In 2013, Kanye West and Lady Gaga deleted their respective Twitter feeds to clear the metaphorical air for their new artistic eras — West for his new album, “Yeezus,” and Lady Gaga for hers, “ARTPOP.”
In 2016, the deletion trend hit luxury fashion when YSL erased its Instagram grid after creative director Hedi Slimane’s departure and updated it with just a headshot of its new hire, Anthony Vaccarello. This is just one of numerous examples of the strategy being employed in high fashion, too.
And then, famously, in 2017, Taylor Swift deleted her grid, in addition to her presence on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, before introducing her “Reputation” era.
Flash forward eight years, and the clearing of the grid is a widely used tactic in beauty marketing, too.
On July 22, Rare Beauty employed it for the first time, clearing its grid in advance of debuting its first fragrance, Rare Eau de Parfum, which, while not yet for sale, was revealed a week later, on July 29.
The brand, which has 8.3 million Instagram followers, left its feed blank for 24 hours to let momentum build, said Ashley Murphy, its vp of consumer marketing. Then, it started to post exclusive content, including snippets of a video interview with Selena Gomez.
“We really wanted it [to be a] reset — not just a visual reset, but also an emotional reset,” Murphy said, explaining that the visuals for the new EDP are intentionally a bit darker and moodier than what’s usually seen from the brand’s makeup category. Clearing the feed, she said, was intended to help “immerse the community in this world of Rare fragrance.”
Everyone interviewed for this story agreed: Deleting a brand’s Instagram feed drums up conversation.
The Rare Beauty team, having never used the strategy before, didn’t know how long it would take for people to notice it had gone dark — but it happened within minutes, Murphy said. Given Gomez’s celebrity, even PopCrave, the popular gossip account, posted about it.
Since 2022, Merit has wiped its grid four times, including twice to indicate the arrival of a new category — a fact that should make your hands hurt just thinking about archiving all those posts.
The first time was when it introduced Great Skin, its serum and introduction into the skin-care space, in October of 2022. The second time was to introduce Solo Shadow, its eyeshadow in August 2023; the third was to announce its debut fragrance, Retrospect, in October 2024; and most recently, in May, it used the tactic for the launch of its tinted SPF, The Uniform.
“On its own, it is not a standalone [strategy]. But for us, what it signals is that we’re going to tell you a new story, and we’re going to be intentional about dedicating our focus to that one story,” said Aila Morin, Merit’s CMO.
That is to say, wiping an Instagram grid does not a marketing strategy make.
For example, for Merit’s most recent launch, wiping the grid was paired with a NYC pop-up, a collaboration with Brooks Brothers and a drip of content from outside creators including founder and influencer Charlotte Palermino and former fashion editor-turned Substacker Laurel Pantin.
For Rare, too, starting fresh on Instagram was just one element of major campaign. It has also mounted scratch-and-sniff billboards in NYC, in partnership with Shopify Shop. Vis-à-vis a QR code, customers can order a sample of the scent should they come into IRL contact with the billboards. In addition, to promote the new fragrance, it has released a collaborative latte, the Caramel Pistachio Cloud, with Pantry at the Madhappy store in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.
“There’s a time and place for a full grid reset, but it should be reserved for significant brand moments, such as a rebrand, a restage or a strategic shift in visual identity,” said Katelyn Winker, vp of client strategy and services at the e-commerce agency Front Row. “In those cases, a wipe can signal change, capture attention and create a clean slate to reintroduce the brand’s narrative.”
It is not however, a strategy to overuse, and there is risk involved.
When Merit wipes its grid, Morin knows it may lose out on some sales driven by Meta ads, for example. “When I click a Facebook ad and I go to a profile that has no posts on it, and I’ve seen an ad about a five-minute morning [makeup routine it offers], it’s absolutely a break in logic,” she acknowledged. Some shoppers will wait to see what’s coming, but “the longer the tease period, the more you’re delaying sales, she said, adding, “You have to be comfortable with that.” Morin is. “As long as they’re interested in the story, I care much more about that investment than I do about the immediate purchase.”
The short-term loss has always been worthwhile, she said. “You make a short-term sacrifice in those two weeks, but you tend to see the pickup in [sales] performance right after. So it’s a bet every time, but we have never had an issue with making the return on the bet,” Morin said.
Brands approach these resets differently. For example, Rare left its grid empty for just 24 hours. Before the launch of Retrospect, however, Merit’s grid remained empty for five days.
“Then, there are [generally] two weeks where we’re talking about one product — and it’s a product you can’t buy yet. That’s a really big bet on a [single] product and the fact that someone will be interested in that story,” said Vanessa Krooss, Merit’s senior director of brand. “If you’re like, ‘I don’t need a cleanser,’ or, ‘I don’t need an eyeliner,’ that person might just disengage with your feed completely, because it’s not for them, and that’s the only thing you’re telling them you sell.”
As an alternative, Winker suggested brands do grid “takeovers.”
“We align on a specific aesthetic, moodboard and campaign storytelling. Then we transition back into evergreen content in a way that feels seamless,” she said, regarding the way Front Row works on launches with its clients.
Saie has wiped its grid once, in 2023, in advance of the launch of its Glowy Super Skin Tint Foundation. Like Murphy and Morin, Lauigan, Saie’s senior director of community, noted that the moment was chosen to set the stage for a big moment and “an A+ launch.” The brand wiped its grid on February 25, though the foundation was not for sale until March 16. For around 2-3 days, the grid remained empty before the team started to repopulate it with “Easter eggs,” Lauigan said. Primarily, that included “lifestyle and campaign imagery, reminding people who we were as a brand.” A week out from launch, Saie posted a true teaser for the forthcoming foundation.
When a brand’s page is empty, it doesn’t have its usual channels of communication — like comments and likes — with its community. But, the payoff, Saie found, was worth the wait. “We saw a huge increase in engagement [and received] the most comments we had ever received [when we finally posted again]. The first teaser ended up getting 300 comments [currently, it has 409], which was really high for us at the time,” Lauigan said.
At other moments, such as for a shade expansion of its hero product, Glowy Super Gel, Saie has experimented with creating entirely separate Instagram feeds, where its most dedicated community members can dive deep into excitement around a new launch.
But, will this method remain popular? “For me, the fact that you’re writing a story on this [as a trend] tells me is this strategy probably isn’t effective anymore, and we need to go find new ways to tell stories,” Morin said.
Launch of the week: Alo dives deeper into sneakers
In August 2024, Glossy exclusively reported on Alo’s first running sneaker, the Alo Runner. At the time, the shoe debuted in just one color. Now, Alo fans can match it to just about any bra and leggings set they want.
This week, the brand debuted its third sneaker, the Sunset Sneaker ($225), which comes in two color ways: black and beige suede.
“The Sunset Sneaker was created for the girl on the go who lives life on the move, from early morning classes to coffee catch-ups, creative meetings to evening plans. She wants a sneaker that blends seamlessly into every part of her day without compromising comfort or style,” said Summer Nacewicz, Alo’s evp of creative and marketing.
For the launch campaign, Nacewicz said, the brand leaned into a model-off-duty mood: “The campaign captures that lived-in luxury we’re known for: clean lines, sculptural silhouettes and moments of pause that still feel powerful. It’s not about dressing up — it’s about showing up, grounded in comfort and elevated by design.”
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