1. MAC $15,625,012.20
2. NARS $10,231,216.75
3. NYX $9,326,887.75
4. LORÉAL $7,838,995.25
5. TOO FACED $7,486,687.80
6. MAYBELLINE $6,851,783.60
7. URBAN DECAY $6,361,633.40
8. OPI $5,795,397.30
9. MAKE UP FOR EVER $4,968,999.90
10. LORAC $4,507,743.00
Prestige brands dominated October, claiming seven of the 10 spots on Tribe’s Earned Media Value board. For the month, prestige brands outperformed mass market competitors by 128%, widening the gap in overall performance between the two segments. MAC led in overall EMV performance outdoing its own September performance by approximately $3M EMV. The brand continues to accelerate in content generation as the top performer on YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and blogs.
NYX was the top performing mass market brand, outperforming L’Oréal for the second month running with success on the more visual channels: Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Newcomers Make Up For Ever and LORAC broke into Tribe’s Top 10 thanks to earned media performance spikes mid-fall. Make Up For Ever showed great improvement across the channels, cropping up in a variety of online conversations from Halloween makeup ideas to more professional tutorials. LORAC excelled thanks to buzz circulating around its new Mega Pro Palette, containing 32 shades of eye shadows as opposed to its best-selling Pro Palette with just 16.
MAC earned the top spot with a commanding lead in earned media performance on YouTube. The brand experienced some of its highest engagement rates, mentioned in 15 videos with over 500,000 views. Content ranged from Halloween makeup, Kim Kardashian look tutorials, and autumn favorites, all consistently capturing MAC’s vamp, theatrical style. Too Faced and NARS also excelled on YouTube with seasonal videos and buzz in anticipation of holiday makeup collections.
OPI dominated on Facebook with content produced by specialized influencers like All Lacquered Up and Polishaholic. These publishers have proven incredibly valuable to the brand, creating posts that exclusively highligh OPI shades and new collections. The brand’s Nordic collection was a favorite amongst these influencers, followed by the new Peanuts themed collection.
L’Oréal topped Twitter with the help of a series of contests run by CVS’ Beauty Club over the course of the month. Maybelline also benefited from similar contests and placed second on the channel as a result.
Looking back over the past six months, Tribe’s earned media performance data tells an interesting story about the rise of new brands and the decline of some of the industry’s traditional leaders. From the burgeoning influence of NYX Cosmetics and Too Faced to the more recent ascent of Smashbox, Milani Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever and LORAC, there is greater diversity amongs the brands having success both online and off.
It is also interesting to observe that for the above brands there was no single event or product largely responsible for improvements in performance. Rather, each benefited from a range of organic content, across a variety of channels and publishers. This trend once again highlights the importance of creating unique brand associations and experiences, discussed in the previous section.
After a relatively slow August in terms of content creation, come September a majority of Tribe’s Top 10 brands were trending upward. September and October overall proved to be more active months for influencers who had new sources of inspiration with the transition into fall. It was also around this time that brands such as CoverGirl, Revlon, and Rimmel began their steady decline in earned media performance.
Of Tribe’s leaders NARS and Too Faced both experienced significant increases in EMV beginning in September, maintained through October. NARS benefited from content created on primarily Instagram in response to September’s Sephora sweepstakes on the channel, highlighted Tribe’s in September report. Too Faced on the other hand, was a heavy hitter amongst fall favorites videos on YouTube. The brand also continues to perform well on Instagram with posts published by thankful influencers chosen for product seeding.
Make Up For Ever and LORAC dramatically improved over the fall months, the former improving by a collective 71% for September and October, while the later improved by 137% in October.
September also stood out for Make Up For Ever, who dramatically improved its overall earned media performance from August. The brand improved by a collective 71%, with likely some of its late October success attributed to the first wave of buzz surrounding an announcement of its Fifty Shades of Grey collection in Women’s Wear Daily. The brand’s significant improvement in performance pre-Fifty Shades leads Tribe to believe that the brand is positioned to break out in the coming months.
LORAC also benefited from greater content creation in October with a significant jump that boosted the brand into Tribe’s Top 10 due to organic content creation on primarily Instagram and Pinterest. The brand’s Mega Pro Palette was prevalently featured throughout these posts.
To access additional analysis on October’s top beauty brands by Tribe please visit http://www.tribedynamics.com/insights/#la-mode-monthly.
