COSMOFACTORY

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Deanna: This episode is about turning creative thoughts into compelling things. It's about neuro marketing and beauty packaging design. It's about technologies that make makeup long lasting, about brand loyalty in the face of under consumption, and it's about the convenience of refillable cosmetics. My guest today on the Cosmo Factory Podcast is Anna Blasco Salvat, VP of Marketing at ARTDECO, and she is also creative director of the ARTDECO brand[00:01:00] .
Deanna: Anna, welcome to CosmoFactory.
Anna: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Deanna: Yes, I'm so glad to speak with you. I'm, I'm very much looking forward to our conversation. So for context, art Deco is a Germany based color cosmetics brand established in the mid 1980s that is known for what we might call affordable prestige products. Um, but as I mentioned, part of your work is as creative director of the brand, um, which I'm very excited about.
Deanna: Uh, and I imagine this work is the, is the part, um. Of your role that involves turning thoughts into things. So I'm hoping you'll talk to us about the creative process, uh, behind projects that you've shared with me. Like, um, bringing the crochet trend from fashion into beauty packaging, or putting a glazed ceramic tile on the lid of the compact.
Deanna: Tell us what the creative work there looks like.
Anna: Yes. Great. So we are a jam and brand and we are very sure in the quality, but we need to have [00:02:00] more also values in terms of storytelling, story creating, and we don't have any, we don't. Don't have any couture behind us. So color cosmetic is very connected to fashion, to art. We are articles, so it's part of our brand name and we like to create collections.
Anna: Beauty meets art. Beauty meets fashion. Beauty meets craftsmanship. And with this kind of thinking, we are always trying to, to challenge our suppliers and all our packagings and our. Products. So from formulation to the, to the packaging, to the delivery system, creating fantastic storytelling narratives, that they are very unique because a part of that, our products are refillable.
Anna: It means we are creating something that's going to stay for generations, which makes this very, very interesting. And I think this is the game changer. Our brand is offering in phase of all these big brand names that they are in the jungle of makeup [00:03:00] and that's why we are so successful in some markets, like for instance, Germany, where we are market leader in the prestige market.
Deanna: Yeah. No, and, and I love that it sounds like, um, what you're creating, you know, for instance, with this, um, compact that you have the glaze ceramic tile on, it's, it's almost, um, a collectible item, isn't it? And you said long lasting, and you mentioned your supply chain partners. Can you talk more about. What you need from a supply chain partner to realize something that's imaginative like this.
Deanna: Because, you know, when you walk up to, you know, a, a booth at a trade show, they're not necessarily showing something like this. Um, you need to sort of invent it together. What, what, what, what do they contribute And, and where, how does that work?
Anna: yeah, sure. This is one of most, um, funny things in the world because you bring with a very. Very, very rough idea with some ideas on colors, materials, surfaces, because very important is for, for us, is the connection, the emotional connection to the customer. So the [00:04:00] customer he has, they have more than a compact powder.
Anna: They have something which could be a heritage of the Portuguese. Tiles heritage, and you have this in your bathroom, in your back. So we are creating a lot of fantastical additional values. And what I love, I go to my suppliers, I said, okay, I have this idea. Let's find a way to industrialize this. Because we are of course in the prestige, but we want to be affordable so we cannot have very high pricing.
Anna: So it sometimes it's not so easy for us to find the right way, but until now I'm very happy because. Our suppliers. We are working with them since many, many years. I am in this industry for more than 30 years in total. So, uh, we have very good connections and they know my, yeah, my way of thinking and my way of dreaming and to convey these dreams in a, this kind of packagings, and this is, makes this very emotional.
Anna: This brings happiness, this bring this, this part of the marketing, which [00:05:00] is not so tangible. But it's really important to be, to make the difference. And, uh, the most thing, I go there with some ideas, with some rough ideas. Sometimes it's, uh, a material because we love to touch, to feel the haptic is very important.
Anna: So sometimes it's an idea, whatever it is. But we go there and said, okay, let's do it. Let's try it. Let, let's make it industrialize. And this is the first, uh. I will say step. And then of course we worked absolute together, step by step, uh, is like back and forth, back and forth until we get the project. So we need between one year, 1.5 years to create these collections.
Anna: So we have to be very, very upfront in, in terms of shades, materials, trends. But we love that. We love that. So I'm traveling a lot. I'm traveling the majority, I will do 70% of my time. I am in the wall because you can only have these kind of feelings when you're moving, talking to the people, going to the markets, [00:06:00] listening, eyes and ears in the market.
Anna: This is the way I like to do my job, and I have fantastic team to, to follow my, yeah, when I go to Mars, they, they take me to the, to the earth sometime, but sometime, but I love this kind of journey, this
Deanna: Yes. Yes. No, that's fantastic. And you mentioned this idea, um, that we would think of, um, as neuromarketing. I know neuro cosmetics is very important, um, as a movement right now in terms of ingredient innovation, product formulation. Um, and neuromarketing is certainly a related concept. And, and I would say, you mentioned the word haptics.
Deanna: I would suggest it, it really involves our nervous systems response to packaging textures, to ergonomics. You mentioned, um, material choices, design choices. Can you say something? Further about the kind of sensorial packaging experience that the consumer is responding to.
Anna: Sure, sure. It's very important, the cle, so the textures, the materials, the layerings, it's very important. When they touch something, they fill something. [00:07:00] I mean, this is becoming crucial because the emotional part of, uh, the brand, what emotionally the brand delivers this makes the difference. Everybody has everything.
Anna: So it's not difficult. It's very difficult to invent something, but the way you present it, the delivery system, uh, and of course if you do it also. Fulfillable so the generations they can use this. The daughters of the daughters of the daughters, my daughters. This, this makes very valuable what you're doing, uh, because this is something very, very special that you can really is, is what I think is like the longevity.
Anna: You know, everybody's talking about longevity. We love to have. Products that they are also in this longevity, that they are really forever. And this is the idea of this compact or these packagings we are creating and the collections everybody's expecting is like fashion. You need to have full winter, spring, summer, and always creating something new.
Anna: But the motion it comes, it's very important. It could be a touch, it [00:08:00] could be a filling, it could be a noise, it could be a. Ascent a perfume, many things together, creating a new wall, a dream, which we, we like to find this kind of balance. Of course, the formulation, they have to be very high end, but you have to find the balance to bring them in packagings that they, they give the difference.
Anna: They do the difference. And, uh, this emotional part. How a product can be someone more happy today or tomorrow. This is, this is part of our job. How much happiness you are delivering with your products. How many, how much, how many smileys are you're delivering with the products In a very, very. Dark and gray world.
Anna: This is very important and this is what we love to do. And I think this is why we are so successful because people are all expecting what's coming now because we are very innovative in that area. And, um, this is what makes really a big difference, uh, because we don't have any couture behind us. So we [00:09:00] need to find a way to create those, to create those walls.
Deanna: Yes, yes. No, that's wonderful. And you know, you mentioned it, it is very difficult to invent something, right? So many, you know, we've all, you know, touched so many materials. We've all had so many experiences. You know, this is true for every beauty consumer at this point. Um, and it reminds me in, uh, the Cosmo factory conversation I had with Mallory Huron, she mentioned.
Deanna: She's calling it a consumer trend, I think, um, that's known as under consumption. And, and you told me in an earlier conversation that you're also seeing evidence that beauty consumers today are frustrated and, and perhaps losing the joy of buying. And, and maybe this has to do with the fact that we've seen this before, you know, like there is that sort of feeling.
Deanna: But, but given this fact, I'm wondering how you then maintain and cultivate brand loyalty.
Anna: The Braille loyalty is very important for us. Uh, in terms of that we are always offering also in our range, a lot of special products that make, uh, the. [00:10:00] They are unique. They are niche of the niche of the niche. They are quite small, but they are creating the loyalty because we have some products like Eyeshadow base or Magic Fix or Camouflage where you have products that nobody else has, but when you bring them to them.
Anna: You are giving so much a high performance. For instance, magic Fix you, you sell the lipstick and you can use any lipstick in the market you want. So your brand, article, brand, another brand. But if you want to drink to, to, to eat, to talk, to Kiss, and you want to sell it, you need the magic fix. And this is what exciting, because these are products that they're giving loyalty because.
Anna: You can't buy any lipstick in the market, but if you want to sell it, you have to buy magic fix. So we are creating loyalty through these kind of special products that they are bringing us. Also this kind of, um, additional value, but also through the refillable, because when we have a box, and this is very high, beautiful box, and I [00:11:00] love to have my box.
Anna: If I need to have a new BROING powder, compound powder compact foundation, I will go to, because it's the box I have and order our eyeshadows. I can change my eyeshadows with a small. Eyes, shadow spend. So I'm buying a green dress. I change the color without any, I don't have to throw away a palette. I have a palette I can customize according to my needs, according to my money, because we have small ones, we have bigger ones.
Anna: So this is very, very individual. So in this way, individuality, performance, special products, uh, is the way we are. Creating this kind of loyalty, which is absolutely very important and a lot of trust because quality has to be there because we are German. So in this case, uh, we want to have this kind of quality which makes the products Absolutely, absolutely.
Anna: Uh, you, you can trust them. This is very important
Deanna: Yeah. No, and let, let's talk more about some of those niche products. Um, you mentioned the magic [00:12:00] fix, lipstick, sealer, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I, I believe it was launched over two decades ago. Um, yeah. Yeah. And
Anna: it's the, this is a product. It has more than I would say, 25 years.
Deanna: yeah. Yeah.
Anna: our company is celebrating this year, 40 years. This is a product, um, yeah. This, this kind of innovations, uh, that they are coming. And at the beginning I remember, so I joined the company 24 years ago, and it was already in the range.
Anna: It was very fresh in the range. But what makes. The big brand names, they did not want to have these kind of niches because they were small. It's, it's not a big, big number at, at the end it's big because you have the 90, 99%, 100% of market share of a product, which makes this very special and very unique and creates loyalty.
Anna: And the customer needs to have you because they have, they need a lipstick cell sealer. Also, for the pandemic time, it was absolutely very important this product for all people they want to wear. And lipstick and they [00:13:00] want to have, they, they have to wear a mask. This was a very, a very important product at that time because I always wear my red lipstick and I wanted to wear to wear my lipstick, but of course the mask has to be transfer proof and this was possible.
Anna: So this product is really. Really has a fantastic heritage, but it has been at the beginning not very like the shadow base. The shadow base is so a very old recipe. It's very performing and it's very unique. There are more brands now
Deanna: Right, right. Primers setting powders. These things are more
Anna: But this is quite in the last 10 years. But we have this product since 30 years, and at the beginning we were really, it was like niche of the niche of the niche.
Anna: But if you add every niche. It's fantastic because, um, then you have really a lot of, um, a lot of trust of the customers. They know they can't count with you. The brand is going to deliver to solve problems, to deliver performance to, and you can use with everything. This is [00:14:00] the great thing. There are not things that you can only use with your brand, you can use with any brand.
Anna: So it's very performing very. Vision, and this is very important of course, in Germany. This is the way of the German thinking also, it fits perfectly, but it has been also very successful in many countries in the world. Sure.
Deanna: Yeah. Wonderful. And you've mentioned refillable beauty packaging several times already. Art deco has made what I would. Describe almost as fillable and refillable makeup compacts, uh, for a very long time. And I believe that originally this concept for the brand was intended to make products more practical and convenient for the consumer.
Deanna: You've mentioned the opportunity to replenish an eyeshadow, for instance, that maybe they're using more often than some of the other colors or swap out a trendy color or something that matches their dress. Um. You know, to fill into their palate. Can you say more about the brand's history with fillable and refillable beauty?
Deanna: Do, can you say anything about why it started, how it made sense in the market years ago? I.
Anna: [00:15:00] It was 1985. It was the first product it was created. The first product was created with this brand. It was the refillable system. Fillable and refillable system of the eyeshadows, because the idea was. People that were frustrated, they were buying palettes. It's okay. There are some customers, they want to have palettes.
Anna: It's okay. We also have palettes for them. But the idea was if you buy a palette and you have six colors, you use probably three of them. When you finish the three you love, you have. Three more or four or more colors there you don't use and you get frustrated. So the idea was to be very close to the needs of the customer.
Anna: So what do the customer need? They want to choose, they want to create a palace, they want to create what they need, and you can, uh, this is the, the idea. And it was absolutely. It's not so easy because of course many people, but you can also teach, you can give a lot of recommendations according to your blue eyes.
Anna: Your green eyes according to the trends. Every collection for fashion [00:16:00] colors, we give some recommendation of shades that we are really fitting the fashion, but also the storytelling we are talking. So it's, we are giving a lot of, um, a lot of consultancy to give, uh, because some people say, I don't know which color I should choose, but the idea is.
Anna: We are really giving the, this is great, the, this kind of. Individuality. No. Yeah. Everyone is very unique. Everyone has the chance to choose, and at the end, you are not going to lose any money because you are really making this very efficient, because you are not going to throw away anything. So you can change the shades according to the season.
Anna: You can change, you can have more or less, you can, but this is not like a palette that you, at the end, uh, you get frustrated when you have to throw out this away, and it's. Money, it's, it's, it's not good for the environment. So it's also in terms of environment, uh, the responsibility. But this was from the beginning, it was very intuition.
Anna: It wasn't at that time, [00:17:00] 1985, there were no sustainability. Nobody was thinking about that. But it was very functional, as you mentioned, but also very. Close to the customer, what do you need? What are you need? Because this was very, um, observing the market, observing the p and saying, okay, there is really a lack on that.
Anna: And now, now more than ever, we see, especially for the prestige brands, that refillable is the only way to be sustainable in the future because, um. Color cosmetics is plenty of innovations, colors, new collections, a lot of shades, a lot of references, so you need to find ways to make it more sustainable.
Deanna: Yeah. Can I. Just ask, has your approach to refills changed now that, that this sort of packaging is much more commonplace?
Anna: Sure, sure. It's not easy. It's not easy. It's still a lot of educational, so we are investing a lot on that. But do we, we start to see the first numbers and the first, especially now with lipstick. With lipstick, it's [00:18:00] also fantastic because you are giving the possibility, especially we are doing something, which I think is fantastic because in our case, we are giving the possibility you can use the refill even if you don't buy the lipstick case.
Anna: But a lipstick, you'll always buy a lipstick case because it's part of the. Filling. It means at the beginning you buy the red refill. You like this, you like the quality, you like the shades, and then next time you buy, so I, we are not afraid. We said, okay, let's start. Because some prestige brands, they have refills that you can only activate with their.
Anna: Lipstick cases, we said, no, we want to be very democratic. We want to be very close to the customer. Start with that. We are, we are not afraid. We are convinced what we offer and, and now it's really, it's becoming, we are already launch mascara refillable this year. This is quite challenging, honestly speaking.
Anna: This is not working so well. In terms of sales, but it makes the story credible. So more, um, [00:19:00] people understand it makes this more, it's more sustainable, it's more consistent. I will say this is the idea behind. So we want to be step by step, try to, to approach this more and more. And we are one of the pioneers there.
Anna: Of course, there are many prestige brands starting now since two years with this. We have been there from the beginning,
Deanna: Yeah. Yeah. No, and it's very clever what you've described as, as having the, the refillable container actually be the add-on purchase. Right. Whereas, and you start with the, the lipstick, um, it, you can use it as its own. Yeah.
Anna: I said, oh, what are you doing? Are you sure what you're doing? Sure. Because I do believe in the quality of my product. I do believe in the, in the performance. So I am sure that the next time the customer will buy the case, because a lipstick you need, it's just like a, it's like a gesture, you know? Wearing a lipstick, it's a gesture, so you need everything.
Anna: But in the beginning, the, the refillable is a kind of try on, is a kind of [00:20:00] Okay. And, and also very. I think it's very smart because you change the dress of your lipstick according to what you need, what you like, and this, um, helps a lot when we are creating the storytelling. Once per year, we always do a, a, a refillable, um, case, a new case, always based in one of these.
Anna: Narratives, one of these storytelling, one of these collections, limited collections, that they are really giving this additional value. So create, creating stories is much important than telling stories. So you have to create them and you have to transport the customers in new walls, in dreams, and you can do this with the products and which is exciting.
Anna: Sure.
Deanna: Yeah. Yeah. No, that's wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. And, um. So you've mentioned several times that the brand and, and you yourself are based there in Germany. I'm not sure if I told you, um, but for most of my career, not today, but for many years, I personally lived in New York City. So when I was first getting started, uh, writing news about the [00:21:00] beauty industry, I had the opportunity to attend many, many events and award ceremonies.
Deanna: And it seemed to me like everyone who spoke at these events was like, so very grateful to be working in beauty. And honestly, it felt a little exaggerated to me at the time. Um, you know, we often hear cosmetic industry professionals talk about the power of beauty to change consumer lives. I. What I know now, uh, from my own experience, uh, just how much I've learned, right, about science, about business, even about life and relationships and communication.
Deanna: So now I'm one of these people, right, who are so grateful to work in beauty and so grateful for everyone I've gotten to meet through my work. I bring this up, Anna, because you told me when we first spoke the, the beauty industry has changed your life too. I'm sure the Cosmo factory listeners would appreciate hearing about your experience.
Anna: Sure. So in fact, I have to say that, um, it's a privilege to work in this industry without any doubt. Um, I think we are. So my case is even more than that because through Cosmo, [00:22:00] Cosmo Prof, I enter into this business. I was in Bologna, and then I had the cha chance to meet people, and then I joined this company, and then this company sent me to Germany, and then I met my husband.
Anna: I got my family. So everything is connected there, but what I love is the. The beauty industry is giving the possibility to feel, to make people feel better. So we are, we are really contributing. So every day when I wake up, I say, okay, Anna, let's work. So, because I am not so young, so I have to do something for myself, and then I do something with this.
Anna: Make with this beauty and something changes, this enhancing, you know? And we can every, everybody, we can enhance everything. We can help people feel better. Wearing my red lipstick, I feel better, more powerful. I get power, I get joy. So this is the idea. So we are. Doing the world more beautiful, more. We are giving a lot of trust to, we are contributing in many, I'm traveling around the world, so [00:23:00] I, I remember when I did my first meetings in India many years ago in China, in many other countries where there's a lot of educational things there where the Chinese women, I, I, I followed the process they had from the beginning, copying the European ones and now being in themselves, creating an.
Anna: Own way of Chinese to be a Chinese woman with everything that it means. And I love that. I love this kind of contribution of the bary industry to help all these majority women, but of course everybody, because now it's very multi qu. But the idea is to contribute, to have a better role. And this is something fantastic.
Anna: And to work every day and traveling around the world, meeting all these people. Uh, it makes a lot a pleasure, a fantastic pleasure, and bringing the products to have more life quality and to feel better. So I think this is absolutely a big, big privilege.
Deanna: Yes,
Anna: I'm really happy after 30 years, I think this will [00:24:00] be my life
Deanna: Yes. Yes. Well, you're, you're clearly very energized by your work and, and as you've said, the global beauty industry. It's, it's truly wonderful. Ana, thank you for sharing that and, and for being a guest here on the Cosmo Factory Podcast. I.
Anna: Thank you so much and it was a pleasure to talk to you and to all of you. Thank you. Bye-bye.