Marketing Deep Dive: Hailey Bieber Launches Rhode Skincare

If you live under a rock you may have missed that Hailey Bieber launched a skincare line titled Rhode on June 15. If you were on social, I’m not sure how you could’ve missed it. I know I couldn’t keep my eyes off it: Rhode’s launch has been some of the best marketing I’ve seen so let’s talk about it.

Also, hi I’m Cami and I’m a full-time corporate marketing manager, who as you guessed it, is obsessed with all things marketing. Let’s get into Hailey Bieber and her line.

Now I’m not one who cares much about skincare launches, much less celebrity product launches. And I’m not a huge fan of Hailey’s (I like her just not a super fan, ya know?). So, when I tell you I was impressed by Rhode’s launch, then I was truly knocked off my socks. I was thinking about it so much all day that I just had to write a blog post about it.

Copywriting

The first thing I noticed was the powerful copywriting. Take a look at these examples:

You’ll notice each post features one strong word. Glazed. Juicy. Hydrated. These are visual words in and of themselves, which when combined with the powerful visuals, communicates the intention for these products very well. Hailey is also drawing associations of these words to her product - now when you want a face like a glazed donut, you’ll start to think of Rhode. This strong copywriting is shown throughout the website - which I’m equally obsessed with.

Powerful Visuals

The website, visuals, and even colors communicate the idea of a clean product. This shows an emphasis on the simple ingredients in the products, which is reflected in the branding. Let’s take a look at the colors. According to color theory, white evokes clean, pure, simple - which is what Hailey mentions her line is all about. The use of grey is also important because it communicates intellect, conservative, cool, and elegance - again principles they hope you associate Rhode with.

There’s a strong effort to draw parallels between the product and simplicity to showcase the actual product. I see most launches focusing on packaging or leaning on the celebrity name, but what I’ve seen from Rhode’s launch is a concentrated focus on the actual product. Think of the graphics with Hailey and large products. This puts the emphasis on the product, not her. This is shown again in the website, where they show who is on their advisory board, communicate what ingredients are in products and their benefit, and show test results. This focus on product immediately builds trust - they’re not hiding anything, which is important when it comes to your skin.

Holistic Campaign

Now let’s talk about the campaign. This was obviously launched on social and web (and probably email but I wasn’t signed up at that point), which we know is important for beauty launches, especially for skin care. With Hailey’s star power, even her posting alone would be enough to generate buzz, but she had her celeb network also posting her behalf, including her husband, Justin, friends Kendall and Kylie Jenner, along with hundreds of powerful influencers. However, what I liked most about this campaign is she didn’t rely on just social media marketing. She also tapped into traditional PR channels - which are often overlooked these days. Hailey leaned on her connections with Vogue and Byride, for example, to have key profiles and features, which put her story on display. She also had several GRWM videos, which showed how she uses the product in everyday life. This visualization is key for product launches and stickiness: once people see they can get the same effect as her (in theory), they’re more likely to purchase and use the product often.

I also want to talk about the Erewhon smoothie. This was a genius element for her campaign. Erewhon is a healthy food store in LA and her smoothie - Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie - fit in perfectly with the rest of the marketing campaign. When promoting the smoothie, Hailey focused on the ingredients and nutrients in the smoothie that are beneficial for your skin. This of course is then associated with Rhode as something good for the skin too (bonus: one of everything good is their slogan).

Thoughtful and Intentional Marketing Done Right

Overall, this is not a standard celebrity product launch. It was innovative, thoughtful, and intentional - key aspects Hailey mentioned as being what her brand represents. By focusing on the product, and less about herself, she was able to establish trust in the product. The marketing - copywriting, channels, and visuals - were cohesive and continued to drive key values of the brand rather than distract from them. All in all, this was a 10/10 marketing campaign and truly one of my favorites. I can’t wait to see how they launch new products (side note: I loved this website visual that showed s skincare routine and hinted at new products coming soon!).

Compared to Other Launches

Let’s take SKKN by Kim, Kim Kardashian’s upcoming skincare line. She’s been taking a pretty standard launch so far (granted it doesn’t launch until June 21). What I found most interesting about the two brands is that Hailey’s line is somewhat removed from her name. Yes, it has Rhodes in it, but it’s not Hailey Bieber skin so again, it shows she’s leaning on the brand and product more than her own celeb status. You can even see this on Instagram where Rhode skin’s profile name is “rhode skin.” This isn’t really the case for Kim Kardashian where her line is an extension of her public image (SKKN’s Instagram profile name is “SKKN by Kim”). I assume this is why she fought so hard to drop West from her name - it’s her identity and now her brand.

I do think SKKN’s focus on the packaging is quite interesting. I definitely think it’s clever and a nod to environmental awareness, however, I question why the focus is on the packaging and less on the actual product in it. I’m definitely keeping a close eye on KKSKN launch but I think the initial parallels of Rhode and SKKN are interesting.

Come back for another marketing deep dive coming soon!