It may be surprising to hear that the beauty industry, which focuses on physical sensory and treatments, is entering the metaverse—a virtual space void of physical elements. But beauty brands are evolving with the rise of virtual reality. A world where smells and touches don't exist is an exciting place to watch brands in the beauty industry grow their businesses through the use of new and unique marketing strategies.
Brands of all industries can connect with their customers using metaverse elements like NFTs and virtual events. They can also use digital platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite, Meta Quest 2, and more to engage with their digital community. The metaverse is a world with endless opportunities (literally) and will open up countless opportunities for the beauty industry. Let's explore what beauty brands are doing in the metaverse a little further.
What is the Metaverse?
The metaverse is a limitless virtual world that can be anything from VR to AR, or NFTs, allowing brands to provide a simulated portal for their users. There is a growing trend where many brands are no longer calling this virtual space ‘the metaverse’ and are calling it ‘a metaverse’. This is partly due to the broad spectrum of entering the metaverse. One user could enter by using a VR headset or buying and selling beauty products, and another could enter via their laptop to socialize on a Fortnite game.
The metaverse offers a wide range of virtual experiences for brands to market themselves, sell their products, and interact with communities, so one can only imagine what the future holds for beauty in the metaverse.
Why are Beauty Brands Embracing the Metaverse?
Beauty brands, along with many brands from other industries, are starting to embrace the idea of entering the metaverse due to the evolving popularity of technology in all sectors. The metaverse is predicted to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030, thanks to the millions of brands that will join and see intense success. Technology and social media have become widely popularized in the marketing industry and have proven highly successful for brands that market themselves online. As a result, it seems likely that putting your brand into a virtual world would have the same effect.
With the infinite possibilities that the metaverse has, companies can now be as innovative and creative as they want, so let's take a look at some brands that are working with the metaverse in very ingenious ways.
Brands Entering the Metaverse
YSL Beauté
As of June 2022, YSL Beauty announced that it would be exploring the creation of a YSL beauty branded wallet and token-gated web3 hub dedicated to its community. YSL Beauté has always been responsive to the rapidly evolving cultural and technological trends and continues to do so with a new form of connecting with its community with its latest web3 technologies.
“To us, web3 holds the promise of intensified experiences, where artistic reinvention and genuine emotions collide. On this path into the unknown, we believe there is room to play with the codes of beauty, to push the boundaries of creativity, and to help shape a bolder present. All on the edge of reality.”
Stephan Bezy, CEO of YSL Beauté
As a first step, on June 21st, 2022, YSL Beauté launched its first partnership with the platform P00Ls and two music artists, Agathe Mougun and Kittens. The YSL Beauté community was invited to collect their respective tokens and join the new virtual community. The brand also linked the activation to a donation for the Abuse is Not Love non-profit organization that they continue to support.
Estée Lauder
This summer, Estée Lauder announced it would participate in Decentraland’s Metaverse Art Week with a Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP). The POAP, by Dr. Box was included in three destinations of Decentraland’a Art Week—the Scultpure Garden, CashLabs Gallery, and ArtNet Location. It was ultimately inspired by the legacy of Estée Lauder’s founder.
The beauty brand also participated in Metaverse Fashion Week in March 2022 as an exclusive beauty partner, where it collaborated with Dr.Box to create a non-fungible token (NFT) inspired by its top-selling serum Advanced Night Repair.
Estée Lauder is pushing its boundaries with the metaverse by participating in both Metaverse Fashion Week 2022 and Decentraland’s Metaverse Art Week. The brand took a futuristic advancement as a beauty brand this year, so marketers should take note of what else they accomplish on this new platform.
Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte Tilbury introduced various interactive shopping experiences this year within the metaverse for its customers. The beauty brand launched its Pillow Talk collection via a ‘Virtual Beauty Wonderland', allowing customers to shop for the brand’s products, learn how to apply them, interact with exclusive virtual 3D experiences, and engage with the Charlotte Tilbury community with a ‘shop with friends’ feature.
The brand collaborated with metaverse commerce platform Obsess, which allows its customers to play around with 3D products. Customers were also able to see exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with beauty influencers. On top of this, the founder and CEO, Charlotte Tilbury, could appear as a virtual avatar inside the beauty wonderland and guide customers through a Pillow Talk universe.
What's Next for Beauty in the Metaverse?
With the limitless opportunities in the metaverse, it is unclear what is to come for the beauty industry, but expectations are high based on how brands use it this year. Some experts even predict that more and more beauty brands will join the metaverse and eventually remove the need for retailers. Beauty brands will start using the endless opportunities that come with the metaverse, such as virtual influencers on the rise for brand marketing.
Beauty Industry Marketing With Dash Hudson
Whether your brand is planning to join the metaverse or not, it's important to maintain a strong marketing plan that aligns with industry trends. Beauty brands—new kids on the block and old favorites—rarely shy away from innovative tactics and creative content curation. The incredibly savvy ones leverage social media as a marketing tool to find success for new product launches and captivating campaigns. Measuring and honing these strategies is key to a brand’s success.
Dash Hudson gives you the tools to perfect your content strategy, drive engagement, and convert those fans to customers. It’s a thing of beauty.
FAQs
What is metaverse makeup?
Metaverse makeup is a form of virtual makeup that has real-life benefits. With an utterly tangible product, it makes no sense that it could be used virtually. However, that's why virtual try-ons exist in the metaverse. It allows consumers to use their device's camera to show what makeup would look like on their faces.
What is beauty NFT?
It may seem complicated, but it's a simple concept that can be applied to any industry, not just beauty. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital certificates that verify ownership of a specific digital asset of a company.
What is virtual beauty?
Virtual beauty, like metaverse make-up, gives consumers a virtual experience of using beauty products. Virtual make-up uses face tracking and 3D modelling to create realistic experiences online and in-store. This allows consumers to see how certain beauty products will look on or affect them using virtual reality.
