Recently, Rihanna performed at the 2023 Halftime Show, which is the first time she has performed since her ANTI World Tour in 2016. She wore a red jumpsuit, glossy bustier, and puffer coat; and was surrounded by hundreds of dancers wearing white puffer coats and baggy pants that made them look like dancing marshmallows. Suspended on a platform that lifted her up to 60 feet above the Super Bowl field, Rihanna sang all of her hit songs, including Where Have You Been, Only Girl (In the World), We Found Love, Rude Boy, Umbrella, Diamonds, and more.
Due to the fact that Rihanna hasn’t produced an album since Anti in 2016, she, as a music artist, had become less relevant. While she is the creator of Fenty Beauty, a popular makeup brand with a valuation of about $3 billion, she had somewhat retreated into the background in terms of her status as a music artist and a public figure. Her brands were relevant, but people weren’t talking about her–just her products.
Something many people aren’t aware of is the fact that Super Bowl Halftime performers are paid “union scale”, which basically means nothing at all. Performers are usually given a $10-15 million budget for their production costs, which oftentimes is not enough. In order to do what they want, the artists have to pay the difference. So, if the Halftime Show was going to cost Rihanna a lot of time, money and effort; why on Earth would she do it? The answer is publicity.
During the Super Bowl, searches for Fenty Beauty increased 883% and Fenty amassed $5.6 million in sales in the 24 hour period following the show. And just recently, Umbrella (which came out in 2007) re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #37 16 years later. Clearly, it was worth it.
It wasn’t just her performance itself that made this happen though. It was the way she used her performance to market her products that resulted in this success. During the performance, she actually used Fenty’s Invisimatte Instant Setting and Blotting Powder. Her use of this product during the show was intentional–it brought attention to her brand in an extremely clever way. Another marketing move Rihanna made was to fly beauty influencers out to the stadium to watch the Super Bowl. Naturally, many of them posted videos of them getting ready for the Super Bowl using Fenty products, which resulted in lots of publicity on Tiktok, one of the most popular social media platforms out there. Lastly, Rihanna used the Halftime Show as an opportunity to announce her pregnancy, making history as the first pregnant woman to perform at the Super Bowl.
Rihanna’s performance brought attention back to her brand, a brand which revolutionized the makeup industry with its inclusive shade range. Her original foundation launch had 40 shades, which was something that was practically unheard of at the time. Her performance was a reminder of all that she has done and the progress she has made towards inclusivity in the makeup industry. This reminder gave people an incentive to go buy her products to show that they support this.
Though there have been critiques of the quality of Rihanna’s performance at the Halftime Show, it is undeniable that the way she used the performance to elevate her image and market her brand was ingenious. Her performance reintroduced her music, which in turn, boosted her brand. None of what she did was merely a coincidence. It was deliberate, it was smart…and it worked.
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♡ Clotilde
