Cocokind and 54 Thrones, for example, are reimagining brand trips with customers as the travelers and evangelists, while Watch and Sea and Ourside have been paying customers’ bills and tapping them for input on product creation. In a challenging beauty funding and sales environment where brands are emphasizing financial discipline, the customer-centric actions are taking place as the average price for a Meta ad increased 10% last year, nearly 90% of brands are partnering with influencers, and there are 7.5 million American businesses on TikTok vying for eyeballs.

Calling the trip the anti-brand trip, 54 Thrones took seven fans on a three-day, two-night trip to Essence Fest in New Orleans last July. Noticing the online backlash to other brand’s influencer trips, notably Tarte Cosmetics’ trips that have been slammed for a lack of diversity and lavishness, founder Christina Funke Tegbe wanted to do things differently. She says follower count wasn’t a priority for the seven fans chosen for the trip, although most of them are influencers in training, and the brand hosted a bootcamp for them providing content creator tips. The anti-brand trip increased 54 Thrones’ social media followers and engagement by an undisclosed amount.

Cocokind executed an all-expenses-paid brand trip with seven customers in California’s Napa Valley in January that resulted in a 115% increase in social media engagement and a 136% bump in earned media value, a metric quantifying the worth of organic mentions. Cocokind CMO Maria Maciejowski says, “It reinforced just how important our community is in shaping the direction of the brand, and we’re eager to keep this momentum going.”

Cocokind is attempting to keep the momentum going with another customer-oriented trip in June. Originally planned for Hawaii, the brand switched the destination to Miami in response to criticism on social media that taking tourists to Hawaii ignores native Hawaiian concerns that tourism is damaging to the ecosystem. In a social media post, Cocokind founder Priscilla Tsai says, “While we had so much confidence in our responsibility as visitors going to Hawaii, we kind of missed the impact that we would have of promoting overall tourism to Hawaii.”

On social media, Cocokind enthusiasts applauded the brand’s change of course, and it was another way it showed its receptivity to customers. A commenter with the Instagram handle @madelinemariejg wrote, “It’s absolutely incredible to see you respond so quickly and not only listen to your customers, but choose to take action even if you had already put time and effort into Hawaii planning.”

Brand marketing and communications consultant Stacey Levine is a big fan of fan trips. While influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere—Statista Market Insights approximates spending on influencer marketing at roughly $39 billion this year and projects it could hit $60 billion by 2030—there’s a growing fatigue in seeing wealthy people, or people perceived to be wealthy, receiving perks, and everyday consumers want to be reflected in brands’ marketing.

“Even if someone isn’t on the trip, just seeing a fellow customer get that experience makes them feel like they could be next,” says Levine. “It reinforces that the brand values them, not just their wallets.”

Customer trips are financially less burdensome than influencer excursions. Cocokind declined to share how much its customer trips cost, but Tsai explained in a December TikTok video that $30,000 of what the brand typically spends on mailers was going to its community trip. Influencers regularly charge thousands per post, and Levine adds that they demand business-class flights, five-star hotels and luxury gifting. She says, “Consumers just want an incredible experience.”

Wellness brand Apothékary spent around $150,000 to send eight editors on a four-night, five-day trip to Kyoto in October for a nervous system reset with forest bathing, meditation and flower arranging. This upcoming November, it’s hosting a 15-person customer trip to Kyoto extending over four nights and five days. One giveaway winner will score a $1,000 voucher toward roundtrip airfare, a four-night stay at the Four Seasons Kyoto, wellness activities and a complimentary daily breakfast plus select lunches and dinner. The giveaway currently has a 10,000-person waitlist. The other 14 attendees will have to front what founder Shizu Okusa estimates will be a $12,000 bill.

During Apothékary’s October trip, it registered 6 million social impressions, 530 new followers and a 4.5X spike in Google Search traffic. The brand expects similar lifts for the customer trip in November. Levine points out that brands shouldn’t anticipate customer trips will cause an immediate sales impact. She says, “In terms of brand love, loyalty and organic buzz, it’s priceless.”

Naomi Emiko, co-owner of marketing agency TNGE, agrees, tacking on that the long-term equity built through the experiences creates what she calls competitive insulation. She says, “I have yet to see a paid advertising format that can match that.”

Beyond brand trips, paying bills and offering free merchandise are go-to strategies for long-term equity. Emulating a program Watch and Sea founder Courtney Adeleye started in 2015 at her previous brand The Mane Choice dubbed Pay My Bills, Watch and Sea is picking a follower each week that it pays the bills for. In January, Adeleye told Beauty Independent that the best ROI for brand is when it gives back to consumers.

“[The Pay My Bills program] may look like it’s marketing, but actually it’s something that comes out personally,” she says. “I just want to show my appreciation and say, you guys grew the brand, I couldn’t do this thing without you. I’m not the one that’s buying the products off the shelf, so this is just my way of saying thank you.”

New 000Skin has introduced what it labels the No Barrier Program with its launch with free products for select customers that don’t have the budget for them. Close to 500 people have applied for it since the program opened in January, and the brand plans to send free products to 10 to 20 customers monthly.

“Everything is increasing in price, and affordability and budget can be sensitive topics. This program allows for everyone to have a chance at trying and benefiting from 000 products,” says founder Hannah Chang. “I don’t think many brands, especially early stage like 000, are giving away free product in a no-strings-attached fashion, so it’s been a differentiator for us.”

With the launch of beauty mega-influencer Mikayla Nogueira’s new brand Point of View, it ran a contest to select 10 people to receive the box it assembled for public relations and include them on its PR list for a year and a private direct message group with Nogueira. Aroma Concepts, a fragrance e-tailer, is running a contest to fly a lucky customer to New York for an impending launch.

Along with paying bills and offering free merchandise, product co-creation has been a popular tactic to enlist customers. Topicals and Dieux are among the brands that use it. Fragrance brand Ourside recently engaged its 11,500 followers in a product naming contest after its bestselling scent Dusk was challenged on trademark grounds. The brand garnered over 600 submissions. Levine says, “When customers see their input come to life, they feel ownership, which in turn creates loyalty.”

Customer allegiance is especially valuable in a stuffed beauty market characterized by depleted loyalty and heightened costs to draw fresh customers. “The goal isn’t just to maximize emotional investment, it’s to become part of a consumer’s identity to the point where leaving feels like self-betrayal,” says Emiko. “The brands that will dominate the future aren’t just selling products, they’re rewriting the social fabric of how we connect, express and belong.”