The Interview: Revolution Beauty's CMO on its community-driven approach to product development and marketing

It's no secret that establishing a strong community is paramount to a brand's success, with more and more beauty businesses engaging with customers on a deeper level to drive brand awareness and sales.

Placing community at the heart of its operations, Revolution Beauty's 'Revolution Generation' initiative allows creators to do just this, fostering meaningful change from product development to engagement on social media.

In this interview with TheIndustry.beauty, Revolution Beauty's Chief Marketing Officer, Alison Hollingsworth, speaks all about the initiative, how it works, the importance of community engagement, and more.

What is Revolution Generation?

Revolution Generation is an ambassador programme that gives our community exclusive access to the brand and our products. It's an opportunity for us to collaborate and co-develop with our community, as well as an opportunity for them to learn about all things beauty. Revolution Generation is a place to celebrate our brand values and to together make positive change in the beauty industry.

How does it work?

All beauty lovers aged 18+ and with over 1,000 followers are invited to apply to join Revolution Generation. Another requirement includes being based in the UK or US (we are hoping to open this internationally in the future). Our team individually goes through all applications and accepts applicants who meet these requirements and whose social platforms align with our values.

Once accepted into the programme, ambassadors complete tasks to learn and earn. Points unlock discounts, product gifting, and behind-the-scenes access to Revolution - e.g. the chance to be in a photoshoot and have early access to new products. In return, our community creates authentic content that both showcases our products and our values.

Why have you launched it?

At Revolution Beauty, we believe in beauty without boundaries.​ We stand against unrealistic standards, championing real, unfiltered beauty for everyone. And because of this, we wanted to make sure we're working with real people, real customers, and real brand champions.

Ultimately, we’re not just creating makeup; we’re fostering a movement of inclusivity and self-expression. Our community is our heartbeat; they inspire and shape our journey – together we want to create a community that disrupts the industry.​ This is a place to celebrate our values and empower our community through accessible, high-quality, cruelty-free products. Through the creation of beautiful content that isn't tampered with. We don't use filters, and we don't retouch skin. We want to make a positive change where we can learn from and give back to our biggest supporters.

How is it performing so far?

We have been overwhelmed by the response from our community, with over 2,000 applicants in month one. We’re delighted that our community wants to be a part of Revolution Generation. It is so important to us that we let this unfold organically. A community like this can't be forced. We want to make sure that we engage and converse with every single one of our community members, and this takes time. But the importance of getting this right is worth it.

What has the feedback been like from those involved?

Feedback from the community has been really positive. We are so excited that our community is eager to come together and support our mission. And hey, proof is in the pudding (or, in this case, our Jelly Blush). The content they are already creating is unbelievable. We're incredibly proud of our growing community.

Why is community important to Revolution Beauty?

Revolution has always had a very engaged, very vocal community of beauty lovers. They’re not afraid to tell us what they love (and also what they don’t love) when it comes to our products and content, and this feedback is truly invaluable – it helps drive our product innovation and our content strategy. But we know it’s not just about what we can do with the feedback, we also try to ensure they feel involved with our brand by actively engaging with comments on our posts, listening to their feedback, and creating those fun, personal moments of connection with the brand.

What are the benefits of giving your community an active role in Revolution Beauty’s product pipeline?

We invited our community into the upcoming Skin Silk Serum Foundation campaign with amazing results. We launched our Skin Silk Serum Foundation in January this year with a mission to offer a premium serum foundation to our community affordably.

We launched with 20 shades and the ambition to work with our community to develop the next 20 shades based on their feedback. In the past, we have launched with 50-60 shades, but we were keen to ensure that our shade range worked for our customers.

We invited 40 members of our community and MUAs to Rev HQ to take part in focus groups to hear their feedback and to help us identify the shade and undertone gaps in our range.

The outcome? These community members were invited back and successfully found their shades and were invited to take part in our campaign shoot, representing the 40 shades we now offer!

How has the initiative benefitted Revolution Beauty so far?

We have experienced a 240% increase in our onsite reviews from the community who are excited to share their thoughts on our products. We’ve also had a spike in UGC content – over 3,800 social posts since launch!

How does it benefit brand awareness, customer engagement and retention?

We value the importance of rewarding our community and inviting them to feel part of Revolution Beauty. By fostering a positive online community with our ambassadors, we share our brand values, reward advocacy, and build a stronger connection with our customers. Ultimately, we listen, we learn, and we evolve. The greatest gift is feedback, good or bad. If we listen well, we will show up as the brand our community wants and needs us to be.

How do you see Revolution Generation developing in the future?

Our ambition is to continue to grow our Revolution Generation community and to expand this to more territories, enabling us to work with our community around the world. Always tapping into subject matters that are important to our community. This is bigger than a lipstick or a foundation; this about positively evolving the beauty industry along the right pathway. And having the courage to say no when something doesn't feel right.