To put it lightly, Q2 2020 was a challenging time for many brands. With widespread stay-at-home orders throughout the quarter, and a worldwide eruption of Black Lives Matter protests fighting against racial injustices, brands were left to navigate an unprecedented economic and cultural climate.
In June, many influencers began using their social platforms to amplify and drive dialogue around the Black Lives Matter movement, by both demanding transparency and action from beauty brands around racial inequality, and highlighting Black-owned brands to support, leading to impressive gains in Earned Media Value (EMV) for such brands. As consumers spend their dollars more carefully than ever, it’s clear that the brands that champion diversity, inclusivity, and sustainability—in both their product lineups and the causes they support—are the ones that are continuing to see high-impact content creation and community expansion throughout this global pandemic and cultural revolution.
For our Q2 Indie Beauty Debrief, we investigated the performance of six fast-growing indie brands across cosmetics, skincare, and haircare online (many of which were Black-owned) including Beauty Bakerie, Coloured Raine, Cocokind, Starface, Mielle Organics, and Curlsmith. Here’s a sneak peek into a few of these brands’ Q2 successes, but be sure to check out our full U.S. Indie Beauty Debrief to get all the details.
Following a wave of beauty bloggers featuring Beauty Bakerie and Coloured Raine in their high-impact “Full Face of Black-Owned Makeup” content, both brands enjoyed 28% quarter-over-quarter EMV growths, closing Q2 with $19.1M and $10.1M EMV, respectively. #BlackGirlMagic and #MakeupForBlackWomen ranked among Beauty Bakerie’s top 10 hashtags this quarter, while its hero Flour Setting Powder saw a 48% QoQ EMV increase. Meanwhile, many influencers flaunted Coloured Raine’s vibrantly hued eyeshadow palettes and lipsticks in their bold makeup looks, and touted the brand’s availability at Target. From May to June, Coloured Raine’s community size expanded by 82%.
The clean skincare line, founded in 2014 by Priscilla Tsai, garnered $2.9M EMV in Q2, a whopping 184% QoQ growth. Cocokind sparked excitement by expanding its retail distribution to Ulta.com and introducing its Celery Duo set, comprising a Pore Refining Concentrate and Texture Smoothing Cream. The brand also re-launched its Sea Kale Clay Mask, first released in October 2019 as a collaboration with Shut The Kale Up blogger Jeannette Ogden. Cocokind also earned praise from the influencer community this quarter by donating 100% of its profits for a week to various Black activist and empowerment organizations like Reclaim the Block, Black Visions Collective, and The Loveland Foundation.
The haircare line launched by Monique Rodriguez in 2014 similarly saw explosive growth in Q2, pulling in $3.4M EMV—a 156% QoQ increase. While many content creators included Mielle Organics in their Black-owned brand spotlights in June, the brand continued to receive shout-outs from its core #NaturalHair community, with curly-haired bloggers incorporating offerings like the Q2-launched Rice Water Collection into their hair styles and tutorials throughout the quarter. Mielle Organics also generated buzz around its More Than A Strand campaign, which celebrates the bond between mothers and daughters. #MoreThanAStrand emerged as one of the brand’s top five Q2 hashtags.
To learn more about all six indie brands’ influencer strategies, community stats, and EMV trajectory from Q2 2019 to Q2 2020, download our Q2 U.S. Indie Beauty Debrief.