Case study · Beauty
Earned-First Storytelling Reasserts Category Authority Without Paid Media
A multi-year expert-led media and influencer program repositioned RapidLash as the definitive lash and brow authority, generating 19.6 billion-plus impressions and 483 placements without a paid media budget.
19.6B+
Media & social impressions
483
Total placements
2
Industry award wins
Overview
The brief from RapidLash
RapidLash helped invent the lash serum category, but newer, buzz-heavy competitors with heavy influencer and paid budgets were starting to dominate the conversation. RapidLash's advantage—gentle efficacy and years of proven results—doesn't announce itself the way a trend does. 5W was tasked with making sure it got heard anyway.
Discover
The lash and brow category had shifted toward hype: competitors were buying attention through paid influencer waves and viral moments. RapidLash had no paid media budget to compete on those terms and didn't need one; its real advantage was a track record competitors couldn't manufacture. The work was to make that advantage as loud as its competitors' spending.
Define
“When everyone else is buying attention, proof is the loudest voice in the room.”
5W built the entire program around third-party validation instead of brand claims: dermatologists, makeup artists, broadcast hosts, and beauty editors saying, in their words, that RapidLash worked. Earned proof, at scale, became the strategy, not a substitute for one.
How 5W ran the program
Drive
- Hosted exclusive media desksides for two years running. Editors from Byrdie and Cosmopolitan experienced RapidBrow lamination and sculpting firsthand in partnership with makeup artist Nina Soriano, generating 45M+ media impressions.
- Built a national broadcast circuit. Expert-led segments on Daytime Chicago, PIX11, Shop LC, and The TODAY Show positioned RapidLash as a trusted, camera-ready solution, resulting in 25 placements and 130M+ impressions.
- Paired a makeup artist with a board-certified dermatologist. Their joint media interviews, demos, and broadcast appearances gave RapidLash's efficacy claims professional weight competitors couldn't match.
- Activated beauty and lifestyle creators for social proof. Influencer programming generated 59 creator posts and 8.7M+ impressions.
- Let celebrity fans amplify the story organically. Fan support, including Sydney Sweeney, extended credibility into culture without a paid partnership.
Results
19.6B+ media & social impressions · 483 total placements
Consistent, earned-first storytelling outperformed the trend cycle it was competing against.
- Desksides with Byrdie and Cosmopolitan generated 45M+ media impressions and counting.
- National broadcast placements delivered 130M+ impressions across 25 segments.
- Influencer programming produced 59 creator posts and 8.7M+ social impressions.
Coverage included
More client work
