CEW DEBATE ‘DIGITAL VERSUS REALNESS’ WITH GLOBAL, THE MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

In recent years, the beauty industry has changed immeasurably, shifting from shop floors and glossy magazines to online retailers and YouTube channels. Today’s beauty consumer is self-educated and has planned, researched and engaged with a brand before purchasing anything. CEW and Global welcomed a panel of social influencers to discuss whether digital and reality both have a place in the beauty industry and how brands can leverage the power of both to speak to their customers.
The experts included Charles Ubaghs, Head of Social Media at Global, Michaela Walters, Managing Editor at Capital XTRA, Beauty Blogger, Fleur de Force, Self-Care Blogger, Melissa Carter of Ignite with Melissa, UK Marketing Director of bareMinerals, Kelley Martin and Lee Etheridge, International Director of Education & Brand Ambassador at bareMinerals.
Melissa opened the event with a gentle meditation exercise, designed to relax the crowd and ensure everyone was ‘present’ in the room ahead of the discussion. From a troubled past, Melissa shared her story about how she went from an overweight, unhappy and uninspired music executive to a motivational speaker and blogger. Melissa argued that social media can be a double edged sword when it comes to realness. Comparing yourself to others and so-called perfect lives can be harmful but likewise, it can be a vehicle to showcase authenticity and express who you really are. Demonstrating how authenticity can take bravery, Melissa took her makeup off in front of the 100 strong audience and encouraged listeners to embrace and support themselves.
Lee Etheridge of bareMinerals talked about the brand’s early days when founder Leslie Blodgett launched the mineral makeup on QVC. Leslie engaged with her audience on a personal level and continued to connect online where she would make personal recommendations and offer advice. This community of real women became the bareMinerals influencers, guiding the brand and generating valuable word of mouth. An apt example of how connecting in reality can bolster a new brand, this was a fascinating insight into the brand’s beginnings.
Kelley Martin believes that these brand values and beliefs are the same nearly 20 years later. Today, bareMinerals target real women digitally and still see their customers as their biggest brand influencers. While we used to engage face to face, we now live online. The brand’s new BarePro makeup has been launched predominantly online with a clever digital marketing campaign. CEW members in the audience were lucky enough to enjoy a skin match session after the event and each took home a full size sample of the new foundation.
To further the social conversation, Charles Ubaghs of Global discussed the changing face of beauty. While glamour was once something purely aspirational, young people today want something more relatable. YouTubers in their bedrooms with unretouched skin garner much more attention than glossy magazines for millennials; brands must account for this when trying to reach a younger audience. Influencers have changed and young people themselves now influence their peers which led Global to create PopBuzz, in order to reach this audience. Designed for ‘people who speak internet’, the site talks about YouTube videos the same way The New York Times might cover Game of Thrones. Through word of mouth and social sharing, the site grew to over one million viewers a month.
To conclude, Melissa was joined by Fleur de Force and Michaela Walters on a panel to discuss the topics raised. Fleur argues the bloggers remain popular as they are a truly authentic form of media, uncompromised by brand partnerships. She maintains that audiences are savvy, they know when bloggers are being disingenuous and often will call them out on this. Melissa agrees that there is a demand for authentic bloggers and influencers and being yourself is inspiring and something everyone wants to do. 
Michaela argues that to truly connect with an audience you need to speak their language and the industry needs to be aware that the definition of who an influencer is constantly changing. 
A fascinating insight into the digital remit from people in the know, the business breakfast was an eye-opener for the 100 strong audience of CEW members.
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