A year's (more or less) worth of sharing, and sharing, and sharing about the brand of SkinCalories and her range of products finally culminated in a media launch held at Bar Rouge on a cool, cloudy day in end November.
Soaring seventy floors into the sky, the view was nothing short of magnificent, the mood was pleasant, there were canapes and drinks all round, and the carefully-planned program introduced the element of chic, runway glamor into fitness, wellness and lifestyle.
The message was an unorthodox, if not, deliberate one.
See, if SkinCalories is a brand that chooses innovation to be one of her core philosophies, then creative out-of-the-box messaging at her launch was definitely on the cards.
Few and far between are the brands that choose to portray organic skincare and wellness alongside beauty and glamor. Very often consumers get either one, or the other. If you have a brand that is organic, then it heads towards the feel-good, free, pure, wholesome, earth-loving route. If you have a brand that is beauty-focused, then the message leans towards the bold, confident, glamorous, high-heeled route. Both routes don't usually mix.
At least not that Management had seen.
And so right on the dot, it began with the announcement of the brand and its signature product the facial mist from Host MEDIACORP CLASS95FM DJ Jean Danker. (Radio Management insisted we put the entire description down and a few weeks past now, I don't know whether I've gotten it right or otherwise)
There was the description of the brand philosophy. the brand story, as well as a short, quick introduction of the brand's digital ambassador Magda whose image, by the way, was on the screen right above and on the backdrop mounted against the safety railing along one of the windows- which, one must note, was never intended to be placed at that spot, and had it not been for a height miscalculation, would have been on the backdrop wall (with better lighting for IG!) closer to where the audience was.
But as all events go, everything and anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and so it is really up to one's creativity to recalibrate and modify.
Fortunately the SkinCal Team is one trio that pivots through issues swiftly and easily, and we do what we can do that has to be done- and we're unembarrassed about it. Stuff happens. It is how you resolve it, sometimes even on the fly.
So, in the same way, although none of us had reference to our presentation slides- no thanks to the fact that the screen could only show video- we skipped through the entire presentation with hastily scribbled points, a bit of memory work, some sort of extended elaboration, and a bright (if not nervous) smile.
Fingers crossed the audience got the necessary information, like what the current plans of the company were, what the future plans of the company were, who the international partners were, as well as who the distributors involved were. Hopefully too, they understood what the entertainment marketing platform utilized by the brand was (this topic seems to baffle many a listener), and the technology involved in supporting the augmented reality component of the brand.
What with all this last-minute pivoting, it was quite a relief that the glamor part of the launch went pretty smooth. The music blasted through the club's speakers, the models sashayed down the stairs, bottle of facial mist in hand, and, in simple terms, with their strong walk, their modelesque poses, their sleek hair and their make up, established the organic, lavender-scented signature product of SkinCalories worthy for the fashion runway.
Besides the fact that backstage there were five models and only three half-filled bottles to go around. ;)
But hey, no one knew.
Until now, that is.
Because now is the time to make it clear that SkinCalories and Skins Festival are brands to be reckoned with. Not only the brand itself, not only the products themselves, but also the technology involved, as well as the entertainment marketing platform. If you think this technology and the whole 5G business is irrelevant to retail and branding and marketing, then it might be time to do a re-think. In the same way if you think that the skincare products aren't that significant, then you'll be sorely mistaken. Nothing in these brands is frivolous.
Not even the entertainment marketing technique which many traditional branding agencies and even marketing experts perceive it to be.
This may be a startup, yes, and we may not be the bestest of the best when it comes to certain elements, but we know our s***, we'll only get better on the by and by, and trust me, this is a startup with a sense of direction, and the business of it will not be going away anytime soon.