Brand Crush: Beauty Pie

April 4, 2017 Stephanie Sinnema

Perhaps it's me paying penance for my SPF-shirking youth or the fact that my crows feet are coming in hot and no price seems too great to restore my formative glow, but I've become a card-carrying member of beauty addicts anonymous.

Thankfully, Marcia Kilgore, founder of Bliss spas and the retro-kitsch Soap & Glory bath and beauty line, has come to my rescue. If not curing my "habit," she's making it considerably less expensive with her latest venture: Beauty Pie.

I've had my eye on this ambitious brand since it launched in late 2016. Borrowing from the best of the Everlane, Netflix, and Warby Parker business models, this direct-to-consumer beauty company is combining pricing transparency with a subscription model to change the game for beauty buyers in the UK and US, and soon other markets.

It works by offering high-end beauty products, developed at the leading labs and factories in the world, at cost to its members. So a lipstick that would normally retail for $25 is just $2.38 plus the price of a $10 membership. Membership grants you access to up to $100 of regular retail priced merchandise each month, so four of those lipsticks for example.

Mission Statement

What I love about this brand is that they understand that if you're going to disrupt an industry, you've got to come out of the gate with a crystal clear message. Words that help consumers instantly get what you do. What do you think of these taglines and headers?

Beauty Pie Messaging

"Makeup Without The Markup"

"Like A Buyer's Club For Beauty Addicts"

"Like A Backstage Pass Into The World's Leading Cosmetics Labs"

"Luxury Lipstick For Less Than A Latte"

I think they've nailed their message and made a potentially confusing business model super relatable to their core audience.

To boot, they've used their copy to cleverly distinguish themselves from the beauty samples subscription box companies they could easily get confused for.

A+ for positioning.

Do you need a clear message so others can finally get your break-through idea?

The Articulation Intensive might be for you. Let's chat through the details of my brand messaging engagement for business visionaries.

Re-thinking Mission & Embracing Purpose.

January 21, 2016 Stephanie

Uncovering Why. Rethinking Mission and Embracing Purpose.

Today I want to talk about one of the most important aspects of assembling your brand messaging: purpose.

Purpose is at the top of the agenda when I sit down with clients to craft their messaging and it’s a great topic to revisit at the beginning of the year.

Purpose is the “why” that lends meaning to the “what” of what you do. Purpose reveals your motives, and motives are important because they reveal your values.

Besides the tangible solutions you offer through your products and services, values are the #1 thing your audience buys when they buy you.

If your values [as revealed by your purpose] align with your audience’s, then the skies are the limit to what you can build with your customers!

So, it goes without saying that defining your purpose is hugely important. Like a compass points a captain to true north, a crystal clear purpose points to the ideas, innovations, and intentions you should pursue to make your customers' lives better.

But let’s clear something up:

Having a purpose and having a mission statement are two different things.

Here's my take on how mission and purpose differ:

Anyone can have a vague, formulaic, jargony statement about being “best in class by redefining the industry with leading-edge technology that disrupts the status quo.”

I bet you’ve seen hundreds of these! At best they're a bore, at worst they're empty words.

Don’t get me wrong: codifying your day-to-day mission is very important for your internal audiences. It gets everyone on the same page, and that's a worthy goal.

But no one ever waited in line for 12 hours on release day, or edited a fanzine, or hosted a viewing party, or bought the t-shirt for a brand that was purposeless, but awesome.

Nope. Customers bend over backwards for a brand only when they feel connected to its purpose and aligned with its values.

Perhaps this is why I’ve noticed more and more organizations de-commissioning tired ol’ mission statements from their websites in favor of purpose-driven language instead?

If you’ve never thought about your organization’s purpose or haven’t revisited your “why” in a long time, then this is my A-1 tip for strengthening your brand.

Give yourself a few days to answer these questions to flush out your purpose and uncover your "why."

10 Questions for Uncovering "Why" & Embracing Your Purpose:

What do your customers want to do that they either can’t do or find difficult to do?
How can you fix that?
Why do you want to fix that?
Why are you the one(s) to take this on?
What happens if you succeed? What difference will it make?
Why does that difference matter?
What do your customers believe about the world? – Life, love, happiness, truth, etc.
What do you believe?
What do you know for certain that you wish everyone could know?
If everyone knew what you know, how would the world change?

Mull these over and write down your answers. It doesn't matter if they're messy or nonsensical at first. Just get them down on paper. When you’re ready, take a stab at writing a statement of purpose that hits on the six elements in the Mission vs. Purpose graphic above.

Pro Tips for Writing Your Statement of Purpose:

- Don’t be overly formal.

- Have fun with the words, phrases, or word-pictures that you use.

- Play around with tone. Is your brand optimistic, maverick, pensive, blunt, feminine, masculine, aspirational? Insert tone-specific words to stay on-brand.

- Keep it short and sweet. Meaningful doesn't have to be long.

- Lastly, don’t rush to put your statement up on your website – sit with it for a few days and think about how you can let this language shape how you talk about your products, services, and brand.

Need Some Help Clarifying Your Purpose?

This series is a great primer but if you want one-on-one support for crafting your brand messaging, the Articulation Intensive might right for you.

In this 4-to-6-week program your and I will craft words and ideas that express your brand's purpose and personality.

To chat about your brand messaging needs, contact me at steph@starkandsplendor.com.

Brand Crush: Everlane

December 3, 2015 Stephanie

Like millions of other people last Friday, I couldn't help but pop online to scope out the sales at a few of my favorite retailers. I've been a fan of Everlane for its blend of quality wardrobe basics and fair manufacturing practices for a while now, so I wasn't surprised by the awesome Black Friday campaign that they executed.

Read on for a brief rundown of what I think made this such brilliant brand marketing.

First things first, you'll notice, this was not a sale. Like last year, Everlane took the contrarian approach and made Black Friday a day about giving, not getting.

A few retailers made headlines this year for eschewing trading on Black Friday to take a stand against holiday consumerism. What I loved about Everlane's campaign is that it didn't preach to consumers or make them feel bad for embracing holiday shopping. Instead, it respected its customers with an initiative that was completely brand-aligned.

Everlane's anti-sale was the Black Friday Fund -- an initiative benefitting the workers at its t-shirt factory in the heart of L.A.

Everlane donated 35% of every Black Friday purchase to be able to offer on-site healthcare, free groceries, and English classes to its factory workers.

What I loved about the Black Friday Fund was that it reflected the needs and wishes of Everlane's craftspeople. No prescriptive solutions here. Just real things to make a difference in real people's lives.

To personalize the campaign further, Everlane featured a fun vignette spotlighting the quirks, likes, dislikes, and personalities of a few of their workers.

Pretty cool, huh?

So what made this campaign work? Here's my take...

Brand Crush:

3 Reasons I Think Everlane's Black Friday Campaign Was Brilliant

1. Reinforced brand positioning

You don't have to be on the Everlane site for long, before you figure out the brand stands for fair manufacturing and radical transparency.

The Black Friday Fund enhanced Everlane's positioning by reinforcing its reputation as an ethical manufacturer and caring employer. In an industry that has been scrutinized for its dicey record on employee health and opaque manufacturing practices, this is a very compelling proposition for socially conscious, millennial shoppers. Bonus: the campaign invited customers into the brand story by giving us an opportunity to use our purchasing power to do good too.

2. Differentiation

By forgoing a sale and doing the opposite of what its competitors did [Gap, Madewell, J. Crew, etc], Everlane powerfully differentiated itself not by its products, but by what it stands for.

Everlane can't be profitable and stay true to its values, whilst competing with the likes of Gap on price. Because of its transparent mark-ups, there just isn't a lot of margin for bargain bin sales.

Their advantage is ethos and value for money, and this is exactly how the Black Friday Fund differentiated Everlane. Instead of a sale, which shouts "our markups are so astronomical that we can afford to slash prices by 50%," the campaign's subliminal message was, "we treat our customers and employees fairly year-round."

The rewards of this approach are obvious: Everlane retained the integrity of its brand [ethical, attainable, premium] and competed on what it new it could win.

3. Execution

Everlane's Black Friday strategy culminated in really solid execution.

In keeping with the brand's aesthetic -- modern, minimalist, quality -- the Black Friday Fund story telling was straightforward, poignant, and transparent.

Pictures of the factory, employee stories, a breakdown of how the funds would be allocated, and a realtime fundraising graphic animated the simple, yet bold copywriting.

All the elements aligned to form a story that was poignant, humble, and cooly restrained.