The Soul of Brands #2

In to the Glossier

Glossier’s brand soul is a people-powered ecosystem that champions beauty in real-life.

Glossier uses community as a source of advocacy.

Glossier doesn’t foster an abstract “movement” — it creates an influencer strategy that focuses on networks as if they were teams.

Knowing the customer is requisite. Glossier’s approach — to tap into the core spaces were their customers interact and then become an integral, trusted voice in those spaces — is inimitable.

Glossier uses community as a springboard for product development.

Glossier taps its online and IRL community to understand what’s working, what’s not, and what hasn’t been thought of yet.

Ongoing co-creation is thus enabled, guaranteeing an innovative and resonant product pipeline that ensures the brand ships products people want.

Glossier uses technology to not just sell, but to listen.

Glossier isn’t just D2C, it was a first mover into E-Commerce on Instagram, a site where it largely built its following.

Glossier’s digital approach unlocks sales not only where their customers spend most of their time, but also where they speak their mind—this lets the brand listen to customers at scale, not just sell.

There’s also a Slack channel for top fans to talk new products directly with the brand.

Glossier’s ethos and aesthetic is culture-out, millennial-first.

Glossier stole millennial pink—a generation’s battle cry—and made it their own.

The generational approach is instantly attractive to  Glossier’s core target, but generic enough to have wide appeal, to those not part of the generation.

It’s also totally ownable. The no makeup look reimagines the concept of natural beauty.

The look is consistent to Glossier’s “models” — who are really just employees or fans — and codifies the ethos in visual form.

Glossier’s ethos and aesthetic in product design is irresistibly Instagrammable.

The brand has created a self-enforcing social media aesthetic, that effortlessly encourages customers to post and interact, before, during and after purchase.

The tone is playful and joyous—but slick—drenched in the signature pink hue.

Glossier’s origin as an “editorial first” brand retains organic loyalty.

Glossier started as a blog, “Into The Gloss” that moved into an adjacent business opportunity — organic product development.

It still uses editorial content to keep people in the fold, and win social currency. “Into The Gloss” has thus become equal parts sales platform and arbiter of taste for a generation of women — its core customer base.