Fenty Beauty - An explosive success | Octoly Beauty bloggers, influencers, celebrities, and clients acclaimed Fenty Beauty that released 40 different shades of foundation the very first week of its release and celebrated the inclusivity that this act represented.
Many undertones, such as olive ones like mine, were also underserved in beauty. Sandy Saputo, chief marketing officer at Kendo Brands, which includes Fenty Beauty, shares the inside story.From the beginning, our founder Rihanna was very clear that absolutely no one was to be excluded. Fenty Beauty by Rihanna (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images for Fenty and Harvey Nichols)(Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)(Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for FENTY PUMA By Rihanna)I am a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer covering everything beauty –innovative companies, runway and industry trends, disrupting indie brands, the green beauty movement, and the spa industry. This was insanely difficult from an operational perspective. In my reporting, I’ve interviewed everyone from CEOs to celebrity makeup artists to Gwyneth Paltrow. You really don’t know it’s happening until it’s happened.By having Rihanna and her vision as our north star, we were able to nail the execution of the Fenty Beauty launch with integrity. Success also wouldn’t have been possible without my diverse, insanely creative and brave marketing team — each with their unique background and voice. Fenty Beauty is an overnight success several years in the making. Naturally upon Fenty’s successful launch, many beauty brands began to similarly announce their offerings for people of color. The brand is called Fenty Maison. Our marketing mission was underway to build a beauty brand for the next generation.Our approach to inclusion marketing has always been about “showing, not telling.” In fact, we never once used the word “inclusive” in our messaging. © 2020 Indigo9 Digital Inc.Contact us at: tricia@indigo9digital.comGet the latest retail insights & trends delivered to your inboxIn spring of 2019 we learned that Rihanna was behind the newest luxury label from LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. I know that’s partly because Rihanna Navy is crazy-loyal, but there’s a lot more going on.
Inclusion was more than the number of shades; it was the well-crafted nuance of each shade in the range that also served as a proof point. Press and consumers ultimately saw a fun and flawless execution, but what they didn’t see were the efforts of more than 500 global leaders across brand and merchandising, supply chain, marketing, social, and retailer teams doing synchronized swimming to pull it off.The results exceeded all of our expectations.Here’s how we did it — and three lessons we learned along the way.We were so proud to be able to authentically market a beauty brand envisioned by Rihanna to serve all women of all cultures. According to the same WWD story, Jenner’s biggest sales day to date was Nov. 21, 2016 when her e-commerce site did $18,926,657.29 million in … Why do people just assume her products will be legit? All those efforts add up to a $600 million fortune, making her the wealthiest female musician in the world, ahead of the likes of Madonna ($570 million), Céline Dion ($450 million) and Beyoncé ($400 million).Her empire continues to grow. It will exist under the same umbrella as famous brands such as Dior and Givenchy, marking LVMH’s first new house in more than 30 years.Fenty Beauty has differentiated itself in another way, releasing 40 shades of foundation, far more than the handful of hues sold by other brands. The Barbados native, who overcame hardships including an abusive addict father and a well-publicized assault by then-boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009, also co-owns the Savage X Fenty lingerie line with Los Angeles-based online fashion firm TechStyle Fashion Group and has millions in earnings from her career touring and releasing as a singer, which make up the rest of her fortune.The fashion line, which launched online in May, includes sizes up to U.S. 14, embodying the same inclusive ideal of Fenty Beauty.