Converting cultural hype into incremental sales growth

Agency: Coty / Rimmel

In mass‑market beauty, social commerce is often treated cautiously, over concerns it could dilute retail performance. For the launch of their new Thrill Seeker mascara, Rimmel took a more pragmatic approach and measured the impact end‑to‑end.

Instead of using social to build awareness and hoping shoppers converted later, Snapchat and TikTok were treated as places to participate and buy. By collapsing the gap between hype and checkout, creator-led content became a direct commercial driver, proven through rigorous incrementality testing across online and offline sales.

Creator‑led, shoppable content on TikTok captured impulse at peak intent. Immersive AR formats on Snapchat turned discovery into hands-on experience. Multi‑cell testing with Circana compared regions with and without social commerce enabled, isolating its true incremental impact.

The results were decisive. Rimmel delivered a brand‑level sales uplift of up to +5.3pts versus a category down ‑2.3%, stronger offline sales in TikTok Shop regions, and a total ROI 6% above Circana’s cosmetics benchmark.

Beyond launching a new mascara, the campaign demonstrated that social commerce can drive incremental growth for mass‑market beauty without undermining retail performance.