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Herbivore Botanicals thrived at the height of Instagram’s aesthetically pleasing #shelfie era, as it became a sought-after brand thanks to its natural formulations and slick, all-glass packaging. It was picked up by Sephora, Nordstrom and Cult Beauty, and a $15 million series A investment followed in 2019. The co-founders stepped back and brought in a C-suite team led by Sandy Saputo, formerly chief marketing officer at LVMH-owned beauty incubator Kendo Brands.
But — in an increasingly crowded natural beauty market — the brand’s popularity waned, and it began to miss its forecasts. Retail sales slipped from the reported $50 million in 2019. The brand declined to share exact sales figures, but noted it was impacted by heavy brand competition and the pandemic, as in-store shopping came to a halt.
In an effort to kick-start growth, Herbivore announced in June that it appointed a new CEO: former Supergoop chief marketing officer Britany LeBlanc. Co-founder Alex Kummerow — who launched the business with Julia Wills in 2011, originally as an Etsy store — is stepping into the more active role of creative director, after previously moving away from day-to-day operations. Kummerow will focus on product development and external brand storytelling, while Wills remains as a co-founder and advisor to the brand.
Here, LeBlanc and Kummerow outline how they plan to bring the brand back into the spotlight.
Vogue Business: Britany, what drew you to Herbivore Botanicals?
LeBlanc: A few reasons. I’ve been such a long-time fan of the brand and have used it for years — the formulas are amazing. However, I was interested in the opportunity to bring the brand back into the place where I think it rightfully should be in the beauty space. It was one of the front runners for its beautiful and sensorial formulas, and one of the very first in the natural, clean space.
I was also ready to step away from a CMO position and into a CEO role, with the opportunity to lead from a lens of investment and marketing. That was one thing I’d learnt while at Supergoop: the power behind building a brand through its story. Not that the rest is easy, but the rest follows from storytelling.
Vogue Business: Alex, you’ve taken on a new role as Britany has been brought into the company. Why now?
Kummerow: When we gained investment three years ago, we brought in a C-suite team and I thought that was my time to step back. I’d been building the brand for 10 years at that point and we had never brought in outside capital before. So I handed over the keys because I thought that was the right thing to do: investors are the professionals with the extensive CVs, commercial background and experience, and I’d assumed they were going to take it to the moon in two years. However, I didn’t set them up with everything they needed to succeed. I’d given them the brand without the soul that had helped it grow for so many years prior.
Three years later, the business wasn’t growing as forecasted and everyone decided it was time to go in a new direction. There was no one at the top of the company that was continuing to establish its identity or steer where we were going. And we needed to recruit a new leader, someone with an indie brand spirit, someone who could lead with collaboration at the heart.
Vogue Business: Why do you think consumer demand began to wane?
Kummerow: Herbivore started positioning skincare as being fun. Bright colours and aesthetic packaging, and it succeeded as part of the Instagram #shelfie era. We helped create this category of photograph-worthy skincare products that could proudly show off its ingredients. But we kept increasing the fun as consumers questioned whether natural beauty products work. Are they as effective as clinical skincare products? Suddenly our products looked fun and smelt good but consumers questioned if it would help them with their skin concerns. It just didn’t resonate the way it had previously.
Vogue Business: How would you describe the brand’s current position within the beauty industry?
LeBlanc: There are a lot of ‘fun’ brands in the natural beauty space and then there are many serious and technology-driven brands that are more communicative about their results. Herbivore occupies a unique space in between: natural, clean and beautiful, but fun and sensorial.
To continue occupying that middle space, you’ll see us dialling up how we communicate that our product formulations — which replace synthetic actives — are kind yet efficacious for the skin. We use plant-based ingredients that are equally as effective as actives and I think consumers have evolved their thinking beyond clinical actives as the only way to reach your skincare goals.
Vogue Business: The natural beauty industry has changed significantly. How have you been able to meet the shifting demands? How do you hope to ensure customer satisfaction?
Kummerow: Focusing on community is everything and it is what built the brand at the beginning. However, people have to navigate through so many brands who insist that they’re the best version to heal a skin concern, so trust and authenticity become harder to cut through the noise. I want to reopen the doors to the community and have more engaged conversations about product innovation and development. That’s what creates loyalty.
Vogue Business: How else will you compete with brands in the space today?
LeBlanc: I’m hopeful we can maintain our disruptor mentality but keep skincare and our formulas simple and minimal. As much as there is competition today, we can’t get swept up and become paralysed by it.
As Alex has mentioned, we’ll be focused on developing what our community wants from us. That currently looks like expanding our lines to best benefit certain skin types. For example, we’ve just introduced our Blue Wave serum ($48) online and with our retail partners, combining 2 per cent salicylic acid to treat acne breakouts and blue tansy known for its skin barrier-repairing properties.
The easiest place to [make an] impact first is digital. But you will see us getting out into the real world through events, and community-led and experimental activations that’ll also translate into merchandising our retail footprint and being more present with the brand. Otherwise, we’re seeking investment in the right places and planning to restructure our marketing team to suit the new objectives — but we can’t share any more at this stage.
Vogue Business: Considering the brand’s popularity boomed during the #shelfie still life era, how do you hope to navigate the world of short-form video and TikTok?
LeBlanc: I love the virality of TikTok and it’s an incredible platform for us to be on to build out our storytelling strategy. Brands can certainly hack the algorithm via the same types of beauty content, but we want to do something different — we’ll focus on the education piece and explain the whys. There’s a fascinating story to understand how plant-based beauty can be better for your skin and to understand ingredient profiles, for example the youth-enhancing and moisturising benefits of tremella mushrooms. Instagram will always remain an important platform for us and we’ll be sticking to the minimal aesthetics we’re known for versus jumping on trends to try and keep up. We mustn’t try to leverage the platform into something that it isn’t.
Vogue Business: Alex, is that why you appointed Britany?
Kummerow: Britany had a lot of experience in bringing Supergoop out into the real world. She created the brand’s activations and I was so excited about that. I thought that would be great for Herbivore. I want to get out into the world more and create these experiences. Experiences are the future of retail and shopping and I’m looking forward to taking the brand to that point and beyond.
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