In today’s brand economy, the celebrity isn’t just the face of a campaign — they are the campaign. The relationship between brands and celebrities now mirrors how a company works with traditional advertising agencies: a brand delegates creative, messaging, and distribution to a partner empowered with reach and storytelling expertise.
When a company hires an ad agency, it expects control of creative output and media placement. Today, when a brand partners with a major talent, it’s effectively hiring someone who brings the following:
- Creative input rooted in personal story or style
- A global network of followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
- Distribution channels that often outperform paid media
The result: celebrities functioning like their own ad agencies — crafting message, producing content, and delivering that content to millions. A master of this model is Ryan Reynolds, whose “Maximum Effort” agency turned personal branding into viral marketing plays for Mint Mobile, Aviation Gin and Deadpool.
Distribution Economics: Why Scale Still Wins
The model is working across categories but nowhere is it more visible than beauty. Take Dua Lipa, who this week launched DUA, a skincare line created with Augustinus Bader. Two days after launch: over 5 million views on her Instagram (88 M followers), 360,000 views on her TikTok (11 M followers), and her Vogue interview reached 280,000 views within 24 hours. Compared with Augustinus Bader’s post to its ~386 k-follower Instagram, which delivered ~92,000 views, the difference in built-in distribution is stark.
Beauty and wellness brands are increasingly trading ad spend for distribution at scale via celebrity partners. The brand provides infrastructure — manufacturing, logistics, retail — while the celebrity provides creative, narrative and audience.
Proven Deal Playbook
This formula has become the blueprint for successful beauty co-brands:
- Kylie Jenner + Seed Beauty → Kylie Cosmetics ($600 M+ revenue)
- Rihanna + LVMH/Kendo → Fenty Beauty ($500 M+ first-year sales)
- Ariana Grande + Forma Brands → r.e.m. Beauty
- Hailey Bieber → Rhode (sold to E.l.f. Beauty for $1 billion in May)
- Jennifer Aniston → LolaVie
These successes share a critical metric: an audience scale well into the tens of millions, enabling instant global awareness, high conversion potential, and rapid economies of scale.
A Gap in the Market: Women Athletes in Beauty
Yet one major category remains under-represented: women’s athletes. Most athlete-founded or co-branded beauty lines remain sparse despite massive viewership in their sports and major brand endorsements.
For instance:
- Serena Williams launched WYN Beauty in 2024 (IG 18.2 M; TikTok 2.7 M)
- Naomi Osaka launched KINLÒ (IG 2.9 M; TikTok 585 k)
Meanwhile, emerging women athletes command substantial social followings:
- Angel Reese (IG 5.2 M; TikTok 6 M)
- Livvy Dunne (IG 5.3 M; TikTok 8 M)
- Sunisa Lee (IG 3.5 M; TikTok 3.8 M)
- Jordan Chiles (IG 1.5 M; TikTok 955 k)
But despite this, very few have translated that reach into branded beauty or wellness lines — a clear sign of untapped opportunity.
The Scale Gap: Celebrity Founders vs Athlete Founders
| Category | Avg. Total Social Following | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Beauty Brand Founders | ~132 M | Kylie Jenner (451 M), Rihanna (500 M+) |
| Pop/Music Founders | ~90 M | Dua Lipa (99 M) |
| Film/TV Founders | ~32 M | Millie Bobby Brown (64.6 M), Jennifer Aniston (44.7 M) |
| Athlete Founders | ~12 M | Serena Williams (20.9 M), Naomi Osaka (3.5 M) |
| Emerging Women Athletes | ~8.5 M | Livvy Dunne (13.3 M), Angel Reese (11.2 M) |
Insights: Most beauty-driven celebrity partnerships sit above the ~20-30 M follower mark because true global distribution requires scale. Women athlete-founders currently sit below that threshold, making them less likely partners under today’s economics — despite strong engagement and niche authenticity.
What Happens Next?
While scale currently wins, the dynamics are shifting. Engagement, authenticity and niche influence are becoming equally valuable as raw follower counts — especially for athletes whose audiences trust them and who inhabit wellness, fitness, and self-care narratives central to beauty. The next breakout beauty brand could well come from a WNBA star or Olympic gymnast who reaches 20-30 M and turns her followers into customers. In other words: the next star launched by a beauty brand might not just be celebrity — it might be athlete.