"The original trip, which included Desi Perkins, Shayla Mitchel and Patrick Starrr, was designed to promote the now-cult classic Shape Tape concealer. It not only boosted sales, but instantly shifted how the industry would go on to utilize influencers. In fact, a decade later, said concealer has gone on to boast more than $1 billion in sales, 77,000 five-star reviews and one tube sold every four seconds worldwide-according to internal brand data."
"Instead of spending millions of dollars on a 10-second ad, I just invested in the people, real experiences and the content they created. It wasn't a strategy. It was just a leap of faith, I guess is a good way of saying it. The first trip proved and continues to prove, that if you put creators together in a very authentic way, the internet pays attention. And then, brand trips were born."
Maureen Kelly organized a small, experiential influencer trip to Turks and Caicos in 2015 to promote Shape Tape concealer. The trip produced immediate dot-com sales and demonstrated that investing in creators and real experiences could outperform costly traditional advertising. The excursion included notable creators and catalyzed a shift in how brands use influencers, leading to the rise of organized brand trips. Shape Tape later achieved over $1 billion in sales, tens of thousands of five-star reviews, and sustained rapid global sales, illustrating long-term impact and industry adoption of creator-driven marketing.
Read at Forbes
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