Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look

Citation

Zinaida Taran (2015), "Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 305-306. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-09-2014-1123

The book sets out to unveil how marketing changed the way we look, as is reflected in the title. Although on the journey to find the answer, the author engages in a detailed and engaging exploration of a history of the beauty industry, starting with a brief exposé to the tastes and cosmetic regimens of ancient and medieval people. From the ancient times, the author continues on to the colorful personalities and stories of some of the biggest beauty brands’ founders, including Estée Lauder, Coco Chanel and Helena Rubinstein. The author skillfully weaves a tapestry of personal stories, history and colorful historical anecdotes. Did you know that according to a legend, Marie Antoinette almost succeeded in running away to escape the guillotine but her exquisite perfume gave her away?

Fascinating personal stories read like bestseller fiction full of intrigue and drama; for example, there is a story of a young and fresh-looking Polish girl who ran away to Australia, dodging a marriage her family was forcing her into. She invented the reason behind her looks (a pot of cream developed by a made-up Polish scientist), Westernized her name, further developed her creams, as well as stories surrounding her creams and herself and went on to creating her own beauty empire. She was Madame Helena Rubinstein, and she developed the key ingredients of success for a beauty brand. Her work in the USA was marked by an intense rivalry with another brand, started by a girl from a humble background who “cast a spell of luxury and romance with her packaging, salons and advertising” (p. 32) under the of name of Elisabeth Arden.

Mr Tungate tells stories relating Hollywood and its glamour to democratization of society when “during a suffrage march in New York on 6 May 1912, women wore bright red lipstick as a symbol of liberty” (p. 29) and shows how the beauty industry developed along with the developing media. “If Hollywood transformed making up from a sin into a glamorous luxury, TV turned it into daily habit, an essential component of womanhood” (p. 39).

The stories are well researched, backed by multiple interviews with people involved in the industry. The language is most stylish, elegant and eloquent. Several important elements key to launching and sustaining a beauty brand are advanced based on examining the success of the likes of Lancôme, Estee Lauder, and Christian Dior, as well as a few relative newcomers such as The Body Shop and LP Skin Therapy. Mr Tungate describes how perfumes are designed and manufactured. He also makes some predictions regarding the future of the beauty industry. The book ultimately addresses little regarding how we look or how we changed or what marketing specifically added to our looks or their changes for that matter (beyond the fact that we now wear makeup unlike a hundred years ago, but like hundreds of years before that). Nonetheless, the stories and the recipes are solid, highly engaging and remarkably interesting.

The book consists of 20 chapters, which can be roughly divided into:

• “the before” history;

• the story and history of some of the biggest global beauty brands and classic, time-proven formulas for success;

• stories and histories of some of the newcomers starting with The Body Shop and emergent approaches and strategies; and

• “new frontiers” such as the male market, ethical products and new technologies.

Here are some examples of beauty brands and insights according to Mark Tungate:

• Ancient Egyptians maintained elaborate beauty regimens, ostensibly derived from religious rituals. Throughout known history, women and men went to great lengths to “better” their personal appearance. Most time periods and in most peoples, blond hair and pale skin were desirable. For example, medieval Venetian women sat on their terraces with their hair – soaked in a mixture of lemon juice, ammonia and urine – arrayed over the wide brims of crownless straw hats to lighten their hair.

• “Some women won’t pay anything unless they can pay a lot” (p. 21). Brands like Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden achieved success through glossy packaging, celebrity endorsement, pseudoscience and premium prices combined with careful monitoring of distribution and relationships with fashion and beauty journalists to the point of borderline bribery. Helena Rubinstein “used extravagant storytelling to convince women that signs of ageing were shameful but could be slowed” (p. 32).

• The girl who took a fancy name of Estée Lauder came from the humblest background, growing up in the stench-filled dump (literally) on the outskirts of New York, and through her drive to succeed combined with skillful image building, she built a beauty empire appealing to women’s aspirations of youthful glamour. She told stories of luxury, wealthy women, and opulent surroundings – vague but emotive claims. She pioneered using direct mail and gift-with-purchase strategies, as well as introduced a “natural”, “allergy tested” product.

• Procter & Gamble and Unilever became “Giants in the Bathroom” (p. 75) through their slogan of “Find out what consumers want and give it to them” (p. 75). They delivered products that exactly match the needs of specific target groups of customers. They sold beauty brands based on “expectancy, emotion and experience” (p. 93).

• Max Factor, former wigmaker and cosmetician to the Imperial Grand Russian Opera, practically created the modern cosmetics industry when he designed his makeup for the new media, the movies. At the time, makeup was considered a bad thing, mostly, because of the poisonous ingredients used in makeup in the century prior.

• Coco Chanel knew that “people don’t just buy the smells; they buy stories” (p. 113).

The mix of dramatic stories; eloquent, stylish prose; and interesting, well-presented marketing insight will delight most readers, from casual to practitioner to academic. Practitioners will find this book a refreshing and illuminating insight into marketing and branding. Academics will find interesting stories to liven up discussion in almost any marketing or social studies classes. However, as some of the male students tend to find cosmetics and beauty industry examples personally irrelevant, care needs to be taken to frame the presentation in a way that would initially draw those students in; once they are in, they will undoubtedly benefit from it.