This year Rihanna has seized Valentine’s Day, and she’s declared that men deserve love too.
In 2018 the singer-turned-beauty-mogul expanded her business with the addition of the Savage X Fenty lingerie brand, which has since disrupted the lingerie industry thanks to its inclusive designs and affordable prices. Staying true to her mission, this Valentine’s Day Rihanna has launched a lingerie line that is specifically for men — and it’s turning heads.
We’re used to seeing brands create Valentines-themed products, from sweet treats to beauty items, and while those still garner media and public attention, Savage X Fenty is the standout brand of the romantic holiday, with its sheer boldness and cheeky approach to capturing consumer interest.
Savage X Fenty captures the most attention to brand content
Savage X Fenty is known for creating lingerie that is suitable for all body types, and is represented by people from all kinds of backgrounds, so when publishers got word of Rihanna dropping a new Valentine’s Day collection, they were quick to cover the news.
There were 143 articles written about the new drop on Jan 18th, which was easily the biggest day for media interest, although only one publisher, Pink News, focused on the men’s portion of the collection in the first few days of coverage. More publishers began covering the men’s line on Jan 27th, which led to the biggest peak of public interest on Jan 30th — a day with more than 37k engagements. Ladbible’s article has captured the most attention to the men’s lingerie line and also comes in as the most engaged article of all Valentine’s Day content this year, earning over 40k engagements since its publication.
How social media elevated the new line
Savage X Fenty was able to generate a significant level of buzz to web content about the new men’s line, but social media platforms drove the engagement even higher, and allowed for fun conversations surrounding the designs.
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The brand has been showering its Instagram page with photos and videos of the Valentine’s Day line for both men and women, but most recently it posted a collaboration video with The Old Gays, a group of four gentlemen who rose to fame on their TikTok account for sharing positive videos about growing up as gay men.
It’s safe to say these men caught the gaze of Rihanna, and their Savage X Fenty video has earned over 60k engagements. The comment section of the video saw lots of love and praise, with one person commenting that “whoever is making these ad choices at Savage X Fenty is a visionary.”
Although we can’t confirm that the visionary for this specific partnership was Rihanna herself, we can speak to the power she has to influence, and why her progressive approach to a celebrity owned brand has been successful.
Rihanna boasts an impressive amount of followers on social media, with 120 million on Instagram and another 102 million on Facebook. Her Instagram post promoting the women’s Valentine’s Day drop received nearly 6 million engagements, and the same post on Facebook saw over 418k.
To posts that don’t involve one of her brands, she sees an even more profound amount of engagements, with her recent baby bump photo earning over 17 million engagements.
Her immense following as a singer has lifted up her platform, but her actions as a businesswoman have allowed her brands to rise to fame. Rihanna has chosen inclusivity and diversity from the start, with Fenty Beauty recognizing a lack of skin tone options and moving to fill that gap, and Savage X Fenty celebrating all body types, genders, and people in its campaigns and fashion shows.
Valentine’s Day will always be a fun holiday for brands to capitalize on, but this year Rihanna has proved once again that consumers are drawn to companies with meaningful missions, and Savage X Fenty’s men’s lingerie line is the latest example of just that.
For more on how brands and celebrities can influence customers, check out our blog about Cristiano Ronaldo here.
