Award Winning Real Shaving Company

 

There are lots of smiles in the office this morning as we have just received the Bronze Award in the Best New Male Face Product at the 14th Pure Beauty Awards in London.

The Awards celebrate innovation and creativity within the beauty industry and rightly recognise the most exciting and efficacious products (and as you can imagine it is a long old list!) launched within the past year.

These Awards are voted by Pure Beauty’s readers and retail store staff. Many thanks to everyone who voted for The Real Shaving Company as your favourite product and brand!

www.realshaving.com

Just in time Gifting!

 

 
Soap and Glory
has just launched its ‘Yule Monty’ Christmas bag, designed by Jonathan Saunders. It contains nine full size bath, body and beauty Soap & Glory hero products such as Righteous Butter Body Butter, Peaches & Clean Deep Purifying Cleanser, Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Plumper, Fast Super Volume Mascara, and others. Strange that a brand is offering a new seasonal gifting product 6 sleeps before Christmas, I am quite sure it has given the Brand Managers sleepless nights!  However, priced at £27, vs. typical retail value of the contents in the £50-60 range, I am sure it will be a successful sell out to all the brand loyalists of this fantastic brand, and a great trial mechanic for newbies to the brand.

Lucy Goaman

Cowshed’s Calf – Cheeky!

Beauty brand Cowshed is celebrating their 15th birthday by launching a new brand, Cheeky. Cheeky is to take High Street distribution, plus stand alone stores. Think manicures and blow-drys that are quick on time, cheap on cash but with no compromise on quality, launches end October. Positioning is spot on.

 

Lucy Goaman

Charlotte’s Beauty Festival

Whilst Glastonbury Festival is getting ready to go into full swing, another festival is taking the world by storm!!  Can you remember when you last saw a beauty brand launch?  And launch with huge razzmatazz?  The infamous Charlotte Tilbury has her own Beauty Festival in Selfridges this week, as a teaser, ahead of her line “Charlotte Tilbury” launching in September.

A luxe line.  A different line.  A line created by an expert in the trade.  Someone who has worked on nearly every famous face.  A lady who knows how to be different.  For example, when the world is used to Nail Bars, Charlotte introduces Eye Bars.

Team Tilbury will be on hand every day this week, in Selfridges, from 10am – 10pm (except 5.30-8pm) to offer free eye looks to anyone who comes to the event.  There are 5 signature looks to choose from:

The Feline Flick (a la Kate Moss)

A Chocolate Smoky Eye (think Sophia Loren)

A Pop of Colour (my inspiration is Jerry Hall and Studio 54)

A Rock ‘n’ Kohl legend eye (think Rihanna in V magazine)

Or a Disco Glamour (channel the sexiness and sophistication of Paris Vogue)

After being made over, you can have your photo added to the wall of fame.  And one lucky winner on the fame wall will be chosen to model in Charlotte’s next You Tube make over tutorial.

 Every day there is a different style of event, and for something quite quirky, on Thursday there is going to be free lipstick readings with psychics in residence, The Psychic Sisters. Who knew that your lipstick print could tell you so much about your psyche and your future..?

Charlotte has a great collection of celeb friends to help support her new brand launch, many will be popping up during the week at Selfridges.

I am loving her new make up bag, endorsed by a few friends!!  All the proceeds from the bag are going to Kids Company.

 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing this brand grow and I am sure it will become a marketing benchmark for many other beauty brands.

http://www.charlottetilbury.com/

Lucy Goaman

Bold Marketing

Just wanted to clock in! All fine here at the Marketing and PR Clinic, just been a busy few months.. sorry I have not been regularly blogging.

I have been spending my time with a wide range of businesses, mainly in Devon, from commercial agents, new product developers, charities, beauty brands, schools, and health and fitness businesses.

A similar theme amongst clients at the moment seems to be emerging. I am noticing an increased willingness to be bold and take risks with new product extensions, partnerships or simply in looking at new ways of doing business.

Often it is the marketing department that pushes decision makers into trying all things news, and now visionary thinking and willingness to take risks appears to becoming wider spread amongst businesses.

I am sure this is not just me noticing this shift, and I would really like to hear from others on whether they too are seeing businesses taking a more positive approach to taking risks, and decision makers beginning to enjoy being more bold in their marketing, to ensure their competitive advantage.

Is this the beginning of the end of austerity marketing?

 

Lucy Goaman

Latest Beauty Trends – March 2012

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Spring is here! Daffodils are in the garden, the sun is shining and Fashion week has hit New York, London and Milan

This month’s Istream Video and Report are now ready for you to view – go and check out the latest launches and trends on our updated website: www.informationstream.co.uk .

It was really hard to pick just a few highlights this month as the report is full of great innovative new products, here are just a few:

ckOne to launch its own Beauty brand in April this year containing over 130 skus.. one to look out for.

Astalift by Fujifilm is due out here in March.

SkinKiss tights – tights impregnated with self tan .

Fashion Week rundown from New York, London and Milan along with Pantones colour predictions for Aut/Win 2012/13

McCain launch bus stop signs that give off heat and scent to promote their new Jacket Potato range

Jennifer Lopez new scent JLo Glowing has a light up mechanism when the spray is engaged

This month we see additions to the brightening and lightening phenomenon that has filtered over from Asia;  Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Shiseido and Sisley all are launching or have already on the market a product in this category and this month Shu Uemura added a brightening cleanser to that mix.

Hyaluronic Acid and Collagen have been the two magic ingredients for youthful skin for a while now and we are seeing ever new ways of these two wonder ingredients being delivered.

This month sees the Collagen drink Collagen Gold selling over 2,000 units a week in Boots and chemists have found a new ingredient to boost the skin’s own production of Hyaluronic acid as opposed to applying it topically so watch out for this in future formulations.

Following the success of lip tattoos from Violent lips this month sees Eye tattoos emerging onto the market, the more mainstream with Eye Rock and the trend driven Phyllis Cohens range.

Face Lace which debuted at Londons Fashion Week. Its all here and much more, dive in now to find out everything you need to know to stay ahead of the game.

If you haven’t subscribed yet to Istream contact us now to get exclusive access to the monthly industry updates by calling + 00 44 (0) 7974431285 or contact lucy@informationstream.co.uk.

 

Simply Brilliant Beauty Innovation

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Some products are so simple, that they need very little explaining.

I love simplicity, and the smart innovation this month is from Avon, The Professional Perfect Eyes Kit.

I have worked on many make-up brands and the continual consumer issue was based on lack of confidence behind trying new looks, which was founded on people being unsure how to create a new look. Well Avon have quite simply taken the guesswork out of creating a new eye look.


The kit clearly shows you how to highlight, accent, contrast, and line eyes in a few simple steps. And the product is so cleverly designed that you can see exactly where you should be applying those shades.

Simply brilliant.

Social Media = New Customer Service

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Calling all brands – how are you interacting with your customers via your social media sites?

The Social Media Customer Service Report conducted by TNS and commissioned by customer care outsourcing provider Sitel, surveyed more than 1,000 UK consumers and found that 57% of consumers preferred to search online to solve their customer issues, and then interact with customer service on social media channnels such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, blogs and forums over any other method.

The good news here is, if you have a great website and are using a variety of real-time information on social media platforms, your consumers are very likely going to resolve their query by posting a question on your website, or view your tutorial or demonstration from your web, or from details on your launches on your blogsite.

But, if you haven’t developed a social media customer service strategy as part of your grand plan, now is the time to do so.

Here is a checklist for you;

1) product demonstrations on line
2) detailed product information
3) forums to chat about your product lines
4) twitter and facebook customer service teams
5) regular blog sites to push out information flow
6) maintain strong phone support – don’t you hate that when you cannot find a phone number to ring on some websites!

Due to my love of beauty brands, I have had a sneak about on facebook and twitter today to get a sense of customer’s comments today.. if you get a moment, take a look:-

www.facebook.com/gillette; good level of interaction with consumers, loud messages coming through on the price of blades!

http://www.facebook.com/MaxFactorUK; blocking customer feedback and interaction on the site, but great at product tutorials.

http://www.facebook.com/moltonbrown; a feast of customer feedback, no need for brand managers here to do focus groups!

http://www.facebook.com/misshoneyuk; great positive customer feedback for this lovely small growing brand.

http://www.facebook.com/BootsOfficialUK; really great, open messaging.

So the watch-out. Your social media strategy will blur into your customer service strategy, so make sure you are ready!

Paul and Joe Spring 2012…

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Paul & Joe’s spring 2012 Meow! makeup collection can now be previewed. The line celebrates the Paul & Joe’s 10th anniversary, and the inspiration of the collection is the founder’s love of cats.

I am sure most of you are familar with this line of products, and their fusion of the Parisian philosophy of enjoying life, mirrored with its kitsch, retro-chic packaging.

For innovation seekers check out the new Blusher Sticks (£21 each)… they’re shaped like cats! They come in shades: Glamour Puss (soft beige), Minou (pastel pink) and Cat Fight (energetic tangerine).

And the the lipsticks have inprints of paw prints on the lipstick bullet. They come in shades: Glamour Puss (soft beige), Minou (pastel pink) and Cat Fight (energetic tangerine)!! Don’t you love it!

The line is launching on 1st February, so when you get your paws on the products, do let me know what you think!

Winter Wonderland – Selfridges

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Selfridges is enjoying the success of their revolutionary window display for its 2011 Christmas season. Epitomising this year’s White Christmas theme, the Oxford Street windows create a true winter wonderland in the heart of the capital.

Amazingly, the windows are musical! Each window has been turned into oversized music boxes, my favourite are the ones playing re-worked Christmas carols. Shoppers are getting interactive with the windows, as each pane is equipped with a state-of-the-art touch-screen wind-up system to control the track.

Russ Jones and Scott King from Condiment Junkie, the London-based creative outfit behind the technology, explain more about this global innovation:

“First, the new system plays music through, not from, the windows – using the glass pane itself as the loudspeaker. Additionally, the system is devised in such a way that although each window plays a different tune, customers are able to listen to the track without interference from the music being played through the next window.”

Then take a wander inside the store, and head for White Wonders – the ultimate destination for all beauty and fashion junkies. All the products in White Wonders, are, as expected, on theme, and are the most beautiful white products available, many made exclusively for Selfridges.

If you are a retailer, have you transformed your window space this Christmas, and have given your shoppers a novel Christmas experience, I would love to hear about it.