As beauty brands continue to invest in social commerce, NYX Professional Makeup rolled out short video platform Triller’s new livestream shopping capability.
On July 8, NYX Cosmetics hosted a throwback-themed event on Triller’s TrillerTV livestreaming section featuring early 2000s pop stars Lance Bass, Brandy and JoJo for a shoppable video experience. The livestream showed the celebrities using items from NYX Cosmetics’ fall 2021 collection in a challenge to recreate their Y2K looks, with a purchase button linking to the collection on the brand’s site. It was promoted on Triller’s homepage and NYX Cosmetics’ Instagram account, as well as via a contest offering the brand’s SMS list the chance to meet Lance Bass.
The campaign is the latest example of how the Y2K nostalgia trend has made its way to beauty. The NYX Cosmetics campaign is “leaning into the past and helping to twist it in a new way,” said Yasmin Dastmalchi, svp of marketing at NYX Cosmetics. “We’re targeting that Gen-Z and millennial consumer and community that wants to express themselves and is core to our brand. We know that the ’90s and 2000s resonate with them. Other ’90s-2000s beauty promotions in the past year have included hair dye brand Hally’s “Hally Meal” box of Y2K-era toys including Tamagotchis, ColourPop’s “Lizzie McGuire” collab, Glamnetic’s Y2K-themed press-on nails and INH’s Care Bears collection.
In December 2020, NYX Cosmetics’ shoppable AR Snapchat lens appeared on both Snapchat and Triller. The latest Triller promotion is another example of the brand’s adoption of new features on Gen-Z platforms. The brand was also one of the early beauty advertisers on TikTok, and recently became the first global cosmetics brand to partner with an esports team. It announced on June 23 that it is the official beauty partner of professional esports organization Dignitas.
Triller first gained widespread media attention in the fall of 2020 as a TikTok alternative, amid fears of a ban by the Trump administration. Since then, its TrillerTV feature has gained traction in entertainment as its celebrity-studded Triller Fight Club boxing matches have received significant buzz. It has also been attracting advertising by a variety of major brands. In the beauty space, E.l.f. Cosmetics has also been active on Triller.
Triller follows competitor TikTok in its rollout of shoppable livestreaming, after TikTok introduced the capability first for Walmart in December, following Instagram’s introduction of the feature over a year ago. While TikTok and Instagram livestream shopping technology displays product listings on the screen while the host speaks, Triller currently offers a “buy now” button that links to purchase on the brand site.
As in-person activations resume for brands, NYX Cosmetics will adopt a hybrid approach to virtual and in-person events. “As people enter the post-Covid world, we’re definitely going to continue to create a more seamless experience that’s offline and online, and make that consistent as we approach future campaigns,” said Dastmalchi.
Also active with Instagram’s and Amazon‘s livestream shopping features, the brand is betting on the staying power of livestream shopping even as people head back into physical stores. “It’s still a behavior that we’re experimenting with,” Dastmalchi said. “But we believe it’s here to stay and will continue to be a channel of growth for the brand in the future.”