Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How Fenty Beauty Built a Marketing Funnel on Inclusion
Transcript
- Lucas: So it's July 2026, and the beauty aisle looks almost nothing like it did ten years ago. Walk into any Sephora or Ulta today and you'll see foundation lines with forty, fifty, even sixty shades. That wasn't the norm before 2017. Luna: Right — it was Fenty Beauty that cracked that open. Rihanna's brand launched with forty shades of Pro Filt'r foundation, and the industry basically had to follow. Lucas: Exactly. But what's interesting from a marketing perspective is that Fenty didn't just add more product options. They built their entire marketing funnel around inclusion as the core message. Every stage — awareness, interest, decision, action — was driven by that one idea. And it worked spectacularly. In the first month alone, Fenty Beauty reportedly did over 70 million dollars in sales, according to industry estimates at the time. Luna: Seventy million in a month? For a new beauty brand? That's wild. Most celebrity brands struggle to move units, even with a big name attached. Lucas: Yeah, and that's exactly why it's worth digging into. Because the funnel was designed differently from the start. So let's start at the top: awareness. Before Fenty, the typical beauty launch relied on magazine spreads, department store counters, maybe a TV ad. Fenty had a different strategy. They used Rihanna's own social reach — she had something like 60 million Instagram followers at the time — but they also got every major beauty influencer to try the foundation on camera. And the hook was always the shade range. Luna: Because showing forty shades of foundation on a single Instagram post is instantly more visually arresting than a single ad. It communicates 'we thought about everyone.' Lucas: Right. And that created a massive wave of organic sharing. People posted videos of themselves finding their exact match for the first time. That's not something you can manufacture with ad spend — it's earned media. And it drove awareness far beyond what a traditional campaign could have achieved. One estimate I saw suggested Fenty Beauty earned over 400 million dollars in free media coverage in its first year. That is an insane return on a launch that, by beauty standards, wasn't even that big in terms of marketing budget. Luna: Four hundred million in earned media. And a lot of that came from the decision stage too, I think. Because when a woman of color sees that a brand has her shade, she doesn't just become aware — she's already halfway to buying. Lucas: That's the crucial insight. The awareness and interest stages blur together when the message is inherently personal. The 'I see me in this brand' moment is both an interest cue and a trust signal. And Fenty leaned into that hard at the decision stage. They made sure that when you walked into a Sephora, the Pro Filt'r display was front and center, with testers for every shade. No barrier to trying. And the packaging was sleek, the shade names were descriptive — it all made the purchase feel easy and informed. Luna: They also priced it smartly. Thirty-five dollars for a foundation. That's mid-range — not drugstore cheap, but not luxury either. Accessible enough that someone who'd never found their shade before could justify the splurge. Lucas: Yeah, the pricing was deliberate. It said 'you deserve quality, and we're not going to gouge you for finally getting included.' And that paid off in the action stage — the conversion rate was reportedly very high. I've read that Fenty Beauty's conversion from trial to purchase in-store was above 60 percent in the early months. Compare that to the industry average of maybe 20 to 30 percent for new brands. That's a huge funnel efficiency. Luna: And then there's the retention piece. Because after that initial purchase, Fenty built loyalty through community. They launched new shades, new formulas, and always kept the conversation going on social. They made customers feel like part of a movement, not just a transaction. Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used in your own work, honestly, that's exactly why we keep doing this show ad-free. We don't run ads, we don't have sponsors — it's just us talking about the stuff we find interesting. If today's episode was worth the price of a coffee to you, there's a link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Seriously, it helps us keep the lights on and the podcast free for everyone. Okay, back to the funnel. Luna: And that community piece is still evolving. In 2026, Fenty faces more competition than it did in 2017. Brands like Uoma Beauty, Mented Cosmetics, and even legacy lines like L'Oreal have expanded their shade ranges. So how does Fenty keep the funnel tight? Lucas: One way is through product expansion. They've moved into skincare, body care, even makeup for eyes and lips. Each launch uses the same inclusion-first playbook — like the Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint, which came in 50 shades. But there's a risk: the more products you add, the more the brand's core message can dilute. So Fenty has been careful to tie every new product back to that original promise of 'makeup for everyone.' Luna: And they also have to deal with the fact that Rihanna's personal brand isn't as dominant in the cultural conversation as it was in 2017. She's still huge, but the attention economy has fragmented. So the awareness stage now requires more paid media. I've noticed Fenty running more targeted ads on YouTube and TikTok, especially for new launches. Lucas: Yeah, the organic social reach isn't what it used to be. Algorithms changed, and the platform landscape is different. So Fenty has adapted by investing in creator partnerships — not just mega-influencers, but micro-creators who can authentically demo the products to niche audiences. That's a smart move for the interest stage, because it builds trust with specific communities. Luna: I also think the decision stage has become more complex. With so many inclusive brands now, the choice isn't just 'do they have my shade?' — it's 'which formula do I prefer?' Fenty has to differentiate on texture, longevity, and skin feel, not just shade count. Lucas: Right. And that's where their product quality really matters. If Pro Filt'r wasn't a genuinely good foundation, the inclusion message would have worn thin fast. But it was — and still is — a solid product. So the funnel holds because the product delivers on the promise. That's the hard lesson: you can't market your way out of a bad product. Inclusion has to be real, not just a marketing tactic. Luna: So looking at the funnel in 2026, would you say Fenty is still the gold standard for inclusive marketing? Or have others surpassed them? Lucas: I think Fenty set the template, but the landscape has shifted. Brands like Rare Beauty — Selena Gomez's line — have taken the inclusion message and layered on mental health advocacy, which resonates with Gen Z. And then you have indie brands like Glossier that built a different kind of community. So Fenty isn't the only game in town, but they still have strong brand recall. The challenge is maintaining that top of mind awareness as the market gets more crowded. Luna: One thing Fenty has that others don't is the LVMH backing. They're part of a luxury conglomerate with deep pockets for R&D and distribution. That gives them staying power. But it also means they have to hit certain revenue targets, which can pressure the marketing team to focus on short-term conversion over long-term brand building. Lucas: That's a real tension. The funnel has to work at all stages simultaneously. If you over-optimize for action — pushing discounts, flash sales, bundles — you can erode the premium feel of the brand. Fenty has done some limited-time collections, but they've mostly avoided heavy discounting. That's smart because it preserves the equity of the brand at the awareness and interest stages. You want people to think 'Fenty is for me' not 'Fenty is cheap today.' Luna: And they've also expanded into physical retail beyond Sephora. I saw Fenty pop-ups in airports and even in some department stores recently. That's a way to capture awareness among travelers who might not be regular beauty shoppers. Lucas: Yeah, and those pop-ups are designed to be Instagrammable, which feeds back into the awareness funnel. People take photos, post them, and suddenly their friends are aware of the brand too. It's a flywheel effect. And that's really the takeaway here: Fenty built a funnel where each stage reinforces the others. Inclusion drives awareness, awareness drives interest, interest drives decision because the product is good, and action leads to advocacy, which starts the loop again. Luna: So if you're a marketer listening, the lesson isn't just 'be inclusive' — it's 'find a message that matters to a real underserved audience, then make every stage of the funnel consistent with that message.' Lucas: Exactly. And be ready to evolve when the market changes. Fenty is still doing it well, but the next ten years will test whether the inclusion-first funnel can keep delivering. For now, it's one of the best case studies we've got. Luna: I'd love to see a breakdown of their retention metrics in five years. How many of those first-time buyers from 2017 are still buying Fenty foundation in 2027? That's the real test of a funnel. Lucas: Definitely. That's an episode we can revisit. For now, thanks for listening — or rather, keep the conversation going. We'll be back with another marketing funnel deep dive soon.