Rihanna, the brand, the legend, the queen is a marketing genius. If you’re stumped on how to execute a flawless tease and launch strategy for your product or collection, don’t look any further than the master, Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Below, you’ll see how she expertly launched the Fenty House using a brilliant Tease, Launch and Sustain strategy.
Here’s an analysis of the House of Fenty’s launch timeline.
TEASE
Jan 15: Rihanna is spotted wearing sunglasses that say ‘Fenty’ on them causing intrigue and speculation that she is launching a sunglasses collection (building hype and intrigue early on as she knows she has many fans and fashion bloggers cataloguing everything she wears)
image via Getty/W Magazine
April 2019: @Fenty IG and Twitter accounts established. The Rihanna Navy doesn’t quit watching the star’s every move. The establishment of the Fenty social media accounts continues to cause a stir and intrigue amongst Rihanna and industry folks alike.
May 10: We get an official LVMH press release + Rihanna posts about Fenty on her Instagram and Twitter accounts.
.@FentyOfficial https://t.co/NXpjzyYZ2T pic.twitter.com/RWHyDElZOs
— Rihanna (@rihanna) May 10, 2019
LAUNCH
May 20: Exclusive media release with T Magazine with a conversation with Rihanna. To secure a top media placement such as this one, it’s important to offer the publication an exclusive – of course for the Fenty launch I’m sure Fenty’s publicist had no problem securing this coverage but they did a good job in selecting a high fashion and well-respected publication such as T. Rihanna then posted shots from her T Magazine feature on Instagram – she’s wearing pieces from the Collection.
May 24: The pop-up launches in Paris’s Marais district, running until June 2. Throughout, Fenty is aligned with high-fashion so it makes sense that the pop-up launches in the French capital. Of course, Rihanna again posts it on her social channels and a ton of fashion press covers the pop-up.
May 29: online Fenty.com launch where the general public can purchase
SUSTAIN
The sustain phase is key to any launch as once a brand has a ton of work on the tease and launch phase, you don’t want to lose momentum and want to ensure the collection sells out.
May 30: Vogue publishes content around the Fenty collection, primarily on YouTube
June 2: Sonam Kapoor posts about her Fenty outfit on Instagram to her 23 million plus followers
June 5: Bella Hadid is seen wearing head-to-toe Fenty on the street, and also posts a Fenty look on her Instagram. Mobilizing influencers is a key way that Rihanna chose to expand her brand’s reach and show different people, aside from herself wearing the collection which provides outfit inspiration and also aligns the brand with an international supermodel.
What do you think of Rihanna’s Fenty Launch strategy?
Katherine Andrikopoulos 