How beauty brands are taking pop-ups to new heights with young consumers

Among all that hubbub, brands can create appealing spaces where it’s possible to try products hands-on, maybe even employing a try-before-you-buy approach to allow brands to connect with consumers. Especially when it comes to younger demographics, focusing on experiences can allow brands to capture audience share and drive purchase intent.

Unlike traditional advertising, pop-ups allow the opportunity to forge emotional connections driven by the alignment of values and culture. All in a perfectly shareable package.

Pop-up paradise

Pop-up experiences can be a highly effective and cost-efficient strategy for brands, integrating experiential marketing with influencer programs. Activations can be used as content creation hubs, increasing shareability and opportunities for online brand visibility.

Drunk Elephant, favorite among tweens, has broken into the UK market using a pop-up strategy. Their pop-up, The House of Goldi, was open for three days on London’s Greek Street in October last year. Taking over a townhouse location, the brand hosted workshops throughout the weekend, such as morning yoga classes and an influencer meet-and-greet with Sammi Jefcoate.

This month, the brand teamed up with online beauty, makeup, and skincare retailer Cult Beauty for a smaller-scale Spitalfields market pop-up, allowing passersby to test the products and receive a discount. Drunk Elephant is also hosting Bright Days Ahead pop-ups in LA, Miami, and New York.

When done right, experiential can provide a holistic omnichannel approach that makes marketing budgets work extra hard – bringing together influencer partnerships, content generation, a retail environment, and an OOH presence.

With the Olympics hosted in Paris and an overall trend of airfares being down 16% year-on-year, it seemed like summer 2024 was the season Americans came to Europe. Responding to the fact that #AmalfiCoast had more than 12.2 million views on TikTok, beauty brand Elf tapped into this European obsession by offering a beautiful pop-up that brought the south of Italy to Brooklyn.

Drawing inspiration from the picturesque coastal destination, the ‘Amelfi Coast’ activation included actors playing Italian grandmothers as brand ambassadors, sharing their best-kept skincare secrets and local traditions with would-be consumers. At the beach club-styled destination, guests were shade-matched to one of Elf’s three antioxidant-rich, tinted serums; enjoyed non-alcoholic spritz; and ate three flavors of gelato served up by Fini Pizza.

Proving that you don’t have to have the biggest footprint to make a big impact, Rhode has taken its booth on a global tour, stopping in Ibiza, London, Miami, Los Angeles, and Toronto. Some reports queues to have been up to eight hours long. The experience was simple: visitors dropped a branded coin into the photo booth and left with a complimentary lip tint worth £18 and a cute photo.

World building

There is a real opportunity for worldbuilding and storytelling. By crafting immersive and distinctive experiences, beauty brands can present their narrative in a way that is more captivating than conventional marketing tactics.

Summer Fridays’s Iced Coffee Lip Butter Balm became the inspiration for the brand’s New York pop-up in June, with the company employing a less-is-more aesthetic. At the Café Summer Fridays, the menu comprised of Lip Butter Balm, iced coffee, bagels, and limited-edition merch. A vintage-style photobooth completed the experience.

Kylie Jenner’s beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics, still refuses to set up a permanent store, instead turning to beauty experiential as an exciting way to connect. This year, the brand’s global strategy has included a pop-up event from Kylie Cosmetics and Crumbl Cookies in LA and a newsstand in New York. Inspired by Kylie Jenner’s first-ever perfume, Cosmic, a pink pop-up space at ION Orchard Singapore hosted tarot readings, bottle engraving, and makeover services.

Beauty brand Glossier began the year celebrating the fragrance ‘Glossier You’ in a color-drenched space offering a deeply sensory experience. Inspired by the fact that ‘Glossier You’ smells different on everyone, booths hosted six different personalities, from playful to romantic, allowing a unique journey of discovery. This echoes the trend for brands to support authenticity and self-acceptance in beauty by helping consumers feel unique, empowered, and confident.

Charlotte Tilbury Beauty also went with a multi-sensory approach, immersing guests in a world where sight, sound, and scent intertwine for their Future of Fragrance experience. An added level of personalization was achieved by fragrance profilers who were on hand to provide tailored recommendations, ensuring that each guest discovered their perfect scent match.

Reflecting ahead

Whether it’s Drunk Elephant breaking into Britain or Kylie Cosmetics refusing to set up a permanent store, beauty experiential is proving an exciting way to connect. From grabbing a coffee to practicing yoga, there seems to be an overall feeling of relaxation throughout the beauty space, rejecting the boozy club vibes for a more wellness-inspired expression.

With McKinsey predicting growth across the four main beauty categories of fragrance, makeup, haircare, and skincare over the next few years, the sector will continue to be impacted by the changing expectations, particularly of younger generations.

Expect to see TikTok trends and changes in values, such as the rejection of perfection and the rise of anti-beauty, playing out in pop-ups globally.