From Scrolling to Scratching: Rare Beauty’s Clever Marketing Move

Building a strong brand isn’t just about creating awareness. The real power comes when awareness is combined with interest by sparking emotions and creating a memorable experience from the very first interaction with the brand.
One amazing example is Rare Beauty. Instead of treating a billboard as just another static ad, they turned it into an interactive sensory experience. The billboard for their new perfume invited people to scratch the surface and release the fragrance, transforming a passing glance into a multisensory encounter. This was not only memorable, but also a perfect way to connect consumers to the product in real life, effortlessly right there on the street.

For some companies, billboards may feel outdated or not cost-effective. But innovative brands like Rare Beauty are reinventing this traditional medium to drive more than just awareness, they create interest, emotional connection, and unforgettable brand moments. These are the brands that thrive in the long run. Why? Because they understand the importance of balance investing in brand building and sales activations.

Where’s the Sweet Spot?

Of course, sales activation still plays a role. Discounts, promotions, and giveaways are great for nudging hesitant consumers into action. They work well for immediate results. But how do brands ensure those consumers return and stay relevant over time? The answer lies in brand building. A strong, well-crafted brand identity inspires loyalty and builds long-term relationships. According to the IPA Databank (1998–2016, profit cases), the optimal budget split between brand building and sales activation is 62% vs. 38% respectively.

How Rare Beauty Strikes the Perfect Balance

With their perfume launch, they focused heavily on brand building from the very first phase of the customer interaction with the product. By creating an interactive, sensory billboard, they delivered an experience people would not easily forget and one that naturally blended awareness with interest. But they didn’t stop there. Rare Beauty smartly paired this with a sales activation element: a QR code on the billboard allowed people to request a free sample of the perfume. This way, consumers could move from experiencing the fragrance in the street to trying it at home. The brand effectively guided people through the entire customer journey — from awareness, to interaction, to trial — using a mix of sensory branding, digital tools, and product sampling.
By thoughtfully designing every step of the billboard encounter, Rare Beauty combined creativity and strategy to seamlessly turn attention into action and brand awareness into product experience.

The Bigger Picture

Investing in brand equity means creating emotions, experiences, and spaces where trust and connection can grow. That’s how brands achieve lasting success. A strong brand image not only drives loyalty but also allows companies to raise prices without major drops in demand — the true power of brand building. Rare Beauty pushes us to think outside the box, showing how even traditional tools like billboards, often overlooked today due to their limited measurability, can be reinvented. By creating a tactile, scratch-to-smell experience paired with a QR code, they transformed the billboard into a measurable, interactive touchpoint accessible to anyone walking by. This kind of unconventional strategy, where digital integration meets real-world interaction, is
what helps brands stand out in today’s noisy and saturated market.