Case Anyalsis By: Danielle Hughes, Quinn Nevares & Taylor Urbany

Executive Summary

bareMinerals is a sub-brand of Bare Escentuals. bareMinerals focuses on targeting women seeking healthy cosmetic products that not only promote outer beauty, but also inner beauty. bareMinerals first stepped out into the cosmetic industry in 1995 with its innovative use of all-natural, mineral makeup. Currently, bareMinerals offers a wide variety of all-natural, mineral based makeup through their website and storefronts. Since its introduction into the cosmetic industry, bareMinerals has lost its superiority and attention of consumers. This analysis highlights bareMinerals current status in terms of brand equity and also offers recommendations for enhancing the brand’s position within the cosmetic industry.

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Table of Contents

Brand Review … 4 – 7

o Brand & Product Description … 4

o Brand Identity Elements … 4

o Brand Relationship to the Corporate Parent … 5

o Brand Objectives … 6

o Brand History … 7

Positioning: Analysis of Brand Strengths & Future Potential… 8 – 14

o Building Brand Equity … 8 – 9

o Brand Equity Pyramid… 10

o Core Brand Associations & Values … 11

o Mental Map … 11

o Brand Mantra … 12

o Extending Brand Value … 12 - 13

o Corporate Branding Strategies … 13 – 14

Brand Marketing Strategy … 14 – 15

o Customer Analysis … 14

o Communication & Promotional Programs … 14

o Brand Personality … 15

o Leveraged Secondary Associations … 15

Competitors … 16 – 19

Field Research Checklist … 20

Recommendations … 21 - 22

Conclusion … 23

Sources … 24

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Brand Review

Brand & Product DescriptionBare Escentuals describes its brand in three words: “Love. Understanding.

Community,” (Bare Escentuals). The brand aims to connect with women on a more personal level. Bare Escentuals claims, “It became less about makeup and more about what really matters,” (Bare Escentuals). The way in which Bare Escentuals found out what really mattered to their target market was by asking women exactly what they were looking for in a skincare/cosmetic product. The result was a sub-brand & its products, known as bareMinerals, that aimed to appeal to women on more than a cosmetic, material level, but also on a personal level that helped women to feel good about their skin. bareMinerals products, ranging from foundation, eyeshadow, to mascara aim to help women feel good in their own skin with products made from natural ingredients that benefit the skin.

Brand Identity ElementsbareMinerals is identified as a cosmetic brand that uses natural, mineral

ingredients to create products to promote healthy skin. Customers can identify bareMinerals products by identifying the brand’s logo, which is simply bareMinerals. This label appears on all products. In terms of brand motto, bareMinerals does not have a motto that can be identified with the brand as a whole. Instead, bareMinerals attaches specific mottos with specific products. For example, bareMineral’s motto for its foundation products is, “It’s not Foundation, it’s Minerals,” (Bare Escentuals). As for the packaging of the products, the packing is

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very simply, clean and nicely finished. The packaging and lettering allows for the customer to easily distinguish what each product is.

Brand Relationship to the Corporate ParentbareMinerals was created under the brand Bare Escentuals, the original

corporate parent in 1995.  In 2010, Shiseido Company, Limited, a Japanese cosmetics company, bought Bare Escentuals and became the ultimate corporate parent of the company including the brand bareMinerals.  Shiseido operates its American brands under the division Shiseido Americas Corporation, which is based in New York, New York. Shiseido Americas Corporation operates a number of brands based in the United States including its namesake Shiseido, NARS, and the salon business Helene Curtis are among a few (Shiseido Americas Corporation, Hoovers Inc.).

Although Shiseido Americas Corporation currently acts as the corporate parent and owner of the company Bare Escentuals as well as its sub-brands, including bareMinerals, part of the purchase details allowed Bare Escentuals to operate as its own private division under the leadership of its current CEO Leslie Blogdett (Shiseido Company, Limited. Hoovers Inc.). Through the purchase by Shiseido, Bare Escentuals and its brand bareMinerals have expanded their distribution worldwide.

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Brand ObjectivesbareMinerals was created for women looking for make up that not only

offered great coverage, but would also help enhance their skin from the inside out. The brand’s main objective is to provide a product made with natural ingredients that would improve women’s skin over time. This brand is aimed at women who are looking for a make up line that will enhance outer beauty, while also the beauty and health of the skin from within. While starting with only a few basic mineral foundations, blushes and eye shadow products, this brand has grown to offer many different products in different color palettes.

Another main objective that is presented by bareMinerals as a brand would be the idea that their make-up line is not only a business, but also a community. bareMinerals promotes Leslie Blodgett as their customers best girlfriend, always ready with the right make-up tips and advice. bareMinerals boasts that Leslie Blogdett receives thousands of letters and emails each week, and personally responds to all of them. She wants to be perceived not only as a cosmetic professional, but a girlfriend as well (BareEscentuals.com). bareMinerals would like to invite and welcome women into their community. As a brand, they want to create warm and welcoming feelings to encourage women to purchase their products with the intention of improving their overall lifestyle.

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bareMinerals creator, Leslie Blodgett Leslie Blodgett with happy customers

Brand HistoryIn 1976, Diane Richardson opened the first Bare Escentuals store in Los

Gatos, California. It was a small bath and body store that sold the first mineral make up line as well as body lotion, bath products and an array of aromatherapy oils (go.galegroup.com). The years that followed the opening were very rocky and Richardson did not know if Bare Escentuals would last. “A significant turning point in the company's history occurred in August 1990, when Richardson found new capital for sustaining Bare Escentuals through an investment group led by retail specialist John Hansen,” (go.galegroup.com). Hansen started to turn the company around and in 1994. He recruited Leslie Blodgett to Bare Escentuals to help the company grow even more with her knowledge of the beauty industry. With ordinary women in mind, Blodgett revamped the mineral makeup line that was already in place. In 1995, she relaunched the line as bareMinerals with six eye shadows, six blushes, five foundations and brushes (www.inc.com). In 1997, Leslie appeared on QVC to bring more attention to the product. Word quickly spread through word of mouth and online blogs. There are now 40 foundation shades of foundation, and over 500 eye shadow colors in the bareMinerals line. The line has even branched out to include skin care made with Active Soil ingredients. In 2010, Bare Escentuals was purchased by Shiseido for $1.7 billion. With this purchase, Bare Escentuals will reach the Asian and Brazilian cosmetic market on top of its market already in the US, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

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Positioning: Analysis of Brand Strengths & Future Potential

Building Brand EquitybareMinerals’s first building block of building and establishing their brand

equity focuses on creating brand salience with customers. bareMinerals has established salience by being a brand that offers cosmetics made from minerals. Secondly, bareMinerals established a strong sense of salience by focusing on satisfying women’s need for cosmetic products that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also promotes healthy skin. These two factors are the basis of bareMinerals’ brand and how its customers have come to know them.

Next, bareMinerals builds brand equity through brand performance. Factors that have contributed to the brand’s successful performance include products made from minerals, a large variety of mineral-based makeup, consistently using natural minerals throughout all products, offering products that are highly efficient creating great coverage without using much product, and finally pricing all products within a mid-level price point. All of these components contribute to the way in which the customer experiences the brand. bareMinerals has done a successful job, thus establishing successful brand equity, by offering a product that women can turn to when seeking a healthy alternative for cosmetics. Based off of experience, customers know that the product will not only be reliable, producing great results, but will also last a long time. Overall, the customer experience has been positive, therefore creating positive brand performance.

After establishing brand performance, bareMinerals next step in establishing a strong sense of brand equity focuses on brand imagery. In other words, “the ways in which the brand attempts to meet customers’ psychological or social needs,” (Keller, 85). Components of bareMinerals’ brand imagery include its target market and typical customers, women ages 30+ years of age with a disposable income and conservative outlook. The typical bareMinerals customer cares about makeup for not only health reasons, but also for every day wear. She values healthy skin and wants to project an image that enhances her natural beauty. These components paint a picture of the more intangible aspects of the brand.

Next, bareMinerals focuses on brand judgments. Brand judgments, built off of brand imagery and performance, involve customer’s reactions and opinions of their experience with the brand. bareMineral’s brand judgments include high quality and highly credible products. Unfortunately, there is a low level of consideration for this brand. When first introduced, bareMinerals gained a high level of superiority, but that level has declined due to the fact that bareMinerals is no longer the only

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cosmetic brand that products mineral makeup products.Then, bareMinerals focuses on establishing brand equity through brand

feelings. These feelings include customer’s emotional reaction to their experience with the brand. Overall, bareMinerals has very positive brand feelings associated with their customers’ experiences. Feelings associated with this brand include feeling healthy, natural, beneficial, and expensive. These brand feelings support bareMinerals’ overall objectives when customers react with feelings of healthy, natural and beneficial because that is what the products strive to do. They promote healthy skin through natural minerals in order to benefit women’s overall appearance and wellbeing.

The final aspect of bareMinerals brand equity is brand resonance. This final, and most important aspect of brand equity focuses on the overall relationship customers have built with the brand. Overall, customers who use bareMineral products are highly loyal. Customers also feel a high level of attachment to the brand because its products promote healthy skin. In terms of community, there is a low level of sense of community even though the brand aims to have a high level. And finally, the brand aims to have a high level of engagement with its customers through promotional programs such as FAB. Customers who participate in the promotional program feel a high level of engagement.

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PYRAMID

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Natural

Beautiful Good for Skin

Lifestyle

Quick & Easy

Reliable

Smooth

SimpleForce of Beauty

Pure

Flawless

Confidence

Original

Core Brand Associations & ValuesThe Core Brand Associations for bareMinerals include: Good for Skin,

Natural, Original, Confidence, Flawless, Pure, Force of Beauty, Simple, Smooth, Reliable, Quick & Easy, and Lifestyle. The values associated with bareMinerals stem from Bare Escentual’s core values, which include community, love, and understanding. The brand establishes these associations and values through its bareMinerals storefronts, knowledgeable employees, an informative website, and most importantly, customer experiences.

The most influential Core Brand Associations of bareMinerals include Good for Skin, Natural, and Lifestyle. These elements reflect the nature bareMinerals products. The products, ranging from foundation, to eyeshadow, to lipglosses are all created from natural, mineral ingredients. Women seeking to incorporate healthy cosmetics into their healthy lifestyle turn to bareMinerals products.

Mental Map

bareMinerals

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Brand Mantra

Extending Brand ValueExtending the brand value is essentially implementing all of the positioning

tactics stated thus far. A brands value directly correlates with how well a brand creates a positive image and creates awareness within their target market. bareMinerals as a brand is not making many strides in extending their brand value in the present. They have not chosen a relevant spokesperson that could increase their target market segment. They have kept the same image of Leslie Blogdett as the face of bareMinerals, who does not have a strong association with the brand for new customers.

*presenting recommendations for brand improvement; use in case study* bareMinerals would also increase their brand value by establishing valid points of difference and points of parity for their brand when compared with others. POD’s can help bareMinerals by influencing their target market to choose their products over their competitors such as Mac, Cover Girl or Neutrogena. Presently, bareMinerals does not market towards the younger market using their brand objectives of creating a product that will not only enhance your beauty on the outside but create healthy skin from within. Women in their mid-twenties are becoming more aware with anti-aging products and health conscious products that that bareMinerals could really find a niche with this market. Strong POD’s that bareMinerals obtains as a brand would be their heritage and innovativeness. They were the first company to really expand with mineral based make-up and skin care products.

By establishing strong points of difference, it is equally important to establish points of parity as well. By comparing their product to other make-up lines within the desired market while emphasizing the attributes of their product could help sway the target customer in their favor. POP’s in brand value between bareMinerals and their competitors include mineral based products that encourage healthy skin. The competitors of bareMinerals such as Estee Lauder and Loreal are stronger in the marketing field with their products, therefore increasing their brand value through brand awareness with their target market. bareMinerals does not have television or print advertisements the promote their brands awareness. They are not strong at influencing or attracting new markets.

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Corporate Brand StrategiesWhile focusing on the brand bareMinerals, there are a few corporate parents

involved. Bare Escentuals is the parent company of bareMinerals, and The Shiseido Americas Corporation is the corporate parent of Bare Escentuals. Since acquiring the entire brand Bare Escentuals, including bareMinerals, in 2010, Shiseido’s main strategy has been to expand their business to the market in the United States where they have not been a dominant player. Shiseido operates several brands in the United States with Bare Escentuals accounting for 85% of their net sales (Shiseido Americas Corporation, Hoovers Inc). The purchase of the entire company Bare Escentuals directly followed Americas Corporation’s plan to consolidate the United States’ brands it currently owned: NARS, ZIC Corp., and the brand Shiseido Americas.

[bareMinerals branding strategy has stayed consistent with what it was before the acquisition from Shiseido] (sounds strange-revise). While Shiseido owns bareMinerals, they still operate as a separate division under CEO Leslie Blogdott. She has implemented the plan to focus solely on the brand bareMinerals and build on that name rather than to continue focusing on their original brand name Bare Escentuals. Since expanding through bareMinerals, Bare Escentuals has also created two other sub brands, Buxom, a line of lipglosses sold exclusively through Sephora, and mdFormulations, an anti-ageing skin care line. Neither of these sub-brands have developed strong brand awareness or brand image resulting in low brand value.

There are a number of factors when it comes to defining a corporate image. Associations such as brand quality and innovativeness, customer orientation, values and social responsibility, likability and trustworthiness all directly reflect a corporate brands image. Highlighting aspects such as innovativeness in the industry would build brand equity for bareMinerals. bareMinerals was the first make-up and skin care line to incorporate natural minerals in their products encouraging healthy skin care (BareEscentuals.com). bareMinerals also provides excellent customer service and creates a strong impression on their current customers which contributes to customer lifetime value.

bareMinerals does promote the trustworthiness of their brand through their website www.BareEscentuals.com. The brand highlights their image of creating a community through the acquisition of their products. By purchasing bareMinerals you attain Leslie Bolgdett as a new girlfriend ready and willing to give helpful advice on your new make-up and skin care products. bareMinerals also emphasizes their stance on social responsibility and values through their website as well. The website www.BareEscentuals.com, states that a new law, the California Transparency in Supply Chain Act, requires all manufacturers and retailers in California to disclose their efforts they are making to ensure their supply chain is

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free of acts of slavery and human trafficking. This strongly builds their corporate brand image by promoting their brands positive employment practices(California Transparency in Supply Chain Act, BareEscentuals.com).

Brand Marketing Strategy

Customer AnalysisThe bareMinerals customer is female and likely to be, on average, about 30-

35 years old. She cares not only about her outer appearance, but also about the wellbeing of her skin and how the products she uses contributes to the overall health of her skin, and ultimately her healthy lifestyles. She also has a disposable income.

Communication & Promotional ProgramsbareMinerals offers an exciting and appealing promotional program to its

customers. The program is called the Friends and Benefit Program, also known as FAB. This program is free to join and has many perks. First, members receive a “Personal Sale Day”. Second, members receive a personalized discount on their birthday. Third, members are given the opportunity to view products early and receive special deals. Fourth, members do not have to worry about holding onto a receipt; members can simply use their FAB membership as a form of receipt, due to the fact that the membership tracks all purchases. And finally, for every $150 a member spends, she receives a $10 gift card towards a future purchase.

Overall, the FAB membership offers great deals for members. The membership works in stores and online. However, employees stressed that they do not mention the perks of the program to customers until they are at the register. Also, there is low visibility of the FAB Program information throughout the store.

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Brand PersonalityLove, Understanding, Community. These three words are what bareMinerals

represents and what their brand personality is built off of. These three words are what represent the company the best way, yet they need to be refined to reach out to a younger target market. With the placement of a spokesperson for bareMinerals, it will make its community larger. With the growth of the community comes the understanding of how the products are healthy and good for your skin. It will also show that you can love makeup and not just depend on it to cover up imperfections or up wanted blemishes.

Leveraged Secondary AssociationsLeveraging secondary brand associations can be an indirect, yet strong

approach to building a brand’s equity. These entities include companies (through branding strategies), countries or geographic areas (through identification of product origin), channels of distribution (through channel strategy), other brands (through co-branding), spokespersons (through endorsements), and events (through sponsorship). Currently, bareMinerals uses Leslie Blogdett as the face of the brand. She is the current CEO and creator of bareMinerals. The consumer recognizes that bareMinerals is mineral based make-up, which is good for the skin. However, most consumers are not going to make a strong positive connection between the brand bareMinerals and Leslie Blogdett. Blogdett does not create a strong enough association with the brand to influence the consumer. Other competitors of bareMinerals are constantly using new and relevant spoke people to promote their brand image.

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Competitors

One of bareMinerals’ top competitors is Elizabeth Arden. Elizabeth Arden is a cosmetic company that has lasted through the years and changed with the times. One of the changes that it has gone through is adding the Pure Finish Mineral Powder to its lineup of products.

The Pure Finish Mineral Powder is non-drying, skin brightening and smooth imperfections. This mineral makeup focuses on hiding the flaws instead of correcting them like the bareMinerals foundation. The bareMineral’s formulation helps diminish the appearance of imperfections without drying out the skin. It has also been clinically proven to promote clearer, healthier looking skin. While both mineral foundations provide natural finishes and contain SPF, Pure Finish contains SPF 20 and Original Mineral foundation contains SPF 15. Pure Finish is the only Elizabeth Arden product that provides UVA and UVB protection. bareMinerals has more products containing SPF.

The competitive advantages that bareMinerals has over Elizabeth Arden is that all of their makeup is 100% natural. It is not formulated with any parabens, binders, fillers or synthetic chemicals. Although it is described as having a creamy feel, bareMinerals foundations, blushes, finishing powders and eye shadows are in a powder form. This includes the new ready makeup line, which provides pressed powder foundations, blushes and eye shadows in a compact form. Elizabeth Arden’s foundation, except for the Pure Finish Mineral Powder and Ceramide Skin Smoothing Loose powder, come in a liquid form, which can be considered heavy weight compared to the lightweight mineral makeup.

While both companies have foundations, eye products, lip products and skin care, Elizabeth Arden does offer one thing that bareMinerals does not have. This extra element is fragrance. Elizabeth Arden offers twelve different perfume/spray fragrances. They also offer a line of bath and body products. This gives Elizabeth Arden a competitive advantage over bareMinerals because it brings in a different target market that may not use their line of makeup, but does enjoy their fragrances.

One other advantage that Elizabeth Arden has over bareMinerals is their marketing strategy and visibility. There is usually at least one ad for Elizabeth Arden, either makeup or fragrance (sometimes both), in fashion magazines every month. bareMinerals advertisements are only visible when the brand is launching a new campaign or product. Consumers who purchase fashion magazines monthly do not regularly see bareMinerals’ advertisements.

A second competitor is Estee Lauder. Estee Lauder is one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world. This corporation owns over a dozen different brands that cover virtually every market segment in the cosmetic industry. Estee

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Lauder has a number of brands that compete with bareMinerals. Specific competitors include Clinique, Origins and M.A.C. What we have noticed is that through the ownership of many different brands, Estee Lauder has managed to create products for specific target markets under different brand names. Clinique promotes their brand as skincare and make-up specifically for those with sensitive skin and marketing them as ‘dermatologist tested’. Origin appeals to the eco-friendly market. With sustainable and environmentally conscious practices becoming extremely popular, this brand specifically targets the consumers who care about how products are manufactured and prefer to use products that are organic and contain no additives. And M.A.C. cosmetics target the younger market using different celebrity spokes persons as well as marketing new products each season.

The POP’s of these products each coincide with bareMinerals in different ways. bareMinerals advertises their products being made of only mineral compounds that are great for sensitive skin and will improve the condition of the skin. These elements coincide with Clinique as well as Origins. bareMinerals also boast an extensive color selection of eye shadows and blushes in a number of forms, both compact and powder which compare with the selection offered by M.A.C. The POD’s between bareMinerals and these other products offered through Estee Lauder mainly highlight the fact that Estee Lauder offers a number of different brands that offer more specific products. Their target market is narrower and therefore these brands are able to focus their attention on one common theme. In other words, Este Lauder took the idea of aiming each brand towards a smaller target market and succeeding with in them.

Finally, a third competitor is L’Oreal. Founded in 1953, L’Oreal has established itself as more than just a cosmetics brand. L’Oreal includes popular sub-brands such as Garnier, Maybelline, Lancôme and even more (Lambert). These sub-brands include not only makeup and skincare products, but also salon and perfume products. L’Oreal’s expanding brand portfolio is a major POD compared to bareMinerals. bareMinerals mainly focuses on makeup and skincare products.

Another POD that separates L’Oreal from bareMinerals, similar to Este Lauder products, are the brands’ products visibility within many more locations, such as department stores and drugstores. Also similar to Estee Lauder and Elizabeth Arden products, L’Oreal has a competitive advantage over bareMinerals in terms of advertising. Not only does L’Oreal advertise through print and television, but their target market is also much more expansive than bareMinerals. Specifically, L’Oreal has a line of products that is targeted towards men. With increased visibility via advertisements and greater target market, L’Oreal maintains an advantage over bareMinerals.

While L’Oreal does has competitive advantages over bareMinerals, bareMinerals does have several components that separate their products from their

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competition. For example, bareMinerals Get Started Kits are kits that have contain seven products for creating a great foundation. Other brands, such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Elizabeth Arden do not have starter kits. Instead, customers have to purchase products individually. Differences aside, both L’Oreal and bareMinerals offer a great selection of products, specifically makeup. Both brands offer helpful online websites for purchasing products.

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bareMinerals vs. Elizabeth ArdenPOPs PODs

Mineral Foundation Wide of colors in all makeup

products Attracts older demographic

All natural ingredients Foundation products all in

powder form No fragrance line More products containing SPF

bareMinerals vs. Estee LauderPOPs PODs

High quality products that are good for sensitive skin

Large variety of color choices Attracts older demographic Offer anti-ageing products Price-points

All natural ingredients No free gift or samples Continual rewards through FAB

program Get Started Kits

bareMinerals vs. L’OrealPOPs PODs

Wide variety of makeup & skincare products

Option of mineral makeup products

Online store

No salon, fragrance, or men’s line Get Started Kits More options of makeup

products More products containing SPF &

higher degree of SPF Less access; less availability in

stores/department stores

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Field Research Checklist

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Recommendations

When bareMinerals first stepped out into the cosmetic industry, the brand had a high level of attention and superiority over other brands due to its innovative and original use of natural, mineral makeup. However, overtime bareMinerals’ competitors have started using mineral ingredients as well. Therefore, it is important for bareMinerals to consider several areas of their branding that need improvement in order to regain recognition and gain new customers in the growing cosmetic industry.

First, bareMinerals should focus on making the brand more visible to existing and potential customers via increased advertisements. Currently, bareMinerals only promotes the brand when there is a new product. bareMinerals should run advertisements consistently in magazines as well as television advertisements in order to keep the brand consistently in consumer’s minds. For example, bareMinerals should consistently emphasize their Get Started Kits due to the fact that other cosmetic brands do not offer complete, customizable foundation kits. These advertisements should also emphasize bareMinerals’ use of natural mineral makeup that promote healthy skin and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

Also, bareMinerals should consider branching out into department stores to increase their visibility. Currently, bareMinerals products can be purchased online or in bareMinerals store fronts. By branching out into department stores, bareMinerals will be able to better compete against competitors and gain more consideration from potential customers.

Secondly, bareMinerals needs to reestablish their brand mantra that will leave a lasting impression on consumers. For example, bareMinerals could use the mantra “Beautiful. Bare. You”. This mantra ties in all aspects of what bareMinerals products offer its target market. With this mantra, consumers will know that bareMineral products will help accentuate women’s inner and outer beauty through their healthy, natural mineral makeup which enhances skin’s overall health helping women to feel secure knowing that their skin not only looks great but is also nourished.

Third, bareMinerals should identify a celebrity spokeswoman to promote the brand. Currently, the brand relies on creator Leslie Blodgett as the face of the brand. bareMinerals should appoint a popular female celebrity whom women can identify with in order to keep the brand fresh in customers’ minds. bareMinerals should consider appointing a celebrity such as Lena Dunham. Lena Dunham is very popular in today’s pop culture, she has a natural, fresh appearance, and could relate to many women.

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Next, bareMinerals should focus on targeting a younger demographic of customers. Currently the average bareMinerals customer ages 30+ years. By establishing a younger, relatable celebrity as the face of the brand, establishing a brand mantra, and consistent advertisements, bareMinerals will be better positioned to attract a younger demographic of women. This attraction of new customers will increase the brands image within the cosmetic industry and help it to regain superiority.

Finally, bareMinerals should consider taking the place of its parent brand, Bare Escentuals. Bare Escentuals has lost its brand image as bareMinerals has gained popularity. By replacing Bare Escentuals with bareMinerals, the brand will have a stronger, more defined brand image as a whole.

Beautiful. Bare. You.

Lena Dunham; potential spokeswoman

Conclusion

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In conclusion, bareMinerals is the strongest sub-brand under Bare Escentuals. A makeup brand that focuses on using all-natural, mineral ingredients, bareMinerals promotes the importance of appreciating one’s skin. bareMinerals’ products work to accentuate a women’s already natural beauty. Overtime, bareMinerals has lost a sense of superiority within the cosmetic industry due to the fact that the brand is no longer the only brand that produces mineral based makeup products. But, by repositioning itself in a more modern, visible light, bareMinerals can rebuild its brand image and again gain dominance within the cosmetic industry.

Ways in which bareMinerals can reestablish its brand positioning is to rethink its brand strategy. For example, the brand should consider targeting not only its existing target market, women ages 30+, but also younger women 20+ years in age who also value their skin and want to use products that will enhance their beauty. Also, bareMinerals needs to reestablish itself in advertisements, both in magazines and television. It would be beneficial to the brand to also appoint a new, popular spokeswoman who targets a younger demographic. With a new spokeswoman that customers can identify with and increased advertisements, bareMinerals will reach out to more potential customers.

Also, bareMinerals and its parent brand, Bare Escentuals need to consider ways in which to narrow down their branding strategies. One way that the brand could accomplish this is to ultimately replace Bare Escentuals with bareMinerals. Being that bareMinerals is the dominant force of Bare Escentuals, it would be beneficial to the overall brand to appoint bareMinerals as the parent brand in order to help customers identify the brand more clearly.

But most importantly, bareMinerals needs to reiterate their main objectives as a brand: Love. Understanding. Community. By providing products that promote not only a great appearance, but also a healthy complexion, bareMinerals lets its customers know that their products are there to embrace women’s concerns for wanting to love the skin they are in.

Sources

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Bare Escentuals. 2012. Bare Escentuals Beauty, Inc. 22 Jan. 2013Colbert, Catherine. "Bare Escentuals, Inc."  Company Description and Company

Overview.  Hoovers Inc.  2013Colbert, Catherine. “The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., Company Description.”

Hoover’s Inc. 2013

Elizabeth Arden Web. February 5, 2013 *double check this is correct citation

Keller, Kevin L. Strategic Brand Management. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: PearsonEducation, 2013. Print.

Lambert, Sylvia. "L'Oreal USA, Inc." Hoover's. Hoovers, Inc., 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

“Our Brands” The Estee Lauder Companies. 2011

Sherrill, Martha. "Move over, Estee Lauder". New York Time, June 10, 2011. Web.January 22, 2013.

"Skincare, Cosmetics, Haircare, Haircolor, Hair Styline & Men's Line: L'Oreal Paris."

L'Oreal Paris. L'Oreal Paris, 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Welch, Liz. "How I Did it: Leslie Blodgett of Bare Escentuals". Inc magazine, July. 01,

2010. Web. January 22, 2013.

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