Inside Ulta Magnificence’s Newest Marketing campaign

Ulta Magnificence desires to channel the “energy” of magnificence.

That’s the concept behind a brand new fall marketing campaign from the sweetness retailer, a multi-channel effort titled “Magnificence&” that dropped earlier this month. The marketing campaign is a collaborative effort with three “cultural leaders” — Meena Harris, the niece of US vice chairman Kamala Harris and founding father of social justice-focused media firm Phenomenal; and two artists, Timothy Goodman and muralist Emmy Star Brown — in addition to company companion McCann. The thought, stated Karla Davis, vice chairman of built-in advertising and marketing at Ulta Magnificence, is to showcase what beauty is capable of when it comes not simply to product efficacy however its capability to make somebody really feel one thing, too.

“There are actual powers that magnificence really holds. The pandemic actually introduced these to life fairly considerably,” she stated. “You noticed individuals utilizing magnificence for self-care, as a method of self-expression, once they have been cooped into their very own areas. You even noticed individuals utilizing it as community-like methods to succeed in out and join with individuals … That’s what offers magnificence manufacturers the area and even the permission to essentially deliver it to the forefront.”

The marketing campaign’s themes are usually not revolutionary in magnificence however are ones that buyers are more and more demanding magnificence manufacturers embody. Rohit Banota, the founding father of Bounce Accelerator, a beauty-focused accelerator, stated that Ulta Magnificence’s finest guess going ahead is to double down on the concept of driving more spending from casual consumers.

“Sephora went extra the route of pure discovery retailer, interesting to magnificence aficionados,” stated Banota. “However Ulta is following the opposite technique of bringing the non-customers into the class.”

These informal shoppers will likely be much more essential as Ulta continues to ramp up its shop-in-shop take care of Goal, which first rolled out final yr. Probably the most tangible advantage of that deal, in truth, is the chance to connect with these shoppers who’ve but to turn into full-blown magnificence customers.

The marketing campaign will run on the normal channels, together with social media, linear tv and streaming however will even embrace new parts, like a limited-edition T-shirt assortment with three shirts designed by Harris, Brown and Goodman emblazoned with uplifting phrases like “magnificence is you and me” and “magnificence isn’t simply what you placed on, however what you set out into the world.”

As a part of the marketing campaign, this fall, the model will even launch its first podcast, “The Magnificence Of,” a venture that’s been years within the making, in response to Davis. Hosted by David Lopez, an Ulta skilled stylist, the podcast will see Lopez interview visitors similar to powerlifter Tamara Walcott, physique picture researcher Virgie Tovar and AM Darke, a professor of artwork and design at UC Santa Cruz, about matters surrounding each magnificence requirements and “non-traditional” areas of magnificence.

The transfer to launch a podcast is becoming when you think about that Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell famous on the corporate’s most up-to-date earnings name that training content material, notably round skincare, has been a boon for the model in driving progress with its month-to-month skin-care program, Skinfatuation. Whereas social media gives avenues to current that content material, doubling down on it requires a longer-format medium.

This all comes at an thrilling — however high-pressure — moment for Ulta. Its newer earnings report noticed gross sales rise 14.4 p.c in shops open at the least one yr, with total income for the quarter of $2.3 billion. Ulta raised its comparable gross sales progress outlook to between 9.5 p.c and 10.5 p.c for the yr, from 6 p.c to eight p.c beforehand. Demand for cosmetics and skincare has remained robust even because the turbulent financial system has hit attire gross sales. The retailer can be increasing its partnership with Goal, having opened 186 Ulta shop-in-shops in simply over a yr, on its option to a long-term purpose of 800.

On the identical time, Ulta’s largest competitor, Sephora, is ramping up its personal shop-in-shop partnership with Kohl’s, saying plans final month to increase the idea to all Kohl’s shops.

That purpose additionally might have led Ulta to take extra of a brand-building method to this marketing campaign, somewhat than a extra pure gross sales play, notably because it appears to compete with Sephora not simply as a standalone magnificence model but in addition as a pop-in store in a mass-market retailer.

“We essentially imagine the concept that model love and people who actually can drive a significant reference to shoppers are going to be the forms of manufacturers and companies that maintain long run,” stated Davis. “A big portion of how we deliver Ulta Magnificence to life is in elevating our overarching model goal. It’s an ongoing work; it can proceed to be as we construct not solely consciousness however actually turn into the retailer of alternative for our shoppers. It’s core to sustainable progress as a enterprise.”