The Power of the Pimple Patch
The innovation lab specialises in sharing in-depth analyses of key areas that would typically fall under the sector of marketing. These are an accumulation of insights and emerging industry-specific trends summarised to suit the interests of readers, with the intent to encourage innovation within the digital space. It will cover everything new and next that is bound to affect consumer interests and behaviour across fashion, retail, beauty, wellness, sports, luxury, food and drink. These are written from the lens of Moyesa & Co. Founder, Prisca Moyesa.
*This post is inspired by my personal use of pimple patches 😆*
Acne has long been associated with embarrassment. Clear skin is romanticized, and breakouts have rarely received the kind of coverage they’re getting now—*pun intended.* But like most trends on TikTok, communities with shared interests are forming, and a growing collective of Women are embracing their skin in any condition, shame-free, particularly among Gen-Z and Millennials due to the hormonal changes.
To move forward, we must look back, and I cannot discuss the transparency around blemishes, breakouts, and skin conditions without highlighting Topicals. The skincare brand that came out the gate swinging with a new approach to advertising real skin and real women, using the tagline “skincare for flare-ups.” A modern spin on Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign where women of different shapes, sizes and backgrounds were featured in their campaign and have done so since. This is taken up a notch. Where Topicals taps into real skin conditions its put in place to solve.
During Topicals’ launch and content after that, we saw Women not only make-up-free but auto-immune skin conditions like psoriasis, PCOS, hyperpigmentation it causes and discolouration as a result of cystic or hormonal acne featured prominently on their website in their social media assets, creating a safe online space for Women to truly embrace what that should have deemed normal, resulting in a true sense of community.
As a skincare-obsessed beauty enthusiast and a Marketer, it was exciting to discover pimple patches in the beauty aisle, how the tiny stickers were often packed with active ingredients and their role in prevention, reinforced by experts and enthusiasts from various backgrounds sharing their top tips on #TikTok.
This led me to pull up Kolsquare and uncover the real story behind the attention Key Opinion Leaders (#KOLs) are driving to these brands. Conversion is happening, and although it’s not always trackable in that very instant, this historical Earned Media Value data from January 2023 to May 2024 proves that culture-shifting brands are showing up in this *emerging* market.
Please note that The InkeyList, Good Molecules, COSRX, and PanOxyl didn’t kick off exclusively selling pimple patches, but these patches are certainly driving up the numbers!
Data pulled from Kolsquare, by Prisca Moyesa at Moyesa & Co.