Vol 30. Insights from VidaCorp North America’s CMO

Case Studied Experts
Meet Meridith Rojas

Each week, we sit down with a marketing leader to learn more about their career, insights, and accomplishments.

This week, that leader is Meridith Rojas, CMO of North America at VidaCorp, the parent company behind the fastest-growing new beauty brand at Target, MCoBeauty.

Here are the need-to-knows about Meridith:

• She founded DigiTour, the largest producer of live events featuring social media talent and one of the earliest companies to help shape the influencer ecosystem.

• She was Global Head of Creator Marketing at Logitech, where she helped shape the company’s creator strategy and led purpose-driven campaigns during COVID.

She’s the author of Selfie Made: Your Ultimate Guide to Social Media Stardom.

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The music industry and the creator boom

Meridith’s first chapter began in the music industry, scouting artists at Columbia Records while she was a student at NYU. “I was looking for talent, but always through the lens of ‘What would people like?’ I knew I had to understand the psyche, the wants, and the desires of the community.”

One of the teenage artists Meridith scouted asked her to manage him and find him a record deal. She did, within one week, and then brought an idea to him. “Social was taking over, the Internet was everything, and the business wasn’t really set up to make digital stars. So my idea was to create the Vans Warped Tour of social media. We’d get YouTubers and put them on tour, and then this artist could join it and perform in front of a real audience.”

Meridith thought it was a great idea but the artist she was working with didn’t. The two parted ways but she didn’t let the idea fall to the wayside. “I was like, ‘This is it. I’m going to build this thing.’” 

That idea became DigiTour, a pioneering live event series for digital creators. “I’d never produced a live event in my life. It was the ultimate marketing experiment,” she said. “Building a brand, finding the audience, and creating something out of nothing.”

Over eight years, Meridith grew DigiTour from a side hustle into the largest producer of live events featuring social media talent, shaping the early influencer economy before it had a name. DigiTour was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies and its investors include Condé Nast and Viacom.

From entrepreneur to corporate marketer

After DigiTour, Rojas published Selfie Made, a guide for aspiring creators. The buzz around her book brought her to the attention of Logitech. At the time, Rojas wasn’t looking for a corporate gig.

“I thought they might sponsor my book tour,” she said. “Within a few days, I had met most of their leadership team. They were trying to build a creator brand.”

Meridith joined Logitech as Global Head of Creator Marketing, right as the world went into lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic—when suddenly, the entire planet became creators. 

She launched programs that bridged creativity and purpose. Think: helping TikTok dancers copyright their choreography and producing a short film that won at the Essence Film Festival. 

Meridith’s approach with it all was based on identifying and building around what creators care about. “If you want to matter to creators, you can’t just sell to them. You have to drive value for them.”

Finding the right match

After a stint as Chief Brand Officer at Captiv8, Meridith found her ideal fit at VidaCorp, the Australian company behind MCoBeauty and Nude by Nature. 

“I’ve landed somewhere that feels like such a good match. I can talk to you about all of our products because I use them and genuinely love them. That makes a big difference as a marketer—when you’re genuinely passionate towards the product or category.”

MCoBeauty is known for its unapologetic dupe strategy. They offer high-quality, accessible alternatives to prestige products. It’s the number one cosmetics brand in Australia and Meridith was tasked with telling their story in the US. 

“We’re really trying to reach mass/drugstore buyers and give them access to products that are as good as prestige products,” she said. “It’s about democratizing luxury. I want everyone to feel like they can have the good stuff.”

A Standout Campaign

One of Meridith’s proudest moments at MCoBeauty was the creation of National Dupe Day, a company-declared holiday that celebrates affordable alternatives to high-end beauty products. The campaign went viral, driving a 10,000% spike in DTC sales in a single day.

“It was like our Prime Day. It just went totally nuts,” Meridith said. 

Meridith’s team created a hero video with the creator Pookie that duped the classic, melodramatic perfume ads. “We felt like her audience fit really well with ours because they’re buying luxury but at an accessible mass price at stores like Target.”

The video felt so native to Pookie’s feed that people didn’t even realize it was branded. “People were watching to the end and saying things like, ‘Best ad ever.’”

As an extension of the campaign, Meridith also spoke at Cannes about the idea that “borrowing community is the new ad spend.”

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Advice and Takeaways

1) Take stock of your “yeses.”

Meridith said her career, especially the early days, was built on a series of yeses. She ran with ideas she wasn’t sure she could pull off, with the mindset of “Let’s see where this road takes us.” 

Consider how open you are to new projects or ideas. Is your first inclination to say yes or no? Taking on stretch projects can be a launchpad for new roles or opportunities. Evaluate your boundaries and make sure you’re not playing it too safe. 

2)  Take cues from your community.

As Meridith puts it, “The community is the CEO. Audience doesn’t equal community. Your community are the folks in your audience who’ve decided they want to connect with you. So they’re not just buying, they genuinely like, follow, and engage with you.”

How tuned in are you with your brand’s community? Are there ways you can connect and engage with them more meaningfully? Leaning heavily on community input can help cut down the guesswork on your planning and ensure your efforts are aligned with the people you’re creating it all for.

3)  Provide value first.

Meridith recognized early on that marketing isn’t always about selling. She’s been consistent and intentional about building programs primarily based on what people care about and letting sales cultivate from there.  

Do your marketing efforts lead with selling or providing value? Meredith’s work is proof that when brands give more than they take, their audience gives back tenfold in loyalty and trust.

Think long-term: What could help make your campaigns more successful over time? The right agency partner. And Vendry can help you meet yours, for free. Get started.