The Brief
Over the past two years, Digital Business Lab partnered with Sephora to develop and execute a comprehensive influencer marketing strategy across six dynamic markets, including India, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States, sourcing and managing 20 high-engagement creators on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook to deliver authentic, culturally attuned promotions that amplified brand visibility, fostered genuine advocacy, and strengthened Sephora’s presence in diverse beauty landscapes.
The Objective
Boost Sephora’s brand engagement by partnering with influential creators and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. By managing 20 active voices, the program aimed to spark authentic conversations, deliver resonant beauty content, and build stronger consumer loyalty.
The Solution
Influencer Marketing Program
We delivered a full-cycle influencer identification and activation strategy across India, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the US on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook. The campaign grew engaged reach from 73 million in 2024 to 120 million in 2025.
Platform Breakdown
- Instagram: strongest performer, consistently highest engaged reach and interactions thanks to visual-first formats and high creator participation.
- TikTok: solid supporting role, especially with short-form discovery content (performance tied to posting frequency).
- Facebook & YouTube: limited impact due to lower creator activity and insufficient content volume.
What Worked Best
- Top format: Instagram Reels, scroll-stopping short-form video with strong visual hooks.
- Best content angles:
- Audience-first (giveaways, participatory ideas)
- Celebrity/influencer collaborations (leveraging familiarity and genuine creator enthusiasm)
- Powerful opening hooks (honest opinions, bold superlatives, clear storylines)
- Highly anticipated launches offering insider access
- Top category: Makeup content which is easy to produce, scalable, and perfectly aligned with audience interest.
- High-impact moments: Event-led launches, brand trips, House of Sephora experiences, and holiday campaigns drove peak performance.
What Underperformed & Strategic Focus
- Low performers:
- Flat, catalog-style e-commerce imagery
- Content lacking human element, emotional connection, or storyline
- Identical cross-posted assets (especially weak on Facebook)
- Strategic priorities moving forward:
- Lead with Instagram Reels designed for fast-paced, short-form consumption
- Anchor creative briefs around strong first-second hooks (honest opinions, bold claims, exclusivity)
- Increase investment in brand trips and experiences where creators have genuine interest for higher-quality, more frequent output
Sephora Squad Program
The Sephora Squad is Sephora’s official year-long paid ambassador program for diverse beauty creators, influencers, and Beauty Advisors of all levels. Our team contributed to the Sephora Squad Program through:
- Influencer Recruitment: identify, contact, and onboard new influencers to the regional squad
- Influencer Squad Management: 19 Influencers across 5 markets within APAC to create content in exchange for free products and experiences/opportunities
- Communication and Relationship Management: manage all communications between influencer and Sephora as the main point of contact, advise on the status of the relationship and how to proceed with negotiations and various ongoing project discussions
- Product Seeding and Content Negotiation: Negotiate and coordinate monthly product seeding and content creation with influencer in win-win partnership (content in exchange for product)
- Brand Trips: liaise between brand/Sephora/influencer to negotiate content creation terms, trip logistics and smooth execution of brand experience
- Campaign and Special Experiences: liaise between Sephora/influencer to negotiate content creation terms, logistics and smooth execution of experience
Best performing videos
Top performers events & comments
YouTube videos
Key Takeaways for Sephora’s Influencer Marketing Program
- Significant growth through focused influencer strategy: The campaign successfully scaled engaged reach from 73 million in 2024 to 120 million in 2025 (+64%) by identifying and activating high-performing creators across India, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the US.
- Instagram Reels dominated performance: Instagram emerged as the clear winner, consistently delivering the highest engaged reach. Short-form, hook-driven Reels, especially those with strong visual openings, authentic storytelling, and audience-first angles, outperformed every other format and platform by a wide margin.
- High-impact moments and genuine creator interest drove peak results: The strongest engagement came from event-led launches, brand trips, House of Sephora experiences, and holiday campaigns, particularly when formats emphasised exclusivity, immersive experiences, and authentic narratives. Collaborations where creators had real enthusiasm produced higher-quality, more frequent, and more effective content.
- Human-led, scroll-stopping short-form content is the winning formula: Top-performing posts featured strong hooks in the first seconds (honest opinions, bold claims, clear storylines), human-first delivery, audience inclusion (giveaways, participation, insider access), and makeup-focused creative, while static, brand-heavy, catalog-style, or cross-posted content significantly underperformed.
About Sephora
Sephora is a leading global prestige beauty retailer, founded in France in 1970. As a subsidiary of the luxury group LVMH since 1997, it offers an extensive curated selection of makeup, skincare, fragrance, haircare, and body products from hundreds of classic and emerging brands, alongside its own popular Sephora Collection line.
Known for its innovative open-sell environment that encourages discovery and testing, Sephora creates a welcoming, inclusive shopping experience both in its thousands of stores worldwide and through its strong online platforms. Its mission focuses on inspiring fearlessness in beauty and championing diversity for all customers.
