Rhode Would Be a Tough Brand to Do Growth Marketing For

Why It Matters

Aligning marketing with cultural identity and older‑generation creators unlocks higher‑value sales for premium beauty brands, delivering scalable growth in a crowded D2C landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Rhode’s purchases driven by cultural identity, not product claims
• Traditional testimonial and before‑after ads won’t move the needle
• Test model/texture swatches to show skin‑tone compatibility for consumers
• Target elder Millennials and Gen X creators for authentic reach
• Highlight high‑AOV bundles and new launches via clean grid ads

Summary

The video outlines a growth‑marketing roadmap for Rhode, a premium beauty brand positioned at a “level‑five” sophistication where purchases are driven more by cultural identity than by product claims.

Because conventional testimonial and before‑after formats underperform, the presenter recommends abandoning those tactics. The brand’s current top‑performing ads resemble the “Clean Girl” aesthetic, suggesting that visual simplicity and texture cues resonate more with the target audience.

Key tactics include testing model and texture swatches to demonstrate how shades look on different skin tones, partnering with elder‑millennial and Gen X creators who embody the brand’s cultural cachet, and creating mood‑board‑style creatives for high‑AOV bundles. Split‑testing a cleaner grid layout is also advised to highlight duos and new product launches.

By aligning creative strategy with cultural identity and leveraging older‑generation influencers, Rhode can amplify its bundle sales, increase average order value, and break into market segments that its recent retail expansion has missed, offering a scalable growth engine for the brand.

Original Description

Rhode would be a tough brand to do growth marketing for: they have a lot of what I suspect are “branding guidelines”: little to no text on ads, no partnership ads, and an aesthetic that doesn’t give creative strategists much to play with.

Great for brand marketing… tough for girls like me 🫠