Missed THE VERTICALS: BEAUTY Here's a Recap of All Things Beauty
Last week, The AD Club of New York took another look into the latest trends impacting our field, specifically the beauty industry. Senior editor of Yahoo Beauty, Joanna Douglas facilitated the discussion featuring Co-Founder & CEO of Stowaway Cosmetics, Julie Fredrickson, and Media Communications Manager of Unilever USA, Katie Willoth. Fredrickson and Willoth both addressed their campaign success stories, challenges and resolutions in the industry, and the next big thing on the horizon.
Key Takeaways from Julie Fredrickson, Co-Founder & CEO of Stowaway Cosmetics.
Statistically speaking 75% of women can’t finish their makeup and that’s problem. Stowaway Cosmetics offers solutions to women who suffer from hoarding expired makeup by innovating products half the size, to prevent the guilt and worry of throwing away expensive makeup that one thinks they “may need later.”
Stowaway Cosmetics is built around direct consumer business, and Fredrickson finds that the best means of social media marketing is through blogs rather than YouTube. Their consumers trust bloggers to give honest recommendations and respond to sincere advertising. In terms of content and content marketing, content marketing can be the most cost effective when it’s packaged for the channel that it’s appropriate for. She believes you can use innovation as a tool to improve the basics rather than create something “new.” Everyone benefits from tactical marketing.
As for the future of beauty brands, Fredrickson has an interesting take on where the beauty industry is headed. “The future of retail is in wholesale. A lot of retail brands depend on distribution, and I see a change in how and where I purchase the product versus a changes in the actual product”, said Fredrickson.
Key Takeaways from Katie Willoth, Media Communications Manager of Unilever USA.
On any given day, two billion people use Unilever products to look good, feel good and get more out of life. Willoth notes that the company stands apart from the competition through their use of consumer insights. Through those insights we can learn how consumers are searching, how they receive information, where do they want information, and so forth. She believes that customers know their needs better than anyone.
It’s about innovating and pioneering an experience to create excitement around a brand or product, especially in an ever-changing society. Celebrities can be used to leverage credibility and drive recommendations, but in the end it’s about having a compelling story that resonates with consumers. Delivering content that makes an emotional connection with the customer is vital. By working across all platforms, the varying social mediums allows them to deliver unique and specific stories depending on how, and what is being sold. “Every channel has done something for Unilever”, said Willoth. “We can use digital to compliment messaging, or broadcast; it all builds together based on what you’re trying to communicate.”
In the future of retail, Willoth see Unilever moving towards the male grooming business which is a huge step in a historically woman dominated industry!
A special thanks to our sponsors Yahoo and Redbooks for making this all possible!