Leading With Purpose: Game Changing Wellness and Beauty Brands
By Ruby Callahan and Sara Lattman
This Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting powerful women who are leading with purpose and evaluating purpose-driven campaigns from some of the most prominent and emerging women-centric brands, using our Brand Purpose typology created in collaboration with PR Week. This week, we continue our series focusing on brands leading with purpose in the beauty space.
Often overlooked, the beauty space has become a powerful industry worth over $532 billion (Business Insider). While the industry as a whole is traditionally geared towards women, it often promotes unrealistic expectations of women and lacks female leadership. Here, we examine two game-changing companies in the beauty and wellness industry that are challenging industry standards and leading the way in creating inclusive and purpose-led communications.
After becoming frustrated with the lack of natural feminine hygiene products, Bea Dixon created The Honey Pot Company in 2014, which places purpose at the core of their business practices and communications. Feminine hygiene products are often hidden, or only advertised as a way to hide the signals of menstruation or natural cleaning processes. In contrast, The Honey Pot Company uses their platform to shift the narrative away from hiding feminine hygiene needs and providing women with natural products that will help them meet their personal needs for their bodies — not conform to expectations.
In early February of 2020, Dixon unexpectedly faced heavy abuse on social media for a Target ad that she thought would help boost the upward movement for the company. The ad campaign featured Dixon and was framed around both Black History and Women’s History months, where she stressed the importance of her company doing well “so the next Black girl that comes up with a great idea could have a better opportunity” (Business Insider). Despite the positive message, the advertisement resulted in the business being bombarded with negative reviews, abusive social media comments, hate speech, and even calls for a boycott by white supremacists. These online groups called the ad “non-inclusive” and “racist” for only mentioning young black girls.
This internet vitriol ended up propelling the company further into the national spotlight, garnering support from people around the country, leading to products selling out online and in-stores and helped drive a conversation about the lack of investment in black women-owned businesses (NBC News).
Dixon responded to the hate she received by doubling down on her aim to encourage young black women to pursue their business ideas, shedding light on the difference in investments in businesses owned by people of color compared to their white counterparts. She mentioned ProjectDiane, a study commissioned by Digital Undivided to provide a snapshot of Black and Latinx founders, and the startups they lead, in her press appearances with The Real, Business Insider, NBC News, and CNN. In her appearances Dixon cited a 2017–2018 report from ProjectDiane, that found that of the $425 million dollars invested in business that year, only 0.0006% of that was invested in black women-owned businesses.
Their social media prominently shares the company’s values, from offering sexual health information to addressing current racial issues and ways consumers can get involved- from opportunities to donate, links for further education, and meditation opportunities. In light of the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, The Honey Pot Company used their social media platforms to advocate for change and highlighted various organizations that consumers could donate to, in addition to sharing educational posts on racism in the U.S. They also purposefully highlight Black-owned companies in the wellness space to promote inclusion. The Honey Pot Company’s purposeful communications and prominent values have been helpful in elevating their voice and differentiating from competitors, leading to financial success and an increase in product placement in stores.
In our 2020 Brand Purpose Report, we highlight the importance of creating campaigns that remain authentic to their brand. The Honey Pot Company works hard to ensure that the causes that they promote are a strong brand fit — lending authenticity to their voice and ensuring trust with consumers. Their continued focus on racial justice, sexual wellness, and the promotion of Black-owned businesses aligns seamlessly with their brand values and demonstrates an ongoing commitment to authenticity.
Similarly to The Honey Pot Company, Billie, a shaving supplies company, was born out of frustration with the current offerings. Founder Georgina Gooley was purchasing men’s razors instead of razors marketed towards women as a way to get out of paying the pink tax (Time). The pink tax is a sexist pricing strategy where products that are aimed towards women are more expensive than the same products marketed towards men (Money Matters). She noticed that most shaving companies were either created for men or had been spun out of men’s brands, creating a product that lacked innovation and seemingly cost more. These brands were not originally intended for women, and the marketing and communications coming out of these companies reflected that, with advertisements often making women feel ashamed about body hair and setting unrealistic body expectations. Gooley, along with co-founder Jason Bravman, created a subscription shaving service designed for women with fair pricing as a direct response to the pink tax (Time).
From day one, Billie has challenged industry standards and highlighted purpose as a central tenet of their brand. In 2018, Billie launched their brand through a campaign that broke the unspoken rule of women’s razor advertisements by featuring female body hair in an ad, generating numerous headlines and sparking a greater discussion surrounding beauty expectations in marketing (Marketing Dive). Subsequent campaigns featured diverse models, highlighting their natural body hair, and even encouraged their users “to feel free to do what they want with their bodies,’’ whether that meant shaving or not (Allure).
Billie’s purpose-driven platform has been instrumental in their growth and expansion. Beyond creating a product for women by women, they’ve challenged industry standards and have created an inclusive brand reflective of their core values. Billie has long supported their values by donating a portion of their income to women’s groups and causes, but following the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, has decided to refocus their contribution to specifically support BIPOC women’s groups and projects, and made repeated financial donations to BLM and the NAACP.
As we found in our 2020 Brand Purpose Report, creating a brand with a central purpose tied to a company’s main business goals allows for the most authentic campaigns and purpose-centric companies in the market. A brand that is leading with purpose can successfully weave their purpose into every aspect of their company, creating long-lasting impacts on their consumers, their industries and the issues they stand for. Both Billie and The Honey Pot Company highlight how leading with purpose enhances companies and creates strong customer relationships. These female-led companies have challenged industry expectations and created brands that refuse to stay silent about important societal issues and unrealistic body expectations. Their success should be a challenge to other companies to match centering authentic purpose in their brands.
