As beauty marketers prepare for 2022, digital innovation will continue to take center stage as pandemic innovations transformed how consumers discover, try on and shop for makeup via online channels.
Additionally, the conversations around beauty have evolved in new ways and marketers are urging consumers to find their inner beauty and whole self by pushing self care over product sales. Expect these brands to reach younger audiences with more holistic conversations around what it means to be beautiful.
“There’s no doubt that beauty has been forever changed,” said Shelly Haus, CMO of Ulta Beauty. “The past year and half have shed even more light on the fact that people see beauty as an investment in themselves – and not just in how they look, but in how they feel. This evolution of beauty being seen as a key part of total wellness is something we believe will emerge even stronger as we head into 2022 and beyond – and we love how this underscores the true, important meaning of beauty in people’s lives.”
As a new generation of consumers return to in-person workplaces, beauty brands have an opportunity to deliver new trends in cosmetics but the media buy will need to reach this highly complex audience.
“With Gen Z coming of age and entering the workforce, the landscape of consumers and audiences is bound to shift dramatically,” said Soyoung Kang, Chief Marketing Officer at eos. “In marketing storytelling, expect more real talk, more authenticity, and more destigmatization of once-taboo topics, as a generation untethered by traditional notions of identity or so-called norms goes from being the up-and-coming consumer to today’s consumer. In addition to the ‘what’ of modern brand messaging, the ‘how’ of go-to-market strategies will have to wrestle with an increasingly fragmented and complex media landscape, a reflection of these digital natives with highly diverse content consumption behaviors. The modern marketer must be an all-around athlete, capable of balancing all of this and more.”
Social discovery will continue to play a large role in how consumers shop for beauty products with the role of influencer becoming increasingly important.
“Social content consumption will continue to influence product discovery, and the corresponding demand for a seamless experience from social scrolling to purchase will create an explosion of new capabilities, such as deeper ecommerce investment by top social media channels or the use of Artificial Intelligence in influencer marketing,” said Anisha Raghavan, CMO at No7 Beauty Company. “Many of the digital shopping habits we’ve formed during the pandemic will stick, and we will see more companies, even in legacy industries, prioritize digital transformation or virtually enhanced shopping experiences.”
As virtual shopping experiences and social media become more dominant, DTC brands also have an opportunity to win over consumers looking for new brands to engage with.
“With the world finally emerging from the pandemic, the world of beauty, along with consumer behaviors, have changed,” said Jeremy M. Lowenstein, CMO of Milani Cosmetics. “Brands that service consumers across distribution channels, in both traditional brick-and-mortar and DTC, will continue to win share of wallet. From showrooming to virtual try-on, consumers will seek out new ways to experience products, while aligning themselves with those brands that are purpose led, transparent in communication and that match with their respective personal value sets.”
