At Fenty Beauty, we've always delivered our products and content in funny and innovative ways. When we decided to lean in to YouTube in 2018, our objective was to create videos that not only instructed consumers on how to use our products, but also videos that really encapsulated our brand's essence that our audience could relate to.
We also wanted to differentiate ourselves in the beauty space on YouTube— most other beauty brands' channels stick to a standard formula of how-to tutorials and product description videos. We wanted to think of ways that we could go above and beyond the regular beauty content and create something funny, engaging, and informative.
Our YouTube channel serves as a place where beauty newbie and beauty junkie can both come to learn something new about our brand and feel connected. We wanted to raise brand and product awareness by showing off our products in an authentic way, and most importantly, we wanted the viewer to feel connected to our brand.
When we launched our Mattemoiselle Plush Matte Lipsticks at the beginning of 2018, we received lots of comments asking about the formula of the product, how the product looked like on different skin tones, and tips and tricks about the product to really convince them that they needed these products. We knew that there was a need from our audience to deliver something that would help answer these questions, and we knew we had to do it in a unique and funny way to capture and hold their attention.
We came up with our first "Shots & Swatches" video where Nanette Wong and Aja Thornton from our social media team sat down and swatched the lipsticks on their arms, showing off the shades and formula and offering up their own personal tips and tricks on how to best use the product.
But they did it with a twist.
With every swatch they did, they would take a shot of alcohol. This was our way that we could not only inform our audience about our products, but make them laugh and really show off the personality of the brand. We wanted to make them feel as if they were watching their friends get ready for a night out— sharing lipsticks tips, sipping champagne, and joking around.
Our audience loved the video so much that we continued the "Shots & Swatches" series for the rest of our product launches throughout the year such as our Match Stix, Killawatt Highlighters, Moroccan Spice Palette, and Killawatt Foil Holiday Palette, continuing to engage our audience with hilarious educational videos throughout the year.
We successfully engaged with our audience and they loved our videos, growing our YouTube channel and gaining views completely organically with our "Shots & Swatches" video tutorials. With this series, we grew our YouTube subscribers by 188% in 2018 and saw a high conversion rate from our audience who watched. We not only taught our audience about our products and convinced them to purchase, but we really entertained them and made them feel connected to the brand.
Here are some of the comments written on our "Shots & Swatches" videos:
