Ulta Beauty – a retailer that operates 1,200 stores across the United States – identified a powerful contradiction at the heart of its category.
Beauty is “so personal to people” that it becomes a truly individualistic mode of self-expression, Karla Davis, Ulta Beauty’s senior director/integrated marketing communications and media, explained at the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) 2019 Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Conference.
“It is about self-expression … that comes to life in wonderful ways.”
But, as Ulta discovered, throughout the beauty industry, products and services “often are portrayed through one note.” That single point of view, she allowed, was...