Met with Helena Go, Senior Manager of the Global Strategic Marketing Initiatives & Transformation Department at The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. It was not a formatted interview so the notes and recordings are in my google drive folder under Interview.
Interview Notes:
Key word in the industry “personalize”
How do we make the same product to personalize it for the individual
Making a different cap for the lipstick
Feel more beautiful in your own way
Means something special to you
Created for you
If foundation, see a model that looks like you “Oh I like the way she is wearing this product”
Moving away from a new standard this is how a beautiful person looks like and I want to look like that to I want to look like this to I want to present that or I feel comfortable looking that way.
In terms of what beauty standards exist today in Korea
K-pop stars, actors, actresses looking beautiful
Lighter skin, makeup done in a certain way, a certain type of skin appearance is promoted
We want to move away from that but open up the discussion to she looks like that but that’s not what I have to look like
Giving younger women to think that way (campaign)
More conversions, more forums like that will help the Korean beauty industry move away from the whole have to look beautiful this way I can be beautiful the way I am.
Korean advertisements are still celebrity endorsements
You see the first 20 pages of every magazine you open, you’ll see the most famous celebrities representing brands
That’s not going to change
More fun brands like Etude House and funky with packaging
Showing more options in visuals
Understanding what fits you
Glossier example : Digitally native brand that is pushing a boundary
Kosas: Warm tone Cool tone conversation
Classified by tone and skin color
Warm tone person and with deeper skin
Not about what’s cool, what’s trendy but what looks good on you
Milk Makeup: Quick, Stick in a gym bag
First one to feature models not looking perfect
With freckles, women working out, sweating
She’s still wearing something but she can apply it on the go
Innovative packaging, visuals, and choice of models
Less and less about what the world projects as beautiful and what the Korean beauty industry defines as what’s beautiful but more and more about what people want. What do they want their skin to look like.
The negative effects of having to conform to certain ideals
Danger, toxic
When you as a young women have that relationship with beauty as you’re growing up
Changing, evolving
How we as a forefront of beauty innovation will lead the industry
So much closer to beauty
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