Amika, the hair product and instruments model recognized for its colourful packaging, additionally needs to you consider its as a “buddy.”
On the finish of October, Amika launched a marketing campaign known as “All Hair is Welcome” to debut a brand new model communications technique. The continuing marketing campaign is supposed to indicate a extra community-centric and inclusive tone for Amika, which implies “pals” within the worldwide language Esperanto. The model options fashions of assorted pores and skin tones, ages, genders, hair varieties and hairstyles throughout its social media channels, its DTC web site and its branding on Sephora’s e-commerce website. Amika accomplished a web site relaunch the week of Dec. 21 to incorporate this new messaging.
Chelsea Riggs, Amika model president, mentioned the model’s general e-commerce gross sales skilled an 82% year-over-year development in 2020, and e-commerce now accounts for 24% of its complete enterprise.
“Lots of people didn’t actually care in regards to the trivia element in regards to the model once we began again in 2003,” mentioned Riggs. “Whenever you’re a brand new model, it’s important to construct this degree of credibility.”
This shift in branding technique displays how manufacturers have performed to altering client values; Amika’s makes an attempt to construct a group and spotlight its inclusiveness communicate to the extra delicate shifts because of social justice actions like Black Lives Matter. The model’s emphasis on group versus individuality is one other marker of present adjustments within the magnificence trade. Whereas manufacturers throughout client classes have sought to highlight individuality previously — together with Hole and Etsy, with campaigns in 2016 — manufacturers have change into extra targeted on constructing like-minded communities over the past two years. In essence, whereas range is vital to manufacturers immediately, individuality has taken a backseat.
Earlier than “All Hair is Welcome,” Amika marketed a way of “hair rebel,” as Riggs put it, highlighting how one’s hair is usually a marker for particular person expression and creativity. A client examine Amika carried out with eight,000 folks in 2018 revealed that though folks acknowledged Amika by its packaging, there was a disconnect between its branding, merchandise and aesthetics. Particularly, “hair rebel” appeared to compete with the extra inclusive narrative round friendliness, mentioned Vita Raykhman, Amika co-founder and artistic director.
“Whereas we nonetheless really feel [hair rebellion] has a spot in our model, our focus has shifted to carry ahead the concept of Amika as a buddy,” mentioned Raykhman.
The brand new web site includes a rotating marquee on the homepage with marketing campaign imagery subsequent to new merchandise and gross sales promotions. And Amika intentionally positioned the “About Us” web page entrance and middle, mentioned Riggs. Embedded on product pages is an present chatbot. Product options additionally characteristic added or expanded info on elements, in addition to press mentions, critiques, video content material, often requested questions and weblog posts. When Sephora does a merchandising reset within the spring, Amika could have a big plaque that options “All Hair is Welcome” on its gondola in shops.
“We weren’t displaying up in the best methods, from a advertising and marketing perspective, by visually representing that each one these merchandise can [work for different hair types]. You find yourself selecting one mannequin to symbolize a product or a set due to selection or price range constraints,” mentioned Riggs. “But when there is no such thing as a persona or values or objective to a model, it’s only a product. And merchandise change into irrelevant in a short time.”
