Competition in celebrity beauty

With the launch of Iman Cosmetics in 1994, Supermodel Iman Abdulmajid became widely credited as the first celebrity to launch her own beauty brand. In the thirty years after, countless celebrities have followed suit and dabbled in beauty with brand launches of their own.

The beauty category is now saturated with celebrity brands, but more continue to enter the market. In June 2023, Beyoncé announced via Instagram that she is launching her own hair care line.

There is stiff competition in the beauty category to gain consumers’ attention, so how can celebrity brands break through the clutter and shine as bright as their stardom? 

Celebrity beauty brands trending upward

By comparing the performance of celebrity brands between 2021 and 2022, there was visible growth of 33.1%, with total sales hitting $762 million in 2022 alone. Top performing brands in terms of dollar sales were Fenty by Rihanna, Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez, Honest Beauty by Jessica Alba, Kylie by Kylie Jenner, and Pattern by Tracee Ellis Ross. The past four years have seen an increase in the number of celebrities launching their own brands and 2023 is set up to have another successful year: dollar sales are at $356.9 million year to date, and four new brands have launched so far this year. 

Authenticity is the key to success 

Authenticity is a crucial driver of success when it comes to a celebrity launching their own brand. Consumers need to know why celebrities launch their brands and how dedicated they are to brand success, to ultimately create an emotional connection.

The onus is on celebrities to work a bit harder to prove why their brand is important and what it means to them. Those who don’t can face backlash — skincare ventures from actors like Brad Pitt and Jared Leto left consumers confused. 

Others, like Selena Gomez and Jessica Alba, have been successful thanks to the meaningful connections they have cultivated with their audiences. Social media has given them a platform to share their authentic selves using their own products. These personal representations of their brands are exactly what consumers want to see, and it resonates well with fans.

Social media delivers authentic connections

Social media also provides a connection between the celebrity and their followers. It allows the celebrity to control the narrative and reach out directly to consumers. This connection helps to foster brand trust — followers feel like the brand is more relatable and fits with their lifestyle. Brands like Florence by Mills (Millie Bobby Brown) and R.E.M. Beauty (Ariana Grande) frequently show themselves using their own products on the brand’s social media sites, allowing them to connect with their followers and build trust.

NIQ delivers the Full View of celebrity brand success

While NIQ can measure the sales of these celebrity brands, additional factors must be considered when analyzing why a brand performs well. To achieve a Full View of celebrity brand performance, NIQ partnered with three other powerhouse companies to deliver a well-rounded, in-depth analysis – Dash Hudson, CreatorIQ, and Spate. Dash Hudson, a global leader in social marketing software, provided both Instagram and TikTok entertainment scores based on engagement and retention rates. CreatorIQ, a leader in creator marketing software, provided earned media value, a proprietary metric measuring individual marketing campaign performance.  And Spate, a leader in search engine trend spotting, provided Google search metrics. 

There are numerous celebrity brands in the market having varying levels of success. The combination of data sources allowed us to segment celebrity brands in order to pinpoint the most critical brand success drivers.

Looking forward

The first half of 2023 has already seen four celebrities announce their entrance into the beauty space and we can certainly expect to hear of a few more before the year’s end. We have seen that a brand needs more than celebrity backing to succeed.  Celebrities hoping to try their hand in this dynamic market must be authentic, engaging, and inclusive to capture and maintain consumer attention.