The ColourPop brand is very different from the traditional industry, where you’ll see top-down campaigns. Instead of massive companies that plan and concept their launches a year or more ahead of time, John and Laura Nelson, founders of Seed Beauty and ColourPop have 20-something staffers on social media asking the brand's consumers what they want; then roll it out as soon as it's ready.

1. The Direct-To-Consumers and
Disruptive Playbook
Beauty and Fashion Disruption Insights

2. Key Lessons from
Indie Makeup Brand:
Colour Pop
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3. 3
#beauty #collaborations #instagram
3
Years old
$4m
Estimated Yearly Revenue
5.2m
Instagram followers

4. “We value input and listen to our customers
across all of our social media platforms and
then make products based on what we hear
from them.”
4
Laura Nelson, Founder of ColourPop

5. Overview
They created Seed Beauty in 2014. The idea is to
create a one-stop shop for creating new beauty
brands. Colour Pop is a sister company with
Kylie Cosmetics.
ColourPop is a fun brand that empowers people to
be playful and experiment with products in a way
that isn’t intimidating and makes them feel good
about themselves.
ColourPop exclusively sells its products online.
The brand is part of the
beauty startups to watch in 2017.
Owners, Laura and John Nelson grew up with Spatz
Labs, Oxnard, CA, came up with a plan to cut out
the middleman within the beauty industry as a small
side project.
They saw a gap where the opportunity in the beauty
industry which is to have amazing formulas with
great pigmentation in a wide range of colors that are
affordable. That way, consumers don’t have to
overly commit to a trendy color that is going to cycle
out over time
Very quiet and discreet, the founders don’t want to
be direct reps of the brands. They let social media
and their collaborators do the work.
Seed BeautyVision

6. ColourPop and Collaborations
The power of collaboration
What really makes the brand ‘pop’, has been its prowess in
using social media to drive sales, particularly in creating
product collaborations with YouTube and Instagram
influencers.
Trend and innovation is nurtured internally and externally;
Colour Pop is inspired directly by its customers and their
chemists work with social media and customer service teams
in order to develop and create new products.
What do Kathleen Lights and Karrueche have in common?
Both have collaborated with the brand and have created their
own collection of products. ColourPop now boasts 4.1 million
followers on its Instagram account and gets daily mentions
by makeup enthusiasts, vloggers and models.
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7. Search trends on Google: ColourPop (in blue, launched in 2014)
vs. Urban Decay (in red, launched in 1996)
Influencers post their looks on Instagram or on
YouTube adding hashtags to be recognized by
ColourPop.
The brand ‘regrams’ the influencers looks on
Instagram and shares them. It’s a mutual beneficial
system, where the influencer is more publically
exposed - the brand shows interest in its consumers,
which is very appreciated by all online communities.
An Instagram Strategy

8. The marketing world is changing…

9. Brands have a major problem …
…and the problem is HER
And the millions of other passionate people like her who post videos & photos

10. Brands have lost control of their messaging
due to a highly fragmented audience
Creators Networks Audience
Online retailers
Direct to
consumers

11. Micro Influencing is the Future of brands on Social Media
11
Top 25 YouTubers
700+ YouTubers
41%
of views
Top Tier creators are hard to reach,
long and expensive to activate.
59%
of views
Mid & Long Tail creators are a great
opportunity for brands to reach
creators and audience at scale.

12. Content watched on social media is micro
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Digital celebrities are as
powerful as people not known
personally.
Bloggers and vloggers create
strong and effective content for
brands and are more reachable
than most of the celebrities you
may find on social networks.

13. We are already living in a
Post-Advertising World
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14. “Our brands that grew the most were also very low [advertising
and promotion] intensive,[…] Kiehl’s has no media. Urban Decay
has no media. Many of these brands have no media.”
14
Jean Paul Agon

15. Influencers are more relevant than brand pages
As organic social reach is
increasingly limited,
social influencers offer a
more authentic voice,
leading to more engaged
audiences.
15

16. Influence has quickly changed hands
16

17. Influencers drive sales
…of beauty consumers indicate that
YouTube influenced their purchasing
decisions by helping them to visualize
how the products would fit their
lifestyle.
Pure players give incentives to creators'
audiences through promotional codes.
66%

18. Micro-influencers really matter
Mid- and long-tail creators usually:
● Have a greater freedom of speech
● Create more engagement
● Won’t request $$$ to collaborate
● Have a clearer schedule
Smart brands will leverage their
combined power and higher engagement
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19. Major marketing challenges for brands in a digital age
2of 3US Millennials use
and AD Blocker
Consumers are exposed to
5,000ads per day on average
New Indie Brands
Infobesity &
Decline of Engagement
Decline Of Advertising
Efficiency

20. The Direct-to-Consumer revolution is reaching all industries
2
5
Years old
$200M
Revenues
www.bloomberg.com
2
Years old
$75M
Revenues
http://fortune.com/
4
Years old
$150M
Expected
Revenues
http://www.inc.com/
$240M
Raised
$60M
Raised

21. Indie brands are popping up
Small lines with social media savvy are winning top-dollar bids
from cosmetic giants seeking growth.
18
Months old
$420M
Revenues
3
Years old
$35M
Revenues/Raised
+600%
Growth in 2016
“ ”

22. What’s an Indie Brand?
Any beauty addict can tell you they love top brands
such as M.A.C Cosmetics BUT they believe their
prices are too high.
They’re generally endorsed by celebrities or models.
Indie brands are taking off rapidly offering great products
at an affordable price.
They’re generally endorsed by Beauty blogger/vloggers.
All these endorsements have the ability to generate engaging content but beauty bloggers do it better.

23. “I sell directly to customers. With other brands, they are putting their stuff
in Sephora, and Sephora takes their cut, so they have to mark up their
prices to cover overhead and staffing, and all that. But because we sell
online—directly from the warehouse to the customer—we can kind of cut
out that middle portion and save a lot of money in costs.”
How are you able to provide the same quality as high-end makeup brands and keep
prices low?
Marlena Stell, YouTuber

24. Retailers are also disrupted
5 years old 6 years old 5 years old
$150M
Revenues
$125M
Revenues
$50M
Raised

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