Drawn to the high social media pull of popular influencers, Estée Lauder Companies Inc. has called on two digital influencers for the launch of its new brand, Flirt Cosmetics. With an aim to “bridge the gap between beauty and the massive entity that is social media”, the company has tapped Donald Robertson as creative director and Amber Rose as the brand’s face. Robertson has 179,000 followers on his @Drawbertson Instagram account, while Rose has 12.1 million Instagram followers (@amberrose).
Talking at the launch on Monday night, Rose chatted openly about being approached to work with Flirt Cosmetics: “When he [Robertson] approached me with the idea I was like, 'I’m tatted, bald headed, I talk about sex like really raunchy — but I’m very sex positive — but I just speak my mind. Are you sure you want me for your brand?' I’m not sure. I have SlutWalk and s–t!" Before adding: "It’s the perfect match. I am their modern-day woman. My 12 million Instagram followers get it.”
The launch of Flirt Cosmetics marks the first time Estée Lauder is using a direct-to-consumer e-commerce model with no bricks and mortar store or physical counter. The business model also sees the brand planning to roll out a series of individual products one at a time rather than large shipments of SKUs. The first to launch will be Flirt Flashes - a fake lash applicator device - which will be online on September 15.
Image: Instagram.com/AmberRose
