--- title: How a brand repositioning campaign works, with Kylie Cosmetics as the example | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/kylie-cosmetics-brand-repositioning-campaign/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/kylie-cosmetics-brand-repositioning-campaign/ --- - **Story:** Kylie Cosmetics is the worked example here for a brand repositioning campaign: what it is, how it runs, and what the numbers say. - **Why it matters:** A brand repositioning campaign is measurable demand engineering, and public benchmarks set honest targets before any creative starts. - **Takeaway:** For Kylie Cosmetics, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure. - **Takeaway:** Most brand repositioning-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures. - **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a brand repositioning campaign transfer to any brand in beauty and personal care. ## How a brand repositioning campaign plays out for Kylie Cosmetics S Situation The opportunity A brand repositioning campaign is a concentrated chance to move the Kylie Cosmetics business in beauty and personal care, with a short window and high stakes. T Task What had to happen Turn attention into measurable demand for Kylie Cosmetics: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement. A Action The execution Insight before identity. Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. Old Spice moved only after research showed most body-wash purchases were made by women. For Kylie Cosmetics, this is the anchor of the plan. R Result How it is judged On incremental lift against a baseline for Kylie Cosmetics, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a brand repositioning campaign. ## The math behind a Kylie Cosmetics brand repositioning campaign 0% What the public data tells a Kylie Cosmetics team Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year Source: [Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) 0% What the public data tells a Kylie Cosmetics team Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh Source: [COLLINS](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) 0% A reference point for Kylie Cosmetics forecasting Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those u Source: [AdMonsters](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) Linked Benchmark a Kylie Cosmetics plan should cite Every figure on this page links to its publisher. Source: [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) #### Quick facts BrandKylie Cosmetics IndustryBeauty And Personal Care Campaign typeBrand Repositioning Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch Core measureIncremental lift, not reach Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked RGM useWorked example, not a recipe **Honest note** There is limited public campaign detail specific to Kylie Cosmetics, so the depth here comes from the brand repositioning-campaign discipline itself, with sourced benchmarks and named example campaigns. No Kylie Cosmetics figure is fabricated. ## What a brand repositioning campaign is The core idea, before the Kylie Cosmetics detail. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. Brand repositioning is the deliberate work of moving how a market perceives a brand — as a Kylie Cosmetics team knows — — its audience, its meaning, its price tier — without abandoning the equity already built. For Kylie Cosmetics, this is the load-bearing part. It is not a logo refresh. It applies cleanly to Kylie Cosmetics. It is a change in who the brand is for and — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — what it stands for, executed across product, message, pricing, and media. For Kylie Cosmetics, this is the load-bearing part. Done well it opens a larger market. In the Kylie Cosmetics context, that detail carries weight. Done carelessly it confuses the customers a brand already has. This page applies that definition to Kylie Cosmetics. **Claim:** Old Spice's 'The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' repositioning lifted Red Zone body-wash unit sales 60% year over year by May 2010 and 125% by July 2010. **Source:** [[Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing]](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/). **Context:** The campaign reached its audience by targeting the female purchaser — for Kylie Cosmetics, a real factor — after research found women bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. For Kylie Cosmetics, this number sets expectations before the work starts. ## Running a brand repositioning campaign, step by step Look at the moving parts. A brand repositioning campaign at Kylie Cosmetics scale is assembled, not improvised. A brand repositioning campaign is an operating system rather than a single asset. For Kylie Cosmetics, these parts have to work together: **Claim:** Mailchimp reported a 200% increase in user engagement within a year of its 2018 brand refresh, and Intuit later acquired the company for about $12 billion. **Source:** [[COLLINS]](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/). **Context:** The refresh, built with the design agency COLLINS, repositioned — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — Mailchimp from an email tool to a small-business marketing platform. It is the sort of benchmark a Kylie Cosmetics brief should cite. 1. **Message before mark.** Mailchimp's repositioning began by changing the homepage line from 'Easy Email Newsletters' to — Kylie Cosmetics included — 'Build Your Brand, Sell More Stuff' — the words shifted before the identity did. This is the part Kylie Cosmetics cannot afford to improvise. 2. **Proof at the product level.** A reposition is only credible if the product backs the claim. For Kylie Cosmetics, the detail is not optional. New positioning with an unchanged product reads as spin. Kylie Cosmetics planners flag this as a make-or-break detail. 3. **Media weight to force the reframe.** Perception is sticky. That is exactly the Kylie Cosmetics situation. The new position needs sustained paid weight, often anchored — as a Kylie Cosmetics team knows — by one high-reach moment, to overwrite the old association. For a brand like Kylie Cosmetics, getting this wrong is expensive. 4. **Insight before identity.** Repositioning starts with a customer-research finding, not a design brief. That is exactly the Kylie Cosmetics situation. Old Spice moved only after research showed — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — most body-wash purchases were made by women. This step decides how the rest of the Kylie Cosmetics plan holds up. 5. **Audience redefinition.** The campaign names a new target and a new occasion. A Kylie Cosmetics-scale brief should name this. The visual system follows that decision — it does not lead it. This step decides how the rest of the Kylie Cosmetics plan holds up. ## The benchmarks that frame the work Start with the category numbers. They frame what a brand repositioning campaign means for Kylie Cosmetics. These sourced figures give a Kylie Cosmetics brand repositioning campaign an honest target range across beauty and personal care. **Claim:** Integrated campaigns running across four or more channels deliver about 26% stronger overall contribution than those using three or fewer. **Source:** [[AdMonsters]](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/). **Context:** A reposition needs coordinated weight across channels, not — Kylie Cosmetics included — a single hero spot, to overwrite an entrenched perception. For Kylie Cosmetics, this number sets expectations before the work starts. Table: the three numbers that decide whether a Kylie Cosmetics brand repositioning campaign is judged honestly. | What to measure | Why it matters | | Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one | | Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked | | Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven | ## The metrics worth tracking The scoreboard decides the verdict. For Kylie Cosmetics, weigh these measures over vanity numbers. The KPIs that count for a brand repositioning campaign are listed here. Unaided brand awareness against the new positioning, perception-tracker shifts on the target attributes, audience-mix change in — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — new customers, price realisation versus the old tier, and revenue growth attributable to the repositioned segment. For Kylie Cosmetics, reach is the start of the measurement question, not the answer. Incremental lift is the answer. ## The failure patterns worth pre-empting These mistakes recur. Knowing them lets a Kylie Cosmetics brand repositioning campaign route around the common traps. A Kylie Cosmetics-scale team should design around these recurring errors: - Alienating the existing base faster than the new audience arrives, creating a revenue trough. - Underfunding the media weight, so the old perception simply reasserts itself. - Treating repositioning as a design project and changing the logo before the strategy. - Repositioning the message while leaving the product — for Kylie Cosmetics, a real factor — untouched, so the new claim has no proof. **The pattern**Each failure traces to planning, not to the work itself. A Kylie Cosmetics brand repositioning campaign is set up to win, or not, in advance. ## The RGM read on Kylie Cosmetics If a Kylie Cosmetics team keeps one thing: borrow the brand repositioning campaign structure, not the specific execution. What we see in audits: a brand repositioning campaign succeeds when a team like Kylie Cosmetics's plans it as engineering, with baselines and targets, not as a habit. The Kylie Cosmetics example is therefore a template. Its mechanics fit beauty and personal care broadly; its measurement logic makes a brand repositioning campaign something a team can stand behind. ## Quick answers Is this brand repositioning case study based on Kylie Cosmetics's own reported results? : No. The figures are public industry benchmarks for brand repositioning campaigns, each sourced and linked. They show how the campaign type works, set against the Kylie Cosmetics context. Any number that is not publicly sourceable is left out or marked as RGM analysis. How should a marketing team use this Kylie Cosmetics example? : Read it as a model, not a recipe. The mechanics and benchmarks transfer; the exact creative does not. Use it to pressure-test a brand repositioning plan against how the discipline actually works. What sources back the numbers on this page? : The numbers are drawn from public reporting by Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press, and each one links back to its source. **Keep reading** Foundational concepts and channels behind this case: - [what growth marketing is](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/) - [marketing attribution](/learn/marketing-attribution/) - [audience arbitrage](/learn/audience-arbitrage/) - [growth marketing services](/services/) - [advertising platforms](/platforms/) ## Frequently asked questions Kylie Cosmetics case: how long does a brand repositioning take to show results? For a brand like Kylie Cosmetics, the short answer is direct. Perception is sticky, so a reposition needs sustained media — for Kylie Cosmetics, a live factor — weight over months, often anchored by one high-reach moment. For a brand at Kylie Cosmetics scale, this is where the plan is tested. Old Spice saw unit sales move within a single quarter, but durable perception — for Kylie Cosmetics, a live factor — shift on brand-tracker attributes typically takes a year or more of consistent investment. The same logic holds for any beauty and personal care brand, Kylie Cosmetics included. What is the biggest risk in repositioning a brand? For Kylie Cosmetics and comparable beauty and personal care brands, this is the answer. Losing the existing base faster than the new audience arrives. For Kylie Cosmetics, the detail is not optional. A reposition that swings too hard can confuse loyal — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — customers before it attracts new ones, creating a revenue trough. That is exactly the Kylie Cosmetics situation. The safer path moves deliberately and keeps a — as a Kylie Cosmetics team knows — credible thread back to the equity already built. Does the product have to change during a reposition? Often yes, at least visibly. For Kylie Cosmetics, the detail is not optional. A new position is only credible if the product backs the claim. A Kylie Cosmetics-scale brief should name this. Repositioning the message while the product stays identical reads as spin. That is exactly the Kylie Cosmetics situation. The strongest repositions pair the new story with — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — a real, demonstrable product change customers can verify. What is the difference between a rebrand and brand repositioning? For Kylie Cosmetics and comparable beauty and personal care brands, this is the answer. A rebrand changes identity assets — logo, colour, typography. It applies cleanly to Kylie Cosmetics. Repositioning changes strategy: who the brand is for, — as a Kylie Cosmetics team knows — what it means, and what tier it sells at. That holds directly for Kylie Cosmetics. A reposition usually drives a rebrand, but — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — a rebrand without a strategy shift is decoration. That holds directly for Kylie Cosmetics. Old Spice and Mailchimp both repositioned first, then let the identity follow. A Kylie Cosmetics team would plan against exactly this. Where does a repositioning campaign start for a brand like Kylie Cosmetics? For a brand like Kylie Cosmetics, the short answer is direct. It starts with a customer-research insight, not a design brief. It applies cleanly to Kylie Cosmetics. Old Spice repositioned after finding that women — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — bought roughly 60% of men's body wash. For Kylie Cosmetics, this is the load-bearing part. The insight names the new audience and occasion, and every — and Kylie Cosmetics is no exception — later decision — message, product, media — serves that finding. For Kylie Cosmetics, that is the practical takeaway. Why does this case study use Kylie Cosmetics as the example? Kylie Cosmetics is a recognisable brand in beauty and personal care, which makes the brand repositioning mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Kylie Cosmetics is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand. ### Sources & references - [Old Spice repositioning case study](https://www.greatideasforteachingmarketing.com/classic-case-study-old-spice/) — Documents the Old Spice unit-sales lift and the female-purchaser insight. - [COLLINS — Mailchimp rebrand case study](https://wearecollins.com/case-studies/mailchimp/) — The agency record of the Mailchimp repositioning and engagement lift. - [Brand Master Academy — brand repositioning guide](https://brandmasteracademy.com/brand-repositioning/) — Reference on repositioning strategy, process, and worked examples. - [AdMonsters — integrated campaign contribution data](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) — Multi-channel campaign contribution benchmark. ## Related [#### All case studies The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)