essence cosmetics
Building a brand to empower and encourage.
Launched in 2005, essence was built out of a desire to create a different kind of cosmetics company — a fun brand that offers both great quality and low prices. The ethos is to be inclusive, cheerful, and affordable and that beauty should be an expression of true self.
the problem
essence was launched in Germany and sold in countries across Europe. They decided to cross the pond in 2008 and landed in New York, but quickly realized how different the young, female demographic was. Their small U.S. team approached Wondersauce for a full brand, identity, marketing and digital strategy overhaul to help connect their product offering and better resonate with the U.S. consumer.
the opportunity
Our agency relationship with essence spanned over 4 years where we had the opportunity to touch every facet of the brand. From identity, site design, in-store displays, social media strategy and community management, digital campaigns, experiential, print deliverables, packaging, and photoshoots. We were fortunate enough to act as a creative extension of their company and brand.
As the brand grew, other companies began to take interest. In the Fall of 2016, essence was launched in select Target stores where we implemented a back-to-school campaign paired with a digital giveaway of Target and essence goodies.
We created seasonal point-of-sale displays to tout new product launches and feature on-trend looks that consumers could re-create at home.
Select influencers would receive custom branded content and products each month in exchange for authentic social content that could be used across the essence channels and in materials across the brand.
In 2017, we launched a digital campaign called “#WatchMeSparkle” where followers could hashtag their post for a chance to win a trip to NYC. 10 winners were chosen for a weekend full of essence fun and makeup. We created signage, swag, and printed itineraries for the events throughout the weekend, as well as a snapchat filter for the girls to use on their social posts.
Our email strategy comprised of A/B testing to validate our design decisions and copy implementation. The visuals throughout the emails had to be on-brand and true to essence, but speak more specifically to the product or content that we were targeting. Our goal was to keep the content and layout as fun and interesting as possible for the user, so she never felt like she was receiving the same template twice.
After the initial website was launched, we created a plan to optimize the PDP design based on user testing and analytics. We shifted away from a more traditional page layout, and focused on bringing the product and content to life. Our goal was to place more emphasis on the product benefit, rather than focusing just on the product name. We distilled each product into one quick quip to help the user quickly understand the formula.
Users were able to see product shots paired with model images for each shade to get a better grasp on how the product translates in real life.
We also created a series of on-brand badges to quickly distinguish key product benefits that our users were frequently searching for.
Our final initiative with essence was in concepting and creating their 2018 holiday campaign. We named the event “Bring the Bash” to emulate the essence personality and bring a sense of celebration to each deliverable during the season.
The campaign featured a micro-site where we housed 60 Days of Giveaways where users could interact with an ‘advent calendar’ to reveal new offers for each of the 60 days leading up to New Years Eve.
I had the opportunity to work with our social media strategist to bring the campaign to life by shooting the images for the microsite that would translate into other brand touchpoints such as social (shown above), email, print, and digital assets.
role:
Experience Strategy
Planning & Scope Definition
Asset Production
Print+Digital Design Execution
Social Media Strategy
Photography