Fenty and Mac’s cosmetics are two famous makeup brands with legendary products. Similarly, both makeup brands have lipstick, eye-shadow, foundation, and lip liner products. Few people haven’t heard of Mac and Fenty. At least everyone has heard it once or twice over the years. Both brands have a large audience following, and they produce top-quality and excellent products. However, most makeup lovers can’t quite decide which beauty brand is a better option. In this Fenty vs Mac comparison, we’ll explore both brands’ history and marketing strategies. Without further ado, let’s dive right in.

Fenty vs Mac – An Overview

Over the years, several celebrity brands have launched, and the numbers don’t seem to be stopping. However, Fenty Beauty cosmetics has been one of the leading celebrity-owned beauty brands with great success since its launch. The brand’s uniqueness is quite evident in its history. Rihanna is the brain behind Fenty Beauty, and she didn’t rely on her popularity to sell her cosmetic brand. She focused on creating a quality product that would satisfy many customers. The brand ensured they were considerate to provide a shade for all races and colors. 

Mac Cosmetic also started with a dream to provide a cosmetic line that catered to different sexes, races, and colors. The founders, Frank Angelo and Frank Toskan achieved this over the years and continue to promote diversity in their product line. To give you better insight into both brands, the following section explores the history of both brands.

Fenty vs Mac – Fenty Beauty History

Rihanna launched Fenty Cosmetics in 2017 when she was 29. She named the brand after her surname, but she didn’t just start up the beauty brand to own one. She wanted to develop a cosmetics company that was so unique it would change the beauty industry. Rihanna created Fenty to ensure the inclusion of all skin colors, including deeper skin tones in its collection. Before starting her solo company, she worked in partnership with Mac Cosmetics to release some beauty products. Rihanna is one thing both brands have in common in the Fenty vs Mac comparison. 

Upon its launch, Fenty Beauty was named one of the best inventions of 2017. Rihanna wanted a brand that satisfied a multicultural customer base. As a black woman herself, she was knowledgeable about the struggles women with darker skin and special skin conditions faced whenever they looked for makeup suited to their skin. Whenever they seemed to find the ideal makeup product, the pricing was usually higher than other products created for the lighter skin tone. Rihanna didn’t want the dark-skinned girls to only admire most makeup products without hope of ever finding a perfect fit. 

Rihanna was very involved in creating Fenty beauty, including the marketing, formulation, and packaging. She didn’t want other women to go through the disappointment she always felt when walking away from the makeup chair. Using her experience as a beginning point, she created products that efficiently solved most women’s problems out there. After Fenty Beauty’s launch, it became the industry standard for top-quality, inclusive, and affordable makeup. 

Fenty vs Mac – Mac Cosmetics History

Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo launched the Mac Cosmetic brand. Both were quite unsatisfied with the cosmetic products available and found that it affected their business negatively. Frank Toskan was a makeup artist and photographer, while Frank Angelo was a hair salon owner. Toskan wanted makeup products that photographed well, so he shared his concern with his friend. Together, both men got to creating makeup products that met their needs. They also wanted makeup products that included the LGBTQ+ community as they were also a part of the community. They wanted their product to be fun for all artists and inclusive of all demographics. With these expectations, the first Mac product came to be. 

After creating the first product, Toskan and Angelo started working on different lipstick shades. Their inspiration was a pink Crayola crayon in their kitchen. They sold their products in the hair salon to family and friends. As word spread about the lipsticks, the duo set to work on a line of brightly colored lipsticks. The brand finally sold to the public when they opened a store, and this official launch was in 1894. The tagline for the company was ‘All Races, All Ages, All Sexes.’ Because of their inclusivity, the duo achieved enormous strides for the LGBTQA+ community in the makeup industry. They played an integral role in the community’s growth, and their central message piqued the public interest.

The Madonna Effect on Mac Cosmetics

The brand achieved real fame when Madonna joined the Mac target market. She wore the brand’s signature lipstick in a modeling ad and fell instantly in love with the Mac brand. She then requested a lipstick that would last throughout her performance. Toskan and Angelo created the Russian Red for Madonna, and it helped the brand gain massive recognition. Afterward, people from different races and ages started visiting the store. Toskan and Angelo ensured there was always a bright and accepting nature in the store. Creative artists, bold personalities, and drag queens were also fascinated by the brand and wanted to be part of the brand. The duo’s longing for better products is how they could create a brand that thrived excellently in the beauty industry. 

Fenty Beauty Marketing Strategy

The Fenty vs Mac comparison isn’t complete without exploring their marketing strategies. Fenty has achieved success with the use of varying marketing strategies. Below are some of the leading strategies Fenty uses to scale in the cosmetic industry. 

Accessibility and Affordability

One of Fenty’s marketing strategies is the brand’s affordability and accessibility. The beauty brand has online stores to get the product you want quickly. The brand doesn’t limit its accessibility to a single geographical area. Countries without physical Fenty Beauty stores can usually order their products online. In addition to being available globally, this beauty brand keeps its price reasonable. Despite being a high-end fashion brand, Fenty keeps its costs lower than its competitors in the beauty industry. By doing this, the brand can tap into a broader market. 

All-Inclusive Product Line

Another reason this brand achieved significant success on its launch is because of its all-inclusive nature. The brand aims at everyone. Each product comes in different shades to cater to a wide range of customers’ needs in terms of cosmetics. Although Fenty started with products aimed at women alone, the brand now has products for men. Therefore, apart from all skin colors being covered in their products, the brand included all genders. The brand also includes unisex fragrances and skincare products that cater to all genders. 

The Use of Influencers

Another Fenty marketing strategy in the Fenty vs Mac comparison is the use of influencers. Unlike most beauty companies that dedicated millions of dollars to advertise new products, Fenty’s product used a different strategy. Rihanna involved the people who inspired Fenty Beauty. She already had the recognition and wanted to prove that her products were top-quality. During the New York Fashion Week, she invited celebrities, makeup artists, and beauty bloggers to sample the 40 makeup shades available for her New York Launch party. She also provided makeup kits for each influencer to take home while encouraging them to provide honest feedback about the products. 

The following month, Rihanna invited her influencers to join her in an immersive experience to produce her beauty film with her. Fans, celebrities, and bloggers also started purchasing the makeup line and provided honest feedback on these products. People also praised Rihanna for listening to their opinion and providing products they found to be life-changing. Rihanna used these reviews, videos, and feedback on her social media channels. Within the first month, the brand made $72 million. 

Mac Marketing Strategies

This Fenty vs Mac comparison section will explore Mac’s marketing strategies. To understand Mac strategies, we’ll be exploring the product, pricing, placement, and promotion strategies. These four strategies are the major contributors to Mac cosmetics success.

Mac Product Strategy

The brand can provide a vast product range for its users. Their products are unique, strong, and come in different shades. This makes them the ultimate color authority as they have eye products, skincare, makeup, lips, brushes, and perfumes in different shades. The brand can stand out from its competitors in the makeup industry by using different pigments to satisfy clients’ needs. Additionally, its packaging is quite different, and some of them are only available in limited editions.

Mac Price Strategy

The brand started out using its products for simply makeup artists and models. However, after Madonna used one of their product, the brand started using the premium pricing policy. Although there were brands with lesser prices available for the products, Mac Cosmetics customers were entirely loyal. The loyalty was a testament to the brand’s quality and retained premium pricing. Apart from the premium pricing strategy, Mac would also use the product line pricing strategy. This strategy differentiates them from the Fenty Beauty line in the Fenty vs Mac comparison. This strategy ensures the price of each product is relative to the next product. All the products complemented each other rather than competed. Therefore, an increase in one product’s price led to a rise in the price of other products.

Mac Place Strategy

The Mac place strategy is essential for the Fenty vs Mac comparison. In addition, it explores the distribution of the Mac product. Mac started its distribution across the counter with no registered name. However, the brand came to own its name seven years later and continued to gain a growing presence in the market. Currently, Mac Cosmetics has thousands of outlets all over the country. The brand uses offline meets to meet its customers’ needs internationally. In addition, you can check out the official website to purchase Mac products from the comfort of your home. The brand also targets Caucasian regions to improve patronage for the region’s brand significantly.

Mac Promotion Strategy

Mac cosmetics are famous for being highly rated. The brand employs different advertising strategies to increase brand awareness and also increase sales for the brand. Mac started with word-of-mouth, which is quite different from Fenty’s approach in this Fenty vs Mac comparison. The brand capitalized on this strategy to ground itself in the cosmetic industry. The brand also used partnerships with celebrities like Naomi Campbell, Princess Diana, Cher, and others to connect with its target audience. You can also find Mac campaigns on different social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This strategy helps the brand gain significant market visibility and has been successful for the brand in many ways. 

Final Thoughts

Mac and Fenty have been thriving not just because of their innovative ideas but also because of the top-quality product they offer. Each brand has a unique marketing strategy that gives them a distinctive identity that makes them stand out in the cosmetic industry. However, both brands focus on inclusivity so all women and men can access makeup products. Their promotion and product strategies set each brand apart. In this Fenty vs Mac comparison, it is clear that these two brands achieved success by filling a gap most brands failed to fill. Fenty created a vast range of shades to fit different skin tones. On the other hand, Mac cosmetics created products that weren’t limited and inclusive of all sex, gender, and the LGBTQA+ community. It’s hard to tell which beauty brand is better, as they both stand out in their unique way.