111SKIN, Gucci & Balenciaga: Michael Edelmann on Building Modern Luxury

Let's talk about you.

I want to talk a little bit about, before we kind of dive into the work that you do today, but I wanted to talk a little bit about your background because you were obviously at the you know, the holy grail to anyone that works in our industry with an enormous global reach.

And, you know, I don't think anyone, unless you've been under a stone for the last 10 years in our industry, does not know what BOF does.

But there you were kind of at the other side of the table watching every single brand's marketing strategy at once, whilst devising the marketing strategy for BOF.

What do you think that brings you? You've then also worked at fashion brands, and we spoke a little bit about this before we started recording, but you have a very diverse background.

What do you think that's given you that you bring to the beauty world? Because you're quite new to the beauty world, and many people who are in this world, they've always been in it.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think particularly my time at the business of fashion instilled in me two things.

First of all, a level of curiosity that I always had.

But it's that idea that you constantly want to know what's happening around you.

And so with that also comes an element of being tapped into culture and understanding what moves the needle for different consumers, not just in fashion, not just in beauty, but also in art, in interiors and the wider world.

And I think that's what BOF does particularly well because they don't shy away also from acknowledging what's happening, for example, geopolitically.

and how that impacts all of us.

And so I think as a modern marketeer, you really need to understand what moves your consumer, what drives them emotionally.

And so what I really took away from that time is to constantly try and stay on top of what's happening.

Is there anything you feel like you've had to unlearn or...

I think what I had to unlearn a little bit from my time in luxury fashion is that most of the luxury fashion brands, they market their products through a lens of a lifestyle rather than necessarily a lens of, sometimes it is craftsmanship, but primarily you see beautifully produced campaigns, you sell a dream, you sell a lifestyle.

And particularly if I look at my time at BUF, but also in beauty, it's about balancing that with education and really leaning into what are the ingredients, what are the delivery mechanisms.

as to why a formulation or a product is really good for you because you can show a beautiful model in a campaign, but that's a very different reality to all of us waking up in the mornings and putting on a serum.

So you really need to communicate how that daily practice and that daily ritual is going to benefit your consumer.

You make a really good point, and I've also worked across both categories.

I've spent many years working on Procter & Gamble and Unilever-type brands, and we both know that they're very claim-driven and reason-to-believe driven.

And the way I saw it was it was always easier to market the fashion products than it is to market the beauty products.

Do you agree? Because there is a little bit...

there's a lot of scientific language and kind of fairly heavy language for those who are in complete beauty junkies.