Three media planners and one beauty marketer reveal their magazine media strategies.

This article originally appeared in Campaign.

Beauty is a crowded industry where a constant stream of emerging start-ups battles it out with established brands to achieve cut-through. But magazine brands are proving their worth to beauty advertisers through innovative partnerships and shoring up their relationships with audiences keen for valuable and engaging content in this area.

Case in point: £124,000 is spent on skincare and beauty products by Hearst UK’s audience per month.*

The sector has seen a boost as a result of “treatonomics” – people choosing to spend money on things that make them happy and cut back elsewhere – according to Barclays research into consumer spending trends in 2024.

And while 2024 remained a difficult year with many people tightening their budgets, 46% of respondents said they prioritise spending on small, mood-boosting luxuries such as cosmetics – a trend known as the “lipstick effect”.

Beauty issues

Petros Salibas, media director at L’Oréal Groupe UK & Ireland, explains that a challenge for marketers in the fast-paced beauty industry is continuing to innovate and evolve in order to meet consumers where they are. “As the media landscape becomes more multifaceted and complex, this, in turn, requires a clear understanding of how different platforms play together,” he adds.

Ciara McEvoy, account manager at Dentsu’s iProspect, says beauty marketers need to be “more tech savvy than ever” too and that a multichannel approach is essential. “They also need to be open to change and willing to incorporate new creative media formats – such as AR – alongside more traditional ones, like TV and social media.” 

Meeting consumers where they are and in novel ways is exactly Hearst UK’s approach with its Cosmopolitan Black Beauty hub. Designed to shine a light on and celebrate black beauty, culture and self-expression, the hub is a culmination of all the content the brand has created to serve its Black British audience over the past decade. For black girls, by black girls.

Within the “extremely cluttered and competitive” UK beauty industry, “we have an unusually high number of beauty retailers which can be tricky for both marketers and consumers to navigate,” notes Ellie Howell, senior associate director at EssenceMediacom UK. “Building a campaign that resonates in all this noise can be challenging, especially when we need to prove the value of our own product versus the insurmountable number of other options available to customers.”

Why magazine media matters

Influencers have been a popular strategy in beauty marketing over the past few years, but according to Statista’s whitepaper on 2025 consumption trends, consumer trust in influencers is on the decline.

Only 12% of consumers go by influencers’ recommendations when they’re deciding what to buy in categories such as beauty or personal care, the report finds. 

Now, trusted editorial brands are looking to further strengthen their connections with communities – beauty enthusiasts in this case – by bringing their marketing initiatives back closer to home.

Bauer launched a standalone beauty magazine last November to run for the two months pre-Christmas, for example. Grazia Beauty carried expert beauty tips, topical trends and products across its 100 pages, created as a direct response to readers’ enthusiasm for beauty.

And Grazia didn’t stop there. In this sector, trial and recommendation are important aspects of the purchase journey. And, as 2025 arrived, so did promotion of their popular Grazia Beauty Club. Membership brings every fortnightly issue of Grazia delivered free to members’ doors, an annual beauty box containing £200+ of beauty products from brands including Leighton Denny, REFY, Monpure, MO1, rahua, Benefit, Ruby Hammer and Rituals, plus invites to exclusive, live online tutorials with leading industry experts.

Glamour is also building its own community with its own Glamour Beauty Box which delivers £200+ of editor-approved products, handpicked by its editors, to the homes of beauty lovers every three months.

Working with credible publishing partners also allows beauty brands to create a feeling of trust and exclusivity, McEvoy believes. “Magazine advertising is the ideal platform to showcase high quality visuals,” she says, “and create a compelling story for your campaign and brand.”

Cameron McClennon, media planner at the7stars, notes that media publishers remain “highly valuable” in beauty campaigns, particularly for challenger brands like Curel, as these types of partnerships allow the brand to align its messaging with cultural trends, while staying true to its positioning.

“While the brand is known for its expertise in skin care, a well-executed partnership helps to elevate its credibility and visibility beyond its core audience,” McClennon says.

Curel’s most recent magazine media partnership was with Sheerluxe, and comprised written content, social amplification, podcast integration and display.

Dos and don’ts

L’Oréal’s marketing goal is to address all beauty consumers, and Salibas explains that an essential part of that is ensuring its campaigns celebrate diversity and beauty in all forms.

His recipe for a successful beauty campaign? A deep understanding of the brand’s consumers, a clear brand message and a compelling creative that resonates across channels. 

“We’re constantly looking at ways to bring to life our unique brands’ identities and products, and for us, print helps establish credibility and trust, digital drives engagement and events create immersive experiences. A cohesive strategy that integrates these elements maximises impact.”

Simply capturing audience attention is, of course, no guarantee to retain loyalty. McEvoy notes that a strong beauty campaign needs a foundation built from incorporating a variety of assets which employ a consistent brand tone across both digital and online channels. 

In addition, brands need to capture user-generated content such as organic reviews and experiences that can be curated into future media assets.

Key ingredients of a successful campaign, in her view, are having a multichannel strategy, utilising audience targeting insights and including clear calls to action for consumers. The reason why these campaigns work so well is because publisher brands are where consumers are active across multiple platforms.

According to McClennon, success in beauty campaigns comes down to authenticity, cultural relevance and emotional engagement across digital, social, audio, and print.

“The classic mistake to avoid is misjudging the target audience or failing to adapt content for different media which can dilute the campaign’s effectiveness,” he adds.

Howell calls on brands not to fall into the trap of chasing short-term revenues by focusing on lower funnel, performance-focused campaigns at the expense of building long-term brand equity.

“This will ultimately limit the brand’s ability to grow and sustain a loyal customer base,” she warns: “The beauty industry grows and evolves at a much more rapid rate than other verticals and focusing on sales in the short-term will leave brands lost in the noise.”

Standing out

In order to cut through in a competitive market, L’Oréal strives to create campaigns that are not only visually impactful, but also strike an emotional chord.

“This requires pushing creative boundaries, embracing innovation, and collaborating with partners who share our vision,” Salibas says. “We leverage data and insights to ensure our campaigns are targeted and relevant, while always staying true to our brands’ values,” L’Oréal employs a holistic approach to measurement that considers both quantitative and qualitative data to inform its strategy and refine its approach.

Howell suggests tapping into the glamorous nature of beauty and adding a bit of sparkle to campaigns. Publishers are now moving with cutting-edge digital trends and the need for “stand out” media in a time of limited attention, she notes. “As a result, more brands are collaborating with magazines on 360 campaigns and experiences.”

Many brands are also going down the route of creating special executions. Think of The Ordinary’s giant bottle of hyaluronic acid which was sent floating down the Thames or Jo Malone’s immersive Christmas pop-up in Covent Garden.

“These bold and brave executions are often picked up through social media and PR,” Howell says, “expanding the reach and sparking authentic conversations online.”

Creating stand-out for Curel, the7stars makes sure that “each touchpoint reflects the real value Curel’s brand brings, not just in terms of product but in how we connect with the audience on a personal level,” McClennon explains.

“Using a media partner, such as Sheerluxe, that has existing personal relationships with consumers enables us to broaden out Curel’s own.”

L’Oréal’s POV: “credibility, trust and prestige”

At L’Oréal, marketers recognise that magazine media partnerships “have the power to add credibility, trust and prestige to a campaign – and provide a natural platform for storytelling by adopting an editorial approach”. 

The beauty brand is increasingly looking to partner with magazine publishers on a multichannel approach. “We collaborate closely with our publisher partners to develop new ways of innovating together across digital, social and community channels as well as events,” Salibas says.

Last year, L’Oréal Paris launched the “You look good for your age” campaign, celebrating real women. To bring this to life, the brand worked with content teams to share their stories across trusted editorial platforms.

“It’s about creating a cohesive ecosystem,” Salibas says, “where each element complements another, to ensure we provide a consumer-centric experience.”