Key Takeaways:
While some beauty brands create cultural moments as part of their DNA, others are more reactive, jumping on the bandwagon to ride the zeitgeist. For the latter, maintaining authenticity while chasing social capital can be tricky. At BeautyMatter’s NEXT50 Summit, Senior Editor Janna Mandell dug into that tension in her panel, “How Do Brands Capture Culture for Social Currency?”
Mandell was joined on stage by Gabbie Bradford, co-founder of Song Candy Media; Nina LaBruna, co-founder of Fazit; and Dakota Kate Isaacs, Senior Director, New Global Ventures, at DECIEM. In this refreshingly honest conversation, the executives explored how brands can build customer trust while navigating rapid cultural shifts.
Mandell kicked off the conversation by asking Isaacs how DECIEM navigates the fine line between productively provocative and shock. DECIEM's flagship brand, The Ordinary, is no stranger to edgy marketing campaigns and has consistently pushed the boundaries since its launch nearly 10 years ago.
Isaacs acknowledged that the brand faced considerable skepticism at the outset. Retailers worried the minimalist white packaging would get dirty on shelves, insisted the prices were “too low” (one even asked if “a zero was missing”), and doubted consumers would grasp ingredients like hyaluronic acid.
“It always came back to the why,” she said. The Ordinary was born out of a frustration with the status quo and a determination “to tell the truth.” That clarity of purpose, Isaacs noted, is what has carried the brand forward.
While The Ordinary aimed to disrupt the beauty industry's traditional norms of high prices and opaque marketing, Fazit aimed to disrupt the cosmetics category with the introduction of long-wear makeup patches. Fazit was thrust into the spotlight in early 2024 when Taylor Swift was spotted wearing the brand’s Glitter Freckles at a Kansas City Chiefs game, driving roughly $1 million in direct sales within 48 hours. Some may call it luck; co-founder LaBruna says it was strategy.
LaBruna explained that the team engineered the moment by aligning product and persona, then meticulously seeding. The brand identified Swift as the ideal “product-celebrity fit,” and launched targeted sends to Swift’s makeup artist, Lorrie Turk, friends like Sabrina Carpenter, and even the players’ spouses and girlfriends they knew were likely to share a suite with Swift.
“The moment itself was a complete surprise and very organic. We can’t say which lever did it—maybe all of them—but we definitely increased our odds by nailing the product-celebrity fit, aligning with Taylor’s love of glitter and a femme aesthetic, and surrounding her with visibility,” she noted, adding that the lift came with virtually no paid spend.
For Bradford, the secret to breakthrough marketing isn’t shock value but sound. She co-founded Song Candy, a community marketing agency and audio production house, in 2020, alongside Christine Hunt, and over the last five years, the agency has partnered with brands like P&G, Neutrogena, K18 Hair, Youth To The People, Olaplex, and NOYZ, driving brand growth through content that prioritizes creativity, connection, and community.
“Audio is something that brands can underestimate the power of,” she said, noting that studies show audio is five times more memorable than visuals alone. Song Candy helps brands harness that power with custom music and creator campaigns informed by data.
Using proprietary tools that analyze TikTok, Spotify, and Billboard charts, Bradford’s team identifies what genres and artists are trending with different audiences. The result is a precise blend of creativity and analytics.
Two case studies stand out: Kosas DreamBeam SPF and First Aid Beauty’s KP Bump Eraser. When the “Pass or Smash” trend went viral on TikTok, Song Candy created a custom sound mimicking its voiceover cadence, helping Kosas DreamBeam’s SPF become a Sephora top-seller. For First Aid Beauty, the agency noticed Gen Z’s appetite for retro funk-pop à la Dua Lipa and Doja Cat. They wrote “TikTok Made Me Buy It,” a catchy track that racked up more than 250,000 TikTok videos.
“The takeaway,” Bradford said, “is don’t treat audio as an afterthought. Bring it into your creative process early, let data guide your direction, and think about how you can live in people’s heads—not just in their feed.”
Critics may think that Fazit is a Swifty-driven fad, but as LaBruna explained, Fazit’s staying power goes far beyond a celebrity moment.
“It’s really about the psychology of the product,” she said. “When you wear the glitter freckles, you’re signaling approachability, confidence, and openness.” That dynamic has turned Fazit into a cultural moment that’s much bigger than just another beauty brand.
LaBruna recalled testing early samples herself in New York and Los Angeles, where strangers repeatedly stopped her to ask about them. A poll of customers confirmed the effect: Wearers reported initiating ten more conversations per outing than usual. Some even said they met friends or partners thanks to the freckles.
That insight informs Fazit’s seeding strategy. Beyond festivals and concerts, the brand appears in unexpected places, including marathons, Comic-Con, and even Renaissance fairs. “Each audience connects with Fazit for different reasons,” LaBruna said. “But the common thread is self-expression and confidence. We don’t target demographics. Demographics find us.”
Once a community organically engages, the brand invests further through in-person activations or special designs tailored to that subculture. “We amplify moments,” she added. “Whether someone’s running a race or going to a show, Fazit becomes part of the memory.”
For Isaacs, The Ordinary’s viral success stems from a foundation of science and integrity, even through moments of profound loss. Following the death of founder Brandon Truaxe in 2019, the brand’s team had to rebuild while remaining true to his vision of radical transparency.
“The way the industry and press handled his breakdown was painful to live through,” Isaacs said. “But it made us more committed to the mission.” That mission—to demystify ingredients through education—continues to guide every campaign.
The Ordinary’s 2019 “Everything Is Chemicals” campaign challenged the then-emerging “clean beauty” narrative, reminding consumers that even water and oxygen are chemicals. It was conceived not by the marketing team, but by DECIEM’s scientists.
That same ethos shaped The Periodic Fable, a more recent campaign that blended dystopian visuals with ingredient education. The eerie, A Clockwork Orange-style video highlighted 49 common beauty myths (“poreless” among them), mirroring how the industry itself can feel “a bit dystopian.” The campaign amassed 4.5 million impressions on TikTok, proving that risk and honesty can coexist.
For Isaacs, it’s a reminder that brands must know their core reason for existing. “People will tell you how to make your brand, how to change it, how to succeed,” she said. “But if you don’t have your North Star, you’ll lose yourself. Ours is science. And when you stay true to that, you give people something to believe in.”
In a landscape saturated with sponsored content, Bradford emphasized that authenticity still reigns supreme, especially through micro-influencers. These creators may have smaller followings, but their communities are deeply engaged.
“I follow influencers my friends haven’t heard of, but I care about what they [influencers] buy at Sephora,” she said. “That’s trust.” She advises brands to start by mapping where their customers spend time and which subcommunities they belong to.
Partnerships with comedians or niche creators, she noted, can cut through the “sea of sameness.” And while paid amplification is essential on today’s platforms, long-term relationships yield the highest returns. According to Isaccs, 71% of consumers say ongoing creator partnerships feel more credible than one-offs.
All three speakers agreed: Connection must be built, not borrowed. For Fazit, that means sparking real-world interaction. For Song Candy, it’s about crafting sonic touchpoints that stick in viewers' memories. For The Ordinary and DECIEM, it’s about grounding storytelling in truth and science.
“The industry has gotten kinder,” Isaacs reflected. “But what carries you through is the people you surround yourself with—and listening to the scientists. Always listen to the scientists!”
Across the board, the panelists made clear that an authentic connection doesn’t come from virality alone. It comes from intention, integrity, and a willingness to take creative risks that resonate long after the scroll.
