Brands move through different stages of a life cycle, including development, growth, and maturity. During each stage, companies use the marketing mix: product, price, promotion, and place. This mix will strengthen brand identity and increase brand equity. A strategic brand manager must understand where a brand is in its life cycle. This understanding helps in applying the most effective strategies. The goal is to connect with consumers and maintain long-term success (Wheeler & Meyerson, 2024). Let’s use the following examples to examine three brands at different stages of their life cycle: Fenty Beauty in development, Lemon8 in growth, and Apple in maturity.
Brand Development: Fenty Beauty
Fenty Beauty is a strong example of a brand in the development and launch stage. When Rihanna introduced the brand in 2017, the company focused heavily on inclusivity and product differentiation.
Product: The product strategy was a major factor in Fenty Beauty’s success at launch. The brand introduced over 40 foundation shades. This addressed a gap in the beauty industry. It created products that served a more diverse group of consumers. This helped establish Fenty Beauty as an inclusive and forward-thinking brand.
Price: Fenty Beauty uses a pricing strategy that balances luxury and accessibility. The brand is positioned in the prestige beauty market, but the products are still affordable enough for many consumers. This allows Fenty Beauty to maintain a premium image while reaching a wider audience.
Promotion: Promotion has been key to Fenty Beauty’s success. Rihanna’s popularity and social media reach helped generate strong visibility when the brand first launched. Today, the company continues to rely on influencer marketing and online content to build brand awareness. Its messaging around inclusivity and representation also helps create a deeper connection with consumers (Social Life Magazine, 2026).
Place: Fenty Beauty partnered with Sephora and uses strong online distribution to reach consumers. This strategy helped the brand quickly expand access while maintaining its reputation in the premium beauty market. These efforts helped build positive consumer perception and strong brand equity during its development stage.
Brand Growth: Lemon8
Lemon8 represents a brand currently in the growth stage of the brand life cycle. ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, owns Lemon8. It is a social media platform that focuses on lifestyle content such as fashion, travel, beauty, and wellness.
Product: Lemon8’s product is a social media platform focused on lifestyle content such as fashion, travel, beauty, and wellness. The app encourages users to create visually organized posts that feel similar to a digital magazine or guide. This style of content helps Lemon8 stand out from other social platforms and appeals to users who enjoy sharing inspiration and recommendations (Oxford College of Marketing, 2023).
Price: Lemon8 is free to download and use, which makes it easy for new users to join the platform. By removing cost barriers, the company can quickly grow its user base and encourage more people to create and share content.
Promotion: Lemon8 promotes the platform heavily through influencer marketing and cross-promotion on TikTok. Many creators share tutorials and encourage their followers to join the app. This strategy helps increase awareness and builds trust through well-known content creators (Oxford College of Marketing, 2023).
Place: Lemon8 is available through mobile app stores, making it easily accessible to users on smartphones. Because most social media activity happens on mobile devices, this mobile-first approach helps the platform grow and reach a larger audience.
Brand Maturity: Apple
Apple represents a brand that has reached the maturity stage of the brand life cycle. At this stage, companies focus on maintaining strong brand equity and customer loyalty while continuing to innovate.
Product: Apple’s product strategy focuses on creating an ecosystem of connected devices, including the iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, and digital services. These products are designed to work seamlessly together, which makes the experience more convenient for users and encourages long-term loyalty to the brand.
Price: Apple uses a premium pricing strategy that reflects the brand’s reputation for quality, innovation, and design. Apple products are often more expensive than competitors. However, many consumers are willing to pay the higher price. They associate the brand with reliability and performance.
Promotion: Apple’s marketing focuses on simple, clean advertising that highlights how its products improve everyday life. Rather than emphasizing technical features, Apple often tells stories about creativity, productivity, and user experience. The company also continues to promote its growing digital services, which reached record-breaking performance in recent years (Cue, 2026).
Place: Apple sells its products through multiple channels. These include Apple retail stores, its online store, and partnerships with mobile carriers. They also collaborate with major electronics retailers. These distribution channels make Apple products widely accessible while maintaining a premium brand experience.
Key Takeaways
The marketing mix (product, price, promotion, and place) plays an important role in building brand identity and brand equity.
Fenty Beauty shows how strong product differentiation and inclusivity can help a brand stand out during the development stage.
Lemon8 demonstrates how influencer marketing and mobile accessibility help brands grow their audience.
Apple illustrates how mature brands maintain loyalty through innovation, premium pricing, and a connected ecosystem of products and services.
References
Social Life Magazine. (2026). Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty strategy: Inclusivity meets luxury brand. https://sociallifemagazine.com/the-archive/rihanna-fenty-beauty-strategy-inclusivity-luxury-brand/
Cue, E. (2026, January 12). 2025 marked a record-breaking year for apple services. Apple.com. Retrieved March 3, 2026, from https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/01/2025-marked-a-record-breaking-year-for-apple-services/
Wheeler, A., & Meyerson, R. (2024). Designing brand identity (6th ed.). Wiley.
Lemon8. (n.d.). lemon8-app.com
Oxford College of Marketing. (2023). Exploring the marketing opportunities of Lemon8.
Exploring the Marketing Opportunities of Lemon8 | OXCOM
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