The convergence of media, marketing, and technology has redefined the mechanics of building brands in the modern world. Everyone talks about the value of data and a hero product, but the ability to tell a memorable story and create compelling experiences across platforms and IRL that resonate with consumers is invaluable.
At BeautyMatter’s FUTURE50 Summit, we gathered Akash Mehta, co-founder and CEO at Fable & Mane; Lach Hall, founding partner and Executive Chair of Marketing at Vacation; and Monica Arnaudo, Chief Merchandising Officer at Ulta Beauty to discuss how some of the most impactful brands are using content as a tool to create conversation, build community, and design culture at scale bringing brands to life in new ways to engage the next-generation consumers.
Moderator and BeautyMatter Editor Carla Seipp opened the panel by asking Arnaudo what she wants when bringing on a new brand at Ulta.
“First, what’s the reason for being? What's the value add that the brand is bringing? What's the consumer gap that the brand is solving? Next, and perhaps most crucial, is the product. It has to be efficacious, innovative, and give consumers the results they’re looking for. But above all, Ulta is seeking brands that have the ability to forge a deep, meaningful connection with the consumer across all social and digital spaces,” says Arnaudo.
Ulta also loves founders. The retailer loves founders who are completely vested in the brand. “The founder story is really, really important to us. They really bring life and passion to the brand,” says Arnaudo.
Can Ulta launch a brand that doesn't have a founder story? Arnaudo says yes, they can and do, but they must have an excellent leadership and operating team. Especially if a brand wants to go into a big retailer, they have to have a team that can really lead and scale the business and knows what it's doing.
Today’s consumers move so fast that the content has to stand out and captivate their attention. “It's got to be cool, compelling, but then it has to be simple enough that somebody is going to want to learn more to purchase, and in a perfect world, share,” says Arnaudo.
She was quick to point out Vacation as an example of a brand that has done a great job of capturing the consumer with nostalgic and captivating content. Touchland and CurlMix also came to mind as brands that stand out on the shelves due to the ways these brands have connected with their customers both online and IRL.
Akash Mehta, co-founder and CEO at Fable & Mane, thinks of his brand as a kingdom. The products are the citizens, and he’s inviting consumers to come and visit him on his personal little island. “Everything you do has to tie back to this ecosystem that you’re building,” says Mehta.
At Fable & Mane, the country of India is the inspiration. The brand once hosted a safari-themed pop-up where consumers had to scavenge an Indian-inspired jungle for samples. Fable & Mane is also hosting an influencer game night, and all the games are invented in India. Every touchpoint should make consumers feel like they’re visiting that island.
“I think it starts, first and foremost, with just having a really clear understanding of who you are as a brand and then combining that with a very clear understanding of your positioning in the marketplace and your mission,” says Lach Hall, founding partner and Executive Chair of Marketing at Vacation.
Vacation’s brand aesthetic makes many references to decades past, when sunscreen was more fun. The brand sifts every single aspect of the brand through this unique filter, which imbues its marketing efforts with a sense of fun that also feels incredibly cohesive.
“We're on a mission to bring sunscreen back, and we're doing it in our weird, authentic way that harkens back to that time. So if you have that sort of foundation, it becomes really easy to start to think about how to activate that across the funnel.”
Vacation goes really deep into every single touch point—beyond just the consumer-facing touch points. Even Vacation’s Zoom backgrounds are branded. Going into retail meetings, the Vacation team plays specific music that aligns with the brand.
“On the consumer-facing side of things, everything from emails to the product, the packaging, the pop-ups on the website, it all turns into a moment to tell our story.”
Hall says that the Vacation team members put all of these touchpoints through the filter of three things: First, what is the business objective they’re trying to achieve? Next, how do they put that through the brand’s leisure-enhancing sunscreen mission? And finally, how can they turn it into a viral moment and get their customers to take a photo that amplifies their reach?
“If we're thinking about those three things, then everything else in terms of what we do with marketing will amplify that,” says Hall.
One example of this is Vacation’s email pop-up on its DTC website. It’s designed to look like an old retail coupon from the 1990s, which already transports customers into another world. As people sign up, they get to select business cards to “join the Vacation company” in made-up roles like Shrimp Cocktail Designer, Head of Hot Tubs, SVP of Speed Boat Weddings, and more. That role becomes something that they share on social media, giving Vacation more organic reach.
“Our company has 26 people at the moment, but according to LinkedIn, we have thousands of people [at our company], because people have all these [fake] roles in the company. Once you put all of the above combined with all the acquisition tactics and things that you're doing in a broader marketing sense, through that clear lens, it effortlessly ladders up to achieving the [brand’s] business goals.”
Like Hall, Mehta also loves to inject a dose of fun into Fable & Mane’s branding. Mehta himself has pulled up to Sephora in a tiger’s costume to promote Fable & Mane, and he’s even convinced his dad to star in TikToks, all in the name of content.
“This isn't just a boring business,” says Mehta. “This is part of my day to day. So if I want to prance around in a tiger costume, I'm going to do it. I think it should also be part of your brand pillars. So for us, play was a big part of Fable & Mane.”
“I think business, in general, should feel very lighthearted,” says Mehta. “It isn't just about this competition and fighting for space. We should all just be friends. And sometimes the best way to be friends is to play a friendly game. So I invite anyone in your day-to-day work life, to bring a sprinkle of fun.”
Vacation and Fable & Mane are both available for purchase at Ulta. According to Arnaudo, what consumers love most about Ulta is its assortment. The mega-retailer carries around 600 brands, from mass to luxury. Approximately 80% of Ulta guests actually want to shop in stores. From a merchandising standpoint, Ulta works with a brand founder to understand what product or aspect of the brand needs to stand out.
“It's really important that we're showcasing all of the amazing brands that companies and founders create in a way that expresses the brand DNA, and the merchandising is an important aspect,” says Arnaudo.
For a brand like Half Magic, the pigments and shimmer within the products are very important. Ulta created unique lighting to highlight the shimmer in the formula. Recently, Ulta just launched WYN Beauty by Serena Williams with some very disruptive merchandising. The gondola has the chartreuse green and gold elements as a nod to Williams' sport and legacy.
Beyond that, Ulta also promotes what it calls its cross-category strategic platforms, which are initiatives that are very relevant to the consumer. This includes Ulta’s Conscious Beauty endcap and Wellness Wall, both of which highlight products that fall into both categories. Ulta also has a program called Sparked at Ulta Beauty, where the retailer launches and showcases some of the new and emerging brands it brings in.
“All of these have a merchandising element that evokes what is important to showcase, and it’s not just their merchandising there in the stores, but they're also platforms that we lift up online and storytell around, so it's very comprehensive,” says Arnaudo.
When it comes to finding inspiration for creative campaign ideas, Vacation often starts by asking, “What would we do if we didn’t have any money?” This kind of restraint leads to the most creative ideas that don’t break the bank.
“I do think big and lavish is not working anymore,” advises Mehta. “Influencers are fed up going to big events. I feel like community is better. Whenever I can kind of pick up the bill with my credit card, that's the event we're going to do.”
Mehta says he prefers events like escape rooms and pottery classes with a small group of 10 people every few days over a few over-the-top activations per quarter or year.
Hall says he’s passionate about finding the most creative ways to promote the brand. “I spent most of my career trying to use creativity as a way to get an outsized share of voice in the marketplace,” he says. “How can you get someone to pay attention to whatever you're trying to promote, and then once they have seen it, it better be good enough that they want to talk about it.”
For Hall, the most important thing is the product. He spends most of his energy developing products that are absolutely remarkable in the hopes that when people experience them, they will feel pulled to tell other people about them.
“We try to make Willy Wonka-style sunscreens—weird, wild, creative sunscreens,” says Hall. Case in point: Vacation’s Classic Whip Sunscreen, which literally looks like a can of Reddi wip.
"Just from having those products that people want to talk about and share and catch your attention on the shelf. We generate about
5 million views a week on TikTok from hundreds of hundreds of thousands of people just taking photos of our products, so any type of marketing that we do on top of that to bring attention to those products is just gasoline on the fire.”
Creativity is at the heart of everything the brand does, which is also how the brand stays ahead of the curve.
“We’re overflowing with inspiration at Vacation,” says Hall. “It almost feels like an art project. It’s an artistic endeavor, what we’re doing. Many brands are created in a formulaic way. We did the opposite. We created a brand that’s almost like a radio signal to see if other people would resonate with it, and thankfully, they did. By doing that, we attracted an incredible team that also thinks on that same wavelength. We have an abundance of creative ideas for the brand because it’s just natural.”
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