Bobbie Brown’s WTF Moment - social influence powers beauty marketing

Beauty is BIG business and the category was the first to recognise the power of influencer marketing. Lately we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum: the once world leader in the category, Revlon, filed for bankruptcy citing its failure to join the influencer zeitgeist as part of its downfall and Bobbi Brown using her own TikTok channel to debunk the misinformation about her Jones Road Beauty What the Foundation makeup line.

The Revlon debacle shows that influencer marketing is now an essential promotion channel for marketing beauty products. With a reported debt burden of US$3.7BN exceeding its assets of US$2.3BN, Revlon cited a key issue in its downfall was a failure to tap into the cosmetics sales boom driven by social media influencers.

On the other side of the game we have seen a notable way to address misinformation driven by an influencer review. Bobbi Brown is a seasoned beauty product creator and marketer, and so when TikTok make-up artist Meredith Duxbury uploaded a negative review of her new makeup line that was viewed over 39 million times, she took to her TikTok channel to cover off the furore of #whatthefoundation. Bobbi took an approach of first informing then taking an amusing angle to send up the messy, inappropriate way her product had been used.

As Scott Guthrie who heads up the UK Trade body IMTB pointed out recently in a blog: “ It hits to the heart of creators offering subject matter expertise and authoritative, authentic voices online. Skincare and make-up choices are very personal. Speaking with authority means understanding the scientific formulations of products. It also shows how a brand can respond quickly and with humour when things go south on TikTok.”

So given the immediacy and viral fluidity of social media channels, especially TikTok, it is clear that being authentic and informative is the best way of taking back control of the discussion about your brand - and a little humour never goes astray.