Podcast Summary
Unexpected beginnings in beauty industry: Starting in an unlikely place, Corey's determination and hard work led to her success in the beauty industry despite opposition. Her ability to tap into a brand's potential and infuse it with emotion and compelling marketing strategies helped ELF achieve record-breaking success.
Corey's journey in the beauty industry began in an unexpected place – a nail salon. Despite facing opposition from her father, she persisted in pursuing her dreams and eventually landed her first job in beauty at OVMH. Her experiences in sales and brand management, as well as her time at Shiseido and Bare Minerals, equipped her with the skills necessary to revitalize the struggling ELF cosmetics brand. Through her ability to tap into the brand's potential and infuse it with emotion, storytelling, and compelling marketing strategies, she helped ELF achieve record-breaking success and reach a billion-dollar turnover in just 20 years. This story highlights the importance of staying true to your dreams, even when faced with adversity, and the power of hard work and determination in achieving great things.
Disrupting the beauty industry: The father-son duo behind ELF Cosmetics disrupted the beauty industry by selling luxury quality cosmetics online at affordable prices, cutting out middlemen and maintaining high standards with thousands of safe ingredients.
The father-son duo behind ELF Cosmetics disrupted the beauty industry by bringing luxury quality cosmetics to the masses at affordable prices, despite initial skepticism and opposition. Starting in 2004, they recognized a white space opportunity in selling cosmetics online, where they could cut out middlemen and pass the savings onto consumers. ELF's success hinges on their ability to maintain a high standard of quality with thousands of safe ingredients, while redefining what beauty means and how it's sold. Their direct-to-consumer model, exceptional value, and commitment to innovation have made ELF a billion-dollar business, defying the notion that brand is dead. Consumers continue to be impressed by ELF's performance, pigment, and payoff, often discovering it on social media platforms like TikTok, all while enjoying prices that are a fraction of the cost of prestige brands.
Marketing and Brand Building: Increasing marketing spend from 6% to 25% led to a significant increase in net revenue from 250 million to a billion. Brands that people love transcend product and staying close to consumers is crucial for success.
Investing in marketing and brand building is crucial for a company's growth, especially when it reaches a certain stage in its lifecycle. When the speaker joined the company five years ago, only 6% of net revenue was being spent on marketing and digital. However, after recognizing the need to invest in brand building, the company significantly increased its marketing spend to 25%. This shift led to a significant increase in net revenue from 250 million to a billion. Product is indeed important, but it's not enough to make a brand successful. Brands that people love transcend product. Staying close to consumers is another important factor for success. As a brand scales, it's easy to lose touch with the community it serves. The shorter the distance between the C-suite and the community, and the shorter the distance between insight and action, the greater the chance for success. The speaker personally consumes consumer comments and feedback in real-time and takes immediate action based on it. This direct loop between the community and the innovation team allows the brand to respond quickly to consumer demands and trends. The success of Elf Cosmetics can be attributed to its low distance between the community and the C-suite, as well as its quick response to consumer feedback.
Customer insights and C-suite communication: Direct communication of customer insights to C-suite executives can accelerate product development and growth by keeping the company agile and responsive to customer needs.
Having direct access to decision-makers and acting on customer insights in real-time can significantly accelerate product development and growth. In the story shared, the CEO's involvement in addressing community demands for bronzing drops led to their fast-tracking and successful market launch. To effectively organize around insights, having them directly reach C-suite executives is crucial, as seen in ELF Cosmetics where their insights person shares insights with all business leaders every Monday. This direct communication and quick action keep the company agile and responsive to customer needs. ELF's unique structure, where every employee is a shareholder, also fosters a passionate and entrepreneurial team that is invested in the company's success. By staying digitally native, continuously learning, and expanding into new areas, ELF has grown from a one-legged horse to a diversified brand, reaching 25% market share.
Entrepreneurship and Adaptability: Entrepreneurs can identify opportunities to reach new audiences and adapt their marketing strategies accordingly, even if it means shifting from digital to traditional media like the Super Bowl.
Being an entrepreneur means having the ability to adapt and dream big. The team behind ELF Cosmetics started with a simple question about the effectiveness of their Power Grip Primer, leading them to create a groundbreaking commercial featuring Jennifer Coolidge during the Super Bowl. This was a significant shift for a brand that had only focused on digital marketing up until then. They identified an opportunity to reach a large, underrepresented audience of women during the Super Bowl and made it happen. ELF Cosmetics proved that beauty brands belong everywhere and inspired other brands to follow suit. The team's success extends beyond Gen Z, with a diverse demographic of customers ranging from Gen Alpha to Gen X and older. By focusing on emerging media and engaging with their community, they were able to create a buzz and even inspired a 15-minute parody documentary called "Cosmetic Criminals." The story of ELF Cosmetics shows that entrepreneurs can climb any mountain and create entertainment and a loyal following in unexpected ways.
Brand collaborations: Unexpected partnerships can significantly expand reach and create cultural impact for brands, especially when they resonate with audiences and highlight shared values.
Successful brand collaborations can significantly expand reach and create cultural impact, even for brands with limited resources. The ELF Cosmetics example demonstrates this through their unexpected partnerships with Chipotle, Dunkin', American Eagle, and Liquid Death. These collaborations not only resonated with audiences but also highlighted the shared values and disruptive spirit of the brands involved. The ELF team's ability to identify trends and adapt to new platforms, like TikTok, also played a crucial role in their success. Their culture, defined as a renegade spirit with a bias for action and a focus on disrupting norms, has been instrumental in ELF's ability to create unique and memorable collaborations. By pushing boundaries and embracing unexpected partnerships, ELF has effectively carved out a distinct presence in the competitive beauty industry.
Brand Creativity: Embrace difference, disrupt norms, and connect communities through positivity, inclusivity, and accessibility. Cultivate curiosity, courage, creativity, conviction, and community to drive successful branding.
Creating a successful and meaningful brand involves embracing difference, disrupting norms, shaping culture together with the community, connecting communities, and doing it all through positivity, inclusivity, and accessibility. Mikhaela Javanis, the CMO of L'Oréal Paris, emphasizes the importance of intuition and breaking the rules, as well as the five C's: curiosity, courage, creativity, conviction, and community. Curiosity leads to learning from unexpected places, courage allows bringing those learnings to the table, creativity solves problems differently, conviction keeps pushing forward despite challenges, and community provides support throughout the journey. Javanis also emphasizes the importance of sharing knowledge and experiences to inspire and connect with others.
LinkedIn impact: Sharing knowledge and experiences on LinkedIn can positively impact people's lives and businesses, with potential to reach two billion users. Engage with audience for maximum impact.
Sharing knowledge and experiences on LinkedIn can positively impact people's lives and businesses. The speaker, John Evans, shared his personal experience of receiving gratitude from people whose projects were improved by his posts. He encourages everyone, especially those in B2B, to start posting on LinkedIn as there are two billion users on the platform. By being open and honest, one can build respect and reach a larger audience. Additionally, John emphasized the importance of engaging with the audience by responding to comments and messages. Overall, the power of LinkedIn as a social media platform should not be underestimated, and regular posting can lead to significant benefits.
