A Scientific Breakthrough:The Magic of Melanin-Rich Skin

4As Jay Chiat Awards 2021

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SUMMARY

More diverse than ever, and prouder than ever.

And yet, too often this beautiful Black and Brown skin was not authentically reflected in the skincare aisle.

While skincare marketing had evolved to include diverse faces, the products themselves hadn’t. By 2018, despite the fact that 1 in 2 babies born in America were multicultural¹, there was no brand that truly understood, or designed for, darker shades of skin.

This is a story about how Strategy and our partners at Unilever created MELÉ, a new skincare branddesigned to fill this void.

A story about a new, meaningful way to champion the unique properties of melanin, and the beauty of skin withmore melanin in it, by creating a celebratory name for this consumer group: the melanin-rich.

A story about how the science of melanin-rich skin fundamentally disrupted what it means to create for theunderrepresented: from the brand name, development process and pack structures, to the visual identity.

This paper begins with our ambition to put melanin-rich skin first, and ends with 5 of 7 products receiving awards, exceeding business goals and even receiving an award from Oprah herself.

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REPRESENTING THE UNDERREPRESENTED

By 2018, a wave of brands were pioneering an inclusivity movement across the beauty category.

This made our partners at Unilever interrogate their own portfolio and penetration among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities to ensure these communities were fundamentally reflected.

This group of consumers are proud of their skin’s beauty and depth of pigment, seeking and applauding brands that see them and do the same. And yet many have come to distrust the industry - feeling ignored by brands completely or priced out of products that do cater to darker shades.

As one of the largest global skincare companies, we have the resources and scale to provide accessible, high quality skincare solutions for the BIPOC community.

The brief was significant and exciting:

How can we create a new brand that speaks meaningfully to people of color and genuinely cares for their skin?

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ONE SIDED EVOLUTION

Skincare marketing had evolved to include diverse faces, but diversity was not reflected in the products themselves.

Skincare marketed to people of color was commonly labeled, “for all shades and types” but too often products were designed for lighter skin and retrofitted to be suitable for darker skin, not accounting for differing needs.

We discovered that the institutions and development processes that shaped the skincare category had historically catered to, and been formulated for, the needs of only one audience: light skin.

For example:

● FDA regulations for basic SPF only require testing on limited "fair-skin" skin types (skin types I, II and III²).

● Black and Hispanics combined only represent 7% of dermatologists in the US³ despite those racial group making up 31% of the population in 2020⁴.

● 47% of dermatologists report insufficient exposure to patients with darker skin during their medical training⁵.

Among brands that did cater to darker people of color, products often skewed natural and mild, to not irritate Black and Brown skin. As a result, the product options generally weren’t as efficacious as the skincare solutions offered to lighter skin.

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NEED FOR CHANGE

If we were going to stand out credibly, we needed to improve the attention these consumers received from the scientific and medicinal disciplines that ultimately lead to skincare solutions.

This unlocked a powerful insight:

Many brands claim to understand the BIPOC consumer, but no mass brand yet understood the BIPOC consumer’s skin.

We became obsessed with understanding the unique biological differences of melanated skin so that we could determine how to best care, enhance and nurture it. We began with a simple question: what makes different shades of skin unique?

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SHADE IS MORE THAN SKIN DEEP

Simply speaking, the biological differentiator between skin shades is the amount of melanin present.

Melanin is an amino acid that gives skin, hair and eyes their pigmentation. The more melanin we have, the darker our complexion is. Melanin has many valuable properties; for example, melanin protects us from UVA/UVB rays by shielding our skin cells when exposed, which helps skin age slower.

BURNS EASILYPEELS EASILY

TANS/DARKENS EASILYHYPERPIGMENTATION

SKIN MARKS EASILY / LEAVES A DARK MARK

AFTER SCRATCHES / ACNE

But there are challenges unique to highly melanated skin, too. With that beautiful pigmentation also comes hyperpigmentation. This often appears as dark spots, blemishes, scarring or uneven skin tone and texture. This can come from common skin irritants - dryness, excess oil, acne - because the body’s natural response to distress is to create more melanin.

It became clear why natural brands with mild, non-irritating formulas had been widely adopted by the BIPOC community: most skincare products on the market barely helped - some even harmed - darker shades.

Melanin would become our hero.

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UNLEASHING THE MAGIC OF MELANIN

By focusing on melanin, we could effectively innovate ways to celebrate, enhance and nourish it to bring out its full potential.

To be a true change agent in this conversation, we needed to begin with the core

language.

Our first strategic decision was to name our audience the “melanin-rich,” to celebrate the amount of melanin in their skin.

Melanin-rich skin is not confined to any one race or ethnicity; rather, this group is unified by the specific skin benefits and challenges that stem from a shared melanin concentration. We knew that the market’s colorblind approach was not benefitting the melanin-rich consumer. To meaningfully break through, we would need to be different in two critical ways:

1. Build a brand to address the unique, unmet needs of common melanin-rich skin concerns.

2. Be more efficacious than a mild, natural brand in order to effectively meet these needs.

Our Ambition: to build a skincare brand founded in The Science of Melanin-Rich Skin.

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CHALLENGE

INSIGHT

STRATEGY

As a global leader in an industry that has long ignored Black and Brown skin, how can we

create a credible, authentic skincare brand for people of color?

Many skincare brands claim to understand the BIPOC consumer, but no mass brand yet understands the BIPOC consumer’s skin.

Put melanin-rich skin first by building a brand rooted in The Science of Melanin-Rich Skin.

STRATEGY CHECKPOINT

Strategy made a number of key decisions to build MELÉ with purpose:

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01 | A BRAND ROOTED IN THE SCIENCE OF MELANIN-RICH SKIN

Everything would be grounded in the science of melanin.

Our very name, MELÉ, derives from our hero inspiration, melanin. It’s what makes our consumers unique and our brand differentiated.

Paired with our defining brand line, The Science of Melanin-Rich Skin, MELÉ was positioned to address the unique needs of melanin-rich skin.

W e a r e

02 | CO-CREATED WITH DERMATOLOGISTS OF COLOR AND THE MELANIN-RICH COMMUNITY

Many skincare brands vie for dermatologist-certified stamps of approval. But as a brand rooted in

science, we needed to collaborate with them in product development, not just communications.

We worked with clients and R&D to engage a handful of board-certified dermatologists of color to co-create our products, ensure our ingredients could be clinically tested and proven, and were safe and enjoyable to use on melanin-rich skin. Together, we identified the top needs of melanin-rich skin based on personal and patient experiences and research, from which R&D formulated a full skincare regimen made of 10+ product solutions.

But it wasn’t enough to just root our brand in science alone; to be a true reflection of melanin-rich skin, we needed to champion the unique voices we represented.

Strategy proposed that we recruit a group of melanin-rich consumers to create a community to collaborate and develop our brand with. We engaged with 30+ men and women to bring this brand to life over the course of two years.

These consumers tested our brand at every touchpoint: our name, formula, package design, visual identity - even the launch campaign. The melanin-rich community provided feedback to ensure that MELÉ was a true representation of their voices and needs.

MELÉ would be more than a brand designed specifically FOR melanin-rich skin; we would also be a brand co-created WITH melanin-rich consumers.

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03 | ONE PART SCIENCE, ONE PART SASS

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Our tone needed to champion our confident consumer as much as their skin. This led to our defining tone, Science with Sass.

This personality became a cornerstone for launch. It informed all communications decisions, including tone of voice, education approach, pack structures and photography style.

The resulting visual system uses sleek scientific iconography and glowing talent to highlight our scientific creds and vibrant personality.

04 | ADVANCING THE UNDERSTANDING OF MELANIN-RICH SKIN

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We’re proud to be experts in this field.

We want to celebrate melanin-rich skin by promoting the education of it.

We worked with Unilever to create an educational system to become a true authority in the space by:

● Authoring a melanin-rich skin diagnostic to educate consumers on their skin and how to care for specific skin concerns.

● Building a training curriculum for estheticians, cosmetologists and makeup artists, and sharing resources and tools to create a new generation of skincare practitioners with a clear understanding of the specific needs of melanin-rich skin.

● Working with board-certified dermatologists, estheticians and scientists to cultivate and oversee curriculum and training for the professional treatment of prominent skin concerns for melanin-rich skin.

05 | LAUNCHING WITH PURPOSE

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To champion our story and purpose, we launched in September 2020 with a campaign, “We See You,” and a community-focused anthem that celebrated the diverse voices and faces behind MELÉ.

WE DON’T LIKE TO BRAG ABOUT NUMBERS. BUT IF WE DID...

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We’re proud that:

● Initial sales beat expectations by +21% on Target.com● +20% additional in-store distribution was secured in 2021 due to popular demand● Our research and strategy resonated so strongly with consumers: our top performing products

aligned with the top needs identified during our development process (dark spots/hyperpigmentation, even skin tone, sun damage).

● Within 6 months, 5 of 7 products received competitive awards from major publications● All available products received above 4.6 stars by 1K+ positive consumer reviews● 94MM+ impressions received after 3 months● The social community grew to 5.5K followers organically, with an average engagement rate of

6% - outpacing our 2% benchmark

And lastly - we’re proud that Oprah awarded MELÉ’s Dark Spot Control Serum her 2020 Beauty Award before we even hit retail shelves.

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FOOTNOTES

1. “Minority Babies (Barely) the Majority among U.S. Infants.” Pew Research Center, 4 September 2020.

2. “CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21.” FDA.gov, 1 April 2020.3. “Dermatology Lacks Diversity.” MDedge Dermatology, (Published 1 June 2016) 28 March

2019.4. U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.5. British Journal of Dermatology, 2020 Survey.

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THANK YOU

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