Changing the Game of Beauty

When P&G acquired Gillette for $57 billion a decade ago, everyone described it as a perfect marriage of the two leaders in women's and men's beauty products. Gillette could develop razors of women, with soaps to match, whilst P&G could surf across men's new enthusiasm for grooming. The best mass market brands for everyone. Reshaping the world of beauty.

Disruptive brands

10 years later, economic tsunamis and exponential technologies, and the resultant priorities and influences of consumers, have changed the way in which brands win. New start-ups can reach further and compete faster online. Look at the cult success of Dollar Shave Club with 3 million subscribers. Millennial consumers have different priorities and new heroes. Look at the demand for Urban Decay amongst fast-grown-up teens. Brands are no longer built through advertising, but through the peer to peer influence of Instagrammers and vloggers. Look at Michelle Phan's weekly Youtube audience, and her Ipsy brand.

Across the world, new ideas, new businesses and new solutions are transforming every market. “Gamechangers” think and act differently. They innovate every aspect of their brand and marketing. From Alibaba to Zipcars, Ashmei to Zidisha, Azuri and Zynga, a new generation of businesses are rising out of the maelstrom of economic and technological change across our world. These are just a few of the companies shaking up our world.

Gamechangers are disruptive and innovative, start-ups and corporates, in every sector and region, reshaping our world. They are more ambitious, with stretching vision and enlightened purpose. They see markets as kaleidoscopes of infinite possibilities, assembling and defining them to their advantage. They find their own space, then shape it in their own vision. Most of all they have great ideas. They outthink their competition, thinking bigger and different. They don’t believe in being slightly cheaper or slightly better. That is a short-term game of diminishing returns.

We asked 1000 business leaders to nominate the companies who they believe are creating the future in each different sector. The top 100 innovators are big and small, spread across every sector and continent, from Asia to the Americas, finance to fashion. And then we wanted to understand what they did differently.

They range from well known innovators like Amazon and Apple – the magic Dash buttons creating a direct link between consumer and brands, the ecosystems that go beyond devices – to new brands like Brazil’s Beauty’in fusing the world of food and cosmetics, or even Zespri redefining the obscure Chinese gooseberry as the superfood Kiwi fruit.

They capture their higher purpose in more inspiring brands that resonate with their target audiences at the right time and place, enabled by data and technology, but more through empathetic design and rich human experiences. They fuse digital and physical, global and local, ideas and networks. Social media drives reach and richness, whilst new business models make the possible profitable. They collaborate with customers, and partner with other business, connecting ideas and utilising their capabilities. They look beyond the sale to enable customers to achieve more, they care about their impact on people and the world, whilst being commercially successful too.

As they say in the GoogleX moonshot factory, in seeking to reinvent everything from cars to healthcare, “Why be 10% better, when you could be 10 times better?”

Gamechangers of beauty

So who are the companies "changing the game" of beauty? Not just creating new and distinctive products, but redefining the industry itself, what it's called, why it matters, who to trust, where to start, and what matters most. 

Example 1: Michelle Phan and Ipsy

Read more about Ipsy the curator of subscription beauty bags, using the power of vlogging and social media to unlock influencer marketing.

Example 2: The Organic Pharmacy

The Organic Pharmacy started 15 years ago in London with a passion for “all natural” cosmetics and skincare. It has developed a cult following across the world with a range that spans homeopathic therapies to glamour foods.

Example 3: Tatcha Skincare ... beauty inspired by the Japanese Geisha 

 Read more about Tatcha and how founder Vicky Tsai turned a Geisha secret into a cosmetics innovation, In fact Tsai's business card reads "chief treasure hunter".

 Example 4: Adorn ... 3d printing foundation pen

 Find out more about Adorn, the world's first 3d printing foundation pen, that creates personalised foundation to match your skin.

 Example 5: Blow.LTD ... the "Uber of beauty" on demand to you

 Read more about Blow.LTD and how they secured funding from the likes of Unilever to turn their salon experience into "the Uber of beauty" that comes to you.

 Example 6: Pat McGrath Lab's Gold 001

 Read more about Gold 001 and how the famous Pat McGrath Labs created a global beauty sensation in make-up with its always sold-out gold powder.

 Example 7: Zenta by Vitaya ... first think human, then think tech

 Zenta is the wearable tech fashion range from Kate Unsworth, the 28 year old artist and mathematician who believes in transforming people's inner wellbeing through human-centred technology. Zenta is a first wearable "happiness tracker."

 Example 8: MatchCo ... customised cosmetics from your phone

 MatchCo is one of the latest, and most interesting players in the customised beauty market, which has never really taken off. Yet. The Santa Monica-based business focuses on personalised foundations through a phone-based app.

 Example 9: Isamaya French ... fusing art and fashion 

Read more about Isamaya Ffrench the young London make-up artist who fuses fashion and art in the most striking, bizarre and creative styles 

Gamechangers Labs

Whilst innovations from La Prairie's skin caviar to Dove's campaign for real beauty, have continued to drive the world of beauty brands, it is now time for a real "gamechanger" ... to challenge the world order, to make consumers really think differently, and to create a disruptive and desirable new approach.

This is my challenge in the week ahead, working with some of the world's most talented and ambitious beauty brands to explore new possibilities, new perspectives and new potential for brands and consumers. There is much inspiration from within the industry, learning from a new breed of entrepreneurs like Kate Unsworth and Isamaya French, but also learning from other game changers in other industries, like the 100 profiled in my new Gamechangers book, and the Live Case Studies online.

We'll be using the new disruption tools from the Gamechangers Labs to stretch out thinking, and reframe our worldview, to question the fundamentals of what made brands successful in the past, and what will win in the future.

Peter Fisk is an expert in strategy, innovation and marketing. Starting his career as a nuclear physicist, he went on to work for and with many of the world’s leading brands – from Concorde to Coca Cola, Red Bull and Santander, Virgin and Vodafone. He is founder and CEO of GeniusWorks, the London-based strategy and innovation consulting firm, and visiting professor at IE Business School in Madrid. He has authored 7 books including “Marketing Genius” which has been translated into 35 languages, and and is included in the Thinkers 50 Guru Radar of the best business thinkers. He is an inspiring keynote speaker, highly experienced facilitator and practical coach. Find out more at www.theGeniusWorks.com

His new book “Gamechangers: Creating Innovative Strategies for Business and Brands” explores the world’s 100 most disruptive innovators, and then interprets 10 themes for success in today’s business world. From enlightended vision to finding new markets, bolder brands and innovative business models, new customer agendas and enabling experiences, realtime marketing and social movements, inspiring leadership to deliver more profitable growth. It also includes 16 practical canvases for applying the best ideas to your own business. Explore more about the book at www.Gamechangers.pro