The Secrets Behind By Rosie Jane’s “Top-Secret” Lab Sample Campaign For New Fragrance Missy

In a cryptic TikTok post on Feb. 18, content creator Casey J The Perfume Girl, who has 67,100 followers and nearly 4 million likes on the platform, says, “I have a perfume to talk to you guys about, but I don’t know the name, and I don’t know the notes because it’s not out yet, and they were keeping it a secret.”

She goes on to reveal a lab sample of the perfume, a picture of sunny pool deck that came with it and the little she knows about it: It’s from By Rosie Jane, and it’s launching exclusively at Sephora. “I’m already addicted to this scent. It’s so summery and beachy,” says Casey J The Perfume Girl. “It’s actually super nostalgic for me. It reminds me of a New York City summer, where I have a coconut Mamita in my hand.”

Casey J The Perfume Girl’s review of the perfume is part of a lab sample campaign from By Rosie Jane to generate buzz, reviews and social media fodder for Missy, the brand’s eighth fragrance, in advance of its official debut in Sephora’s stores nationwide and on its website on March 11. The campaign involved 150 lab samples sent to 50 Sephora Squad influencers and another 100 influencers identified by By Rosie Jane. So far, 31 have produced content related to the lab samples.

In addition to Casey J The Perfume Girl, influencers who received a lab sample coupled with a card informing them that they were privy to a “top-secret” sneak peek of By Rosie Jane’s forthcoming perfume included Gabriella Gofis, who has almost 57,000 followers on Instagram and 59,300 followers and 1.1 million likes on TikTok, Rachel Rigler, who has 60,800 followers on Instagram and 1.1 million followers and 60.6 million likes on TikTok, and Kerrie Smart, who has 18,100 followers on Instagram and 135,700 followers and 2 million likes on TikTok.

A bootstrapped brand, By Rosie Jane tries to achieve tremendous bang for its buck with scrappy marketing efforts. The brand worked with Angie Shumov, founder of marketing agency Son of Noise, on the lab sample campaign, and it estimates the entirely organic campaign cost it $2,000. Last year, it worked with Shumov on a $10,000 TikTok campaign that seeded vanilla eau de parfum Dulce to 350 influencers and paid five to promote it. The brand hadn’t paid TikTokers previously. TikTok has been fertile ground for fragrance, a category that jumped 12% last year in prestige, according to market research firm Circana.

Following the lab samples, By Rosie Jane is gifting Missy to 200 top customers to capture signups and further generate buzz and reviews. The brand is asking them to write honest reviews. In a day and age in which beauty brands are being slammed for questionable reviews instigated by the likes of Yotpo and LTK, platforms that can set brands back thousands of dollars, By Rosie Jane has placed a premium on trustworthy reviews that are cost-effective for it to proliferate.

“When we’re launching exclusively with Sephora, we want reviews. We want opinions because you’re basically buying it cold otherwise,” says By Rosie Jane founder Rosie Jane Johnston. “I want that momentum or opinions already there. When people see this is available now, there’s real feedback on what it smells like. Otherwise, you’re like, OK, just because your last fragrance was great, does it mean that this one’s going to be great?”

By Rosie Jane isn’t the only brand pursuing a sneak-peak social media marketing strategy. Prior to the release of Pineapple Refresh on Jan. 25, Rhode distributed samples of the cleanser to content creators to get people excited about it. Whether intentional or not, a leak of Glow Recipe’s Water Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops in advance of the product’s Feb. 23 launch stoked a groundswell of interest in it.

“It creates a sense of exclusivity for the influencer.”

The insider-y aspect of sneak-peek campaigns is key to their appeal. “You’re getting a preview,” says Johnston. “If you think, who are the people that Beyoncé is playing her album to first? I would feel pretty special if she chose me. It’s kind of like getting a screener.”

Sonia Elyss, a beauty marketing consultant and president of RoundTwelve, explains the sneak-peak strategy has evolved from a focus on editors receiving product previews to a focus on influencers receiving lab samples. “It creates a sense of exclusivity for the influencer themselves,” she says. “To know that you are on a select list receiving a lab sample feels more special than receiving a gifting at launch alongside a wider majority of people.”

Elyss points out the strategy carries risks for brands. “If you release lab samples and the efficacy or powerful results are not easily seen by the influencers who receive them, you might fall into a case where the strategy falls flat,” she says. “Additionally, if you do not time this strategy perfectly and there is too much lag time between the lab sample release and the consumer release, your buzz will likely die down before consumers are able to purchase the product.”

Described by Johnston as a warm floral, solar and fruity fragrance, By Rosie Jane’s Missy fragrance is hitting the market as Women’s Wear Daily has declared fruit perfumes are the “it” fragrance trend for spring. In an article published on Tuesday, the publication cites data from machine intelligence company Spate that search volume for peach perfumes and citrus fragrances has risen 60.4% and 39.2% year-over-year, respectively. Mango and coconut perfumes are experiencing search volume increases, too.

Priced at $75 for an eau de parfum, $45 for a perfume oil and $28 for a travel spray, Missy has frangipani, green mandarin, toasted coconut and pineapple notes. Johnston says the fragrance was two years in the making. The inspiration for it came from going through her mother’s boxes of photos following her death four years ago. The photos captured not only life’s most curated moments, but random moments—she mentions a photo of her aunt’s half full glass of wine with a cigarette—that spark joy. Johnston calls the fragrance “an ode to joy” and By Rosie Jane’s “most youthful fragrance.”

Industry sources informed WWD that Missy could reach $3 million in first-year sales. Last year, By Rosie Jane’s sales rose by a triple-digit percentage. The brand’s bestselling fragrances are Dulce, warm and spicy Rosie and fruity floral Leila Lou. While its core customers are millennials, Johnston believes Missy could be a big draw for gen Z consumers.

“They bring this energy that you can change whenever you want, and that sort of energy is what I want to bring to Missy,” she says. “It’s a fragrance for every day, but it doesn’t have to be every day for the rest of your life.”