Issue #22: Brands you didn't know were founded by celebrities

plus a Rhode acquisition debrief, obviously

Jun 01, 2025

ICYMI, Rhode was acquired by E.l.f. Beauty this past week for one billion dollars — just one week after announcing its expansion into Sephora. I don’t know about you, but when I think of E.l.f., I think “dupe.” And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good deal and love myself a dupe; however, never in a million years would I associate Rhode with a brand known for its dupes. After discussing with my friends and reading many different opinions across Substack, Instagram, and various articles, I think Brooke from the brandblueprint said it best in understanding the strategy behind this acquisition:“Elf wants to start trends and not copy trends anymore…”

Nonetheless, this is still very impressive and we have to give Hailey some credit. She used her platform to build a brand that offers innovative, high-quality products catered to the emerging consumer, Gen-Z & Millennials.

All the hype around Rhode this week made me curious about celebrity brands in general. When thinking about makeup brands in particular, I found I knew all of the celebrities tied to the brand before I purchased them, therefore, the celebrity’s platform and how I viewed them influenced my purchase — Makeup by Mario, Rare Beauty, Kylie Cosmetics, the list goes on.

But then I thought, what if I didn’t know Selena Gomez was the face behind Rare Beauty — would I still by it? The same goes for many other brands outside of the beauty industry.

So, I went on a hunt to see if I was a “natural consumer” of any celebrity brands? Aka brands that I didn’t know were founded by a celebrity pre-purchase. To my surprise, there are a few…

Casamigos

The tequila brand, co-founded by George Clooney in 2013.

What was originally a passion project for Clooney and his two friends (Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman) eventually became a top-shelf tequila brand, reaching a $1 billion valuation within its first four years. Although the category is ever-evolving, with new celebrity-brands entering the space each year, Casamigos has maintained its hold on the category.

At the time, any product backed by George Clooney would probably sell itself. However, as generations are evolving, fewer and fewer young adults are going to be influenced by Clooney; yet, Casamigos remains a leading name in the Tequila aisle. As someone who has purchased Casamigos several times, I can attest that the brand’s reputation is thriving beyond Clooney’s influence, 12 years later.

JUST Water

The sustainable disposable water bottle, founded by Jaden Smith in 2015.

The story goes…

While learning to surf, a ten-year-old Jaden Smith saw a plastic bottle floating next to him in the water. Unable to shake the image of plastic polluting the Pacific, he decided to do something

While I’m sure some of us have had similar realizations around pollution, not all of us have Will and Jada Smith as our parents. The Smiths collectively took on this venture to combat the growing issue of plastic pollution caused by water bottles. However, rather than relying on their celebrity name and image to promote the brand, the Smiths decided to “build a brand that generated success based on the product’s merit before revealing the name behind the brand.”

I was first introduced to JUST Water the Summer of 2020, when Nantucket stopped selling plastic water bottles. The positive environmental impact along with an attractive design turned me into a regular consumer of JUST Water beyond my vacation on Nantucket. And no, I didn’t know the Smiths were behind the brand until writing this issue.