Advertisement

What does it take to establish two new brands in the saturated beauty market? According to brand creator Siân Sutherland: answering a real need.Read more in COSSMA's interview with Siân Sutherland, Co-Founder of Mama Mio and Brand Creator of Mio Skin Care in the UK.

COSSMA: What triggered the idea of establishing a new brand in this saturated beauty market?

Siân Sutherland, Co-Founder of Mama Mio and Mio Skin Care: When we created Mama Mio nine years ago, and then Mio two years ago, the intention was always to create something that answered a need, not a trend. Needs don’t date and a true entrepreneur is that person who creates the solution to an unmet need. Yes, the beauty market is highly saturated and I would never have launched a brand that simply focussed on ingredients (that is a trend-based approach) or was  simply another me-too skincare offer. No one had created a premium facial-quality range to help you safely and effectively throughout your pregnancy. The words “pregnancy skin care” had never been put together before we launched Mama Mio.

What were the main challenges at the beginning?

Distribution. We learnt early on with Mama Mio that as much as everyone has a mother, traditional beauty retail did not know where to put this new range. So we decided to pivot and focus on “being where the women are”. And with Mama Mio those women are shopping in maternity clothing stores and spas. So that was where we retailed our range – the first in the US and UK to be sold in such stores. With Mio we immediately chose a different distribution platform: selling through gyms and fitness boutiques as well as beauty doors such as SpaceNK. This unique approach gave us huge advantage through the recession too, as we were never 1 of 600 brands competing on a shelf, but rather a relevant incremental purchase for a laser-targeted audience.

What were new challenges you encountered when establishing your second brand?

Interestingly, it was much easier establishing our second brand. When we launched Mio, we approached it in a very different way. We were launching a Fitness and not a Beauty brand. This switch in thinking helped us create a unique launch campaign – The Mio Workout Wonders. This was a 12-month series of Mio Workout Wonders across New York, with our media partner Well + Good. Each Workout Wonder was hosted by myself and the latest greatest fitness guru who would take everyone through a wonderful workout – from the best spin class to the best zen bootcamp. Everyone attending was passionate about fitness: bloggers, press, KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) – our perfect buzz-building audience. We involved like-minded brands – juices, healthy snacks. This generated substantial social media and ensured that Mio was instantly known as “the Fit Skin brand”. Again, no one had ever put those two words together – Skin and Fitness.

What is your advice to people who want to establish a new brand?

  • Challenge yourself all the time:
  • Why does this exist?
  • What is it doing that nothing else is doing?
  • How will anyone know about it?
  • Who is going to sell it for me?
  • Every brand needs a simple,ownable line – your elevator pitch. Mio’s is “fit skin for life”. Positive, aspirational, strong words that tell you everything about the brand.
  • Have a plan, but don’t worry if you guess at the numbers – it is your roadmap, not a straitjacket. Every-one guesses the numbers in the be-ginning. But if you don’t have goals, you don’t know when you have scored.
  • Celebrate every little high along the journey. It’s a tough long road but the beauty business is one of the nicest I have ever worked in. I love this quote: “A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey that she will become strong”.

Downloads

This is a preview

Are you a premium subscriber? Then please log in with the information printed in the latest COSSMA issue.

Don't have a COSSMA account yet?

Subscribers need a personalized account* to view protected online content. Please register an account!

Registration

* If you have a COSSMA Digital Subscription and also have an active BEAUTY FORUM account, then you do not need to register again, but simply use your BEAUTY FORUM account credentials to log in.

More about:

Advertisement
Advertisement