Top 10 most relevant global beauty brands, Bobbi Brown exits Yahoo Beauty, Per-Fekt beauty scores major investment, and TV ads drive highest Aussie consumer response.
Top 10 most relevant global beauty brands
Beauty marketing focuses on Big Data these days. Yet, just when execs get a handle on one social media platform, another one suddenly surges to prominence. Every brand is chasing Millennials, but guess what's happened, says Lucie Greene, worldwide director of the innovation group at J. Walter Thompson, Millennial behaviour is becoming mass behaviour across all age groups.
The most storied brands can't count on loyalty anymore and Charles Darwin's dictum - adapt or die - has never had more resonance in the beauty bizz. Relevance isn't about size, says WWD, in the influential publication's latest stab at crystal ball gazing to pick the beauty brands maintaining a forward momentum. But wisdom does come with age, it seems. The bulk of the top 10 have decades of experience at staying ahead.
1) L'Oréal Paris - The biggest is the best across hair care, make-up and skincare as the brand excels at digital strategies.
2) - The top-ranked prestige colour brand in the US and fourth overall.
3) Chanel - A top 10 prestige ranking in most major markets, courtesy of its polished art-cum-science approach.
4) Neutrogena - An unstoppable award winner in mass, buoyed by last year's monster hit Hydro Boost Water Gel.
5) Urban Decay - Now owned by L'Oréal, one of the most copied brands.
6) Maybelline New York - Innovation, product development and digital mastery keep the 101 year old player on top.
7) - The 6th most mentioned brand on sephora.com.
8) - Thanks Kendall Jenner. Millennials have come to love the pioneering brand that revolutionised their grandmothers' lives.
9) - Beyonce's favourite beauty bar has been a trendsetter in real beauty.
10) Lancôme - The French prestige brand out-ranks Estée Lauder on its home turf and keeps the best-sellers coming - La Vie Est Belle fragrance, Miracle Cushion foundation and the up-and-coming category killer, Juicy Shaker Gloss lipcolour.
Bobbi Brown exits Yahoo Beauty
Yahoo has had a wild ride since it was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994 - from sky-rocketing share prices during the dot.com bubble through to a multi-million dollar IPO and the largest staff layoff in the web portal's history four years ago when 14 per cent of its global workforce received their pink slips.
Marissa Mayer took over as the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company in mid-2012. Under her leadership, Yahoo acquired Tumblr for US$1.1 billion and social media web browser Rockmelt and revamped Flickr.
Restructuring is again the name of the game and Yahoo has made deep cuts. The company's once-ballyhooed digital magazines were shuttered last week - Yahoo Food, Yahoo Health, Yahoo Parenting, Yahoo Makers, Yahoo Travel and Yahoo Real Estate.
Yahoo Beauty and Yahoo Style have been given a reprieve as dedicated lifestyle verticals. But Bobbi Brown, appointed as editor-in-chief of Yahoo Beauty less than two years ago, has departed along with senior beauty editor Joanna Douglass and several staffers. Yahoo Style editor-in-chief Joe Zee remains at his post but editor Sarah Cristobal has also left the building. Our beauty coverage is going in a new direction, said Martha Nelson, Yahoo's global editor-in-chief. A Time Inc veteran, Nelson joined Yahoo in August last year.
Per-Fekt beauty scores major investment
Richard Anderson, a beauty veteran whose CV includes YSL Beaute and Bobbi Brown, founded Per-Fekt Beauty in 2005 and the Hollywood-based entrepreneur has had a dream run. The company's breakthrough products - perfectors for the skin, body, cheeks and eyes - are available in 700 prestige and independent stores worldwide and are exclusive to Sephora in Australia. Per-fekt Beauty established a key relationship with Sephora overseas as a start-up and really hit the big time with multi-million dollar revenues following its debut in Ulta, the biggest US beauty chain, in 2014.
The time has come to grow the business further. Cosmetic Design Group (CDG), a market leader in custom cosmetic design and turnkey solutions for global and US beauty retailers, has made a major investment in Per-Fekt Beauty. CDG is backed by noted private equity firms Five Crowns Capital and Corbel Structured Equity Partners. The partnership will boost product developemnt and greater innovation and open the door to merger and acquisition opportunities going forward, notes Anderson.
TV ads drive highest Aussie consumer response
Television Is The New Television: The Unexpected Triumph of Old Media in the Digital Age by Michael Wolff was one of the best-selling marketing books of 2015. Australians certainly think so, reports Nielsen. More than 60 per cent of online Australians surveyed revealed they were more likely to take action after watching a TV ad, cementing the "small screen's" long-held position as the most powerful paid advertising platform in driving path-to-purchase.
Another oldie but a goodie clinches the top spot, according to Nielsen's Global Trust Survey. Friends and family are the most trusted sources of info on brands, products and services for 80 per cent of online Australians. Even more importantly, the same percentage of consumers are likely to follow through on personal recommendations.
Over 50 per cent of online Australians say they trust TV ads, and digital forms of advertising have not eroded this faith even among younger age groups. All demographics like ads that stand out and humour is the number one quality which resonates with Aussies. Advertisers have always strategically placed ads to reach target audiences and it's still a smart strategy with Gen Y and Gen Z viewers, who prefer ads to have the same feel as the program they are watching, notes Nielsen.
Snippets from the wires
- It's been a hot week for celebrity make-up artists. Rimmel London has appointed UK guru Jo Baker as the brand's Official Artist. Across the Pond, Ulta and the Maesa Group have announced a partnership with Fiona Stiles to launch a 120 SKU make-up range.
- Designer Michael Kors has been a lifelong fan of Klorane Chamomile Shampoo to keep his blonde locks bright. The cult product celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with Soin Soleil Eclaircissant, a chamomile and honey brightening cream.
- Mineral make-up and suncare brand, Colorescience, launched in Australia two years ago. Sold through clinics, doctors'offices and online through adorebeauty.com.au, the US premium brand has scored US$6.5 million worth of funding for global expansion.
- Innovation from the footcare brand has been credited with a rise in revenues at Reckitt Benckiser in 2015. Global sales of the consumer health division increased 14 per cent to AUD$5.92 billion. The multinational's total sales also climbed 6 per cent to AUD$17.87 billion.
