Have you heard of Embreigh Courtlyn?
Target's latest best-selling line launched almost two months ago, on June 14th. The brand, aptly named Embreigh Edit, was founded by 16-year-old creator Embreigh Courtlyn, and brought to mass retail by Kristi Kaylor who has previously worked on other celebrity businesses.
Embreigh Edit for Target
Embreigh Edit is part of Target's revamped marketing strategy to work closely with content creators. Earlier this year, Target introduced Club Target, a program that rewards up-and-coming creators for making Target content. More established creators, however, are known as Target Ambassadors, a collaborate under a Like-To-Know-powered program.
BLURRED LINES
Sarh Travis, Target's chief digital and revenue officer, highlights that both programs were designed to "create more seamless pathways from inspiration to purchase."
Target has also started involving creators in product development, and has released different fashion collections under its "Future Collective" label. Kahlana Barfield Brown (362,000 Instagram followers), Jeneé Naylor (561,000 Instagram followers), and Tabitha Brown (4.5 million on Instagram) have all collaborated with Target in the creation of different ranges across the fashion, home, and lifestyle categories.
For Target, Embreigh Edit is a way to reach a younger audience that is as invested in the creator's life, friendships, hobbies, and relationships, as in what they're wearing. Kaylor goes on to say that “with creators, it’s almost like they’re your friends […] you’re showing your personality and who you are, and the audience is connected to that creator.” It is no surprise then that two weeks after launching in stores, Embreigh Edit had already generated more than USD 2.2 million in sales.
The line, which comprises 4 different SKUs across 7 different colourways, is sold in Target's more than 2,000 US stores under the Tween Girls department, comes in girl's sizes 8-16, and is priced under USD 25.
PRODUCT ROLLOUT
Embreigh Edit's rollout was done in three stages.
First, Embreigh's team opened dedicated brand's TikTok and Instagram accounts and posted enough content to drive interest and create buzz around the brand. By July 30th, the @embreighedit account had more than 296,000 followers on TikTok and 8.5 million likes.
On launch day, Embreigh visited Target to see the collection in stores before being surprised by 20 of her creator friends who were there to celebrate the creator's accomplishment, as well as to make content around the launch.
The third stage involved a brand trip to the AVA Resort Cancun to which Courtlyn invited both friends and fellow creators to film content around the property while wearing Embreigh Edit. The brand trip was a who is who of TikTok creators, including the Clements Twins (872,800 TikTok followers), Gianna Harner (14.9 million followers), NayVee Nelson (2.5 million followers), and PaisLee Nelson (2.5 million followers) amongst others.
According to Kaylor, guests were not assigned fixed posting requirements, “they’re all there to have a great time, but they’re all there to support Embreigh.” Most importantly, the campaign avoided hard sell tactics such as linking to the Target website. The goal was to frame Embreigh Edit as an inevitable and organic extension of Embreigh's own world, and how the collection fits in her life.
A BRAND POWERHOUSE
According to WWD, Courtlyn has also collaborated with other brands like Dior, Pacsun, Princess Polly, and Warner Records, and was recently “brought on as a co-creator of the beauty brand Evereden and launched her first fragrance last month, a limited-edition mist called “Vanilla Frosting.” Thousands of fans showed up to The Grove in Los Angeles for a preview event in mid-April, and lines wrapped around the property for hours. A pop-up at The Grove last August brought out more than 5,000 fans to meet Courtlyn for her collaboration drop with Pink Palm Puff, which sold out in 10 minutes.”
