evident in their constant visibility and interaction with consumers. They regularly post images of themselves wearing their own products at events, upload video makeup tutorials and Instagram stories that speak directly to their fans about the quality of the product that they have put their name too.

Takeout: Attributing a friendly face to your senior management team or involving your CEO can drive affinity for your brand, portraying validity and commitment.

Their Influencer engagement absolutely brilliant

One of the key marketing tactics the both of them is to work with strategically chosen influencers.

Faces of the initial Fenty Beauty campaign that feature predominantly across social channels included Slick Woods, Halima Aden, Leomie Anderson, Indyamarie Jean, Selena Forrest, Camila Costa and Duckie Thot, who seamlessly compliment Fenty’s diversity mission statement. Additionally, the Fenty social team repost influencers wearing Fenty Beauty to showcase their product and how they work on skin in a real-life environment.

Similarly, Kylie Cosmetics collaborate with the likes of Manny MUA, Gabriel Zamora and Mama Dragun and repost talent such as Shay Mitchell sporting the line.

Takeout: This utilisation of influencers is a clever mechanic for brands to harness external influence, popularity and reach and have real people shout about your product on a consumer level on your behalf. You can use our site to find influencer 'authorities' across certain verticals to increase your chance of success.

They cross-promote

Continuing support for their brands, both Kylie and Rihanna embrace crossover between their business and personal accounts. The official Kylie Cosmetics Instagram account has 16.2 million followers, while Kylie herself has over 110 million. Equally, the official Fenty Beauty Instagram account has 4 million followers, whereas RiRi herself pulls in over 63.4 million.

It is no wonder then that a single post from either of these ladies endorsing their brand will guarantee potential eyeballs soar, exposing their wider fanbase to their branded content.

They’re getting engaged

As any brand marketer will agree, engagement is the holy grail of influencer marketing. Kylie Cosmetics and Fenty Beauty’s social media strategies are centred around direct engagement with consumers.

Fenty is a great example of this, using both their Instagram grid and stories to ask their community questions and request tagging. What is particularly interesting about Fenty’s use of Stories is that they use polling to ensure consumers are getting something out of the process; that there’s something in it for them.

For example, by asking users yes or no questions about their skin, Fenty take the guess work out of the purchasing process and recommend which foundation shades will suit each individual consumer. Kylie and Rihanna's Instagram engagement percentages are 3.75% and 2.04% respectively which are strong figures in relation to their follower volume. Evidently they put their social skills and know-how to good use within their brand strategy.

Takeout: Brands shouldn’t be afraid to cross-promote within partner or sister brand channels and pool resources to spread awareness, especially if that affiliate company is better established. You can find out more about Kylie and Rihanna's social audiences by using our demographic and psychographic data, available on their talent profiles.

They’re EVERYWHERE

Experiential activations continue to prove popular, serving to bring brands to life and offer shoppers a 360-degree experience. Kylie Cosmetics orchestrated a physical pop-up store launch in San Francisco last month, which was heavily pre-promoted on social. Following the success of the Topanga pop-up last Christmas, and the New York pop-up in February, the brand effectively built excitement for the opening; ensuring lines of eager shoppers snaked around the block. Fenty built pop-up photo booths at Sephora and Harvey Nichols worldwide in May, encouraging shoppers to create video content that can be shared using dedicated hash tag #fentyflash and featured on their feed.

Takeout: Brands should be teasing key announcements of experiential events, launches or stunts on their social media accounts to ensure maximum word of mouth and eventual footfall and encouraging user-generated content to drive affinity. 

They give back

A common feature across both social accounts is the product giveaway. Kylie Cosmetics regularly alert followers to temporary buy-one-get-one-free sales or limited time only discounts, whilst Fenty prefer to run bulk giveaways to celebrate the launch of new products.

Takeout: It’s important to remember to give back to consumers from time to time by running competitions to make your brand more accessible, especially if you have a higher price point to begin with. Running short-term promotions will also help create a sense of urgency and mobilise shoppers.

They create moments

Kylie Cosmetics has become known for launching capsule collections, fronted by Kylie’s famous siblings. Leveraging the popularity of her wider family, Kylie released a ‘KOURT x Kylie’ collaboration with Kourtney, ‘KOKO’ collection with Khloe, ‘KKW x Kylie’ lipsticks with Kim and most recently an account takeover by ‘Momager’ Kris to launch her ‘Kris Kollection’.

All the collaborations are teased across official social channels and personal accounts of the family as well as online. Once launched, these ‘exclusive’ ranges become collectors’ items for die-hard fans who are keen to trial the combined artistic efforts of two mega-talent.

Takeout: Don’t be afraid to create moments on social around the launch of a new range. Influencer collaborations that tap into the fortitude of two talent will have double the impact.

Swatches, people love it

Finally, an emerging trend within the beauty industry, particularly within celebrity lines is to demonstrate the variety of your product by means of a colour swatch. Kylie Cosmetics kicked off the trend, habitually posting photos of new colours directly on the skin, most often on an arm which makes for authentic content that puts focus on the product.

Fenty takes this a step further with the advent of their YouTube series ‘Shots and Swatches’. In this humorous video series, Nanette and Aja from the Fenty Beauty social team create live body swatches using Fenty products, whilst drinking shots. On average video's views reach around 25,000 and comments are wholly complimentary.

Takeout: Brands need to get creative in how they display their product to the masses, focusing on transparency, and therefore minimising the risk of consumers being mislead by sleek advertising campaigns.

Did you know Honest London offers celebrity Management?

Click here to learn more.