Rihanna’s Super Bowl Performance Proved She’s the Best Businessperson

Never one to let a genius marketing opportunity pass her by, Rihanna’s memorable Super Bowl performance was a great reminder of why the multi-hyphenated icon exists in a whole league of her own when it comes to everything, but this In a specific example, celebrity makeup brands.

Rihanna made her highly anticipated return to the stage at Sunday night’s Super Bowl halftime show via a suspended platform above the field, and gave a masterclass Elevated (pun intended) product placement. It was her first public performance since the 2018 Grammys, so excitement for the show was at its peak, with fans posting their song predictions on social media for the show throughout the weekend. And Rihanna made sure to capitalize on that enthusiasm: her company Savage x Fenty. special-edition t-shirts sold out Emboldened by “Rihanna Concert Interrupted by a Football Game, Awkward But Whatever”.

During the performance, Rihanna quickly reached over to one of her dancers and grabbed a mystery product. an earpiece? at issue? Indeed, as the nearly 100 million viewers quickly learned, it was a makeup product. the fenty beauty Invisimatte Instant Setting + Blotting Powder, to be precise. Her mid-performance application of $44 shine-absorbing powder was a reminder that when Rihanna was gracing us with a 13-minute return to music, she was doing so not only as the singer behind the pop hit, but Rihanna. Was doing as well. Businessman; as Rihanna Youngest self made female billionaire in America; Rihanna, as Brand.

When Fenty Beauty launched in 2017, it was praised by industry professionals and makeup fans around the world for its 40 shades of foundation. Earlier, only a few brands offered such an inclusive shade range. In a post-Fenty world, shade inclusion is expected of every makeup brand — and the beauty world is better for it. This move also increased his income. Today, Rihanna’s net worth is estimated to be US $ 1.4 billion, an amount that largely comes from her 50 percent ownership of Fenty Beauty (the other half is owned by French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH). In the five years since its launch, Fenty Beauty has released products across all makeup categories, expanded into skincare]and featured celebrities such as SZA, Lil Nas X and Madison Beer in campaigns.

The halftime show product placement was an understated-cheesy par-opposition of the traditional Super Bowl commercial. The lore of Super Bowl commercials is almost as famous as the game itself – since the 1980s, these commercial spots have been highly sought after, and brands participating in the 30-second spot, such as Doritos, Pepsi and Uber , approximately US$7 million. (Some brands have already exceeded the staggering number, such as Google reported US$16.8 million 90-second commercial in 2020.)

But Rihanna rejected the premise of traditional ads and instead borrowed from the world of commercials. influencer marketing, is using product placement to promote her makeup. With a simple three-second forehead stain, Rihanna effectively made traditional ads feel wildly old-fashioned and not subversive enough for modern-day consumption. Not only was this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it blotting powder application free advertising on Advertising’s Biggest Night, but it ensured that Rihanna would—somehow—get paid for her halftime show performance, a gig that always been unpaid,

And it worked. Google searches for “Fenty” have skyrocketed 833 During Rihanna’s performance, it became the fourth most Googled topic of the night. The Fenty Beauty team sent a select group of beauty influencers to the Super Bowl, making sure the content surrounding the now-famous product placement was safe. And in case you missed the influencer’s post, the Fenty Beauty social media team was on hand on Twitter for anyone who rushed online to find answers about the exact product Rihanna used.