Sharm Tank Vol. 26

Happy Friday,

You know, sometimes I’m not too sure what I’m going to write about. I got into the office this morning, brewed myself a delicious cup of Kolkata Chai, and sat in front of my computer with a blank stare, hoping, no praying that an idea would come to me.

That’s sometimes the reality. Even the best marketers sometimes struggle to find the next cutting edge trend to talk about. But why am I even bringing this up?

Well, for one, I’m trying to be relatable. But more importantly, it reminded me to take a step back. Marketing isn’t always about combing through new trends or pushing your creativity to the utmost limit, it’s about connection.

At the heart of every successful campaign is the ability to connect with consumers and find messaging that resonates beyond simple value props.

And that’s exactly why this week I wanted to talk about The Skinny Confidential, one of our favorite clients and the beauty/wellness maven that’s redefining the relationship between product, content, and community.

The Skinny Confidential, founded by Lauryn Evarts Bosstick, stands as a testament to how a desire for authentic connection can evolve into a multifaceted lifestyle brand.

From its early days as a blog to its current status as a wellness and beauty powerhouse, The Skinny Confidential has harnessed the power of community engagement, strategic marketing, and brand evolution.

Lauryn launched her blog during her time at San Diego State University. Faced with the prospect of paying $800 a month to join a sorority (like, seriously, what the heck), Lauryn wondered why she needed to pay for friendships and connection. This encouraged her to create a platform that would allow to forge connections on her own terms.

Her blog, The Skinny Confidential, began as a space to share unfiltered advice, wellness tips, and personal experiences—laying the foundation for a brand that would value transparency and relatability above all else.

At the core of The Skinny Confidential’s ethos is community. Lauryn adeptly uses her platform to directly engage with her audience, crafting a space that feels more conversational rather than one-sided. For example, Lauryn uses her Instagram stories to effectively engage her audience in real-time.

Lauryn shares tips, promotes products, and highlights new people and topics. This variety helps her keep content dynamic and interactive and makes her followers feel like part of her daily life and decisions.

In fact, it was Lauryn’s understanding of her community that encouraged her to branch out and expand into new ventures. Her readers trusted her recommendations and it only felt like a natural progression to offer products that catered to their direct needs.

For example, the debut of her flagship product, the HOT MESS ice roller was born from her personal need post-double jaw surgery. She even took to Instagram to share the development of the product and take input from her community. This personal touch ensures that each of her products are not only market-driven, but a natural extension of Lauryn’s lifestyle and personal brand.

To date, Skinny Confidential has continuously expanded its product offerings, from the Ice Queen Face Oil to the facial shaving Hot Shave Razor and Cream, and the Pink Balls Face Massager. Each product is not only a testament to Lauryn’s commitment to innovative, preventative beauty solutions but also to her skill in anticipating and fulfilling the evolving needs of her community. 

The launch strategy behind each product is also not to be overlooked (especially for the HOT MESS ice roller). Lauryn cleverly built anticipation by wiping her Instagram clean before reintroducing it with a focus on the new product. This dramatic approach created buzz and effectively captured her audience's attention, resulting in a highly successful launch.

The Skinny Confidential also bolstered its launch with a brand new eCommerce store designed by Sharma Brands. The new site was crafted to mirror the lively, inclusive, and dynamic nature of Lauryn’s vision, leading to a notable increase in user engagement and conversion rates. This collaboration was pivotal in translating the brand's vibrant personality into a digital format that is both inviting and functional.

Expanding beyond her digital blog and product line, Lauryn and her husband, Michael Bosstick, launched "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast." The podcast features candid discussions between the couple, interviews with entrepreneurs, celebrities, and wellness experts, providing listeners with insights into a range of topics from business to health and relationships.

The Skinny Confidential exemplifies how a brand can evolve from personal narrative to a comprehensive lifestyle platform. Lauryn has effectively leveraged her personal experiences and community feedback to build a brand that is both aspirational and grounded in authenticity.

Through strategic product development, engaging digital experiences, and expansive content via podcasts, The Skinny Confidential continues to innovate and inspire, proving that at the heart of every successful brand lies a strong, engaged community.

Now let’s get into a few smaller, bite-sized stories…

Minted New York Fights Back Against Bots

If you’re not familiar with the sneaker market, getting your hands on a new release is almost impossible. Popping up in the last decade, bots are automated algorithms that snipe newly released drops from hyped up brands in an effort to resell them at an insane markup.

While this sometimes occurs at an individual level, it is often larger entities that run bot farms, eating up a significant portion of the product’s supply.

That’s why Marcus Milione, the founder of the menswear brand Minted New York, took to Twitter to let everyone know that he is individually going through orders for his recent Saucony collaboration and is manually refunding every bot order, one at a time.

This incredibly tedious process just shows how devoted Marcus is to his community and lengths he is willing to go to make sure everyone has a seat at the table.

Le Bumble with the Fumble

Sometimes you wonder how an ad ever made it through what I can assume was multiple rounds of creative review, without one person calling out the obvious. And that’s exactly what happened with Bumble and their newest out-of-home (OOH) campaign.

This week, Bumble rolled out billboards suggesting that skipping out on celibacy is the way to go, which didn't sit well with a lot of folks.

People felt the ads were a bit tactless, kind of shaming those who choose celibacy for personal reasons. 

I do commend Bumble for taking a risk (even though I’m not a fan of this messaging). Most advertisers nowadays play things safe and tend to really lean into the performance angle.

But this was definitely a "think before you post" moment that should remind everyone why creative review is so important.

OpenAI Announces GPT-4o, A New Flagship Product

Your favorite coworker just got an upgrade…

OpenAI just unveiled GPT-4o, dubbed 'omni' because it’s designed to handle not just text, but also audio, vision, and real-time interactions across these modes.

This model is a big leap towards more fluid and natural interactions with machines, mimicking human-like response times.

GPT-4o can process and respond to inputs like audio and images almost as quickly as a human can in conversation, making it super versatile for a wide range of applications—from translating on the fly to helping with interview prep or even jamming out in a musical duet!

What's cool is that GPT-4o integrates these capabilities within a single model, so it understands and generates content in a unified way, whether it's text, sound, or images.

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