Coty’s buying spree doesn’t seem to have an off button right now – they’ve just bought the global license rights for Burberry beauty which covers skincare, fragrance and cosmetics, meaning that Coty will take over the development, manufacturing and distribution. Previously, the licensing was with the Shiseido group who has ended its Burberry agreements.
Buxom Cosmetics (also Shiseido owned, as is bare Minerals) is coming back to the UK for a second time. It’s launching into Debenhams.
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A feature in the Drum about the dreadful Pepsi/Kendall ad, now pulled, as Pepsi realises its terrible clanger has a quote from Jason Snyder, chief technology officer of a ‘brand experience agency’ (I don’t know either!) that in just a few words has nailed a common brand ailment – myopia. “Brands often suffer from myopia when trying to articulate their own value to the marketplace,” he says. Never a truer word my friend, and particularly in the beauty arena. If you think bloggers have egos, you need to meet the brands! You can read more HERE.
Currently upsetting the applecart is the CEO of Cocoa Brown tan, Marissa Carter, and in a great example of the above, she is quoted as saying, “Brands copy us now all the time. They try to do what we did with Cocoa Brown when we initially started…working with bloggers to try and grow their brand. But that game is dead now there’s absolutely no authenticity left in that business. When I started Cocoa Brown, bloggers still had credibility…they were telling the truth about the products that they tried. Now, the value of a blogger endorsement is nothing – there are no bad reviews anymore.’
Opinion is divided on whether she is right or wrong (she has a partial point), but sweeping statements like that reflect poorly on her own digital outreach and research because truthful bloggers are plentiful! It’s indicative of a general brand attitude that bloggers exist only to service brands and it’s our bad if we’re not prepared to play ball. There’s no insight into their own outreach methods or acknowledgement of the fact that the relationship between brand and blogger needs to run with mutual respect. I’ve seen some horrible treatment of bloggers recently from bigger brands with digital engagement managers whose egos have run out of control and lost sight of any true meaning of ‘engagement’, which has lead, quite widely, to a loss of respect from bloggers towards brands. I’ve just been reading a feature in BW Confidential sub-titled, “how make-up brands can come up with better social media strategies to exploit the reach of influencers” which again gives you a clue of what ‘engagement’ looks like on the inside. It would be nice not to be ‘exploited’ at all.
Apparently, the Body Shop is being eye’d up by Goldman Sachs. Got to admit, I didn’t see that one coming!
Nivea has also been forced to remove an ad for deodorant which declared ‘White is Purity”. See.. myopia again. At no point, being in such a rush of self-love, did anyone foresee a problem with this. It’s been removed now, apologies issued, but how did it ever happen in the first place. Nivea, please meet Pepsi for immediate group therapy. What’s really great on both counts is that the public stood up and said no. We’re questioning ads like never before and that’s as it should be.
At In-Cosmetics I picked up a whole pile of trade magazines that I don’t normally have access to. One of the big themes is MAC – and its unprecedented sales fall. Any chance this might be because ELC is cannibalizing its own market by snapping up brands like Two Faced and Becca? For MAC, market dynamics have changed completely. If you project forward a couple of years, the ‘less is more’ trend that is being predicted (led by a youth market by the way) spells trouble across the board for all beauty brands still in a frenzy of producing new and more. ‘Less’ is about discernment, not volume, so I think we may see MAC producing fewer collections going forward.
Sephora is rolling out its new concept stores – known as TIP (teach, inspire, play). Their north American president and CEO, says, “Our innovative Beauty TIP Workshop concept encourages and supports a thriving beauty community, one that’s focused on inclusiveness, promotes self-expression, celebration and education through our unparalleled service experiences, designed to teach and inspire our New York-based clients to play and discover beauty.”
Sources & Resources: CosmeticBusiness, The Drum, Happi.com, bwconfidential.com reuters.com, Globalcosmeticsnews.
Transparency Disclosure
All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.
11 comments
Yay for less is more. I’m drowning under beauty samples . Please can you post the link for the be confidential article?
It’s a print article xx
You’re so right about the brands behaving badly and thinking that we’re there to be exploited – rather than treated with respect and nutured towards a mutually beneficial outcome. They don’t see that they need to ask what we want or how best we can work together; they jump in feet first without a second thought. The Cocoa Brown fiasco was a nod to that, as Marissa felt it appropriate to make such a sweeping statement which was contradictory to her brands actions (of getting product into the hands of everyone and anyone): there are many sites that are free from opinion, but equally there are many with oodles of it.
Interesting as always Jane!
Fingers crossed they(Coty), do not mess with the quality of Burberry make up. When Shiseido stepped in, many said the blush and eye shadows changed.
My local Mac store is still very busy. But I stopped taking notice of their marketing emails because by the time I got to the counter all the good stuff was gone or they had moved on to something else. A little bit the same with Bobbi Brown.
From what you write about brands they don’t seem to understand that a blog is a brand and each blogger brand will have its own usp. There are perhaps two main categories of beauty bloggers. The “Ethical” of which this blog is a good example and the “Rah-rah” blogs. I prefer an Ethical blog but will look at the Rah-rahs from time to time.
MAC has too many limited edition sets. Before the big social media boost, MAC had decent campaigns and makeup sets, the Liza Minelli set was a memorable one. But now there are so many I don’t remember many of them or any of them! The packaging with the print may have been different with all the different collaboration with artists and such but the colors inside were just the same as previous collections.
I think a lot of these brands need to think about marketing in terms of what will bring the consumer back to remembering the campaign rather than let’s think up the next weekly campaign.
Also, there is waaay too much makeup out there now. The lag time between what is in the stores and what ends up at an outlet like TJMaxx (TKMaxx) is becoming shorter and shorter.
How on earth did “White is purity” get past the other people in the meeting room, never mind the rest of it? Unbelievable.
Maybe the ‘no negative reviews blogger problem’ has been caused in part by the brand PR agents? If a brand sends out samples without trying to check the credibility or because they know they are going to only ever get a good review and like that, then the number of ‘fluff’ bloggers who are essentially PR mouthpieces will increase. I like a fewer samples but to influencers/bloggers who match the brand and speak their mind. A good review from someone who actually gives their opinions is probably worth more than 100 fluff reviews reiterating the press release surely? And a good blogger/brand relationship should be one that benefits both parties. Such a minefield out there!
I haven’t been that interested in anything MAC for ages. There’s just too much and too many limited releases. I don’t want to find the best lipstick colour ever only for it to be limited. The quality of MAC also seems to have dropped in the last couple of years for me. The social media led brands like Colourpop have really managed to disrupt the system I think by being able to respond to customers better. MAC limited editions probably need to be more covetable with properly limited packaging or product designs like powder embossing.
I’m nodding in agreement here Jo.. I was having this very conversation with a brand on Friday saying that if I worked for them I would slash their outreach by two thirds and focus on key people who are an exact match for the brand. By spreading it so far and wide they’ve stopped being covetable at all so their strategy has completely backfired.
Your views and opinions on these kind of things are just one of the many reasons you are my go to blog.
I definitely agree that brands can dimish their covetable status if they are seen to be sending samples to absolutely everybody. Some days on Instagram, you can just tell that the press samples have been sent out!
I think there is a rise in the importance of the ‘micro-influencer’ in response too. At a certain number of followers and comments, it become much harder to continue to have a dialogue with followers and respond to comments which can affect the influencer/follower dynamic. That dialogue creates trust and relatability which can be so valuable. I’d much rather send samples to bloggers who are able to respond if a follower asks something such as ‘does that come in other colours?’
Another good point.. brands don’t actually realise how many questions we get asked or the advice we dish out or any of the follow ups that can come after a post or an Instagram. We have to know as much about their brand as they do!