Rare Beauty looks inward for its first global brand campaign

While makeup products are only skin deep, Rare Beauty’s first-ever global brand campaign maintains that inner beauty is what the brand is all about.

The new campaign from the cosmetics brand founded by Selena Gomez is designed to remind current customers and potential future customers of its core ethos, according to Rare Beauty CMO Katie Welch.

“Selena was talking to some Sephora Beauty Advisors, and she talked about how when we started the brand—and she touched her heart—and she said, ‘We care about beauty on the inside,’” Welch told Marketing Brew. “And I was like, that’s it. That is what we have to capture, and that’s our point of difference.”

A moment of gratitude

The new campaign, titled “Every Side of You,” includes a 60-second spot called “Love Your Rare” which features Gomez narrating a message of self-love and acceptance over a young cast experiencing various emotional moments while wearing and using Rare Beauty products. As the spot depicts people laughing, doubting themselves, or strutting with confidence, Gomez acknowledges every version of “you.”

Welch described the spot as a message to Rare Beauty’s customers that coincided with the company’s fourth anniversary in September. “It’s a letter of gratitude. It’s a letter of recognition to the community. And [Gomez] at the end is sort of the sign-off of her words,” Welch said.

Though Gomez is the face of the brand, she doesn’t appear in the spot until the very end. Welch said this was an intentional choice.

“I think this spot tells that story also, that while it’s Selena’s company, it’s more than just her,” Welch said.

Rare Beauty worked with creative agency Fred & Farid Los Angeles to produce the spot, which will run across OOH, paid digital, streaming and connected TV, influencer marketing, and Sephora locations. Sephora stores will feature a visual of Gomez in their windows, while influencers and “community members” will receive hero products alongside a broadsheet print piece featuring key visuals and the script from the spot, according to Welch.

The brand was keen to use this first global brand campaign to lean into storytelling, especially on different platforms, Welch said. The bulk of Rare Beauty’s ad spend goes toward social and digital, she said, but added that because this campaign is also running on streaming, it presented a “beautiful opportunity to storytell.”. It’s not the first time Rare Beauty has run a streaming campaign, but previous streaming campaigns have been done through Sephora’s ad agency and media plan, Welch told us.

The campaign will run through the end of the year, and Rare Beauty looked to continue its focus on inner beauty and community support at the Rare Impact Fund Benefit held Thursday night. The event marked the second annual fundraiser for Gomez’s charity that supports expanded access to mental health services for young people.