Due in part to transparency of the web and multiple platforms for outreach, digital communications have drastically altered the way brand’s operate. Fashion’s Collective took the opportunity to sit down with Publicist and beauty insider Katie Gray who, over the years, has been instrumental in molding the images of brands such as Playboy and M·A·C Cosmetics. As one who understands the importance on how a brand presents itself, and the resulting impressions it makes on an audience, Katie shares how the web has changed her industry.
Q. Katie, you have been in the beauty industry for nearly a decade, from your observation how has the industry evolved in terms of marketing?
Having worked in public relations and marketing over the past ten years I have definitely seen a lot of changes. When working with Playboy in their Product Licensing division back in 2002, I came up with an idea to create a custom make-up collection for the Playboy brand in honor of their 50th anniversary and sought M.A.C. Cosmetics as the perfect partner in this venture. At the time, this was a coup for both Playboy and M·A·C and it was the tip of the iceberg in terms of collaborative marketing for both brands. This type of marketing wasn’t yet rampant in the early 2000’s, but now we see cooperative collaborations much more regularly.
Brand representation are also now exploding onto the social media scene. In today’s market if a brand isn’t visible on at least one social media platform, it will be difficult to compete in the modern day market place. It is necessary to have presence on-line, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, You Tube or other platforms. But you can’t just exist dormant on-line, you have to be active and engaging. Today fans and consumers need a reason to seek you out again and again, this is how a brand establishes a connection between the company and audience.
Q. The beauty industry is entering transparency mode, letting audiences behind the scenes into operations, in your opinion why is this important?
This is extremely important in the beauty industry but also in our culture today generally speaking. In the midst of the social media revolution one must constantly seek out new opportunities to capture and retain the consumer’s attention.
For instance at M·A·C , during the Autumn/Winter 2010 fashion show season, a select group of high-profile M·A·C artists were given video cameras and asked to film what inspired them backstage at the shows. They did this at shows in NY, London, Milan and Paris and the videos were then uploaded onto the M·A·C Facebook fan site at the end of each day.The videos were a huge success because they tapped into exactly what modern consumers want a peak into the extraordinary, exciting world of fashion and beauty; a life that many customers are curious to learn about and perhaps even aspire to be involved in.
Q. In terms of brand communications for beauty brands what aspects are integral today in creating successful campaigns that set apart within a saturated market place?
I believe that if you can provide a look into the reality of any situation and share a genuine passion with your audience that you will be able to find success. It has been 10 years since the advent of reality television and we are now starting to see the convergence of reality entertainment in other mediums, such as on-line.
This can absolutely translate into a marketing trend as it creates a real/ reality experience. In a world over-saturated with marketing and advertising people want something to bring them into a new and different world or environment – they want to feel as if they are a part of something bigger than them.
Q. The beauty industry has been notorious for utilizing celebrity endorsement as a means to build up the personality of the brand, is this still necessary? If so then how so?
Everyone is a celebrity in this day and age! More than ever we will see a trend towards capitalizing on what I call the “every day celebrities” in our industry – the people who create and shape the industry into what it is in the moment. For instance, the makeup artists at M·A·C Cosmetics such as Gordon Espinet, Nadine Luke, Gregory Arlt, Bianca Alexander and Romero Jennings are incredible bright stars in the industry. These artists epitomize the M·A·C brand and I believe that people and consumers are drawn to them and to their world because it gives them an insider perspective. Showing them a small piece of that unknown world will help create a strong and powerful connection between the brand and the consumer. I see this as essential in this day and age.
Regardless of the move to digitize the world, at the end of the day, people crave a connection. They want to be a part of something exciting and unknown. If you allow them to be a part of your world, or your brand’s world, they will respond with their loyalty. Providing that connection in the digital age may currently be new or unfamiliar, but it is easy to understand. All that it means is that we have to get a little more creative with how we approach our client/consumer relationships.
Written by: Agata Seidel
All articles are copy-edited by Gina Conforti
