At the helm of Morphe parent company Forma Brands, CEO Myles McCormick has overseen what he calls a “whirlwind” year for the company.
Coming a long way from Morphe’s early days of eyeshadow brushes, “evolution” is now a keyword for McCormick as the digital-first company has continued to embrace change. This year, Forma Brands saw the launch of Ariana Grande’s R.E.M Beauty, continued its adaptation to a Gen-Z audience and entered multiple new categories.
While Forma Brands has been no stranger to influencer partnerships, R.E.M. Beauty’s launch on November 12 marked the company’s foray into celebrity brands. Currently sold exclusively DTC, the brand will announce “a large partnership in the U.S. and in Europe” with a yet-to-be-named brick-and-mortar retailer next year.
“With R.E.M., we wanted to make sure that we had a lot of control over that consumer engagement,” said McCormick, regarding the decision to launch DTC. Working with Grande, it was important that the social and e-commerce “experience was very curated to her vision.”
In addition to new retail partners, more categories are in the works. Grande “certainly has aspirations to do other things in the future” beyond makeup, he said.
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And while Morphe got its start at the height of the beauty YouTube days, Forma Brands has evolved to work with new types of Gen-Z influencers. In 2021, the company continued the expansion of Morphe 2, its makeup and skin-care line launched with Charli and Dixie D’Amelio in 2020, launched Emma Chamberlain’s skin-care brand Bad Habit, and announced a makeup collaboration with Avani Gregg. These new sub-brands and collabs have marked the company’s expansion to target a younger age group and customer beyond a die-hard beauty base.
“Morphe 2 was really just a test for us to figure out how to extend the equity of the core Morphe brand into a new consumer segment with different preferences than our core Morphe consumer, who is much more focused on makeup artistry,” said McCormick. Next year, Morphe 2 will become a “standalone business,” while keeping its current branding.
Adapting to Gen Z has also meant embracing new social platforms. “TikTok tends to be much more disruptive content, and the content creators are different,” said McCormick. “It’s been an evolution, certainly.” In addition to new types of influencers, the brand has also continued to launch unique collaborations, such as with Sour Patch Kids, Coke and Mickey Mouse.
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Morphe certainly hasn’t abandoned its relationships with traditional makeup artists and beauty influencers, however, especially as it has expanded into new categories. It teamed up with makeup artist Danessa Myricks and beauty influencer Makeup Shayla for the launch of its foundation earlier this year. And it linked with beauty influencer Daisy Marquez for its first mascara and lip plumper. In addition, it’s continued its multi-brand strategy, adding Uoma Beauty to its lineup this year.
In 2022, McCormick said Forma Brands will continue its expansion of categories, channels and markets. It will launch one new brand at Ulta Beauty in the summer, and two new collaboration brands will be unveiled in the second half of the year.
“It’s our mission to develop this next-generation beauty group,” he said. “The world is very crowded with collaborations today, and it’s important for us to find ways to cut through and do things differently.”
