Rihanna worked on the Fenty beauty project for two years before releasing it to the public. She said, "It was important that every woman felt included in this brand". And it has been a successful bet even since its release in Fall 2017. Read on to see how this brand changed the beauty industry for good!

1. The Direct-To-Consumers and
Disruptive Playbook
Beauty and Fashion Disruption Insights

2. Key Lessons from
Indie Makeup Brand:
Fenty Beauty

3. Fall 2017
Launch
$72m
EMV (Oct. 2017)
2.7 m
Instagram followers
#beauty #inclusivity#instagram #community

4. «I feel like everybody should be included. The
fact that women are getting emotional at the
counter because they found their shade for the
first time shows that makeup has become a
celebration -and it's now become a movement.”
Rihanna, Founder of Fenty Beauty

5. Overview
Once again, Kendo Beauty has hit hard the beauty
industry. The famous LVMH incubator (Kat Von D,
Marc Jacobs Beauty, Bite…) worked with Rihanna to
create her vision of beauty. She said “Fenty Beauty
was created for everyone: For women of all shades,
personalities, cultures and races. I wanted
everyone to feel included.”
Considering that the beauty industry has historically
failed to represent people of color in advertising
and with products, Rihanna has taken the matter in
her own hands. Fenty Beauty must stay true to
Rihanna’s vision, which is why she got involved
from the start in the creative process of the
products.
Her makeup line launched on September 8th
2017, focuses on a wide range of traditionally
hard-to-match skin tones, creating formulas that
work for all skin types, and pinpointing universal
shades. To promote the brand, she used
different types of models making it the most
diverse campaign of Fall 2017.
When the brand released its first products at
Sephora, the feedback was phenomenal: Beauty
bloggers, influencers, celebrities, and clients
acclaimed the brand that released 40 different
shades of foundation the very first week of its
release and celebrated the inclusivity that this
act represented.
Vision Creation

6. Changing the conversation about Beauty
An inclusive and powerful campaign
Fenty seems invincible today. Releasing 90 products for its first
campaign in one go and leaving no skin tone behind, has propelled
the brand to the top making it the leader of diversity and inclusivity
in the beauty industry. Thanks to its large variety of beauty products
containing a 40 shade foundation range, a universal lip gloss shade
and now extravagant lipstick colours and eye shadows, Fenty is
proving that the brand is unstoppable.
Numerous are the brands that are still struggling with releasing
more than 20 foundation shades…
A game changer for the beauty industry
The company recorded $72.0 m in earned media value in just one
month – most of it provided from Instagram ($45.2 m), beating out
long-established labels such as NYX ($51.5 m), Benefit ($48.1 m)
and Urban Decay ($37.0 m). Because Fenty Beauty has changed the
diversity standard, beauty brands are starting to diversify their
campaigns by adding more women of colour to their PR lists, social
media pages, in their ads and so forth.
Below are some of the critics found on Twitter and
other social platforms in regards to other brands
suddenly showing interest in a larger variety of
shades and inclusivity:

7. Rihanna, a beloved and trusted figure
Fenty Beauty isn’t only a name that Rihanna slapped on products.
It represents her personal curated creations, her own version of
makeup.
Renowned for being a brilliant businesswoman: she is a singer, an
actress and a fashion designer for her FENTY x PUMA line (highly
respected in the fashion world), she is also strongly backed up by
her loyal fans she names the “Rihanna Navy”.
The brand’s core: Rihanna’s fan base
Because Rihanna has never made a misstep in her career,
everyone’s expectations were high. On social media the madness
was real and everyone was definitely not disappointed.
PR kits and launch party invitations were sent to YouTube beauty
bloggers and make-up artists, with small and large followings who
had the power to influence their followers' spending. Social media
beauty influencers praised the diversity, quality and inclusivity
that the products represent.
Many got emotional and spoke about the joy of having products
that truly represent them.
In November 2017, within 2
months of the brand’s launch,
TIME magazine named Fenty
Beauty one of the 25 best
inventions of 2017.
In November 2017, the brand won
3 awards at the Beauty Innovators
Awards organized by Refinery 29.
Awarded for Innovator of The Year,
Best Foundation and Best Beauty
Campaign.
In December 2017, Fenty Beauty
won WWD's 2017 Beauty Inc. Award
for "Launch of the Year" in the
prestige sector.

8. The Fenty campaign the “new generation of beauty” included models of all colors, shapes
and sizes. Rihanna created a much-needed conversation on diversity within the beauty
industry. Thanks to this fundamental debate she started, we are expecting to see many more
brands come upfront with a varied array of products made for everyone. Fenty Beauty was
the biggest beauty brand on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the first month of its release.
The feedback on social media was tremendous.
The verdict
Beauty Influencers are some of the most vocal and most influential people on social media
and beauty reviews have become something it is impossible for beauty brands to
ignore. Reviewers encourage their audiences to join the conversation in the comments
section to give tips and advice. Rihanna has been releasing since September 2017 new
products nearly every month which is why other brands must follow the example (start
working on their shades!) to keep up.
Influencers Can’t Get Enough of Fenty
"I'm so happy as an Indian & Pakistani woman with an olive undertone
to have been able to walk into Sephora and finally get matched to a
foundation that's not orange” – Myra Chaudhary (YouTuber)
"A lot of brands wait to produce products in my shade after
establishing their product lines, but Fenty Beauty gave me an option
right away” – Nyajal Dup (YouTuber)

9. The marketing world is changing…

10. Brands have a major problem …
…and the problem is HER
And the millions of other passionate people like her who post videos & photos

11. Brands have lost control of their messaging
due to a highly fragmented audience
Creators Networks Audience
Online retailers
Direct to
consumers

12. Micro Influencing is the Future of brands on Social Media
Top 25 YouTubers
700+ YouTubers
41%
of views
Top Tier creators are hard to reach,
long and expensive to activate.
59%
of views
Mid & Long Tail creators are a great
opportunity for brands to reach
creators and audience at scale.

13. Content watched on social media is micro
Digital celebrities are as
powerful as people not known
personally.
Bloggers and vloggers create
strong and effective content for
brands and are more reachable
than most of the celebrities you
may find on social networks.

14. We are already living in a
Post-Advertising World

15. “Our brands that grew the most were also very low [advertising
and promotion] intensive,[…] Kiehl’s has no media. Urban Decay
has no media. Many of these brands have no media.”
Jean Paul Agon

16. Influencers are more relevant than brand pages
As organic social reach is
increasingly limited,
social influencers offer a
more authentic voice,
leading to more engaged
audiences.

17. Influence has quickly changed hands

18. Influencers drive sales
…of beauty consumers indicate that
YouTube influenced their purchasing
decisions by helping them to visualize
how the products would fit their
lifestyle.
Pure players give incentives to creators'
audiences through promotional codes.
66%

19. Micro-influencers really matter
Mid- and long-tail creators usually:
● Have a greater freedom of speech
● Create more engagement
● Won’t request $$$ to collaborate
● Have a clearer schedule
Smart brands will leverage their
combined power and higher engagement

20. Major marketing challenges for brands in a digital age
2of 3US Millennials use
and AD Blocker
Consumers are exposed to
5,000ads per day on average
New Indie Brands
Infobesity &
Decline of Engagement
Decline Of Advertising
Efficiency

21. The Direct-to-Consumer revolution is reaching all industries
5
Years old
$200M
Revenues
www.bloomberg.com
2
Years old
$75M
Revenues
http://fortune.com/
4
Years old
$150M
Expected
Revenues
http://www.inc.com/
$240M
Raised
$60M
Raised

22. Indie brands are popping up
Small lines with social media savvy are winning top-dollar bids
from cosmetic giants seeking growth.
18
Months old
$420M
Revenues
3
Years old
$35M
Revenues/Raised
+600%
Growth in 2016
“ ”

23. What’s an Indie Brand?
Any beauty addict can tell you they love top brands
such as M.A.C Cosmetics BUT they believe their
prices are too high.
They’re generally endorsed by celebrities or models.
Indie brands are taking off rapidly offering great products
at an affordable price.
They’re generally endorsed by Beauty blogger/vloggers.
All these endorsements have the ability to generate engaging content but beauty bloggers do it better.

24. “I sell directly to customers. With other brands, they are putting their stuff
in Sephora, and Sephora takes their cut, so they have to mark up their
prices to cover overhead and staffing, and all that. But because we sell
online—directly from the warehouse to the customer—we can kind of cut
out that middle portion and save a lot of money in costs.”
How are you able to provide the same quality as high-end makeup brands and keep
prices low?
Marlena Stell, YouTuber

25. Retailers are also disrupted
5 years old 6 years old 5 years old
$150M
Revenues
$125M
Revenues
$50M
Raised

26. Get authentic reviews at scale
Reach a unique community of 10,000+ influencers with
over 1 billion collective subscribers.
Contact us:
https://go.octoly.com/welcome