The Debrief

By Maya Jacobson 05/19/2026

More Than a Celebrity Skincare Line 

As we have covered on this blog, celebrity beauty brands are everywhere, but very few manage to feel culturally relevant after their launch. Consumers have become increasingly skeptical of celebrity-founded companies, especially within an oversaturated market. Still, Hailey Bieber’s Rhode has managed to stand apart from the others, not because of Beiber’s fame but because the brand understands modern public relations better than most companies in the beauty industry. 

According to a recent TIME profile naming Rhode one of its “Most Influential Companies,” the skincare brand has evolved from a minimalist startup into a company valued at about $1 billion after its partnership with e.l.f. Beauty. While Rhode’s products help generate attention, the company’s success came from its ability to create an entire lifestyle and aesthetic consumers want to participate in.

Rather than marketing Rhode as a celebrity side product, Bieber and her team built the brand around carefully crafted digital identity that felt aspirational while still consumer friendly. This balance gave Rhode an upper hand in the industry. 

The Road to Rhode 

One of the most interesting things from the profile is that Biber spent years establishing credibility within the beauty and skincare cultures before Rhode officially launched in 2022. Through youtube content, interviews and social media posts, she consistently positioned herself as deeply interested in skincare, wellness, and beauty routines. Her Youtube series, “Who’s in My Bathroom?” helped create a casual, intimate image that audiences connected with long before Rhode hit the market. 

By the time the brand launched, audiences already associated Bieber with glowing skin, minimal makeup, and effortless beauty. Rhode simply extended this aesthetic that people were already recognizing. Biber told TIME that consistency has always been important to the brand because consumers can immediately tell when something feels forced or off online. This helped Rhode avoid an overly corporate image many celebrity brands struggle with. 

The company leaned heavily into what TIME described as a “360 worlds,” meaning every aspect of the brand reinforced the same image and tone. Rhodes muted packaging, neutral color palette, and glossy campaign visuals as well as clean social media feeds all worked together to create a recognizable identity online. In a digital environment where consumers scroll through hundreds of ads daily, Rhode succeeded because its branding felt instantly identifiable. 

Product Launches as Cultural Moments 

Rhode also understands how to transform product launches into events people genuinely discuss online. Instead of relying on traditional advertising campaigns, the brand creates highly visual marketing moments designed for social media circulation. TIME highlighted campaigns featuring Bieber ina desert photo shoots, milky baths and carefully curated “glazed skin” imagery that quickly spread across TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms. 

These campaigns worked because they showcased teh products, and created a mood audiences wanted to recreate themselves. Rhode sells skincare, but it also sells a lifestyle associated with wellness, luxury and simplicity. Consumers are not only purchasing lip treatments or moisturizers, they’re being into the identity Rhode presents. 

Biber acknowledged in the article that today’s audiences expect more from brands. She explained that Rhodes’ team thinks carefully about how every campaign image, launch, and product fits into consumers’ everyday routines and online habits. This attention to digital culture has helped Rhode dominate conversations across TikTok, Instagram, and beauty influencer spaces. 

The company’s strong understanding of influencer culture also contributes to its success. Bieber doesn’t present herself as distant in Rhode’s marketing. Instead she frequently shared routines, behind the scenes content, and personal product recommendations. 

Consumer Trust

Part of Rhode’s success also comes from how openly Biber talks about the excitement and pressure of building the brand under constant public scrutiny. In the TIME profile, she acknowledged how difficult it can be to have “every single thing be looked at and picked apart,” especially online where criticism spreads quickly. This honesty makes Rhode feel more human than many other celebrity brands. Bieber does not try to represent herself as a flawless entrepreneur. She openly discusses the challenges of balancing motherhood, business growth and internet criticism while continuing to expand the company globally. Reflecting on the past year, she told TIME she felt “really stretched in a lot of ways” while navigating Rhode’s sale, retail expansion, and her first year as a mother all at once. 

Overall, Rhode is successful because it understands that modern PR isn;t about visibility, it is about creating a brand people genuinely want to participate in.