Rihanna Enlists Fans to Promote Her Beauty Products

Rihanna has been participating in a variety of non-musical projects and collaborations for years. For example, she expressed her interest in fashion from the beginning of her career. The singer became Dior’s first black ambassador and is also the creative director for the fashion sportswear Puma. The passion for a glamorous world made Rihanna launch her own business, so she and her team bought trademarks under her family name, Fenty.

In her latest venture, the music, fashion, and beauty icon, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, launched her beauty products, Fenty Beauty. The collection was officially launched at Sephora in Times Square.

Rihanna’s highly anticipated beauty collection was enthusiastically welcomed by the audience. It became a real hit almost instantly, sparking mob scenes around the globe and inspiring people do crazy things, like the homecoming proposal which went viral.

In the latest move to expand its product range globally, Rihanna, in collaboration with Sephora and design agency Wildbytes, set up an explosive experience that aims to inspire a new generation of beauty. The event took place recently in Madrid’s central Callao Square, hosting Rihanna’s sea of fans and influencers as special guests. They were all encouraged to become stars alongside the singer, and celebrate beauty through the brand’s DNA.

This immersive experience was documented by the Madrid-based agency and nicely packed into images that gave birth to the world’s first live-created fan movie. The production team managed to transform a simple experience into an unbelievable one, impressing the participants with an unforgettable multisensory experience as well as an instant, high-end fashion film.

Constructed in Callao City Lights’ theatre, the shooting platform followed an exclusive design adapted to the beauty trends inspired by Rihanna’s collection. ‘Fenty’s Playground’ received its protagonists in a modern area, arranged especially to reflect the brand’s values.

Fenty Beauty Launch | Click to enlargeThe entire action of the one-minute-long video takes place in a maze-like set of makeup stations, with furniture crafted as life-sized Fenty products, and urban-styled video installations that outline both the elegance and the impeccable beauty of the models and the stylish attribute of the cosmetic products.

Taking advantage of the Wildbytes’s cutting-edge technology, agency’s masterminds prepared an immersive – yet fashionable — experience for the attendees, who had the opportunity to watch an instantaneous chic film that people could not believe was being made live. The agency edited fans’ footage using a custom-made, high-tech digital film pipeline to be able to bring the Fenty universe in real-time to the audience.

“Sephora and Rihanna’s team were looking for aggressive innovation to make this a truly special launch. We rose to the challenge with an intense R&D process that allowed us to shoot with digital cinema equipment while being able to edit the content live at the event. The AV/Tech pipeline we designed was extremely complex, but the results were stunning,” said Julio Obelleiro, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Wildbytes.

In addition to the spontaneous treat that captivated the participants’ attention, two large-scale outdoor LED billboards, as well as an augmented reality panel flanked the audience, immersing them in the fascinating glittery world outlined by Rihanna’s beauty products.

The launch event triggered a significant social media buzz, gathering over 1.1 billion online impressions. To generate even greater traffic, the fans who took part in the alluring experience were spoiled with digital presents, receiving 3D GIFs of themselves. Neat!