Introduction: American skincare brand Drunk Elephant, owned by Shiseido Group, recently hosted a vibrant House of Drunk pop-up in Paris. As reported, the House of Drunk animation was attended by leading beauty media and 70 top influencers from around the world.
The Paris edition was a feast for the senses, featuring a vibrant, neon-lit array of retailtainment elements that brought Drunk Elephant’s skincare ethos to life.
During the event, The Moodie Davitt Report Brands Editor & Digital Marketing Manager Hannah Tan-Gillies caught up with Drunk Elephant CEO Tiffany Masterson who talked about the vibrant House of Drunk pop-up, the brand’s EMEA travel retail launch and her commitment to bring the Drunk Elephant philosophy to the world.
“Paris is just one of my favourite places,” says Drunk Elephant CEO Tiffany Masterson as she ponders the choice of location for the latest House of Drunk pop-up.
“Paris is also the home of Sephora, which is one of our global partners who helped launched the brand back in 2015. There are a lot of cities out there that we’ve got our eye on, but Paris was a perfect for this opportunity. All this comes amidst our global EMEA launch, as we’ve gone from one to 23 markets in the last two years.”
At the House of Drunk, visitors were able to learn how to make a skincare smoothie and gain first-hand experience of Drunk Elephant’s biocompatible products for skin, hair and body. Some notable elements included the Mixing Station, where guests were given personalised skincare smoothie recommendations; the Ceramighty Tunnel which showcased Drunk Elephant’s newly launched Ceramighty AF Eye Balm; the Charm Bar and DJ booth. The Drunk Break lounge allowed guests to relax after exploring the many different areas.
Click on the YouTube video above to watch our exclusive on location video coverage of the House of Drunk launch in Paris
“Entering the House of Drunk is just walking into the brand and being inside of who we are and what we stand for,” Masterson explains. “It’s a fun, whimsical place, but also educational. There are educational opportunities within the pop-up which spread awareness about our Drunk Break philosophy, the Suspicious Six and the Skincare Smoothie. We even built a smoothie station in the pop-up which showcased the travel friendly The Littles, which is a great way to discover the brand and test out our products before investing in full-sized formats.”
In 2021, Drunk Elephant made its vibrant and colourful debut in global travel retail with Lotte Duty Free. Since then, the brand has gone from strength to strength, bringing its joyful skincare products and Drunk Break philosophy all over the world. Almost a year since its launch and Masterson says that the reception for Drunk Elephant in travel retail has been overwhelmingly positive.
She says, “The reception has been off the charts. We have only just begun with a handful of doors in Asia and EMEA, however the reception has been very positive so far. In EMEA especially, where travel is steadily recovering, we are seeing a strong growth momentum. This year, we have expanded into key airport locations in Europe (including Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, and London) and the Middle East (Doha).
“Retailers have expressed a lot of interest in the brand and there is a desire to quickly build our presence in travel retail. We are prioritising openings in markets where the brand is more established. This year, Drunk Elephant will make its travel retail debut in its home country of the US, in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with more openings to come across the Americas in 2023.”
For Masterson, travel retail is both showcase and sales driver and the logical next step in Drunk Elephant’s brand evolution. “Our travel retail doors, particularly in Asia, allow us to express the brand’s happy, colourful and whimsical spirit and bring the full Drunk Elephant experience to consumers.
“These doors are both showcase and sales driver. Presence in travel retail is key to building brand awareness with the global shopper. Travel retail is a convenience, recruitment and experience channel. When travellers walk by our stores in the airport, they are drawn in by the eye-catching displays and want to learn more about our brand. We’re a science backed brand, but we try not to be too intimidating about it. We lead with a friendlier, more relatable approach to the consumer. So, it’s important for design, product and experience to all go together. Whether in travel retail or domestic, our stores are happy places where our consumers’ skin ends up happy too.
“Once you catch their attention, hopefully then they get into the brand and learn about what makes us unique. It’ s the same thing with the House of Drunk, we want to catch our consumers’ attention and bring them in, then we can show them the Drunk Elephant difference.”
Finding that balance between driving growth and maintaining her brand vision is a difficult task, but according to Masterson is just part of the life cycle for Drunk Elephant. “Being acquired by Shiseido is just part of the life cycle of a brand. There’s an inflection point where you need to bring in leadership as you grow,” she explains.
“We’ve spent years growing Drunk Elephant. When we were ready to go global, we decided it was time to sell to Shiseido which can really take it to the next level. They’ve done it before so it’s easy for them to grow the brand very fast and launch it across many markets. Boots on the ground is key for me. You don’t want to go into a new market without having boots on the ground in the form of people who can represent and educate about your brand. There’s no point in expanding if you’re just sticking your products on shelves.
“We really want to be thoughtful about that process and Shiseido is helping us with that. Another area where there is synergy is innovation. The innovation that Shiseido has, both in sustainability and packaging, is ahead of the game. You’ve got to be innovative to stay in the game in terms of packaging and formulations. All that and more helped make my decision to sell the brand to a great company like Shiseido.”
Masterson reassures her fans that despite being acquired by a global beauty giant, Drunk Elephant will always stay true to its core values. “We’re never going to compromise our values and selling the brand doesn’t change that,” she says.
“We have the same formulations, same idea, same philosophy, same standards of packaging, ingredients and treatment of people and all of that’s going to stay the same. The only difference is now we have a global presence. Before, it was much harder as an indie brand to be this far reaching and to do it effectively. You have got to do it right, if you’re going to do it at all. These markets that we are going into, it’s not just casual, it’s very well thought out and we want to lead with our best foot forward. We can only do that when we have the resources that we now do with Shiseido.”
Since our last conversation, Drunk Elephant has expanded its portfolio to include exciting new hair and body care products. Masterson says that her product strategy is all about putting skin first. “Our hair and body products have been well received. Skin is skin, whether it’s on your scalp, body or face. I can apply our Drunk Elephant philosophy to any product, and it has been very exciting for me to create products from head to toe.”
On whether we’ll be seeing a House of Drunk animation come to life in the channel, Masterson says “Of course. We’re always looking for opportunities to activate our brand in a fun engaging way. It would be so much fun so yes, that’s a big hope of mine.”
Self-care and wellbeing were two of the major beauty trends to accelerate due to the pandemic and brands such as Drunk Elephant, which offer natural, effective and approachable formulations have certainly benefitted from the wellness wave. “Drunk Elephant started well before the pandemic. In fact, we are the fastest-growing brand in the history of Sephora during pre-pandemic times. During the pandemic, people were home all the time and that’s interesting for us. Pre-pandemic, we had a hard time getting people to take a Drunk Break, because people had to go to work every day and wear makeup. With the pandemic, that barrier went away. Suddenly, anybody could take a Drunk Break.
“For us, the pandemic wasn’t a sales obstacle,” she adds. “In fact, we continued to grow as people got more of an opportunity to take a Drunk Break and feel the Drunk Elephant Difference. This was a major opportunity for us and it has continued to propel awareness and sales. We’re a word of mouth brand, so the acceleration of social media has us grow and is continuing post-pandemic.”
Looking ahead, Masterson believes that there is nowhere for Drunk Elephant to go but up. “I think we are just going to continue to grow. There are new consumers who coming into the Drunk Elephant fold like 13 year-olds who are crazy about our brand because of TikTok. We also have people well into the eighties and husbands who are stealing their wives’ shampoos. If you’ve got skin, then Drunk Elephant is for you. I don’t think there are many brands where husbands, sons, daughters, cousins, grandparents and friends can say they all use it.
“Drunk Elephant is for everyone,” Masterson concludes. “We want to cater to people with skin and give them effective products from head to toe. I believe that we can really help people tackle their skin issues. That’s our reason for being and that’s why we exist.”
