With the NFL's annual Super Bowl fast approaching and the hype surrounding the famous half time show steadily rising, let's cast our minds back to last year's performance by Barbadian singer songwriter, superstar Rhianna.
There was an understandable buzz surrounding this particular halftime show as it marked the triumphant return of the performer-stroke cosmetic entrepreneur to our screens for the first time in just over 7 years. Despite receiving no remunerations for her knockout performance, Rhianna took advantage of the publicity surrounding the event to shamelessly plug her successful cosmetics brand ‘Fenty Beauty’. The rewards reaped from the ingenious marketing campaign were off the charts and have played a significant role in the continued success of her franchise.
Let’s take a deep dive and remind ourselves of how she did it…
Pre Super Bowl
Limited Edition Products
In the lead up to the event the Fenty team bought out a range of limited edition products, promoting her presence at the NFL game. The release of the range, pushed by enticing promotional material, injected a sense of exclusivity into the mix, generating a whole lot of excitement.
Engaging with Fans on Social Media
In the midst of the buzz, Fenty fans turned to social media to try to get the drop on Rhianna’s performance, some predicting her set list, others her outfits, etc. Learning of this, Rhianna’s marketing team began to drop hints across social media by engaging with fan content and also posting a number of leading videos themselves. This clever strategy cultivated some significant hype around Ri Ri’s performance and maintained it right up to when she walked out on stage.
Storytelling
Rhianna has always been unabashedly proud of her Barbadian heritage and has always been one to remind her fans of where she comes from, further humanising her in the process. Leading up to the Super Bowl, Rhianna and her team did just that by releasing a promotional video, re-telling her story, featuring one of her most popular songs. Much like other big names such as Beyonce, storytelling has always been a key part of Rhianna’s personal brand and is key to her popularity.
Mid Super Bowl
Product Placement
The highlight of the show (from a marketing perspective anyway) was when Rhianna nonchalantly re-applied her makeup, using Fenty Beauty’s ‘Invisimatte Instant Setting and Blotting Power’ mid-performance. This was a clever move from Rhianna and her marketing team as, instead of incurring millions of dollars worth of advertising costs for a half time advert slot, they used simple product placement to remind the world that Rhianna isn't just a pretty face but that you can have a pretty face by using Fenty Beauty products.
Celebrating Inclusivity
Both of Rhianna’s namesake brands ‘Savage X Fenty’ and ‘Fenty Beauty’ are known for their inclusive and non-discriminatory nature, so why would Ri Ri’s performance be any different? Rhianna’s nod to inclusivity, although not necessarily a part of her marketing strategy, ensured that the feeling of gravity surrounding her performance was shared by everyone, hearing or hard of hearing. ASL interpreter Justina Miles stole the show with her enthusiastic performance, reminding viewers of Rhianna’s continued dedication to inclusivity and no ‘one size fits all’ vision.
Post Super Bowl
The Breakdown
After the performance, Fenty Beauty flooded social media with content giving fans a full breakdown of the products used for the performance, followed by a flurry of conveniently placed links, promo codes and sale notifications, generating a hefty amount of traffic to the Fenty Beauty website.
Super Bowl 2024
Multi million time record seller Usher will be performing at this year's Super Bowl LVIII, breaking up the action between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Having performed on her own last year, there is speculation surrounding whether Usher will be performing solo like Rhianna or will be bringing out a special guest. Since the relationship between NFL Tight End player Travis Kelce and global superstar Taylor Swift became public, there is a lot of talk regarding whether Taylor will be appearing in the line up but many say that the chances are slim. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
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