The youngest billionaire in the world Kylie Jenner is perfect example of a personal brand and how to become one. Converting her social media influence in a brand, she has a valuation of $590 Million right now, highest in the world at the age of 22. (Yeah, She’s even younger than me!)
Here we will look at her journey and the major reasons of her success as a personal brand.
The journey from A Social Media Influencer to A Personal Brand
Kylie Jenner is an American media figure, socialite, model, and businesswoman. She starred at the E! Reality TV series Keeping up with Kardashians since 2007 and is the founder and owner of Kylie Cosmetics, a cosmetics company.
She collaborated with the clothing company PacSun and her sister Kendall at the age of 14 in 2012 and created a clothing line, “Kendall & Kylie.” In 2015, Jenner launched her own cosmetics line called Kylie Lip Kits, which the following year was renamed Kylie Cosmetics. She also released a mobile app that rose to number one on the iTunes App Store.
In 2007, Jenner started featuring alongside her parents and daughters, Kendall, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, in the reality television show Keeping Up alongside the Kardashians, which chronicles their family members’ personal and professional lives. The show was a success for their network.
Forbes Magazine had announced earlier last year that Kylie Jenner was fast about to become the world’s youngest billionaire (at the time its net worth was about USD 900 million). Now, it’s achieved the feat. Kylie Jenner has become the world’s youngest billionaire at the age of 21, thanks to the phenomenal sales of Kylie Cosmetics. Even Mark Zuckerberg had to wait till 23 to achieve this! Let’s take a look at how this has happened.
Back when Kylie got her signature pout for the first time, fans were shocked how different she looked. Short of saying she ‘d used lip fillers, though, the young model said she used lip liners to overline her lips and describe her pout. That became an enormous talk stage. It was also a big one that Kylie Jenner trademarked and started selling Kylie Lip Kits at that time. — lip kit had a liquid lipstick with a matching liner, and within 24 hours her website had run out of stock.
Soon after, Kylie Cosmetics expanded to include eye shadows (Ky-shadows), concealers, highlighters, and new product launch in the form of finishing powders only recently announced.
Kylie credits social media for its phenomenal rise. Kylie used her Instagram and Snapchat profiles to her full benefit, as both the sole investor in her business and the face of her business. There are over 150 million followers of the young billionaire – an enviable scope for any marketer! Kylie Cosmetics has also made a point of regularly releasing new products, keeping fans constantly hooked. She has picked up various topical themes to design complete kits with shadows and lipsticks, and that has driven wild fans. Even the gurus of maquillage and beauty could not get enough of her goods.
Last year, Beauty Products giant Coty announced a deal to take a majority stake in Kylie Jenner’s cosmetics and skincare business, combining Jenner ‘s popularity with Coty ‘s distribution and marketing prowess.
Coty, whose brands include Hugo Boss and Burberry fragrances, is going to pay $600 million for a 51 percent stake in Jenner ‘s company under the contract.
Jenner, the youngest daughter of Kris Jenner, and Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, have more than 270 million social media followers and rank as “one of the most prominent voices among beauty consumers worldwide,” a release from both companies said.
Each of the Instagram posts for Jenner is worth about $1 million. Jenner’s posts contain family photos and mirror selfies as well as new product announcements or ads for lipstick, lip gloss, and eye shadow. Jenner has 128 million followers on Instagram, and many others on Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat.
Current Valuation of Kylie Jenner stands at $590 Million as per the data of Forbes.
Learnings from the Journey
- Kylie used her online presence to large benefit. She leveraged the audience on her respective channel and kept them hooked with regular interaction.
- She has a very focussed approach. She knows her audience very well and plans her products and branding accordingly.
- One of the best things about Kylie Jenner has been, as a brand she has been very topical and used every occasion to launch products ranging from one theme to another.
- She is very personal in her approach and that has helped her. Her lip kit was sold out within hours of launch just because people saw her using the same lip kit.
- As a personal brand, you need to live the brand. Her personal life is also involved in the building and of course, her family and its popularity helped her. Basically, She lives her brand.
- Being aware of what is happening around you and across the globe is very helpful. Kylie has been very updated about trends in her launches and product showcase.
- Keep expanding. After the launch of cosmetics, she ventured into the skin and then expanded to other beauty products.
This is one amazing story of the development of a personal brand and I hope you will find this insightful.
