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For the second year, Sephora and TikTok are partnering on a program to help beauty brands make better, more inclusive branded content with creators.
This year, Sephora and TikTok decided to focus on matching brands with musical artists to make popular songs that can be used in TikTok videos.
The partnership brings together two of Sephora’s existing programs: Sephora Accelerate and Sephora Sounds. Sephora Accelerate is a program that helps beauty founders of color incubate their brand with resources from Sephora—it also fits with Sephora’s support of the 15 Percent Pledge that encourages retailers to stock more Black-owned brands. And Sephora Sounds is a program that promotes underrepresented, emerging artists on Sephora’s social platforms.
The goal of the incubator program is to help brands use a more inclusive roster of creators that can be used for long-term partnerships.
“By continuing to work with TikTok creators, we could amplify the impact—offering a platform where underrepresented voices in both beauty and music could come together to inspire content, led by sound,” said Brent Mitchell, vp of social media and influencers at Sephora. “Within the sound-on world of TikTok and social media that we live in today, we know that music plays an integral role in how people experience content.”
Beauty and beats in branded content
The three brands that are participating in this year’s program are “graduates” from Sephora’s Accelerate program: cosmetics brand Mango People, hair care brand Sienna Naturals, and fragrance brand Brown Girl Jane. Each brand worked with a Sephora Sounds artist at Westlake Studios in Hollywood on June 3 to create a music track that represents their brand identity and values.
“We were paired with talented individuals … in an environment that fostered collaboration and creativity,” said Sienna Naturals founders Issa Rae and Hannah Diop in a statement.
Then, each brand worked with a TikTok creator to promote the music track.
Brown Girl Jane worked with Rawan Chaya, a Lebanese-American artist, to create a fun, upbeat song for a fragrance called “Carousel” that TikTok users can use in their videos. Sienna Naturals worked with J Maya on a song called “H.A.P.I. Place” to capture the essence of the brand’s vegan products. And Mango People People worked with LA-based artist Nicole Han on a song called “Glow” that plays up the brand’s botanical oils and adaptogenic herbs.