This week, I explore a new collaboration partnership between Olive & June nail care brand and Beats by Dre headphones.
On Tuesday, nail care brand Olive & June announced its biggest collaboration yet: Beats by Dre headphones.
The first-of-its-kind collaboration between 10-year-old Olive & June and Beats consists of two pairs of Beats Studio Buds + — available in silver or pink, for $169.99 each — and corresponding sets of press-on nails and polishes. Starting September 6, the nail products will be sold on Olive & June’s e-commerce site, while the Beats buds will be sold at Target.
Until this year, Olive & June was sold exclusively through Target, apart from the brand’s DTC e-commerce site. In January, the brand expanded to Walgreens and Walmart. Sarah Gibson Tuttle, founder and CEO of Olive & June, declined to share business stats but said the brand’s revenue has grown yearly. According to fundraising platform Pitchbook, the brand raised $6 million in outside funding between 2019 and 2020. Olive & June has two collaborations a year — its collaborators have included YouTuber Heart Defensor Telagaarta, who has over 2 million subscribers, body-care brand Megababe and travel accessories brand Stoney Clover Lane. Beats is the brand’s first tech-focused collaborator, and perhaps its best-known. Apple acquired Beats in 2014 to the tune of $3 billion. Its products are sold through major retailers including Target and Best Buy, and in all Apple stores. Beats has 3.8 million Instagram followers, compared to Olive & June’s 532,000.
“We love expanding our awareness and community, so we look for partners where we feel like it’s authentic but hopefully introduces a new person to the Olive & June world,” said Gibson Tuttle. “Beauty and tech products make people feel a certain way. Beats bring people joy; similarly, Olive & June is a beauty product that creates joy.”
Ad position: web_incontent_pos1
The collaboration represents a maturity moment for the indie nail polish brand, whose competitors like Essie and OPI have had their share of big collab moments. In Jan. 2022, OPI created special video game controllers with Xbox, while Essie worked with Jonathan Van Ness on nail polish in June 2019. According to Gibson Tuttle, a recent Olive & June study showed that its brand awareness between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2023 increased by 200%. Beats has collaborated with many brands and artists. In 2020, it teamed with design label Ambush on a set of glow-in-the-dark Powerbeats neckband earbuds, and last August, it worked with Kim Kardashian on three nude Beats Fit Pro varieties. According to the brand’s website, all past collaborations are sold out. Olive & June will be Beats’ third collaboration in 2023. Gibson Tuttle did not return a request for comment on the financial tie-ins with Beats to create the collaboration.
But the collaboration also further solidifies music’s growing relationship with the beauty industry, whether through physical products or in viral brand marketing on TikTok. In early August, Sephora unveiled its ambitious initiative called Sephora Sounds, which comprises over 55 emerging artists and their 500 songs across various genres, which Sephora can use in its social media marketing. Other brands, like E.l.f. Beauty and First Aid Beauty have sought to create their own music, too. In the case of Olive & June, Gibson Tuttle said she thinks of the products as complementary accessories, with a wearer coordinating the color of their Beats to their nail polish, for example.
“Beats is rooted in color and self-expression, and nails are the perfect extension of both,” said Beats CMO Chris Thorne. “Collaborating with Olive & June was an opportunity for both brands to touch new audiences in a way that felt authentic to the consumer experience.”
Ad position: web_incontent_pos2
To promote the collaboration, Olive & June has invested in a digital marketing campaign that includes Instagram and TikTok posts by mega-influencers Jackie Aina, Meredith Duxbury and Shayla Mitchell, who have a collective audience of nearly 30 million followers. Beats will also promote the collab on its own social channels. Gibson Tuttle declined to share how much Olive & June invested in collab marketing. Gibson Tuttle
“To have massive brands come to us and want to partner with us [means that brands] understand our mission so acutely and want to be part of that,” said Gibson Tuttle.
Inside our coverage:
How Touchland made hand sanitizer buzzy.
Indie brands embrace travel retail sector.
OOH ads are back as Murad taps Times Square.
What we’re reading:
Customers embrace customized fragrance.
FDA issues new guidelines for beauty regulation.
LoveShackFancy teases new beauty line with fragrance launch.
Want to discuss this with our editors and members? Join here, or log in here if you're already a member.
