Bridging the gap between brands and consumers, influencer marketing is more than just a trend—it’s a revolution. Companies now look to digital creators for help reaching their target audiences due to their unique ability to connect with fans in ways brands simply can’t do themselves.
However, not just any campaign will do. In order to drive real results, you need to identify influencers who can produce high quality social content that is thoughtfully distributed to engage a common audience—and that’s no easy feat. Enter Jellysmack. Jellysmack supercharges influencer marketing strategies for brands by leveraging our trusted creator partnerships and smart data-led distribution.
When global beauty leader Sephora needed a premium influencer marketing campaign to promote their new Color IQ shade matching technology, they enlisted our help. Jellysmack helped the beloved brand execute a cross-platform, multi-creator social campaign that delivered real results. The campaign overperformed in nearly every way possible, establishing Sephora’s Color IQ as the premiere way to achieve that perfect foundation match, no matter your skin color. The power of Jellysmack’s tech, data, and elite creator partners was apparent across the campaign:
- The program drove over 9.5MM organic views and an additional 9.5MM paid views across 11 different creators, hitting unique audiences on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
- The campaign led to a statistically significant 8.6 percentage point increase in awareness of Sephora’s Color IQ, over 3 times the retail average.
- Viewers were highly engaged with the content as the Meta paid campaign achieved a 70% view-through rate, over double industry average.
How did Jellysmack help Sephora achieve those results?
The best beauty creators, backed by data
Sephora tapped Jellysmack’s vast creator network to select 11 BIPOC influencers to participate in the Color IQ campaign. Together, using our long-standing creator relationships and proprietary audience insights, we were able to identify influencers who not only align best with Sephora’s brand, but would also make the most impact across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Jellysmack’s unique ability to use our first-party data to analyze audience interest, engagement, and performance metrics in the creator selection process is a game changer for brands, and Sephora was no exception.
King of glam Patrick Starrr, makeup artist extraordinaire Manny Guitierrez, better known as MannyMua, and lifestyle vlogger Karina Garcia were among the Jellysmack creator partners that were hand-picked to participate in the campaign. Beauty and lifestyle gurus Mireya Rios, Andrea Lopez, Caesar Castano, Ana Jones, Ami McClure, Nieyah Stamps, Jessica Fuentes, and Destene Sudduth also partnered with Sephora to put the new Color IQ technology to the test.
Authentic content, optimized per platform
The 11 creators were tasked with visiting their nearest Sephora store to get the full Color IQ experience. Audiences followed their journey as they shared their past struggles with finding the perfect match, live tutorials using the innovative technology, and their shade-matching success stories.
These videos were then posted organically across each creator’s feed, as well as optimized and promoted using Jellysmack’s AI technology across multiple platforms. The promoted content was strategically targeted to audiences that have previously shown interest in beauty content, resulting in high performance metrics and engagement. This combination of organic posts and paid media amplified the campaign to reach its highest potential, driving peak excitement and awareness for Color IQ.
Karina Garcia is the queen of life hacks, from cooking to beauty, parenting, and more. So it’s no wonder that Sephora tapped her to unveil the shade-matching hack that is Color IQ. Her posts earned over 900K ThruPlays (15-second views) and more than 1.3M total views.
“I knew this foundation was the one when I couldn’t even see it on my skin. The Color IQ test was spot on.”
Lifestyle queen and Jellysmack creator partner, Karina Garcia
Patrick Starrr’s authentic connection with his audience also shined through during the campaign, with his Instagram and Facebook posts earning 1 million ThruPlays and over 900K total views.
“Back in the day before I came out, I was too embarrassed to ask for my foundation shade. Now that the times have changed I heard about the Sephora Color IQ technology and I want to share my experience with all of you.”
Beauty creator and Jellysmack partner, Patrick Starrr
As one of the top digital beauty experts, millions turn to MannyMua for advice on makeup, and color matching is no exception. His videos garnered 779K ThruPlays and over 900K total views.
“This little machine truly is a game changer. It takes a photo of your cheek, it takes a photo of your forehead and it matches you with a foundation that perfectly matches your skin tone.”
Makeup maven and Jellysmack creator partner, MannyMua
Top influencers Ana Jones, Ami McClure, Destene Sudduth, and Nieyah Stamps each earned over 900K ThruPlays on their Sephora Color IQ content across Facebook and Instagram.
Sephora also tapped top TikTokers to put their own spin on the Color IQ campaign across the platform. With 4.7M fans tuning in to watch Andrea Lopez’s everyday shenanigans with boyfriend Isaac, many look to her for life advice, making her the perfect match for the Sephora campaign. Andrea shared her struggles finding the perfect shade and how Color IQ changed that, earning over 4.1M views and 122K likes from both paid and organic traffic.
“It was such a seamless blend, I was shocked. I’m so glad I don’t have to walk around looking crazy with the wrong shade foundation anymore!”
Lifestyle TikToker and Jellysmack creator partner, Andrea Lopez
@andrea.lopez44 No more ghost face here 😂 Get matched for free at @sephora! #sponsored ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
Ana Jones, Caesar Castano, Jessica Fuentes, Mireya Rios, and Nieyah Stamps also each brought in millions of views with their TikToks showcasing the innovative technology.
True value and real impact
While the social metrics were proof that the Color IQ content overperformed across platforms, Jellysmack conducted a brand lift study through Meta to really showcase the campaign’s true value.
According to Meta, brand lift tests use brand polling and other brand awareness measurements to help understand the true value of your Meta ads and how well they perform independent of other marketing efforts. The study asked users three questions:
- Do you recall seeing a video about Sephora online or on a mobile device in the last 2 days?
- Have you heard of Sephora’s Color IQ?
- Will you consider Sephora the next time you shop for beauty products?
The results of all three questions outperformed the retail industry average, further solidifying the impact that was made through this multi-creator, cross-platform campaign.
Overall, the success of the Sephora Color IQ campaign exceeded expectations in every way possible. Authentic creator content, smartly distributed across platforms, and optimized for peak performance is the key to influencer marketing success. And Jellysmack is here to help. If you’re a brand that’s interested in supercharging your influencer marketing strategy, get in touch.
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