Glossier. Brand Study

Shannon HanlonSpring 2020

Brand Expression

Glossier is an modern, online beauty brand offering the skincare essentials and make-up on the basis of a skin-first platform. The brand positions itself as a fun, personable ex-perience that emphasizes the natural beauty of its customers and celebrates real women as opposed to the over-glamorized norms of the beauty industry. The skincare products are meant to be relevant, efficient, and in line with consumer requests and the product line includes serums, balms, and milky cleans-

ers. The makeup is light, breathable, and easy to wear. Beyond its focus on skincare and makeup, Glossier also offers body and frangrance products as well as some brand-ed clothing and sandals as the company has amassed a fairly large following. Glossier is known for having ripped up the tradition-al marketing playbook used by the beauty industry giants. The company values trans-parency and owns the relationship with its consumers. It also sells products exclusively

online, not in department stores or specialty shops, which is a rarity in the beauty indus-try. By leveraging this direct-to-consumer business model, Glossier is able to effectively own all of its distribution channels and is able to brand every aspect of the signature packaging the products arrive in. The brand’s focus on building consumer confidence in their own skin is new and unexpected for an industry that has historically focused on covering flaws and creating unattain-

brand expression

The Glossier signature color is 705 C pale pink Pantone.

Pantone: 705 CHex: F5DADF RGB: 96.08%, 85.49%, 87.45%

The long-form Glossier logo. It comes in two versions, black on white and white on millennial pink.

The color values for Glossier’s signature version of millennial pink.

able standards for women to strive for. The direct-to-consumer approach also facilitates the company’s social media-focused market-ing, another novelty in the industry. Glossier currently has 2.7 million followers on Insta-gram. The company started in 2014 with the focus of democratizing beauty by creating staple items that were difficult to find in current beauty routines. Founder and CEO, Emily Weiss, started Glossier as a beauty blog made for public sharing and reviews of

favorite products. The blog started in 2010 and is still called “Into the Gloss”, the inspi-ration for the name Glossier. As of March 2019, Glossier has become NYC’s latest tech unicorn after raising $100 million in its latest funding round, where it was valued at $1.2 billion. The company’s 2018 annual revenue surpassed $100 million. Glossier now has over 200 employees and began expanding globally, reaching Canada, the U.K., Ireland, France, Denmark, and Sweden (bloomberg).

The symbols associated with the brand include the long form logo presenting the name Glossier, the Glossier “G”, and simi-larly branded type and stickers. The brand enjoys simplicity, solid blank, and ample pastel colors, especially its signature version of millennial pink. The website is clean and easy to navigate, boasting ample white space in the design and photographs included. The models used are mostly “bare-faced” sporting creams, lipgloss, and translucent makeup.

Font: Apercu

Glossier simplified logo, known as the Glossier “G”.

Apercu is the font most employed by the brand.The home page of the Glossier website.

The shopping page of the Glossier website. It reiterates the messaging of its core values and exemplifies a clean look with ample white space.

The website includes zoomed in detail shots of them wearing or using the products. All models featured are women. The site allows users to navigate the interface to purchase products, read and write reviews, and take a skincare quiz that suggests the best routine (of all Glossier product of course) for the in-dividual. Unlike other beauty brands, Glossi-er posts all clinical trial findings and encour-ages ample reviews of the products, good and bad. When a customer purchases Glossier

products, they are shipped a well-branded package that plays into the fun and easygo-ing nature of the brand. The products come in a box that opens to find pink branding coating the insides, usually paired with some sort of tag-line such as “You look good.” or “Skin first. Makeup second. Smile always.” written in the Glosseier type incorporating some of the brands special made sticker let-ters. This casual, uplifting tone is employed throughout their marketing, website, and

packaging. The products are held by a pink bubble pouch and all boxes also come with hand-drawn stickers made so the cusotmers can personalize and bling up their things.

The Balm Dotcom skin and lip salve now comes in a variety of colors. Examples of packaging: note the pink bubble wrap and the motivation message.

An exmaple of a Glossier sticker sheet that came free in the product packaging.

History

CEO Emily Weiss

Glossier was founded in 2014 by Emily Weiss. Its predecessor, a beauty blog called “Into the Gloss” was founded in 2010. Weiss first came onto the scene in 2007 as the college-aged “super intern” working for Teen Vogue on MTV’s The Hills, known for her superior work ethic and exception-al performance. In the summer of 2010, Weiss dreamed up and discussed her idea of opening the blog “Into the Gloss” with Eva Chen, an editor at the time and now Insta-

gram’s director of fashion partnerships. “Into the Gloss” was meant to show the real world beauty routines of celebrities and fashion influencers and it did, in exquisite detail. By May 2016, “Into the Gloss” has amassed 1.3 million followers. The blog opened doors to powerful people in the beauty industry and extensive market research by way of simply listening to the large population of follow-ers discussing what products they wished existed. After struggling for funding, Weiss

secured $2 million for her startup in 2013 and Glossier launched in 2014 after 125 teas-er posts on social media. The new brand first debuted four initial products: moisturizer, facial spray, sheer foundation, and the Balm Dotcom, a lip and skin salve that has since introduced color options to choose from as well. Glossier headquarters are located in the SoHo area of Manhattan, within eye view of Emily Weiss’ apartment. The company was one of the first to implement a direct-to-con-

history

The Into the Gloss blog homepage.

sumer approach to marketing that disrupted the top-down marketing employed by the rest of the beauty industry. The company places focus on social media marketing, keeping Instagram as the crown jewel of its strategy. The Glossier Instagram account currently has 2.8 million followers and the tangental accounts Glossier Play, Into the Gloss, and Emily Weiss’ personal account promote the products to their large popula-tions of followers of 124,000; 847,000; and

520,000 respectively. The product offerings now include a more rounded list of prod-ucts such as Boy Brow, Cloud Paint, and Sky Wash. When Boy Brow first debuted in 2016, the $16 product had a 10,000 person waiting list. Cloud Paint was launched in 2017 on the Oscars red carpet and has collected an im-mense fan base. In 2018, the brand launched its first store, the Glossier Flagship which permenantly resides in SoHo. The company has launched a series of temporary popups

focused on the experience of testing, playing with, and eventually purchasing the products. Glossier Play, which has since been discon-tinued with the start of 2020, was launched in 2019 with the purpose of expanding past the core no-makeup aesthetic into a much more bold, colorful makeup line. The line included highlight, eyeliner, a lip pen, and glitter gel that are positioned as the dialed-up extras that act as a fun supplement to the everyday nature of the Glossier Core. The Glossier

Glossier Makeup Products: Cloud Paint, Boy Brow, and Lash Slick, all fan favorites of the brand.

Glossier Play branding. An example of bold red lipstick.

Screenshots of the Glossier-associated Instagram accounts demonstrating the large follower base associated with the brand’s focus on social media marketing.

Core brand includes five product lines: skincare, makeup, body, fragrance, and clothing. Skincare is the leading and most developed product line and includes 16 well-received products with a solid fan base and acceptance. Makeup follows skincare in its success with 17 products that include the Glossier Play brand. The makeup line is in the process of discontinuing Play and moving back toward the sheer and pastel no-makeup makeup asthetic that originally garnered so my popularity. The body line

is new and contains two products meant to lather and moisturize. The products are not yet fully developed or accepted by the Gloss-ier fan base. The fragrance line contains one high-end, vintage scent that is priced at $60 per bottle. While the reviews for the product speak highly of the quality, many do not feel the price point is appropriate for the amount of product or in line with the Glossier brand. GlossiWEAR is the company’s clothing line and operates with the purpose of sell-ing merchandise to fans; product include a

crew-neck sweatshirt, hoodie, baseball cap, and sandals. For each product, the Glossier website offers a brief description, some context as to why it’s special, good to knows that include general concerns consumers have with the contents of their beauty products, and fun icons mention-ing fun facts about the products and use of them. Below, customers are encouraged to leave reviews and rate the reviews they found most helpful when purchasing or using the product. Reviews are monitored

Glossier body product line ad on the Glossier website. Glossier sandals from GlossiWEAR.

by employees for pain points and sugges-tions but do not filter out the bad reviews. The employee base of Glossier has reached 200 people. In 2018, the company’s annual revenues surpassed the $100 million mile-stone and has since resulted in the recent valuation of the company at $1.2 billion. In a Series D funding round led by Sequoia Cap-ital, Glossier raised $1 million and became a unicorn. Glossier is a privately owned com-pany with a total of 19 investors including

Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Thrive Capital, IVP, and Index Ventures. The board consists of Emily Weiss, CEO, representing Glossier, Eric Liaw representing IVP, Kirsten Green representing Forerunner Ventures, and Katrina Lake and Nabil Mallick repre-senting themselves. Other notable leadership at the compnay include Vanessa Wittman, CFO; Melissa Eamer, COO; Pawan Uppuluri, CTO; and Jessica White, Director of New

Business. The company is continuing to grow and the discontinuation of the Glossier Play product line comes with a shift in focus to the global expansion of sales.

Graph displaying the skyrocketing revenue through 2018. Emily Weiss, CEO of Glossier.

Competitive Context

Emily Weiss, CEO of Glossier. Traditional marketing of makeup. An example from Sephora’s promotion. In contrast, a fresh faced model promoting Glossier.

Glossier differentiated itself from its compet-itors by marketing to specifically the Mil-lennial generation and younger. The com-pany employs a modern color scheme and design combined with a digitized platform to operate on. The platform empowers its consumers to feel like they are leading and influencing their own beauty routine as well as that of their peers, unlike the top-down marketing approach used by competitors such as Sephora, MILK, Fenty Beauty, and

other brands. While high quality, low cost makeup and skincare brands are the obvious competitors of Glossier, it also competes with third party retailers that sell other prod-ucts such as department stores and specialty shops. At these locations, consumers are able to shop and experience shopping in the more traditional format. Glossier focuses on social media over general ad campaigns and does not generally use celebrity endorse-ments. One notable exception to this was

when Beyonce walked with a series of other celebrities including Chrissy Teagan on the 2017 Oscar red carpet wearing exclusively Glossier products and debuting the Lidstar eyeshadow. This stunt had mixed acceptance by fans as while some thought it was exciting and bold, others believed that it was tacky, likely expensive, and went against the Gloss-ier core values and practices. While Fenty Beauty is empowering in its acceptance and range of colors, it does not focus as highly

competitive context

A Fenty Beauty advertisement featuring Rihanna. Chrissy Teagan wearing Glossier products on the Oscars red carpet in 2017.

on the natural beauty of its consumers and keeps to the glamour traditionally promot-ed. As the creator of Fenty Beauty, Rihanna serves as the spokesperson and celebrity influence. In contrast, Emily Weiss has a qui-eter approach but still influences consumers with the popularity she gained from Glossier, as opposed to her popularity influencing the company. Glossier fills the product need gaps that are left behind by its competitors. The products offered by Glossier are positioned

as practical and democratic. The associated messaging promotes the no-makeup makeup look that celebrates the natural looks of con-sumers, resulting in a clean, dewy glow. The skincare and makeup products are meant to be of high quality but competitively priced. Due to its full ownership of its distribution, Glossier is able to price products at a lower level than products of comparable quality. While competitors like Fenty Beauty, MILK, and Pixi rely on third party retailers to sell

their products, Glossier sells fully digitally and owns the distribution and shipping of its products. This ownership shelters the com-pany from paying such third party players in the distribution line and allows it to retain margins while offering products at a near wholesale price. Sephora is an example of a third party retailer and direct competitor as the company uses its retail locations to sell both its own Sephora-brand products and those of others like MILK, Pixi, and Fenty

Models promoting MILK makeup products.

A Sephora storefront; inside which you will not find any Glossier products.

Beauty. One example of the Glossier price comparison can be seen with the position-ing of the high-quality, well-liked Milky Jelly Cleanser, priced by Glossier at $18 per 6 fl oz. In comparison, MILK’s Vegan Milk Cleanser is priced at $30 per 4 fl oz. In the realm of makeup, Glossier prices the Lash Slick mascara at $16 per full size product while Fenty Beauty prices the Full Frontal Volume Lift & Curl mascara at $24 per full

size product. Glossier is however positioned at a higher premium than the Sephora brand products as they price, for example, lip gloss at $10-12 per bottle whereas Glossier lip gloss is $14. The company democratizes the products by keeping the direct-to-consum-er relationship strong. As customers leave reviews on products, Glossier updates them on new formulations and responds to vari-ous requests. Glossier is constantly innovat-

ing and adjusting to suit consumer needs. In 2015 it was rewarded Digital Innovator of the Year and was listed as one of the Most Innovative Companies in 2017. The brand releases new products or formulations every 6-8 weeks or so and promotes the product heavily on social media in order to create hype and spread excitement through the company’s following. This keeps the product offerings fresh and on par with the current

Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser. MILK Vegan Milk Cleanser. Fenty Beauty Full Frontal Volume Lift & Curl Mascara.

trends and standards of customers. The Glossier fan base has created a cult following that is not seen with the company’s compe-tition. Fans fondly refer to Glossier as a “peo-ple powered beauty ecosystem”. The positive brand image has additionally resulted in its being named as a top beauty brand by Al-lure, Teen Vogue, Glamour, Nylon, Women’s Wear Daily, and Cosmopolitan. Glossier uses the 5 C’ pillars to focus the comapny goals

and maintain this differentiated image: con-sumers, content, conversation, co-creation, and community. The Glossier Play line was likely created to compete further with other brands on their territory of glamour and fun. The Play line failed to skyrocket to popular-ity for Glossier because it strayed too far out of the core competency of the company.

Image from the Glossier About Us page demonstrating the hand selection and special thought given to the brand.

Image from Glossier About Us page that reiterates the core goal to democratize beauty.

Sephora Collection Holdiay Advertisement.

Challenges

Example of YouTuber reviewing the products for fans.

Glossier faces challenges that come with creating such a democratized, digital brand. By participating in a direct-to-consum-er approach to the customer relationship, Glossier opens up vulnerabilities in how the customer base responds to their products and marketing. The high value placed on the customer opinion and reviews can lead to a level of volatility in product acceptance. In 2018, there was a popular consumer trend on YouTube where beauty bloggers and

YouTube stars tried and reviewed Glossier products, stating whether or not the product was worth the cost. While not an extremely expensive brand, Glossier is positioned in the low cost premium category, making its products more expensive than most drug-store brands. Even thought Glossier gener-ally shies away from celebrity endorsements, the unofficial opinions of influencers can carry a lot of weight. Social media influ-encers command a fairly large population

of consumer opinions and many look to them to try things out and make their own decision-making easier. Becauase the brand positioned itself as offering the staples that are underrepresented by other brands, it is challenged with coming up with new “sta-ples” for the consumers to try. The lack of focus on glamour and bold color narrows the window for creative thinking in makeup, making it easy to get trapped. The company’s consumers simply cannot wear every prod-

challenges

Example of YouTuber reviewing the products for fans. Glossier Balm Dotcom in coconut.

uct that is put out for everyday use everday. How then, does Glossier have room to stay fresh and innovate further? Last year, Gloss-ier released the Glossier Play line in a likely effort to expand the offerings to bold, bright, glittery colors. The line did not take off. This is most likely due to it joining as more noise to an oversaturated market and that it does not address the needs of Glossier’s current customer base. While it may have been able to garner more interest outside of the cult

following, the shift away from the core value that Glossier brings may not have resonated well with the current consumers who value the natural, dewy asthetic. The line also came under fire for not using biodegradable glitter. After just under a year of being released, Glossier Play is being removed from the product offerings. The branding was too different from the Glossier Core and the products and messaging did not fall in line with what Glossier was truly good at, subtle

products that celebrate the natural beauty of real women. As the Glossier Play line is being retired, Glossier introduced a new product to the core makeup line that makes more sense for its fans, SkyWash. The SkyWash liquid eyeshadow is matte, slightly colorful, and still transparent.

Glossier Play line. Glossier SkyWash liquid eyeshadow.

Glossier Play Glitter Gelee. Discontinued due to environ-mental costs.

New Goal

Some of the basic Glossier products.

Glossier is making the right move by pulling the Glossier Play line from the market. The sub brand did not align with the core com-petencies of the brand. It aligned moreso with the competitors that Glossier is trying to differentiate itself from. Glossier would benefit greatly from further developing and expanding the product offerings that di-rectly add to the core values of the brand. Glossier is a modern brand that celebrates the natural beauty of the consumer. To play

into this, Glossier should continue expand-ing its skincare line to keep up with trends of increased care given to that routine. The company should also venture further into recyclable and zero-waste products and product packaging. As seen in consumer backlash from the pink bubble wrap prod-ucts were wrapped in and the lack of bio-degradeable glitter in the Glossier Play line, it is clear that the Glossier followers care about the environment. In early February

of this year, Glossier released a statement reconfirming the company’s commitment to the environemnt by reducing waste and looking into limited packaging. The brand just discontinued its fun sticker sheets and should look into finding an environmentally frinedly way to bring back this fan favorite in a sustainable way. By going completely environmentally friendly, Glossier could cement the relationship with its fans by truly creating a celebratory, guilt-free set of prod-

new goal

Example of description of caring aspects of a Glossier product. This case includes icons that demonstrate additional product aspects.

uct offerings. It is not recommended that this come to market as a sub brand or separate product line as the core brand is still rela-tively new and young. Instead, the company should pledge to switch to environmentally friendly packaging as a whole and continue to develop new products alongside this ini-tiative. Glossier products are already known to be hypoallergenic, detmatologist-tested, paraben free, cruelty free, and vegan. This demonstrates the company’s existing care for

the safety and manufacturing concerns of its customers. An environmentally conscious expansion on this list of cares could be greatly beneficial and allow Glossier to price products slightly hire as there may be more willingness to pay. On the website, Glossier uses hand-drawn icons to demonstrate some key facts about each product. Adding one for environmentally friendly products could be a great way to demonstrate this new focus.

Proposed additional icon to communicate environmentally friendly product and packaging.