Angela Simpson, svp of U.S. marketing for Nars Cosmetics, has been in the beauty industry for over 20 years. And, over time, she’s seen the arbiters of beauty transform.
Beauty brands, with their abundant advertisements in magazines and television, long defined beauty and what products were created — that is, until retailers like Sephora and Ulta Beauty claimed a larger role. And eventually, influencers became an authority. Fast forward to now, and it’s customers — and their values surrounding impactful branding and diverse and inclusive products — who hold the microphone. Simpson, as a marketer, has been riveted by this shift in power.
“I have been watching the power of marketing change. And, as a marketing person, I have to adapt,” she said. “The consumer’s voice is [especially] powerful today, and it’s holding everybody accountable. Now, a marketer’s role isn’t just about marketing great products.” Instead, a marketer is more akin to a community engagement manager, forming tw0-way communication channels between the brand and its customers. “This is no longer top-down messaging,” she said.
In 2024, Nars will celebrate 30 years in business. Simpson joined Nars seven years ago, when the company was the No. 13 best-selling prestige makeup brand, she recalled. As of 2022, it’s the No. 6 best-selling brand, per industry data firm Circana. According to a 2022 year-end earnings report from Nars parent company Shiseido, Nars’ annual brand sales grew by 22% year-over-year. Nars’ launch of Light Reflecting Foundation in Feb. 2022 was 2022’s largest U.S. prestige beauty launch, based on sales driven, according to Circana. The marketing campaign included a partnership with Sephora that involved special in-store signage ahead of launch, an Instagram shopping post by Sephora and in-store events.
“Light Reflecting Foundation shows what innovation can do for this brand. We are leaders in complexion. and internally, we call this ‘skin beauty.’ We want to merge the [skin and makeup categories],” said Simpson. “We have a strong online business, but people want to get in the stores and they want to try [the products]. Coming out of Covid-19 and seeing consumers return to stores was perfect timing.”
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The idea of makeup with skin-care benefits is not new. More traditional artistry brands like Nars and even MAC Cosmetics, however, have recently doubled down on the concept, with complexion products that evoke a more natural, skin-like finish and have skin-care ingredients. Nars already offers skin-care products, which it reformulated to be clean and reintroduced throughout 2022. With Light Reflecting Foundation, Nars wanted to focus on the skin-like finish the complexion product offered. Nars prestige makeup sales grew 24% year-over-year for the first quarter of 2023, according to Circana data.
Another big moment for Nars was in February during New York Fashion Week, when the brand hosted nine Black influencers who received a four-day stay at the Amman Hotel and backstage access to NYFW with brands like Rodarte. Simpson credited Nars’ diverse marketing team of 25 people with generating the idea. She said it was a key opportunity to show people that Nars does not only talk the talk with inclusive consumer marketing, but it also internally reflects diverse values with its employees and leaders.
“There’s always room to do better. But we’re always looking [at products] through an inclusive lens of, ‘Can everybody use it?’” said Simpson. “The Black content creators were able to sit and meet my team, and see that what we do is authentic to who we are as a brand. It’s not just [diversity] in consumer-facing initiatives.”
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