How Mergers & Acquisitions in the personal goods category provides an opportunity to generate Beauty and Skincare sponsorship

The already large Beauty and Skincare market is booming, with the global skincare market alone projected to reach $196 billion by 2030. This surge is partly driven by:

1. Consumers showing a greater preference towards the idea of wellness, self-care, and self-expression
2. A widening range of demographics interested in the market than ever before; led by younger females, LGBTQ+ audiences and a notable growing interest from males

To take advantage of these trends, major beauty groups are snapping up smaller, fast-growing brands who make a big play on their values such as inclusivity, empowerment and sustainability. This allows larger groups to stay culturally relevant and align more quickly with evolving consumer preferences and expectations.

A prime example is e.l.f. Beauty’s $1-billion acquisition of Rhode, a premium skincare brand founded by Hailey Bieber. Rhode’s values include combatting overconsumption and support for female empowerment causes by donating 1% of sales to organizations ‘actively dismantling the barriers that impede women’.

This deal helps the drugstore/high street brand e.l.f. to prove its mission of making the industry ‘inclusive, positive and community-focused’ by allowing a wider range of consumers to access premium products regardless of their budget or background.

One industry bible reports that this example isn’t the only young beauty brand courting investment, with [examples in full beauty and skincare sponsorship article] all reportedly engaging advisors this past year to explore their options.

This type of Merger & Acquisition activity provides an opportunity to sell sponsorship as the following example between Puig and Charlotte Tilbury illustrates.

Personal Goods and sponsorship
Beauty and Skincare falls into the wider Personal Goods subcategory, which has traditionally been a strong user of sponsorship. However, in recent years, Beauty and Skincare has become a bigger player due to the rise of women’s sport in terms of profile, commercial value, and cultural relevance.

Women’s sport sponsorship provides a strong platform for the brands to speak directly to relevant and engaged audiences and enables them to actively demonstrate a commitment to empowering certain demographics and encouraging inclusivity.

A notable example and trailblazer in this space is Charlotte Tilbury, the female-founded premium make-up brand which seeks to ‘empower everyone, everywhere through the magic of confidence.’ Since it was bought by Puig in 2020, Charlotte Tilbury has jumped into doing major sponsorships to support this mission such as:

• F1 ACADEMY (February 2024): a racing series for women aiming to develop and prepare young drivers to progress to higher levels of competition. CT stated: “Empowering everyone, everywhere to unlock the magic of confidence has always been my passion and purpose – a vision shared by Susie Wolff and F1 ACADEMY. We will use our global platform to elevate this new generation of fearless young female drivers, and open up the traditionally male-dominated world of motorsport to even more talented young women.”
• Other example in full beauty and skincare sponsorship article

So, who should you target next?

If you’re a rights holder that can demonstrate values which resonate particularly with younger females or LGBTQ+ audiences such as empowerment, inclusivity or sustainability, caytoo has identified a list of recent Mergers & Acquisition signals in the space including:

Leads in full beauty and skincare sponsorship article.