There are a lot of different cases when people without any entrepreneur experience manage to gain success in a particular sphere of business. Having no managerial background, such people as Ruby Hammer and Millie Kendall managed to gain success due to their personal skills, fashion experience, and public image.
Even though these people do not have any managerial background, their profession is connected with personal sale and sale of the results of their work. Ruby Hammer is an experienced make-up artist who used to sell his professional skills to such great supermodels as Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Kate Moss.
Millie Kendall is a professional beauty publicist who used to sell her written material to different publications. Such experience is really important as working in business sphere these people unconsciously studied the market and the needs which exist in the society.
Selling personal work, Ruby Hammer and Millie Kendall received important experience in product promotion. Therefore, having no managerial background as it is, these people used to work in the sphere, they unconsciously got necessary knowledge, strategic information and were applied into marketing relations that helped the launch their personal business.
World cosmetics industry is highly competitive as there are a lot of international brands which remain in high demand and entering this type of market is a very complicated procedure. One of the main particular features of the world cosmetics market is its constant change.
Only those companies are able to remain at the international market who are able to meet these critical changes successfully and react to them on time (Ana-Maria, Constantin, Cătălina & Alina 2011). Having such world-famous competitors as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and MARIE CLAIRE, Ruby & Millie had to present something new and original in order to attract customer’s attention.
However, Ruby & Millie went another way round and presented their products into simple, but stylish and futuristic silver cover which could not leave media and customers without attention. Being launched in Boots stores, a new trade mark frequently became popular among visitors of this store. Ruby & Millie also offered products for lower prices.
The price reduction sometimes reached 15%. However, the originality and unique of the products offered by Ruby & Millie was the main strategic action. The experience of the company founders helped them position and successfully promote their products.
Boots is a leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer in the United Kingdom. Offering absolutely varied products for men and women which help them remain healthy and beautiful, the company managed to gin its reputation by means of presenting not only cosmetics aimed at hiding the signs, but by means of offering pharmacy products aimed at caring of customers health and making those healthier from inside (Boots 2012).
Therefore, when Ruby & Millie launched their personality-driven make-up brand in Boots, the reputation of the products was automatically spread on their properties. It is important to understand that when two companies either merge or cooperate in the way Boots and Ruby & Millie did, they share both advantages and disadvantages of each other.
Personal portfolios and public image of Ruby Hammer and Millie Kendall were important for Boots store as new customers appeared there due to specifics of the personal interest in public people. The relationships between brand awareness, loyalty, product associations and product knowledge are essential in cosmetics industry (Yousaf, Zulfiqar, Aslam & Altaf 2012).
Millie Kendal, on March 2012, stated the following: “Sometimes, I regret the decision to start a business, rather than be an employee. I’m very cautious. I’m not a risk‐taker and I like my life to be simple. Starting a business carries a lot of responsibility”. Her words are correct as starting a new business, entrepreneurs always appear at risk of failure.
The cosmetics business is more complicated as it suffers from the competition on the one hand and constant changing trends and environments at the other hand. Therefore, to remain in demand, companies should remain original and unique which is not always possible in constantly changing environment. Application to changes in cosmetics industry is difficult as the companies are to meet the world fashion trends and satisfy the needs of the clients.
Public media and press played essential role in the success of Ruby & Millie brand development as advertising is an important part of products promotion. Moreover, media stressed on the biographies of the brand launchers, therefore, their life before the brand emergence was announced which played for better.
However, being lucky as Ruby’s and Millie’s previous occupations played for their good, there are many situations when personal information may destroy the brand population. When celebrities launch their own brand lines they risk spoil the brand image by means of personal actions.
Many celebrities make others speak about them being involved into scandals. However, increasing their reputation as public people, such actions may destroy the brand image as people do not want to buy products of those who are unable to lead normal lives and organize their public life appropriately.
Reference List
Ana-Maria, G, Constantin, B, Cătălina, R & Alina, C 2011, ‘Competitiveness and performance on the cosmetics market’, Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, vol. 20, iss. 2, 681-686.
Boots: Health and Beauty, Pharmacy and Prescriptions 2012, . Yousaf, U, Zulfiqar, R, Aslam, M & Altaf, M 2012, ‘Studying brand loyalty in the cosmetics industry’, LogForum, vol. 8, iss. 4, 11-19.