In last month’s article, TBC took a close look at the evolution of focus groups, and how brands can use this powerful tool to gather critical qualitative data about their products. This month, we turn our attention to other half of this equation: in-home usage studies or beauty product testing groups (BPTs), which put your […]

Cocaine used to be God’s way of telling you that you have too much money. Now it’s SoulCycle and skin serums. Over the last decade “wellness” has become a luxury item and serums, which tend to mix health claims with beauty promises, have ridden the wellness wave with spectacular success. Serums are everywhere; a search […]

To move towards product launch with confidence, marketing teams need reliable consumer intelligence. Here at The Benchmarking Company, we are seeing brands turning back to the basics more and more to get this data—basics such as the time-tested focus group. A chance for brand managers and executives to literally see consumer reactions to their most […]

Anyone passing through the lobby of Hotel Vitale on a recent Saturday afternoon would have heard delighted shrieks coming from a conference room.What sounded like a taping of Oprah’s FavoriteThings onWinfrey’s former television show was actually a room full of young women who hailed from 42 different cities across 18 states, who had won a […]

There are a lot of dos and don’ts to keep track of when you pitch to investors—properly define the market opportunity, outline the problem/solution, demonstrate key revenue streams, etc.—but one element that often gets overlooked in favor of hard-hitting data is conveying a passion to solve the problem and confidence in the solution. “When money […]

François Nars had a vision. With a love for the South of France, the prestige makeup marketer wanted his Summer 2016 color cosmetics packages to create a fun, travel-inspired story set along the Côte d’Azur. So he approached fashion illustrator Konstantin Kakanias and commissioned him to create custom illustrations for the seasonal collection along with design […]

In the summer, a beauty consumer’s fancy often turns to thoughts of what’s bright, fresh and fun, like sunny nail polishes, fruit-glazed lip glosses and beachy highlights, but they also turn to thoughts of more serious things, i.e.: sun safety. With awareness of UV light induced skin damage at an all-time high, and innovations in […]