For countless young Australians, their first foray into beauty involved cosmetics. Whether it was a lipstick, blush or eyeshadow, many people have a lasting memory involving those iconic coloured letters and the Australis sun.
Founded in 1987, Australis was the brainchild of Melbourne company, the Australis Marketing Corporation. After the brand’s initial collection of fragrances proved a success, Australis soon broadened its horizons with a full cosmetics range, followed by clothing, lingerie and even accessories. It wasn’t long before the brand’s true calling became clear. Colours of Australis was born and quickly grew to become one of Australia’s favourite make-up brands, with one in six lip products sold in Australia being Australis.
A 1989 Colours of Australis advertisement.
In the early 1990s, the brand’s name was changed from Colours of Australis to, simply, Australis. As the Australis Marketing Corporation grew and slowly built up its stable of brands, the company decided to change its name to reflect this. In 1996, it was re-named Creative Brands, which was later bought by Heritage Brands.
Today the brand’s most successful products are its face products, particularly its foundations and powders. Former brand manager Danielle Nicoli told beautydirectory, The face category has probably seen the largest growth over the years. We have always had such a loyal foundation/powder consumer, however over the last few years this has got bigger and bigger.”
Livinia Nixon featured in an early advertisement for the brand.
Australis’ success isn’t just limited to its homeland, with the brand launching in New Zealand around 10 years ago. Australis’ new brand manager Chelsea Carey describes the two markets as being very different, despite the target customer remaining the same. In New Zealand, our price point is slightly higher, so the brand is a bit more premium over there. We’re stocked in department store Farmers, as well as Kmart,” Carey says. In Australia, pharmacy retailing is the brand’s biggest distribution channel, with Australis stocked in 333 Priceline stores around Australia and more than 200 pharmacies. Additionally, it can be found on the shelves of Kmart, Target and Big W. This year, Australis has also launched its eCommerce store, which has grown organically even without heavy promotion from the brand so far. At the moment [the eCommerce store] is more of a secondary focus for us, but this could change later down the track,” says Carey. It’s a fine balance between online and traditional retailing because we’re conscious of our other distribution channels.”
Making the brand available online is just another way of keeping up with the Australis consumer – 18 to 12 year old females – an ever-changing fanbase. In 2009, the brand overhauled its look with new colours, a new logo and a new face of the brand in the form of Australian model Tahyna Tozzi. Now, with the 25th anniversary of the brand approaching, the brand is about to undergo even more changes, launching new ad campaigns and imagery in addition to saying goodbye to Tozzi as the face of the brand.
A 1993 advertisement for Australis.
In conjunction with the birthday celebrations, Australis is launching four limited-edition products – two lipsticks and two nail colours – as well as in-store promotions and Facebook giveaways. Given Carey describes the Australis girl as being a Facebook addict and always socially connected”, it comes as no surprise that the brand places a lot of importance on keeping up its social media channels.
Social media makes up about 60 to 70 per cent of our strategy, as that is obviously where our target market communicates the most,” says Carey. We have more than 100,000 Facebook fans, more than 3600 Twitter followers, we have a Pinterest account and a YouTube channel. We’re constantly delivering fresh content via those channels and always looking for the next social media trend.”
A more recent Australis ad campaign, starring Australian model Tahyna Tozzi.
Staying relevant to a young consumer is about listening to what they want, says Carey. One of the core pillars of Australia is that we’re not tested on animals,” Carey explains. Roy Morgan research recently showed that this is one of the top five factors cosmetic customers consider when making purchasing decisions.” Carey says Australis’ real point of difference, though, is its affordable yet high-quality products. In fact, every product in the range retails for less than $20.
The one thing that has remained a constant in the Australis girl is the brand’s unique understanding of the Australian girl. The brand has gone from featuring Australian icons like Akubra’s and Ken Done artwork in its campaigns to becoming an Australian icon itself.