BareMinerals Reclaims Clean Brand History With Hailey Baldwin as the Face

BareMinerals is strengthening its stake in the clean beauty movement with a little help from the stars.
The brand, which has struggled since its acquisition by Shiseido in 2010, is rebooting with a renewed focus on its 23-year history of being clean. This summer, the company launched a three-pronged campaign called "The Power of Good" with "Black Panther" actress Letitia Wright. Now it is adding two new faces to its roster: Hailey Baldwin and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
"Bare had been struggling for sure," said Jill Scalamandre, president of Bare Escentuals. "We knew we had to reboot the brand — not reposition, but reboot. Clean is such a big movement right now. We’ve been clean for 23 years and we’ve never told anybody, so the reboot really started with reclaiming clean. You own it? Reclaim it."
BareMinerals was down 5 percent last year, according to industry sources. Scalamandre said that though the brand has been challenging, she sees growth ahead in the next 18 months.
The "Power of Good" campaign is geared toward a "socially caring and conscious consumer," said Scalamandre, and both Baldwin and Huntington-Whiteley embody clean lifestyles. As part of BareMinerals' celebrity influencer base, the two will promote the "Full of, Free of" campaign on social media and will appear in two new campaigns in 2019.
“We want to build a community of users and advocates and consumers," said Scalamandre. " start the conversation."
The partnership with Baldwin comes at a particularly buzzy time for the model, who is newly engaged to Justin Bieber. The two have been making the rounds at New York Fashion Week, causing a frenzy of online interest around their impending marriage. BareMinerals' celebrity play comes at a time when brands are increasingly interested in working with celebrities and influencers — presumably with large social media followings — who are willing to turn their social media posts into sponsored content. Baldwin has 14.7 million Instagram followers. Huntington-Whiteley has 8.4 million and Wright has 1.4 million.
BareMinerals is revealing an additional partnership in the form of celebrity makeup artist Nikki DeRoest, who will be the brand's first official makeup artist. DeRoest will promote products and looks on social media and will help with in-house education. She will also join BareMinerals on its first influencer retreat: a two-day event slated to take place in November in the U.K. The event will welcome influencers from around the world for two days of wellness talks and activations.
Last year, WWD reported that BareMinerals would close 100 of its U.S. doors. Scalamandre confirmed that the brand is continuing to shutter stores with plans to remodel the remaining 80 boutiques over the course of the next year.
Though its retail forecast remains nebulous, BareMinerals has seen an uptick on its Web site since the launch of its "Power of Good" campaign. Scalamandre said the "About Us" page has received a 415 percent increase in views and a 20 percent lift in orders.
"We’re seeing traction with the consumer and signs that it’s working," she said. "It’s so early. It’s weeks old, so we’re looking for KPIs. Our social sentiment is growing in terms of the positive."
She also noted an increased focus on YouTube for 2019.
"We’re going to put a bigger focus on YouTube and tutorials," she said. "Hailey did a tutorial, Rosie did a tutorial, and Nikki. That’s what consumers are hungry for: the how to’s."
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