It’s one thing to have a launch event and invite beauty’s top influencers so they’ll spread your message to their followers, readers and fans. But it’s quite another to tap a celebrity who ties in perfectly with your brand’s message—and invite their followers, too.

That’s the tack philosophy employed mid-January to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the launch of Renewed Hope in a Jar, as well as the launch of several new products (a night moisturizer, a mask and a mist). The brand invited its global well-being ambassador, inspiration guru and NY Times best-selling author, Gabby Bernstein, to host the evening and to also invite her acolytes to attend the limited-seating “Hope Never Rests” Talk, as well. The idea of directly reaching out to consumers is becoming more commonplace by brands as the importance of engagement, authenticity and storytelling rises to new heights.

“She stands for hope,” said Tiffani Carter-Thompson, Vice President, Global Public Relations, Social Media and Charity, at philosophy.

Indeed, Gabby is an author of four inspirational books, an international speaker and a certified yoga and meditation teacher. Aligned with the brand for more than two years, Gabby also brings with her nearly 150,000 Twitter followers and 170,000 Instagram followers.

“We are very socially connected to our community and having Gabby as a spokesperson made us want to create a different kind of event. We have always have done long and short lead events. With this effort we reached both short lead editors and consumers at the same time. We also did long lead desk sides with Gabby so editors saw the products and met Gabby ahead of the event.”

More than 300 people attended the event, consisting of 170 consumers—dozens had to be turned away—and the balance being press and influencers. From an attendee turnout and subsequent social buzz, this event was deemed more successful than traditional launch events.

In addition to Gabby’s 45-minute inspirational talk, which included lessons on how to change old patterns in order to succeed, philosophy’s Vice President of Global Skin Care, David Booth, gave an overview on the new products.

Overall, the event garnered four million social media impressions. Gabby also did an Instagram takeover for the day sharing her hope-themed messages through philosophy’s Instagram account.

“I do think this is a new model of event since the lines are blurred when it comes to how the consumer gets her information” said Carter-Thompson. “Communications as a whole is all about the consumer so we need to find all different ways to do that.”