Janice McCafferty Communications was hired by New York beauty company Sundial Brands, the creators of the SheaMoisture and Nubian Heritage brands, for the historic launch of haircare brand Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture. They were in search of an agency to provide both a public relations and social media strategy to support the launch of its third property and first prestige beauty brand. This was a re-launch of a historic – yet reimagined – and iconic beauty brand in Sephora, with a focus on haircare. The target was a cross-section of multicultural women according to hair texture/desired hair outcome.
PR and social media planned to revitalize and modernize this powerful legacy brand. Sundial was in search of a partner with a proven track record for creative excellence in public relations (including traditional, digital and social media) and social media to help with pre-launch, launch and ongoing communications support.
Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture launched exclusively in Sephora in the Spring of 2016. The launch netted 357 media placements in the first 3 months of the line’s debut. Major features included Allure, PopSugar, InStyle, Refinery29, Yahoo Beauty, BuzzFeed, Mic, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Nylon, Seventeen and countless more. The brand also won the prestigious “Best in Black Beauty” award from Essence Magazine.
Online press topped 54 billion impressions and print media garnered 2.4 million+ impressions. Online articles were shared over 101k times and a solid social strategy helped drive 27.5% average monthly growth across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This secured Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture as a major player in the prestige haircare field.