It’s been a year since Justin Fullerton announced he was stepping down from his role as general manager for Benefit Cosmetics Australia and New Zealand, after 13 years in the position. Now, Fullerton is thrilled to reveal his exciting new venture – the global CEO for eye make-up brand Eyeko, a favourite of Alexa Chung’s. Based in London, Fullerton this week took time out from his busy schedule to tell BD all about his career move.
Can you tell me about your new role?
Global CEO for Eyeko, the cult London beauty brand specialising in eye make-up – that reinvented mascara packaging with its original ‘zero waste’ squeezy tube technology.
What are your key responsibilities at Eyeko?
I see Eyeko becoming the most visible and eye-catching lifestyle mascara brand in beauty. My task is to communicate my vision and set the agenda, build on our premium digital channels, add disruptive purposeful marketing, product innovation, and [deliver] a content development pipeline to be a fully digitally-enabled business.
What attracted you to working with the brand?
Its authentic story, unique selling point, the culture, the people, and [getting to report] in to the founders. I have always been attracted to disruptive challenger brands. My sister shared her beauty secret that Eyeko Black Magic Mascara was the best mascara she had ever used – so I went to explore and was instantly intrigued by the ‘zero-waste’ squeezy mascara tube technology. Then the very next day, my friend, who knows our co-founders Max and Nina Leykind, said he would introduce me to them as they were looking for a CEO.
What are you most excited about in regards to working at Eyeko?
Working with a non-corporate disruptive challenger brand; a cult, indie brand. Working with like-minded people who believe in our mascara mission to make Eyeko the default mascara brand for every woman. [I’m also excited about being in] a global role that reports directly to our founders and the board, meeting many amazing people around the world across all our retail partners, having such a great opportunity to set out my vision, shape the agenda, and build a winning team and global brand.
Are you able to take a lot of your experience at Benefit into the new role?
Absolutely. Not just a lot – but all my experience. CEO at Eyeko is the perfect natural fit and next step for me.
What have you been up to in between ending at Benefit and starting at Eyeko?
I took one entire year off: spending time with my family; I went to Israel and Brazil – I had Portuguese lessons before going to Brazil; researching the retail and beauty category; studying what makes a disruptive challenger brand succeed and not others. Preparing to be the CEO of a $100 million global beauty brand!
Was it hard leaving Benefit?
No. I had achieved everything that I wanted to achieve including Benefit Australia having the brand’s worldwide number one door in retail sales – 2012-2015 in Myer Sydney City store – where Benefit ranked number one on the shop floor.
Do you miss the team and working there?
I miss the team.
What has been your career highlight?
Becoming CEO for Eyeko.
What are you hoping to achieve at Eyeko in your new role?
Eyeko becoming the default mascara for every woman.
Where can you see your career in five years’ time?
As CEO at Eyeko with an established front bench executive team and strong global team supporting our retail teams. Probably spending three quarters of my time on a plane, travelling to all our markets learning from our teams and retail partners about what’s working and where the new opportunities are. Always looking for ways to improve and do what we do better. Continuing on our mascara massion!
