Turning UGC Into $100M: The Peach & Lily Story

🧼 How “Glass Skin” Became a $100M Movement

How does a skincare brand with no celebrity ambassador…
No viral TikTok dances…
And fewer mentions than its rivals…

End up selling a serum every 2 minutes?
Building a trend with 3B+ TikTok views?
And crossing $100M in sales?

That’s the Peach & Lily story.
And the secret isn’t what you think.

They didn’t chase hype.
They built an unconventional influencer playbook
one that any brand can copy 👇️ 

The Challenge

But it wasn’t easy.

In 2012, K-beauty was almost unknown in the U.S.
And the beauty aisle was already stacked with giants like Glow Recipe, The Ordinary, and Drunk Elephant.

Even today, Peach & Lily is mentioned far less often by creators online:

But that’s the point.
They didn’t chase volume. They built differently.

While competitors leaned on viral stunts or celebrity hype,
Peach & Lily invested in education, experts, and a flood of micros.

Instead of trying to outspend… they chose to outsmart.

Here’s the step-by-step recipe 👇️ 

1️⃣ Founder as Influencer

First move? Put the founder on stage.
Alicia Yoon isn’t just CEO ; she is the brand’s first content creator.

She ran Instagram Lives.
She demoed products on QVC.
She personally answered skincare questions.

Her Instagram (36k followers) now overlaps with 64% of the brand’s followers.
That overlap built instant trust and carried authority into the brand page.

👉 Takeaway: When the founder educates, it hits different.
People believe an expert who lives the mission.

2️⃣ Micros, Not Megas

Once the foundation was built, they scaled sideways, not upward.

Let me explain:

Instead of blowing budget on one mega influencer… they seeded thousands of micros.

On Instagram, ~80% of their creators had <25k followers.
On TikTok, ~76% were micros too.

And it wasn’t just one type of creator.
They mixed in dermatologists, estheticians, cosmetic chemists, and beauty reviewers — each speaking to different audiences in their own authentic voice.

That gave them a constant stream of authentic UGC.
Not polished ads, just real routines and results.

👉 Takeaway: A steady hum of small, diverse creators creates more trust (and more content) than one celebrity post.

💡 Want to find top creators for your brand? Use Click Analytic to track organic mentions and identify top-performing UGC for boosting or reposting.

3️⃣ Smart Gifting With a Twist

Here’s where Peach & Lily flipped the script.

And this is from their most recent campaign in Summer 25:

Instead of sending glossy PR boxes with hashtags and instructions…

They shipped plain white bottles.

No logo. No brand. Just the formula.

Creators tried it, loved it, and posted: “I don’t know who made this, but it works.”
Audiences were hooked → playing detective, guessing the brand behind it.

When Peach & Lily revealed the truth, the buzz exploded:
5× engagement vs past launches.
1M+ impressions within hours.

👉 Takeaway: Gifting doesn’t need to be flashy.
Sometimes mystery is the best hook.

However, to find the right influencers for this, you need the right data. Here’s how brands like Peach & Lily are vetting their creators for gifting:

💡 Pro Tips: Use Click Analytic to qualify creators by engagement rate, growth, or even Shopify sales potential—then manage gifting in one place.

4️⃣ Education as a Growth Engine

But Peach & Lily didn’t stop at buzz.
They built long-term trust by turning education into marketing.

Alicia Yoon ran IG Lives and Q&As explaining skincare routines.
Creators were invited to masterclasses with binders of notes and real chemists answering questions.

@peachandlilyofficial

Another successful Masterclass where we shared all the Glass Skin beauty tips, led by the Glass Skin queen herself—our founder and CEO Ali... See more

Even product pages read like mini-guides—helping customers understand why formulas worked.

This meant influencers weren’t just showing products.
They were teaching their audiences how to use them.

👉 Takeaway: Education scales credibility.
When creators become teachers, not billboards, customers buy with confidence.

5️⃣ UGC as the Engine

And here’s the final piece: nothing was siloed.
Creator content powered everything.

• Organic posts on TikTok and IG.

• Whitelisted ads in Facebook Ads Manager.

• UGC proof on product pages.

One strong creator video could live across the funnel — from discovery to checkout.

👉 Takeaway: UGC isn’t just top of funnel fluff.
It’s the content engine that drives awareness and conversions.

6️⃣ Bonus: A Lean, Aligned Team

Here’s the part most brands overlook.
Peach & Lily didn’t build a massive influencer department.

While some competitors have 20+ people split across influencer, paid, and social teams…
Peach & Lily runs lean.

Most of their marketing sits under a small, aligned group.
No silos. No misalignment.

That means influencer seeding, UGC reposting, paid whitelisting, and social all ladder up to the same playbook.
Fast feedback. Consistent tone. Smarter execution.

👉 Takeaway: You don’t need a giant team to win with creators.
You need alignment.

✏️ Key Takeaway

First, crazy outcome!

• A “Glass Skin” movement with 3B+ TikTok views.

• A hero serum selling every 2 minutes.

• And a brand pushing $100M+ in annual sales.

Second, here’s a summary of the strategy (my advice? STEAL IT):

Finally, this is for YOUR BRAND:

If you’re building a consumer brand, don’t try to outspend the competition.

→ Out-strategize them

Build systems that attract creators organically.
Use affiliates instead of ads.
And treat every piece of UGC like an asset to multiply.

Want help scaling your own creator program like Peach & Lily?

📆 Let’s build your creator strategy →

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