Rare Beauty Reaches for Greek Mythology — and Sidesteps Beauty Advertising Grammar

Rare Beauty, the cosmetics brand founded by actor-singer Selena Gomez, has launched a global campaign supporting its second fragrance. Both the campaign and the eau de parfum are named Rare Beginnings.

The nymph as self-revelation

A 45-second hero spot directed by Hans Neumann features Gomez and draws inspiration from Greek mythology, using the idea of the nymph as a metaphor for self-revelation.

The video transforms a studio set into a moss-covered environment full of flowers, with footage projected on veiled fabric.

The campaign includes social, out-of-home, retail and paid digital in key markets.

The choice of stillness

Still photography features both Gomez and the fragrance — and here is the notable decision.

It aims for still, painterly compositions rather than the energetic ones typical of beauty campaigns.

Beauty advertising is usually built from movement, shine and fast cuts. Deliberately sidestepping that grammar also fits the product itself. You cannot show a scent, so the visual language has to substitute for the sense — and stillness creates the space to do it.

The campaign's nod to Greek mythology is well-timed as "The Odyssey" continues to rule at the box office.

The agency partnership

"Rare Beginnings" was created with Fred & Farid Paris, which bills itself as a long-term creative partner to the beauty brand. The agency's Los Angeles shop was behind Rare's first global brand campaign, 2024's "Every Side of You."

Frédéric Raillard, co-founder and CEO at Fred & Farid, said:

"Rare Beauty has spent five years giving people permission to be seen as they are. Rare Beginnings turns that same idea into a feeling: the moment someone opens up instead of closing down. It's the most natural next chapter the brand could write."

Where the brand stands

Founded in 2020, Rare Beauty has an estimated valuation of $2.7 billion and was the second most popular beauty brand in Piper Sandler's most recent Taking Stock With Teens report.

Originally available only at Sephora, the brand expanded to Ulta Beauty in February and broke the retailer's record for launch-day sales. The new fragrance, however, is exclusively available at Sephora.

Expanding the ambassador roster

Alongside using Gomez as the face of its marketing, Rare Beauty this month tapped Ella Bright, one of the stars of Prime Video's "Off Campus," as its first brand ambassador.

Brands including American Eagle and Liquid I.V. have also looked to tap interest around the hit streaming show.

What marketers should take from it

Sidestepping category grammar is itself differentiation. The more fixed the visual language of beauty advertising, the more still, painterly composition stands out on its own. That said, it is a choice available mainly to brands with existing equity.

Find the sensory substitute your product needs. Fragrance cannot be shown. So what will make people feel it instead becomes the actual creative problem.

Check the cultural timing. The Greek mythology reference overlapping with "The Odyssey" is cultural context obtained for free. Scanning the contemporary cultural landscape when settling a concept is cheap, high-return work.

Attach ambassadors to content momentum. Casting a hit streaming show's star as a first ambassador is a move several brands are making simultaneously. For ambassador casting fused with timing, see Under Armour Signs a TV Lead as Global Ambassador.

Maintain brand platform continuity. The narrative running from "Every Side of You" to "Rare Beginnings" came from the same agency. On designing platforms as long-term assets, see Canada Goose's 'Natural Intelligence'.