Chances are you’ve heard of juggernaut beauty brands like Fenty Beauty and Rare Beauty, which are affiliated with superstars Rihanna and Selena Gomez, respectively.

But you’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of others, like actor Naomi Watts-founded menopause wellness brand Stripes Beauty, which filed for bankruptcy a year after debuting. (It has since been acquired by L Catterton, a private-equity firm co-founded by LVMH.)

The number of beauty brands with celebrity founders has exploded in recent years. In 2023, celebrity beauty brands brought in more than $1 billion in sales, marking the first time ever that milestone was reached, according to market research firm Nielsen IQ, which tracks 43 such brands. But having a celebrity founder isn’t always a recipe for success.

“There’s no debate in celebrities’ ability to move consumer behavior,” Ivan Kayser, CEO of Stagwell brand consultancy Redscout, told Marketing Brew. “But it’s not as simple as, ‘stick your face on a thing, call yourself the founder.’”

Some brands, like supermodel Miranda Kerr’s 15-year-old brand Kora Organics, have sought to deemphasize the celebrity status of their founders and focus on other ways to build their brands.

“The celebrities have come in and out, but we don’t associate ourselves with the celebrity brand,” Lauren Elias, the brand’s GM and CMO, told Marketing Brew. “We’ve really kind of just stayed true to our roots for the past 15 years.”

Continue reading here.—JS

Netflix’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson live boxing match is just a few weeks away, and the streamer has finally unveiled its presenting sponsors.

Celsius, DraftKings, Meta Quest, Experian, and beer maker Spaten will all serve as presenting sponsors for the fight, as well as any programming related to the matchup, Magno Herran, Netflix’s VP of global marketing partnerships, revealed this week at Variety’s Content Meets Commerce Summit in New York.

Some of the sponsors will be featured in the match through mat placements and other logo integrations throughout the broadcast, Herran said. A segment during the broadcast called “Essential Energy Highlight of the Fight” will be sponsored by Celsius, DraftKings will share betting odds and other information during a sponsored segment called “Tale of the Bet,” Meta Quest and Experian will present segments before the fight, and Spaten will facilitate watch parties, Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard told Ad Age.

It’s all a part of Netflix’s push to integrate brands into its growing library of unscripted live content, Herran said, and comes as the company has put an increased focus on growing its ads business.

“Unscripted is very much an opportunity,” Herran said at the summit. “We have some exciting things coming down the line.”

Continue reading here.—JS

Chief Revenue Officer Bill Watkins has been working at Pinterest for over a decade, and he said at least one thing has been true for 10+ years: “The No. 1 bit of user feedback we’ve gotten that entire time is: make shopping easier.”

Watkins was addressing an audience of retail media enthusiasts and ad tech developers last month at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Connected Commerce Summit, which took place about a month and a half after Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said that more than half of Pinterest users come with the intent to shop.

Watkins said that over the last two years, a wider product selection and Pinterest’s investments in artificial intelligence have made it easier for users to shop on the platform.

Pinterest has also made it easier for brands to run ads on the service by powering its strength in lower funnel advertising. Watkins cited the example of Walmart, one of the early advertisers on Pinterest, and how the retailer has benefited after using Pinterest’s mobile deep linking ad product.

“When you have advertisers like Walmart saying that [return on ad spend] is 15 times, that’s exactly what we want, because we believe when we engineer the best core product experience around shopability, that’s going to drive investment,” he said.

• Direct Links enable brands to drive traffic directly to their store from Pinterest. Clothing brand Urban Outfitters reported a 50% rise in conversions after using Direct Links.

Read more on Retail Brew.—VC

Executive moves across the industry.

• Fox tapped WarnerMedia and CNN vet Katrina Cukaj as its EVP of ad sales and portfolio marketing.
• Sesame Workshop CMO Samantha Maltin is exiting the role, according to Business Insider.
• Warner Music Group promoted Jessica Keeley-Carter to CMO of recorded music.