How values, identity, and belonging became Fenty’s most powerful brand assets.
The Future of Branding Isn’t Product, It’s Psychology
Most brands segment customers by age, gender, income, or geography. Fenty Beauty didn’t.
Instead, they looked deeper: What do people want to feel? Where do they want to belong? What part of themselves do they want to express? This is psychographic segmentation in action, the strategy of understanding audiences based on lifestyle, values, aspirations, and identity. And no beauty brand executed it more powerfully than Fenty.
Fenty didn’t just market to consumers. It mirrored them. It built a brand that reflected their stories, their struggles, and their vision of beauty.
What Is Psychographic Segmentation?
While demographics describe who your customer is, psychographics explain why they buy.
It focuses on:
- Beliefs
- Attitudes
- Identity
- Lifestyle choices
- Motivations
- Aspirations
Fenty didn’t just see women of colour as a market. It saw them as whole people with beauty routines, frustrations, rituals, and dreams shaped by lived experience.
By doing so, it built emotional resonance far beyond skin tone.
VALS and Fenty: A Strategic Fit
VALS (Values, Attitudes, and Lifestyles) is a framework used to segment customers into eight psychographic groups like Achievers, Strivers, Experiencers, and Innovators.
Fenty aligned perfectly with two key groups:
- Experiencers: Young, expressive, motivated by self-expression, and drawn to brands that reflect their uniqueness.
- Strivers: Style-conscious, status-driven, aspirational consumers who want to feel included and seen.
Instead of building for the average consumer, Fenty built for these value-driven, culture-shaping tribes and in doing so, pulled in the masses who saw themselves reflected.
From Inclusivity to Identity
Fenty didn’t invent the idea of inclusivity in beauty but it executed it differently.
Legacy brands talked about diversity. Fenty operationalised it. Forty foundation shades at launch wasn’t a PR move, it was a statement. And that statement resonated deeply with people who felt ignored or erased by the industry.
More importantly, the tone was different. Fenty wasn’t begging for approval from the mainstream. It spoke directly to those on the margins with confidence, not apology.
This created brand intimacy. People didn’t just like Fenty, they felt claimed by it.
Marketing the Movement, Not Just the Makeup
Psychographic segmentation informed every part of Fenty’s brand architecture:
- Product: Not just inclusive shades, but formulas designed for different skin types and climates
- Visuals: Models who weren’t just racially diverse, but varied in size, gender expression, and personal style
- Messaging: No “aspirational beauty” nonsense. Just real people, bold looks, and fearless confidence
The result was a brand that didn’t sell transformation. It celebrated recognition.
Consumers weren’t told to change. They were told they were already enough and Fenty fit them, not the other way around.
From Brand to Belonging
The real genius of Fenty’s psychographic approach was how it built community. It wasn’t just a line of products, it was a mirror. A megaphone. A message.
This turned customers into co-creators:
- Fans posting tutorials with shades previously unavailable to them
- Influencers sharing what Fenty meant to them personally
- Everyday consumers speaking about how they finally felt seen
When your brand becomes a symbol of identity, it transcends product.
This is the holy grail of psychographic strategy: brand as belonging.
What Other Brands Can Learn
You don’t need Rihanna or Sephora to do what Fenty did. But you do need insight, intention, and the courage to choose who you’re really building for.
Here’s how to start:
1. Interview Your Audience Deeply
Go beyond surveys. Ask about lifestyle, values, frustrations, beliefs. Find the emotional undercurrents.
2. Choose a Primary Psychographic Segment
Don’t market to everyone. Market to a core identity group whose values align with your brand.
3. Build Products That Reflect Identity
Representation shouldn’t be aesthetic, it should be functional. Design for real, nuanced needs.
4. Create a Brand World That Reflects Their Reality
Let your audience see themselves in your visuals, voice, content, and values. Not as tokens but as central characters.
Final Thought: This Is What Inclusive Strategy Looks Like
Fenty didn’t win because it “diversified.” It won because it listened. It built for identity, not just income. It understood that feeling seen is one of the most powerful consumer experiences you can create.
Psychographic segmentation made that possible.
So if you want your brand to do more than sell if you want it to mean something go beyond surface-level targeting. Speak to people’s beliefs. Build for their values. Reflect who they already are.
Because the future belongs to brands that feel like home.
Certified And Creative 
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