Glossier, a digital native beauty brand, makes move to TV advertising

Glossier, the darling direct-to-consumer beauty brand that has popularized the "makeup no makeup" trend, has also revolutionized how brands are discovered online. The purpose of search and digital marketing tactics is to create a system of prioritized hierarchy system to how things get found. Glossier leapfrogged this logic by selling directly to consumers on social media channels. Instead of "push," Glossier was successful in building a brand that "pulled" in millennial shoppers who loved the brand ethos and aesthetics.

Thus, it was surprising when Glossier announced last week that it was dipping its millennial-pink colored toes into traditional TV broadcasting. Glossier's 30-second mini-films will debut on ABC and feature real Glossier shoppers. In addition, the visuals from the films will also appear in billboard form throughout New York City.

While the campaign is still being described by the company as a digital-first way to "create an emotional connection at scale," it is a departure from Glossier's digital strategy that made it one of the most successful disruptor beauty brands. Since founding five years ago, Glossier is now a $100 million behemoth, with 70% of its sales still come from its organic channels. Glossier owns the relationship with consumers built not through traditional digital marketing tactics such as banner ads and SEO.  Glossier's form of customer engagement is also not based on repetitive displays but through content and social media touchpoints. One can argue it's the millennial way of doing business targeting millennials, but the reality is that Glossier's way offers flexibility for product launches and close-to-nothing marketing spend.

Many digital brands such a Glossier--Casper and Allbirds comes to mind--have pivoted to traditional advertising mediums as they grow. As companies become bigger, it is inevitable to invest marketing dollars to offline channels? Can we assume that traditional marketing funnels still have value, despite the naysayers? Does social commerce and engagement only take a brand so far? These are questions are my mind as I follow Glossier's journey to upend the beauty industry.