Merit Beauty adopts a cautious and thoughtful marketing approach, emphasizing creativity beyond algorithm-driven trends. Founder Kate Morin highlights how digital algorithms tend to deliver uniform content, causing marketers and creators to draw from the same sources.
To combat this, Morin encourages her team to seek inspiration offline, exploring museums and investing heavily in vintage materials like ’90s magazines and Ebay ads—known for their strong art direction and clear product storytelling. Real-world observation also informs the brand’s aesthetic, such as an Amsterdam trip that inspired new blush shades based on local makeup trends, rather than online influences.
“They [algorithms] serve everyone the same content, so art directors, marketers, creators all end up drawing from the same references.”
Morin personally uses multiple Instagram accounts to break out of algorithmic bubbles, explaining that liking one type of content often limits exposure to new ideas.
Despite challenges with TikTok, where clickbait dominates, Merit rejects such tactics. Instead, it focuses on lo-fi content like casual five-minute makeup routines and collaborates with cultural figures such as actors from Insecure, Gossip Girl, and Gilmore Girls. These efforts yield solid engagement, averaging 14%, four times the platform average, though the brand has yet to achieve significant TikTok growth.
In contrast, Instagram’s emphasis on storytelling and beautiful visuals aligns well with Merit’s strategy. Print advertising has also been effective: ads and scent strips in Vogue and Real Simple generated strong responses during a fragrance launch, demonstrating success in less crowded channels.
For Morin, the key measure of success is building a brand with deep consumer trust rather than maximizing short-term reach. “Platforms change, products change — but if that connection holds, we’re in a strong place,” she says.
Merit’s marketing philosophy centers on repetition and resonance over rapid innovation and broad reach, favoring a slower, more disciplined pace in a fast-moving market.