Rhode vs Rare Beauty: Comparing the marketing strategies of these successful celebrity beauty brands

Why compare Rare Beauty and rhode?

The “rivalry” between Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty and Hailey Bieber’s rhode is ubiquitous – and (seemingly) almost entirely fan driven. As two celebrity founders expanding aggressively into the same vertical, each with heavy social media presences, and who were both at one point in a relationship with Justin Bieber, it’s a recipe for fanbase frenzy.

Being “Team Rare” vs “Team Rhode” is a common refrain online. While the founders have repeatedly denied any animosity, they’re surely aware of the increased brand awareness, content options, and media attention it’s generating for them and their brands.

Now that Hailey Bieber has sold rhode to e.l.f. Beauty for $1bn, will the (somewhat imagined) ‘rivalry’ fade away – or will a clear winner emerge?

Two rivals chasing celebrity-led beauty brand success

Despite having radically different approaches to marketing and content, both rhodeand Rare Beauty are dominating their market right now. Not only that, but as they expand, their niches are starting to overlap – setting the stage for the ultimate beauty brand rivalry.

While rhode is firmly in the “Clean Girl” camp ’ and setting a new standard of aspiration for Gen Z beauty consumers, Rare Beauty is busy trying to break down expectations and standards of beauty, doing their utmost to make the life of a beauty consumer a community-led and comforting experience.

How are such different approaches sharing similar levels of success? The key ingredient is founder ambassadors. Aside from being celebrities and Gen Z it-girls,, these women share something else: they’re both ambitious and vocal leaders with clear, individual styles – and they’re leveraging them for maximum effect.

A brand snapshot

Rhode Skin

Hailey Bieber launched rhode skin in June 2022, motivated in large part by her personal skin journey. Having previously shared her struggles with sensitive and acne-prone skin, including perioral dermatitis, Rhode is dedicated to “simplifying many of the mysteries and complex narratives behind efficacious skincare” and creating “go-to essentials”. The brand’s minimalist aesthetic naturally follows, with a limited range of products and simple, matte packaging in contemporary grey, white and brown shades.

Rhode is the definition of ‘TikTok native’. Targeting Gen Z beauty lovers who seek the coveted “clean girl” aesthetic, rhode is all about trends that drive the must-have status of its luxury-lite products. Hailey Bieber is the internet’s mascot for the ever-trending “glazed donut” look, and an army of influencers ensure rhode is at the forefront of any emerging trends in skincare and makeup.

Rhode continues to expand its product line, moving beyond skincare into hybrid makeup like blushes and lip liners. Its Peptide Lip Treatment is a runaway success, one of the brand’s most popular single items, and certainly a factor in Elf Cosmetic’s recent move to acquire the brand for $1bn. Their signature phone cases with a neat in-built slot to place these lip glosses also went viral and could be seen in mirror selfies everywhere throughout 2024.

Rare Beauty

Selena Gomez founded Rare Beauty in 2020, two years before rhode. Again, this was a brand founded for deeply personal reasons: having struggled with mental health, anxiety, depression, and body image during her life in the public eye and subsequent lupus diagnosis, Selena created Rare Beauty with a mission to challenge unrealistic beauty standards.

It remains a mission-led brand to this day, with a suite of mental health advocacy activities baked into the business, including 1% of all sales funding its Rare Impact Fund.

Rare Beauty has created its fair share of viral product trends, mainly around its Soft Pinch Liquid Blush. However, through it all, Rare Beauty always centres inclusivity and self-care. From her Made Accessible Initiative and accessible packaging to the Rare Impact Fund, Rare Beauty is not just a makeup brand, but a platform for promoting emotional well-being and self-acceptance. 

Founders as Influencers-in-chief 

It’s probably already clear to you why the founders of these brands are instrumental not just to their success, but the whole identity of the company.

In a market saturated by an ever increasing number of celebrity and influencer product lines and brands, not to mention the established giants of the beauty industry, standing out is the first critical step to making it off the starting line.

Succeeding in that comes from an understanding that consumers, particularly Gen Z consumers, aren’t really interested in brands, at the end of the day. They’re interested in the people behind them. When individual, passionate, driven and yes – high profile – figures like Selena Gomez or Hailey Bieber pour themselves into a company, infusing it with their vision and their mission, people take notice because this approach creates brands that are naturally, inherently unique.

The persona of each founder has an all-encompassing effect: from its product range to its marketing strategies, these brands are an extension of that influencer-in-chief and their belief system. That means consumers aren’t just buying lip gloss or skin serum, they’re buying an identity.

Consumers – especially Gen Z consumers – will identify with a company’s ethos when it’s a personal ethos, and they’ll find it easier to trust the recommendation of an influencer when that person has not only been in charge of developing that product, but they’re putting on their own face.

The clear success of the founder-led marketing model is plain to see. Rhode and Rare are joined by superstar influencer-led brands like TALA, Refy and 818, all alike in the fact that they’re unlike each other, as well as the visible leadership of their passionate female founders.

Rhode vs Rare Beauty marketing strategies

Rhode Skin Marketing Strategy

Almost everything rhode does in the marketing department is social-first. The brand’s sleek, minimalist, clean visual style permeates the brand from top to bottom, and those low key luxury vibes are reflected in the brand’s official content and as well as its influencer partnerships.

Hailey Bieber generates virality at every turn – from the “glazed donut” skin trend to the iconic lip gloss holding phone cases, rhode effortlessly dominates Gen Z trends in beauty.

Rhode leans heavily into gifting to drive influencer collaborations at scale. This is particularly effective with micro-influencers, who will run with the products gifted to them and often require little else in remuneration.

Despite their effective focus on small creators, rhode doesn’t shy away from working with big hitters either. What stands them apart, however, is Hailey’s use of a “Friends and Family” model, with recurring visits and fun times with the likes of Justine Skye, Lori Harvey. 

At Coachella, rhode brought back their viral photobooth-meets-vending machine, which made its home in Kendall Jenner’s 818 Outpost. By nesting these celebrity influencer activations, themselves a mini festival in a festival, it became a bright spot of Coachella where visitors could walk away with instant photos, a free mini bottle of 818 and matching lip tint all at once. 

Rare Beauty Marketing Strategy

Rare Beauty’s marketing strategy is all about being real, including everyone, and demonstrating the brand is as much a social mission as it is a beauty company. 

They don’t just work with influencers, but are continuously building The Rare Beauty Collective – a structured ambassador programme that collaborates with makeup artists and creators based on shared values and emotional resonance over follower count and reach.

Rather than polished, aspirational content up in the clouds, Rare is all about relatability, eschewing elite aestheticism in favour of GRWM (Get Ready With Me) content that shows real people and their pre-makeup faces using their products from start to finish.

Accessibility is another key pillar for Rare – from intuitive, accessible packaging to a diverse influencer community rich with people of colour and mental health advocates. Rare Beauty goes to great lengths to firmly position its beauty products as just a single part of a much broader pro-wellbeing and inner beauty movement.

Social Media Content Strategy

Rhode Skin’s Social Media Content Strategy

Rhode’s content oozes lifestyle, and a very specific lifestyle at that. Rather than being interactive, the brand’s content is highly focused on broadcasting a lifestyle – leaning on Hailey herself and a range of heavy hitting influencers to act as the vanguard of ‘clean girl’ living.

The content that rhode’s influencers put out is highly curated and aesthetics led. While core creators are somewhat distant and place us firmly in the role of viewers, it can’t be denied that rhode is unparalleled in creating an aspirational effect.

Much of the brand’s content is designed to drive hype through exclusivity. With limited drops of new ranges and wait lists for many of their products, consumers are poised to jump on any announcements from rhode – which often come in the form of subtle soft launches on Hailey’s personal channels, to reward the eagle eyed, as well as repeated ‘teasers’ ahead of time to drive hype to a fever pitch. 

Rare Beauty Social Media Content Strategy

Despite occupying an increasingly similar market niche, Rare Beauty cuts in an entirely opposite way when it comes to content.

You’ll find genuine stories, vulnerability, friendly tutorials and open discussion around every corner with Rare and its influencers. Serious conversations are a central part of the brand’s dialogue, whether it’s diving into mental health and body image issues, the company’s annual Social Impact Reports, or talking about the activities of the Rare Impact Fund.

Almost all of Rare’s content is geared towards encouraging user interaction and real dialogue. New users and loyal customers alike will always find a space to comment and have their voice heard, giving them a sense of belonging. 

Influencers have been equipped with a higher purpose than simply selling products with Rare Beauty – here, they’re spokespeople and advocates for the Rare community.

Concluding thoughts: 

Rhode Skin and Rare Beauty are showing us all how it’s done, as they both disrupt the beauty scene with their unique brand visions and impressive influencer marketing tactics. With that being said, we all have a leaning – so are you Team Rhode or Team Rare?

Whichever side you fall on this debate, “Team Goat” is our top pick for brands and influencers who are looking to build their runaway beauty brand story. 

Whether you’re just starting out or looking for partner influencers who’ll move the dial, we can help.

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CTA: Let’s go – take me to Team Goat