Fenty Beauty has been in the market for 8 years and has disrupted the beauty industry with its “Fenty Effect” by launching 50 shades of foundation and representing diversity and inclusion at the core of its brand ethos. The brand soon expanded with Fenty Skin and Fenty Eau de Parfum which have again delivered major successes in the beauty industry.
Launching a new category “hair”, we know that it is a different ballgame. This category is personal, it is based on trust, community and requires education. The Marketing objective was to build a cohesive brand campaign, that tells the full story of Fenty Hair and enable maximum exposure while building a strong sense of community and inclusivity.
We wanted to bring our community on the journey of Fenty Hair in a seamless way so we can:
We had lots to communicate to ensure our community built a connection with Fenty Hair. To do that, the concept of “Mane Street” was born.
Mane Street is the essence of Fenty Hair’s brand storytelling, tying Rihanna’s connection to hair to product education, science and styling. The town was a living expression of Fenty Hair that represented the brand pillars. The elements of Mane Street:
Mane Street became our anchor to our content, events, branding, gifting etc… Each of our activations carried the storyline which not only resonated to our community but also allowed them to share their experiences across all efforts:
Products: With names like The HomeCurl and The Rich One, the products were characters that as much personality as our community.
Press: We hosted short & long lead events before the launch and offered editors 1:1 hair appointments at the “Hair Heaven Salon” with Fenty Hair’s Celebrity Hair Stylists: Yusef, Ursula Stephen & Justine Marjan.
Content: We had a Mane Street content takeover on our owned platforms with a mix of branded & CGI content that helped translate the concept.
Gifting: Influencers received elaborate mailer boxes wrapped in Mane Street to take them on the journey through the larger than life unboxing experience.
Launch Event: We created a disruptive influencer & consumer event that brought Mane Street to life! The ultimate destination coupled with Rihanna’s presence, rich storytelling and photo ops to drive maximum awareness & social buzz. Fostering brand connection with new hair influencers + press to drive massive reach. The experiential event brought all of Mane Street’s pillars to life and doubled down on the storytelling:
We amplified the experience with additional elements both at the event and online:
Retailer Support: Our Mane Street concept was translated into the biggest moment in the UK where Fenty Hair became the first ever Hair Brand to take over the corner shop in Selfridges London! It was coupled with an influencer event that drove virality.
During Fenty Hair’s Sephora launch in September, Mane Street was brought it to life with in-store events, animations and Sephoria.
Salon Events: To keep our community engaged we recreated the hair heaven salon on each coast (NY/LA). Influencers & editors experienced 1:1 hair appointments with Fenty Hair’s Celebrity Stylists.
Rooting the Fenty Hair Launch in “Mane Street” ensured a focal point of storytelling that surrounded all of our campaign levers: influencer partnerships, gifting, events (consumer + influencer), retail launch etc… and integrating with our community has driven clear success.
We continued to engage with our community through creator partnerships and by reflecting UGC of real Fenty Hair lovers across all hair types. We also continued to build our community as we expanded in Sephora in North America as well as internationally in the UK.
The Mane Street concept showed great results during the launch month of June that we were able to replicate the success for Sephora’s and Selfridges’ launch.
As we have seen this continued success, “Mane Street” has become our core storytelling pillar of all international expansions. Translating globally!
