In the Ear of the Beholder: How Beauty Brands Are Winning With Music Strategies
by Mike Stango, Director, Global Brand Partnerships
When you think of where sound meets the beauty industry, you may immediately be transported back to hum the old tagline “Maybe She’s Born With It. Maybe It’s Maybelline.” Or “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful – CoverGirl.”
While those nostalgic jingles have stuck with us through the years, we know that today’s approach to sonic identities has evolved. The strategic use of music and sound has since been shown to boost KPIs like attribution, brand recall, emotional appeal, and consumer behavior, and has shifted advertising investment to sound-on platforms like social media, digital and streaming.
As consumer behavior changes, modern beauty brands have recognized they need more than just a sung tagline or sonic logo to maximize their impact. From TV ads and magazines to influencers and TikTok, consumers are bombarded with brand messages about how they should look, feel, dress, and live their lives. With this in mind, savvy marketers are turning to the power of sound and music to supercharge their emotional impact, which is an especially valuable tool for reaching Gen Z — as a recent study found that 75% of Gen Z says that music makes them feel more connected to a brand.
Turning up the music
For a start, many beauty brands have embraced the natural connection between beauty and the music industry through artist partnerships. Brands enlist popular musicians as brand ambassadors, with some even creating bespoke songs or music in promotion of a product or campaign. Dozens of musicians have even launched their own beauty brands, including Rihanna, Harry Styles, Lady Gaga and Selena Gomez.
“e.l.f. Beauty reported nearly 40% year-over-year growth after adopting a TikTok-first marketing strategy”
But when it comes to meaningfully and effectively bringing music and beauty marketing together, the disruptor brands are those who are taking an audio-first approach to their marketing across every platform, especially TikTok.
e.l.f. Beauty in particular was an early innovator in the music marketing space in 2019, commissioning an original song and hashtag #eyeslipsface campaign for TikTok. The campaign saw astounding success with 5 billion views, 3 million TikTok videos created with the song, and multiple celebrities and influencers joining in and sharing the challenge. This continued TikTok-first strategy has paid off for the brand, as last year e.l.f. Beauty reported nearly 40% year-over-year growth, outpacing other beauty brands who were not taking the same sonic leaps.
The way to curate
Brands have also gotten involved in the #GRWM trend (Get Ready With Me) on TikTok, partnering with influencers to showcase their products. While this tutorial content is often paired with stock or popular music — like in the many versions of “Espresso” you’ve heard in influencer content this year — these commercial tracks aren’t ownable or attributable to any one brand. Plus, this leads brands into the risk of high licensing costs and legal issues they hadn’t anticipated, such as when Bang Energy was sued by UMG for using unlicensed tracks on TikTok.
The more successful way for brands to be part of the trend is to have a distinct, ownable sonic identity with thoughtfully curated, on-brand music to match. In fact, our research has shown that on-brand music can boost emotional engagement in social and digital content by 27%! Fenty Beauty is a great example of a brand that keeps their sound consistent from touchpoint touchpoints, Reel to Reel. With this attention to brand distinction and consistency in their sound and music curation, it’s no surprise that Fenty was recently ranked the world’s #1 celebrity beauty brand.
@fentybeauty A match made in the #SoftLit complexion heavens ☁️ These swatches have us shook 🤩 @mandylikes swipes on shades ‘175’ and ‘185’ side by side and there’s a clear winner 🏆 Our *NEW * luminous #SoftLitFoundation is a lightweight, benefit-packed, hydrating formula that’s longwear and delivers a naturally radiant finish with a second-skin feel 💛 Find your shade match at @sephora, @sephoracanada, #sephoraxkohls at @Kohl’s, @Ulta Beauty, @Boots UK, @Edgars Beauty, + the #fentybeauty ♬ original sound - Fenty Beauty
Luckily, beauty brands can now turn to other tools to support their music curation for social. Spotify recently launched a music advisory service called AUX to help brands connect with artists, and provide counsel on the best music fit for each respective brand. And our music platform, Continuum™, helps brands scale their sonic branding with on-brand, safe-to-use music fit for all social and digital content.
Looking ahead
The beauty industry is unique in that brands are helping to sell an aspiration and image, tapping into the emotional power of how beauty and wellness products make us feel. The beauty brands that are winning are those that have developed a unique approach to sonic branding that is not only emotionally and culturally resonant, but immediately identifiable as their own. They know that the future of beauty marketing is in a holistically sound-on approach, one that includes a sonic strategy and on-brand music that is safe-to-use for marketers, influencers and agencies alike.
Whether it’s a TikTok trend or even a musician-led campaign, beauty and music go hand in hand to connect with consumers and help carve out their own niche in the marketplace. Because when brands move with the culture and consumer behavior, they see quantifiable results.
Continuum™: The Sound of Your Brand, at Scale.
Level up your own brand communications with consistent, on-brand music through Continuum™. Our platform simplifies sonic branding management, music curation and licensing for every sound-on touchpoint.
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