A band of babes is leading Buxom Cosmetic’s new influencer strategy.
Under the newly formed Shiseido Global Makeup Center of Excellence, led by president Jill Scalamandre, Buxom is launching its #BandofBabes, a multitiered influencer strategy fronted by actress Bella Thorne, who’s known at the brand as “queen babe.”
“We looked at 2017 as what we like to call the year to plump up the volume on Buxom,” said Serena Giovi, global senior vice president of Buxom at Shiseido Americas Corp., alluding to the brand’s cult favorite plumping products. “We know there is a ton of opportunity to really drive the awareness of the brand and really increase the size of our consumer base, so influencers are an important strategy for us.”
Under the Bare Escentuals family, Scalamandre brought the brand over to the Center of Excellence to fuel growth and maximize innovation. Through working with the incubator, the brand developed the new influencer strategy to increase customer engagement and to carve a space in the beauty market as a feminine, sexy brand.
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Building off the brand’s “big, bold and sexy” ethos, the campaign shows an energetic squad of girls, led by Thorne, ready for a fun night out. The products are used to bring out the babe in each girl, creating the “feminine sexy” vibe the brand is aiming for. To engage with the consumer, Buxom invites users to join the band of babes by posting their own content with the hashtags #BandofBabes or #BuxomBabe. Part of the brand’s new strategy entails repurposing this user-generated content.
“This is our strategy to get women to want to be a part of a community,” Scalamandre said. “It’s not just us talking to them about our brand and our products, but it’s what we’re calling a band or tribe. It’s to make people feel like we’re learning from them and they’re interacting with us, so it’s very much a two-way street.”
The campaign features the brand’s cult favorite plumping products, like Full-On Lip Polish and Lash Mascara, as well as the new PlumpLine Lip Liner that launched last month. According to Scalamandre, the plumping effect is the core of the brand’s DNA, delivering a bold and sexy look that is meant to bring out the babe in any user.
In addition to Thorne, Buxom is working with actress Ashley Benson and other influencers, like Chrisspy and Nicol Concilio, for its band of babes. The brand has already launched a successful social media campaign last month with the launch of its lip liner by asking customers to share their “Buxom kiss” using #PlumpDimension. Buxom reported that engagement for this campaign on Instagram was 264 percent greater than its previous campaigns.
“For us it’s not just ‘feminine sexy’ as an aesthetic, it actually goes deeper than that — it’s an emotion,” Giovi said. “What we think that Buxom has a unique opportunity to do is actually drive a really strong confidence and empowerment in women and that’s what ‘feminine sexy’ is to us.”
JWalk, the New York-based creative agency recently acquired by Shiseido Americas Corp., created the images and video for the campaign. The #BandofBabes campaign will be seen across Buxom’s social media platforms, especially Instagram and Snapchat, through paid digital advertising and through Thorne’s social media activity.
“The beauty market is growing as we know and color cosmetics is growing,” Scalamandre said. “I think the reason why it’s growing is because we’re seeing so many of these brands driving it socially and with innovative products. This [campaign] will just keep driving the growth and consumers clearly want to play.”
Last year, industry sources estimated that Buxom Cosmetics’ retail sales grew 46 percent and will continue to grow in 2017.