taiwanIf you love the spotlight and managed to enthuse a large following, you might be able to partner with large brands or even create your own fashion and beauty lines to sell via social media. Take Chiara Ferragni as an example, who is by now a Global Fashion Icon and lead judge of the Beauty Bound Season Two, a first-of-its-kind multi-influencer power format which sets out to find ‘Asia’s Next Top Beauty Creator’.

The series is the brainchild of the luxury skincare brand SK-II and the social video agency Brave Bison, focused on following 64 young contestants across eight countries, who all compete to become ‘Asia’s Next Top Beauty Creator’
“We know creators are shaping the future of the beauty industry – by supporting grassroots talent we are tapping into unchartered territory”, Sandeep Seth, Marketing Director, Global Operations, SK-II, explained. “We subscribe to a #changedestiny philosophy, from overcoming the limits of DNA, to breaking gender stereotypes, to defying age. This campaign is all about empowering and supporting local creators, giving them the opportunity to build their own influence and shape the beauty sector.”

The top eight contestants from each country, selected from hundreds of YouTube entries, attended local boot camps, where they were tested on their skills, creativity and showmanship across a series of challenges.  Furthermore, they received mentorship from many of the region’s top influencers and E-Celebs, including celebrity makeup artists Jung Sae Mool (Korea) and Xiao Kai (Taiwan), beauty creators Mikipon (Japan), Queenie Chan (Hong Kong), and Tashy (Malaysia), international singer-songwriter Anggun (Indonesia), award-winning actress Rebecca Lim (Singapore), and supermodel, host and actress Cindy Bishop (Thailand).

Ian Samuel, Chief Commercial Officer at Brave Bison, is glad to see brands investing in this type of work, especially P&G and SK-II leading the industry in social video and influencer marketing.

Since TV audiences are in decline and their trust in traditional format based “advertising” is at an all-time low, brands like SK-II are looking at new ways to cut through and offer customers authentic content experiences. “This strategy makes the brand the owner of a reality format, authentically supercharged through influencers to highlight SK-II’s #changedestiny philosophy”, he affirmed.

Although Brave Bison is the largest social video broadcaster and agency in the world, Samuel believes Brave Bison’s ability to tap into the local Asian market is a genuine strength, developing, producing and activating the format in Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

"At Brave Bison, we’re first local, second regional, and third global.  Through this campaign, we’ve tapped into our strong content capability we have across Asia to make sure we’re resonating with each market”, he said.

The series finale takes place at a super-influencer studded event in Okinawa, attended by press, top influencers and celebrities, including Chiara Ferragni.

Ferragni said: “I am so happy to have this opportunity to be the global judge for Beauty Bound Season Two. In my own journey as a creator, there were many times where I doubted myself because we didn’t have many role models to follow when I first started out in 2009. The challenges faced by emerging creators are no stranger to me, so being able to support creators in Asia on their journey is very meaningful to me.”

By MediaBUZZ